I Do! . . . . engagement pictures!

This was a first for me! SSSSOOOOO much fun to take Bree Koetsier and Jarred Sleger's engagement pictures. I've never really done an engagement shoot. Bree contacted me back in December and asked if I would like to take their engagement pictures with a theme of Camo and Pearls for their upcoming engagement party. ISN'T THAT JUST THE COOLEST THEME! I was really excited to see (or try to see ...remember, they're in camo so we aren't supposed to be able to see them, right . . .LOL) what they would come to the shoot wearing. Bree is such a fun girl . . . always playing with style. I knew she wouldn't disappoint! And this was the first time I'd met Jarred but I was sure I'd like him and he'd be a great photo subject because I just photographed his brother Rich . . . I mean Rick. :) (SIDE NOTE: I'm onto you dude. Why didn't you tell me I called you by the wrong name the ENTIRE time I was shooting you? Rich, Rich, Rich . . . . you just liked being called something else. I think you are wrong . . . I wouldn't call you by the wrong name! But since you didn't correct me . . . . you are officially RICH to me.)

Let's show some off in color . . . .
One thing I had the most fun with is that everytime I told them to kiss . . . they had NO PROBLEM getting into those shots! SO SWEET! Love young love!

I just LLLOOOOVVVVVEEEE these next two pics . . .

LOVE this last picture! Look at the sky! Blue . . . right out of the camera! I was SSSOOOO excited because the sky was really ugly the day we took these!

I've got more to show off, but I wanted to get these up quickly so that Bree could have some new pics for her Facebook page! (I'm so addicted . . . .look me up on Wastebook guys! I love it!)

(another side note . . . Bree was in my kids' 4-H club not all that darn long ago. I'm feeling WAY TO OLD to know someone in my kids' 4-H club that is getting married! My daughter ALWAYS loved Bree's cows because they would have boas, glitter, flowers, painted hooves, whatever was outside the norm. Total girl cow!)

So Congratulations Bree and Jarred! Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. Congratulations on your new home purchase! May God richly bless you in your marriage for eternity! XOXOXO

The local resident . . . .

I can honestly say that I think I have one of the prettiest yards I've ever seen. ;) In fact, I fell in love with my home because of the yard. We have beautiful walnut trees everywhere on 1 acre. Now, appreantly I'm not the only one who thinks my yard is an oasis. Meet our local resident.

Every day this guy is perched in my tree. He watches me drive in and out of my driveway everyday. There's not many days that go by that I don't see him either perched in that tree or swooping down on my front lawn to make a kill. He's great at keeping the gopher and mice population down. But he wasn't always this big.

About a year ago, my son found this sweet "little" bird that had fallen out of a huge palm tree in our neighbor's yard. I bet he fell about 150 feet! We protected it from the resident cats and fed it raw meat and water. Now we aren't certain, but we believe it gained it's strength and flew away and now lives in our yard. Even though it doesn't look like the exact same bird, I choose to believe it is . . . or otherwise I've got a bird sanctuary!

Snow Bunnies!

Had a blast last weekend driving up the very, very, very winding road up to the Sierras! Oh man, that's a curvy road with a lot of drop offs that go really, really far down. Mom and Grandma, you would have never made it. Yikes! So the very minute we saw snow (around 4,000 feet) that was bigger than a puddle (have I mentioned how much we need rain in the valley and snowpack in the mountains?), we stopped and took pictures. I had this vision of snow covered trees, light snow falling, winter wonderland look, right? Uh, no . . . this would have to do. LOL!!!! I don't think I like driving in the mountains. But the good news is we saw the sun and prior to that we hadn't seen the sun in quite a few days. Had a wonderful relaxing lunch at The Gateway above Three Rivers while enjoying the sun. SSSOOO NICE.

The fun pictures below are of the Vanderpoel girls and my daughter, Madalyn. I'll be posting another surprise with these pictures a little later, but for now . . . ENJOY THE SNOW!

Thank you Lord!

Lord, today I just want to praise you. Thank you for the rain. We need it so badly. Thank you Lord.

Janice

Before the Christmas madness, I was contacted by someone who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She's 32. Wow. That nasty disease is so non-discriminatory. Janice had an amazing outlook on beating this. Before she started treatment, she contacted me through the Think Pink Network about taking her picture. (Think Pink was founded October 2007 to support individuals and their families who have been touched by breast cancer. It is a charitiable organization that serves two purposes - celebrating life and supporting the cause.)

