Jesse in Orange Park

I just met up with Jesse at her home in Orange Park Acres for her senior session. Wow! Gorgeous house! That whole area is so nice and pretty, an made for lots of great spots to shoot.

Jesse, your sweet and carefree personality was so fun to capture!

And of course, she busted out some model moments too!

She loves music, so here she is enjoying some tunes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

To view the rest of Jesse's session on our proofing site, click HERE.

"Tear drops on laminate"

As I sit here eating my Jack in the Box "oh so naughty" cheeseburger and fries at 8:30 (I had a shoot, drove straight home to put my kiddos to bed, and so now I'm finally eating). Anyway, I realized something... I have been kind of MIA on this blog. Now I know Sarah the photographer has been here a lot in terms of showing you recent shoots, but I, Sarah- the mommy, wife, friend & girl hasn't been here. And don't get me wrong, my photography is such a huge part of me that it IS me in so many ways, but then again it's not in so many others... does that make any sense??

But about a month ago I had a rather large run in with my "girl" side that I swore to myself I'd document on my blog, but I haven't... so tonight I will.

So going back to a month ago as we were moving out of our condo... Derek and I bought our place back in the beginning of '06. It was a decent condo that we spent LOTS of time, energy and money on to fix it up, but it was time to move for many reasons...1 being that Raylee could only sleep in a bathroom for so long before she started to notice. :) It was just a little 2 bedroom place and Jackson couldn't handle the responsibility of sharing a room, so she ended up in the bathroom every night. And our business had grown WAY out of it's little corner of the living room over the last 3 1/2 years; but I am on a rabbit trail.... so I will now meander back to my girl moment story...

One night Derek was moving stuff, and most rooms were pretty empty so I decided to start sweeping the floors. As I was just mindlessly staring down at the dark brown laminate I started having these flashbacks of significant things that had happened on each spot I swept over. As I swept in the kids room I remembered what it was like to paint the room blue in anticipation of Jackson being born, and then watching Derek learn to change diapers in that room, and then to sweep over the corner of the room where Jack would so often play with his cars... I started getting a little emotional. What the hey? I am not really a crier, but wow was I fighting the tears at this point!

I moved to the living room where I swept over the corner that we put our Christmas tree in the first year we lived there. I laughed thinking about how adorable Jackson was at that age, and I smiled as I swept over the area where our coffee table was and thought of the countless times we'd shared time with friends over dessert or a game on that table. As I swept by the fireplace the tears started sliding down my face a bit because I pictured that proud look on both of my babies faces that first time they figured out how to climb up that one step to sit on the hearth. Oh they are so cute!

Here they are having a moving day picnic.

But as I started sweeping the area between the living and dining areas the tears really started to flow because that is the spot that Derek and I had the joy of watching both Jackson and Raylee learn how to walk. Why was a baby all stumbly and uncoordinated SO incredibly precious?!? Because it was my little ones all stumbly and uncoordinated, and it hit me as I was now not just sweeping the floor, but mopping it a bit with my dropped tears, that I was really sad to be moving. This little place had really become our home. We brought both our kids home from the hospital there, we watched them learn to walk and talk, We grew our business out of the little desk in the corner, and we shared 3 of our 5 married Christmas's there.

Whew! I'm getting a little emotional again just thinking about all this. Amazing how a place can hold so much, yet mean so little when it really comes down to it.

We now live in a new place, and we'll probably live in many more "homes" as a family, but none will hold the same emotion as the first place Derek and I made a home. Thankfully though, all the joy, excitement, sorrow, laughter, hope, and love we experience as a family comes with us to each new place we call home.

Here we are all tired and disheveled in front our our little condo.

Water park fun and a day at the Fair...

Kids these days are so lucky; when I was a kid all we had was Slip n' Slide; not to knock "You run, you slide, you hit the jump and take a dive!", but water parks like these are WAY cooler. Sarah and I were watching our niece and nephew for the day, so we decided to cruise on down to Pioneer Park in Tustin to enjoy a little water park action. And let me tell you, there was some Double Black Diamond photography going on that day with all the fountains spraying all over the place!

Our nephew, Everett, was loving the little drips coming off the water guns.

Kate got a little chilly and decided to hang back at the base camp.

And as usual, most of my time was spent chasing around The Flash. Raylee LOVED the fountains and had no fear all day!

I love this shot! Randomly the fountains would go off, so one minute I'd be standing there and then next I'd be running for my dear camera's life! I probably looked crazy taking our pro

camera out in the splash zone.

Can you tell who had the most fun?

The next weekend we took the kids to the OC Fair. After running to the bike shop to get a new tube for the flat tire on our stroller, AFTER we had already gotten the kids all packed up in it (yeah, lots of fun), we hit up a few rides. This is Jackson's first roller coaster ride and he was lovin' it!

Next it was time for some Father/Son super-slide action!

We took a few minutes to chill while waiting for the Alaskan Pig Races too begin; Jackson, as usual, was playing with his balloon.

AND....THEY'RE OFF!!!

Look at these thoroughbreds- such beautiful form!

Lastly, we went over to the Fine Arts Building to go find a few pictures that Sarah had entered into the photo contest. (she's pretending not to notice that I am posting about this right now) She won second place in her category- Babe, I'm proud of you!

Here's the award winner: One of our friends' homes burned down in the Yorba Linda fires last fall. We helped him sift through the ash and rubble to see if anything was left. We came across this picture of I think his great-grandmother, burried under who knows what of ashes. It's amazing how everything except for her face was burned.

We shot at one of our weddings last year.

Happy Monday!

Budding Artist.

I have recently had the honor of getting to know Jessica a bit because of our shared interest in photography. She contacted me about "mentoring" her as she begins her photo career. I was so flattered!! It's been a new experience for me, but it's been really fun to share and teach a bit. She is a budding artist with a great excitement and love for what she is doing.

Jessica also wanted some new images for her website she is building, so of course I was happy to shoot the session for her.

Meet Jessica.

Meet Jessica's camera. and my fav shot of the day.

And meet Scott, her hubby.

So cute!

my other fav of the day.

Jessica & Scott- It was so fun hanging with you guys, and Jess- yes, you are photogenic!! :)

TO view the rest of Jessica's fab session, click HERE.

Morgan's Senior Sesh'

I met up wtih Morgan the other day for her Senior session. She is such sweetheart and has a completely original and fun style, which made the Lab the perfect place for her session. It's been a popular choice lately, but it does have so much variety!

Here's a little peak from Morgan's "Pretty Sweet" session...

Having some fun with my new lens!

Great shot of her!

If you are interested in our Senior Sessions click here to get more info.

And to view the rest of Morgan's sesh on our proofing site, click HERE!

Vanessa at the Mission Inn

Wow! What a gorgeous location! We met up with Vanessa and her mom for her senior session at the Mission Inn in Riverside, and there was NO shortage of awesome places to shoot!

Here are some of my favs...

So pretty...

I really liked this hallway.

How cool is this place? Kinda feels like you are in Europe huh?

Derek grabbed this great shot just outside the Inn.

Happy Monday!

To view the rest od Vanessa's session, click HERE!

Blessed!

I've been wanting to share this all weekend but haven't had a second. On Friday we got a sweet delivery from one of my friends and clients... Mandi. She brought us over a gift basket full of our "favorite things" (some things she read in our about us section) to say thank you for a shoot we had done for her. Seriously... who cries over bacon, ice cream, Starbucks cards, car wash coupons and bracelets? Me! It was SO incredibly kind and thoughtful of her to

put this together for us!

Blantons, you made my day in a big way with your kind words, and thoughtful gift!!

Love you guys tons!!