Just a few more hours lie between me and a very busy weekend. Saturday will be a great wedding in South Lake Tahoe, and hopefully the projected thunder storms will grace us only with dramatic clouds for our background and nothing else! After a few hours of sleep, and soaking my sore shooting hand, the kids and I begin our (”I can’t believe my mom is a crazy loon who is sticking us in a car and driving 12 hours”) roadtrip to Portland and then on to Seattle. Nyah and I have decided to add to the adventure, and we will be indulging in our favorite sugary treat = cupcakes! We have mapped out custom cupcake shops along the way in our search for the best cupcake on the West. (Watch out cupcake bloggers, the search is on!)

We have a jam-packed week of friends and activities ahead of us before reaching our final destination - the fabulous birthday party/4th of July festivities of the ultra fabulous John (and Jenna) of JFK Weddings - two of my favorite people! Check back in to wish John (who I promise I won’t say out loud how old he is turning) a great-big birthday wish!!

I will be sure to blog our adventures along the way, but will be doing no official studio business until I return. So if you need to get ahold of me, please email or leave a message and I will be sure to get back to you the week of July 7th. Have a great 4th everyone!

The new blog IS coming….. cuz we’re cool like that!

I have the best couples!

Just a sneak peak from this past weekend’s wedding, while I’m finishing up my new blog. The wedding was absolutely amazing, and the love between Katie and Wes couldn’t have been sweeter! More to come!

I have 6 weddings that I can’t wait to show you, including one smokin’ boudoir session.  Like a giddy schoolgirl excited about her new school duds, I’m fighting the internal battle of whether I should show them off now, or hold out for the proverbial first day of school and just hang tight until I get my new swanky Flosites blog!  I’ve been working with Ross and we’re *this* close to being done.  I know they’ll look that much sweetier on my new blog, but I’m so excited because I’ve had some amazing couples lately, and have had the chance to shoot with some of my wonderful photographer friends. So, I will wait, but man! It’s hard!

I have to say - if you haven’t had the pleasure of working with the Flosites team - you really are missing out.  Customer service is something to behold these days, and you will not be disappointed. 

So until then, here are a few pics from this past weekend’s wedding in Fresno where I had the absolute pleasure of shooting with Ross Tanner and his brother-in-law Sasha.  I am honored to be able to call Ross a friend, and very excited to be one of his new customers. 

With Ross and Leysa Tanner

With Sasha, Ross and Leysa

I was just sent this video link from my buddy, Jason Domingues. Jason is like my long-lost twin. He seems to share my amount of spunk and sarcasm and I just love him. Back in February, I spent a week in Las Vegas with him and our other photographer friends (Mark Eric, Sofie & Paul, Ross Tanner, Jason Cohen, Beth Daane, Chris Stewart, David Baxter and many others) during the annual WPPI conference. The members of Don’t Box Us In were finally able to get together for some much needed fun after all the hours of planning our labor of love - Leavin’ Las Vegas. That week was one of the most powerful weeks of my career as a photographer, as I made invaluable connections, finally met up with some of my closest friends and learned about the ins-and-outs of the business, (the good and the bad), and learned how to take all that I learned and apply it to my own business.

The week had its stresses and its fun. Jason put together this video - made COMPLETELY of still frame photos (repeat - he did not use a video camera) of the time we all spent together. I think all total, Jason said it was over 4,500 shots. While having a camera in your face while trying to eat a taco isn’t the most pleasurable experience, seeing the end product is just A-mazing. I could watch this video over and over again.

So take a look - watch it, turn up the speakers and then head on over to Jason’s blog to give him some love. This project truly is amazing!

You are told that you will never love anything more than you love your children. No greater words ring true, and I find myself saying this year after year, with each milestone my children reach. My children can stir my emotions like no other - no other person can make me feel anger, fear, hope, joy, love, or laughter all in one day! I have been blessed in my life in so many ways, and my two children are my most prized treasures. It was three years ago today our family of three grew by one energetic and passionate child. That addition, has been a blessing (and a test) every day since. I thank God everyday that I have been given the opportunity to be a mother to two amazing, spirited, kind-hearted, healthy, compassionate children, and today, as I sit here and reflect, I can’t imagine my life without the love of my little man - my little Carter, who today, turned “free” (three).

Three years ago. Just a few hours old. Picture taken by Brandi Sidley of Kandid-Kids

And today.  Full of spunk, with a heart of gold and absolute zest for life that I hope remains with him always!   

This little boy’s smile is comparable to none!

Some days, it is just the little things, like my son’s smile or my daughter’s hug, that remind me how incredibly blessed I really am!

The company that hosts my server is having technical difficulty this week and are running backups on all their servers - this affects some sites and not others. Up until today, I was fortunate enough to not be one of those affected, but today I became aware that my site is one of the ones having problems. Hopefully everything will resume its normalcy soon. Thank you for your patience as we wait for the problem to be fixed.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Check back in for more blog posts - I’m on a roll!

*ETA - I just found out that my email is now affected too. If I don’t respond within 24 hours, please know that I probably didn’t receive your email. Please check back in for updates.

Who can ever get enough of this lady?

And that famous laugh!

I’m widdling down my list of sessions to post and am just now going through my pictures of the beautiful Leysa from Vegas. This has to be one of my favorites!

Cinderella and the slipper

It’s hard to take a bad picture of Leysa.

Okay, I’m still working on getting caught up …. more to come.