When Janice called me, she was so amazingly genuine. I was overcome with emotion talking about the pictures she wanted to capture. you see, she's never been married. There are some memories about her upcoming journey she wanted to preserve . . . . and other's she wanted to eliminate. I was thrilled she picked me to help her with this task.

This was my first Think Pink assignment and I absolutely loved it. The pictures are somewhat personal, but she is anxious to get her story out. If you are interested in seeing the rest of the pictures, please either send me an email or leave a comment and I will get back to you with the log in information, pending her approval. The pictures are so unbelievably moving, I'm really proud of these pictures . . . and mostly Janice. She's just amazing. You'll see why through the pictures. No anonymous requests, please. Oh and Janice . . . please contact me . . . all my emails area bouncing back . . . I hope you are well . . . .XOXOXOX

Hey moms with new babies . . . .

I have a couple of newborn photo shoots coming up. Just wanted to share this link with you all . . . I thought they were precious. If you don't know what to dress your baby in (other than my favorite . . . nothing at all), buy one of these in your favorite colors. I have a feeling it will take awhile to get this so if you're a planner . . . buy one BEFORE the baby gets here. Who will be the first baby to be bundled in a peanut wrap?

Recent Family Session (Tulare and Visalia Family Photography)

Yeah for me! Post #100! I can hardly believe that I've posted 100 times on this blog. The best posts are the ones with pictures, I think. So to honor my 100th post . . . I'm sharing some pictures I did of the Vanderham Family back in November. You know . . . we had to keep these pictures secret. No one could see until the Christmas card went out. Wish I would have done that with everyone . . . but then I'd have nothing to post! Oh well . . . live and learn. Next year will be better. But without further adieu . . . my faves from their session with me! (oooh, I have a few more . . . but I'll save that for ANOTHER post . . . ::wink, wink::)

A New Baby! (Tulare & Visalia Newborn Baby Photography)

Wedding photographers should be THRILLED about job security right now! The Collin's family are totally helping by adding more girls to their family. I got the absolute pleasure of photographing another one of my daughter's best friend's newest baby sister.

That would make 4, yes FOUR, girls for the Collin's family! Miss Avery joined this world on December 21. Here are the pictures from her recent photo session. I love them in BW because it's just so timeless. So sweet. So baby. OH, be still my ::heart:: !!!!!!!!

OH, and Miss "Big Sister" Mackenzie . . . .when you comin' to get that bike I promised you??????? It's waiting for ya! Just call me!

CVC Winter Formal - Blog Post Request (Tulare and Visalia Family Photographer)

I was chatting with a friend the other day who has a daughter who has been watching my blog to get some info about the CVC Winter Formal! She's in junior high and can't wait until she can go next year! I never posted any info here . . . don't know why! SORRY! So for everyone interested in a few pics from the formal, here you go. Many have seen this if you are one of my FACEBOOK friends (ps . . . I always love adding new friends so add me if you are a FB addict like me).
CHECK OUT THE PICTURES BY CLICKING HERE
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11875&l=61381&id=1092016177

Sorry, but I haven't figured out how to get my pictures off of my network hard drive and onto my new iMac! Poor me. In the meantime, you'll just have to see them on the link above. Once I figure it out, the post will be updated with pics!

PS - Isn't he just the handsomest???? And his date was and is absolutely gorgeous! They were SSSSOOOOO cute!

It's 9:52 AM and the Birthday Girl is still asleep!

I guess she can do that TODAY. Although I can't take it anymore so I needed to go wake her up. It's Maddie's birthday today! She's the big bad 11 year old! WOO HOO!!!!! She had a party a week ago Friday at McDermont Field House in Lindsay and was sicker than a dog! So guess where we are headed to today? Yep, back to McDermont. Maybe later this evening I'll post some pics from the party. But for now . . . I thought I'd post a little video. Just had to play with Madalyn's Christmas present from my mom . . .

Oh, and guess what, we found the cat. He was never missing, just sleeping. ;)

The most creative gift winner is . . . .

We celebrated Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve. My husband and I were so fortunate to have both of our parents at our celebration along with my paternal grandparents, an aunt, a cousin and his friend. Oh, and our children were there too! Can't forget them! The evening started out with a gift exchange. I raked in . . . let me tell you! My mom, who is basically afraid of technology decided her iMac was too difficult to learn how to use so she bought herself a new computer and gave me her old one. T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only downside to that was erasing the 5,001 emails she opened and decided to save. If you ever needed a funny email video (I'm sure none of you are lacking in those), I'm quite sure my mother HAD a library of the funniest video emails ever posted to the Internet!

