Family vacation at Camper's Paradise, Nevis MN

Camper's Paradise is a little island on a lake in Nevis Minnesota. My Dad started camping there when he was nine years old with 12 other kids in his boy scout troop. He's been going every year since with the same group and along the way everyone brings one or two new people. I went every single year from birth till I got married and moved out to CA. Well, we want to keep the tradition so Joey went last year for the first time. We just got back this morning for his second year. He loved it!! For those of you with kids...camping is a lot of work with kids but they LOVE it and will cherish this time as a family--so DO IT!! :)

I love this photo! I have a photo of my Dad holding me as a baby with a fish and Nick has a photo with his Dad and a fish...so here's Joey's picture with Dad and a fish! This is very Minnesotan!

Grandma and Joey fishing.

Grandpa took us for a boat ride on his pontoon.

"Why you keep looking at my butt?"
...(maybe cause your butt cheek is hanging out!)

Every year we have a big fish fry!

Here's our group photo this year! We are holding paper plates with names and faces for the people who weren't there this year. Long story...we missed you guys! Hopefully we see you next year!!!

Grandpa and Joey!

The perfect way to end a week of camping on an island!

family time at Dan and Deb's house...

Cool Chair!

Cool old truck!

Playing in the mud...Aaahhhh...the good old days!

Deb grows sunflower in her garden...tons of them!

Check out the mud pie on the ground--nice!

Daddy and Joey swinging in a tree swing!

Westlake Village Inn Wedding and Reception

Maria + Kyle

Westlake Village Inn

Firestone, Crossroads Estate Wedding

Stacey + Kevin

Flowers by Camille of Modern Day Design

Firestone, Crossroads Estate

Congratulations Stacey and Kevin!!

Joey 15 months...

So now that Joey can RUN, I think the best way to get a few shots of him is when he is strapped into a chair. So I gave him a nectarine to see what he'd do...he was able to eat the whole thing by himself with his 6 teeth. I had to cut him off when he tried to eat the pit. It was fun to watch him...plus it entertained him for about 15 minutes or so.

In front of the camera...

Ok, for all my photo friends out there that haven't been in front of the camera in a while--you should do it. Nick, Joey, and I had our portraits taken by one of my fav photographers Elizabeth Messina today. I gotta tell ya--I realized a lot. You know when you give your clients directions like "turn this way" and they do but not exactly the way you were thinking...yep I did that like a dozen times. And you know when you are shooting a family with a young child and it's hard to get the little munchkin looking into the camera and smiling at the same time so you tell the parents "keep looking at me and when the kids looking I'll take it" and the parents are always looking at the kid...yep that was me (like a dozen times). I gotta say--poor Elizabeth had her hands full with us.

And for all my clients and potential clients...I know what you go through before the shoot...the shopping and coordinating outfits (or trying to coordinate-in our case), the prep the day of, the hustle and bustle to get there on time and the wondering if your hair is like straight up when the wind blows...I felt it all. But the best feeling of all is trust---trust that your photographer rocks and that they are going to capture YOU and they'll be sure to keep an eye on your crazy hair too! :) When you have trust--you have the right photographer!

I can't wait to see the pics!

And to Elizabeth-thanks for putting up with us--you are awesome!

Camping with friends from church...

A couple weekends ago Nick, Joey and I went camping up at Refugio campgrounds with our friends from church. We had such a great time. For us, with our families so far away, it felt like a family gathering and it was nice. Check out all those kids!!

07-07-07

Gift from her soon to be husband!

Simpson House Inn has the cutest little cottages.
I love the way her dress looks just hanging there
waiting for her to wear it.

Love this shot of them walking out
right after the ceremony!

I love how one little girl can get so many adults to
stand in a circle and dance holding hands.

I realize now that I say the word "love" a lot...I think I said it 3 times in this post alone. Well, I guess that means I am in the right business right?!

Sharon & Bill's Welcome BBQ...

Simpson House Inn, Santa Barbara

Flowers by Camille at Modern Day Design

Rentals by Classic Party Rentals

Catering by Mondial

Cake by Crumb--made to look like Simpson House.
The couple's initials are SN and WE so they used
a compass as their theme...cute idea!!

I love how they put the kissing couple in the window!

After dinner they had an outdoor movie. It was the perfect night
for it-warm! Also, they had all the yummy movie theater treats!!

I just love these warm glowy night shots!
Lighting by Trevor at Bella Vista Lighting.

All of this was orchestrated by the great Zohe at
Events of Santa Barbara