One of the more entertaining and creative gifts of the evening came from me, my husband, my brother and his wife - a joint gift for my parents who have everything . . . except for this . . .

Wanna know the funniest thing about this bike other than the fact my dad will probably never pedal and it could be the cause of a divorce? My mom TOTALLY guessed this present about 3 days before and I never even gave her one stinkin' hint! She's just that good. How did she know? I think they are gonna have a blast on it and will totally start a new trend with their friends. Come on guys . . .

So that gift was pretty creative, but this one takes the cake! Madalyn put an envelope under the tree a few weeks ago. Usually I'm terribly curious and do my darnedest to open everything because I hate surprises. But I let this one rest. I knew it would be sweet so I waited. She wrote me a poem. I'd love to share it with you:

A Special Christmas Poem For A Special Mom

You buy me things on the rack
Sometimes you even scratch my back
You make me do chores for my own good
Even when I know I definitely should
You put clothes on my back and food on the table
You even pay for the entertaining cable
You always make sure I'm having loads of fun
And monitor that I'm not fighting with your number one son
You taught me its not lady like to fart
And always to completely follow my heart

Merry Christmas, from your daughter who loves you!

OK, so she wins! Wasn't that just the sweetest poem ever???? I love it! Definitely getting framed. And it's funny, I don't have any idea where she gets her ability to use words so creatively! Maybe this next group of pictures will give you some clues:

Top right picture is my mom, Madalyn and myself - trying to cross my eyes but actually just looking confused! And then of course on the bottom left you have the annual spoon hanging demonstration. Thanks to my mom, she's passed on her many talents, one of those is being able to hang spoons from almost any part of her body - well almost. Top left is my grandmother and my cousin Richard who is 10 years my younger. We discovered we'd be turning 40 and 30 together this summer. Yikes. And then on the bottom right we have Miss Mad who turns eleven tomorrow. We celebrated her birthday a tad early this year. I'll post more about the birthday tomorrow . . . it's quite the story!

Don't all holidays have to have a story? Well ours is no exception and you all know I love to tell stories, so her goes. This is my BELOVED cat! I ADORE this cat!

He/She originally started out as Carley; however, when I took Carley in to get fixed, the vet informed me that Carley's name should be changed to Carl. Now we call "her" Carl. We can't quite get past the he/she thing! ANYWAY, a few weeks ago, Carl snuck into my closet where I hide Christmas presents under lock and key. I'm the only one with a key, so I know who goes in and who goes out. Well I couldn't find him for hours and was devastated. Finally he meowed loud enough for me to hear and I rescued him. Well, on Christmas Eve, he went missing AGAIN! My husband kept saying, look in the closet. I said, there is NO WAY he could be in there because I haven't been in there in a few days! I went to town to pick up the bikes and low and behold, who do you think got into the closet with my key? Madalyn. Apparently she hates surprises too and decided to look at all the unwrapped presents. Well . . .who do you think snuck in the closet? Carl. So all Christmas Eve I called his name thinking he got outside and was just sure I'd find him smashed in the road the next morning. When I went to get the stocking stuffers out of the closet . . . CARL BOLTS OUT and basically reads me the riot act! Luckily he was OK, but really he needs to develop a fear of closets. It's not serving him well. Oh and guess what . . . I can't find Carl again. I'll let you know tomorrow if I find him . . .

2008 Christmas Card Parade

WARNING: SUPER LONG POST

Gosh, I have so much I want to share with you all. I'm dying to share my pictures from our Christmas Eve . . . but I think I'm going to give you something to come back here to look for tomorrow . . . for now . . . the promised 2008 CHRISTMAS CARD PARADE!!!!!!!

This was the very first Christmas card I did this year. We took pictures of the Vanderpoel girls back in July. And it was SSSOOO hot! Jamie (mom) cuts my hair and while under the dryer, she and I came up with an idea for pictures. After I designed the card, I started thinking that I would just LOVE IT if every single card I designed or took pictures for could somehow someway have a little rhinestone on it. Krystal DeLeeuw (card maker extraordinaire) has these little rhinestones she sometimes puts on cards and I just knew I had to have that signature. Jamie totally made it happen. And I just love how she did it. She cut off a portion of the front flap so that the black strip showed through that was on the inside. Then she added a little rhinestone to the swirls. LOVE IT! She's so darn creative . . . that's why I love her!

The next Christmas card is of the Dykstra family. Vicky contacted me in September and asked if I was interested. Honestly, I was PETRIFIED! Why? Because I know how much fun my son and husband are to photograph . . . .how could photographing 3 teenage boys and dad possibly be a success? I begged her not to expect much . . . and little did she know that my comedic act of fast talking would be provided at no additional charge . . . . "What?" you ask. Well, while taking pictures up on Rocky Hill, we heard a few gun shots. I thought to myself, "Ah never mind . . . I heard those last week . . . " I should have paid attention. Suddenly, I see this funny look on all of their faces and I'm thinking, "what are they looking at?" Um, that would be the property owner coming towards me TELLING me to GET OFF HIS PROPERTY. "Oh sir, please know that we will respect your property and are not here to destroy, just to photograph . . . yada yada yada . . . " Get off in 2 minutes because if anyone gets hurt, I'm liable and yeah whatever. "OK . . .quick Justin. Jump up on that rock. Now all of you sit in front of the rock. On the count of three, I want Justin to jump up in the air . . . DON'T GET HURT!" We got the "money shot" as my daughter would say (thanks to America's Next Top Model) and it landed as the front of the card. And of course, the back of the card is significant. John and Vicki are celebrating 20 years of marriage. And their first date was in this very car. Isn't that so cool that they saved the car! Thanks for working with me Vicki, John and boys. You guys were a blast. But most of all, I just want to say thanks to Vicki for the super friendship we've developed over the last few years. You are truly a gem!

When this next card arrived in my mailbox, I was jumping UP AND DOWN! I absolutely LOVE this card. I did not design the layout of the card, but did take the pictures. I'm not entirely sure who did the card for Marissa, but if you did, please comment below and stand up and take a bow! It's so gorgeous! It's hard to tell in these pictures, but it is a square trifold card. There is nothing on the backside, just the front side. JUST AMAZING! I was SSSSOOOOO happy to see such a beautiful card with my pictures in the mail. Marissa was actually the first person to ever "interview" me to take pictures of her newest little bundle of joy. Honestly I was so nervous to be interviewed. It was great to listen to her talk. I really learned a lot from our time together because she had some very specific ideas of what she wanted to accomplish and I was glad I could assist her in getting them done. Marissa and Anthony, your children are adorable and you guys were so fun to work with. Best wishes to you in the coming year!

I cannot say enough about this next card. Now here is a card that had a vision for a picture. Does that even make sense to you? Well, AJ just knew she wanted something totally simple with lots of color. Did I just say that? Lots of color? While I edited these pictures I just KNEW they had had had to be in BW. The picture HAD to tell the story without anything else getting in the way. Let me explain. AJ and Dick have four gorgeous boys. They've raised the most amazing men! But AJ is such a girl! We were SSSOOO happy when Corry John got married to Jaelene because AJ finally got a girl to play with. Well, Corry and Jaelene made Dick and Annette grandparents this year . . . WITH A GIRL! Seriously, no one ever thought this would ever happen . .. . at least not the first grandchild! So Mimi (AJ's grandma name) and I sat at my computer and played. She DEFINITELY wanted a long skinny card. And a postcard. She wanted EVERYONE, including the postal workers, to see her pink bundle. The front of the card has Bentlee in color (because she's all pinked out) and everyone else in timeless BW. On the back . . . you see pure spontaneity. We had finished the session. The boys were all pushing the pram. The light was hitting everyone just perfectly, so I snapped this totally spontaneous shot and KNEW that was going to be the story telling shot. They were just chatting, just like 4 brothers would . . . no matter if they were pushing tractors when they were younger, or baby carriages when they got older. Just pure joy to watch these boys grow up and those who received the card surely knows the joy that came out of those pictures. I love you AJ and Dick! Thanks for letting me capture and tell your story to your family and friends!

One of my dearest friends called me during graduation time and said something to the effect, "Don't even come to RJ's party unless you bring your camera. We need a big family photo . . . please?" Just kidding . . . it wasn't that harsh . . . she totally begged . . . and I succumbed because I'm addicted to Glitzy Bella flip flops and she keeps me well stocked! ANYWAY . . . the joy that has come out of this little group picture has been tenfold! We took pictures of her mom's family and her mother in law's family. Featured below is her mom's family, Marv and Lynette Herrema. I'm so happy I could help capture this family picture because this is truly what is important. Merry Christmas Marv and Lynette . . .

Seriously, I'm not even sure how to describe my reaction when this little number came in the mail! I laughed at this card for a good hour . . . .and laughed again when I took a picture of the card! I didn't design this . . .Derrick (dad) did. Isn't it awesome? I got so many cute pictures of this family I don't even know where to start to show them all off. This card and this family is the reason I cannot turn off my imagination for all the great ideas I have brewing for Christmas cards in 2009! I've been thinking about these pictures and jotting down ideas for more sessions . . . unique ideas with personality plus. This family TOTALLY has personality! And a great flair for design. Derrick . . . you and me baby . . . we need to get together! GREAT JOB! Merry Christmas to your family . . . (oh and if Grandma Brinkman is reading this little post . . . I LOVE LOVE LOVE your Christmas card! I totally cracked up when I opened it and started to giggle. Now I know where your son gets his humorous personality!)

This next card has a special story behind it even though it's very simple. I was walking into Michael's one day and ran into Vonnie (mom). She said, "Hey, do me a big favor . . . would you come to the chapel right before homecoming and take our family's picture? I might want to use it for our Christmas card because I'd love to do one with Savannah as the Sophomore princess." Sure! I ran into the chapel and had walked by that cross a million times, never thinking too much of it. Pretty. But suddenly I realized the very best picture would be IN FRONT of the cross! Good thing I had my wide angle lens on me. You probably wouldn't know this by just looking at this, but I am laying on the floor taking this picture. And better yet, my baseball cap I had on had to be turned backwards because I had to use a flash because the lighting was so pathetic in the chapel. Now, no big deal you are thinking, but anyone who knows Vonnie knows that she ALWAYS looks fabulous and I currently couldn't understand WHY I though wearing a baseball cap was a good idea! I learned that day that I will never wear a ball cap to shoot anyone ever again. It gets in the way. OK . . . so back to the special story. As I was getting people positioned, one of the boys' girlfriends was just hanging out waiting for the family to take the picture and be done. Vonnie calls her in and says, "Jodi, come get in this picture. You are part of our family. I'm so sick and tired of not being able to have you in my family pictures. Get in here!" I kid you not, those were her exact words. I filed that bit of information away and said . . . oh . . . a proposal must be on the way very shortly! It was just a few weeks later and Luke proposed in the most romantic way ever! Vonnie was actually so surprised and knew nothing about a proposal coming anytime at all so she was really happy when she realized our picture had Jodi in it and she could help announce their upcoming nuptials! Congratulations Luke and Jodi on your engagement and congratulations Savannah on your place on the 2008 CVC Homecoming court. Jace, next year it's all about you dude! PS - did you notice the rhinestone on the card . . .my signature

And last, but not least, another fabulous Christmas card. I've become good friends with Sheryl. She's been in my Bible Study Fellowship small group, she and her husband are high school youth leaders for my son, and she was one of my first models to help me build my portfolio outside of my own family! Sheryl took on the challenge of designing her own card and she did an AWESOME job! As soon as I got it in the mail, I called her on the phone giggling and jumping up and down . . . .I LOVED IT! There are several different layers of paper and it's gorgeous paper! Great font design too! Another great card that totally showed off everything I love to do! You did an awesome job designing this card Sheryl . . . I think you may possibly have a future side job kicking in!

And last but not least, my own Christmas card! After taking all the above cards, I was kinda nervous that my own creative juices for my card wouldn't flow at all. I took my kids out to picture them and all I did for the first 30 minutes was yell. I know, seriously hard to believe that I yelled. My kids are SSSSOOOO perfect! (and if you believe that then you must believe in Santa Claus too!) So as I was getting frustrated with them, the light, the everything, Hayden throws his little sister up on his shoulders. They've been practicing this for a few weeks and I'm quite certain Madalyn has had several concussions from it . .. and this was almost no exception, as you can tell. The outcome was good . . . no one got hurt. In fact, even though I wanted to choke them for doing this in the middle of the road without the landing pad they usually have, I was so glad they succeeded because I think I had a pretty cute card!

And of course, not rhinestone. I forgot! LOL!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!