Jamie + Kurt {China Camp Engagement Session, Sonoma County Engagement Photos, China Camp Photos}

I shot this engagement session several months ago during a very busy week and must have forgotten to share a few images!! I met Jamie and her super sweet Mother at the Santa Rosa Bridal Show back in January. They both were just so incredibly nice! I just knew that her Husband-to-be, Kurt just had to be equally as sweet of a guy, and my assumption was correct! You know I think everyone has a friend or knows someone who is just genuinely a ridiculously nice person. Well it looks like 2 of those people found each other! Jamie and Kurt are soft spoken yet their love for each other and their gentle kindness is not hidden what so ever.
When Jamie and I discussed locations for their engagement session she mentioned a location out in Marin County called China Camp. I had never heard of it before but was very excited to explore a new location. Apparently I've been living under a rock or something because this place was amazing! It's a State Park which is nestled along the shore of the San Pablo Bay. The road through the park has gorgeous views of the Bay. Along the main road there is an extensive intertidal salt marsh, meadow, and oak habitats. Apparently a Chinese shrimp-fishing village thrived on this site in the 1880s. Nearly 500 people, originally from Canton, China, lived in the village. In its "heyday" there were three general stores, a marine supply store and a barber shop. We didn't get to explore everything, not even close, but we did get a chance to use some of those old buildings as an amazing backdrop!
This location was so amazing and I hope to go back soon! Thank you to Kurt and Jamie for sharing this wonderful location with me!

Nicole + TJ {Geyser Peak Wedding, wine country wedding, rustic country wedding}

If this wedding is any indication of how the rest of "wedding season" is going to go then I am one very lucky photo geek! It helps that I'm in love with Nicole and TJ, they are so cute together! So many times at weddings the formalities and traditional "events" are just done by the couple going through the motions because they feel they have to do all the little traditional things like the garter toss, the dances, the cake, etc. But TJ and Niki lived it up! Each event was entertaining to watch. Simply because you could tell how much fun they were having! The groomsmen sang "You've lost that love and feeling" to Niki, the Groom sang 2 songs (one of which was R Kelly LOL!!) Their whole wedding was put together by the loving hands of friends and family, which I thought was a very loving touch! I can go on and on about how much fun I had yesterday! I couldn't wait to see the pictures (I know, shocking!) so I was up till 1 am uploading all of my memory cards onto the computer and getting them organized. Then I woke up this morning and started pulling out just a few of my favorites! and as you all know by now, my few is more like LOTS for a normal person! But, I'm not normal! so here are a FEW of my favorites from last night. *Fellow Photo Geeks, don't judge, some still need a little photoshop love but I don't care I just have to share them! There are many many many more to come but enjoy these while I work on the rest!

Mommy and Me {sunset photography, Mommy and Me photos, Mommy and me sunset, sonoma county family photographer}

I got home tonight from my Mommy and Me shoot with Mauri and Aidan and couldn't wait to upload the images. As I was going through them I was loving so many of them. This Mommy and son duo were just too cute for words! But I fell in love with a few images that I just had to post! So I skipped reading the book I got in the mail today by my favorite author so I could just post a few of my favorites! Keep in mind, besides converting a few to black and white these are straight out of the camera and still need some general touch ups but thought I would share them anyways!!

I fell in love with these 2 right away. Only because I think as a Mother its these two little things that get me every time. When your child doesn't just hold your hand because you tell them to but they reach their other hand over to hold on tighter just to be sure they have a good hold of you and then they just look up at you. It melts your heart. And then my other favorite is when they just have to flop their whole arm over your head so they can pull your face closer to them. It is just the best feeling in the world

This one made me laugh! I was asking Aidan to give me his best silly face, then his best mad face, and then I asked him to give me the face he gives to his girl friend and he gives me this wink! OOOh what a little lady killer!!!!


Mauri and Aidan were such troopers they climbed up a little hill and hung out with me until the sunset so I could try my hand at some silhouette pictures. Thanks to some great tips from a friend, Amy Salessi Photography and my beautiful assistant Ayrjia I was able to get some great shots! I love photography, its competitive but more than that is collaborative! It's artistic and creative. I wouldn't be where I am with my skill if it wasn't for my photography friends and their encouraging words and helpful tips!

Collin Rocco Bonomo {newborn photography, sonoma county newborn photographer}

So if you've followed my blog for awhile you probably feel like you know the Bonomo Family. If you haven't and are ever in need of some serious inspiration as parents you should check out Stephanie's blog www.kennedybonomo.blogspot.com It's like a good book you can't put down, grab a box of tissues, start from the very beginning, and get ready for a soul touching story.
The Bonomos just welcomed the birth of their son, Collin. I've been chomping at the bit to post more of these images!!! They received the announcements that I designed so that is my green light to post away!!!

Jen + Mike Engagement Session {sonoma county engagement photos, rustic engagement photos, green music center photos}

I'm not sure how but I forgot to post the images from the gorgeous soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Etimos!! I had several shoots that weekend so I must have skipped over the blog post on my checklist. I was going through my June wedding files and when I got to the Etimos file I noticed the engagement blog had not been checked off!! So better late than never.....

My baby turned 1 !!!!!!! {tea party 1st birthday, toddler tea party, 1st birthday, cake jars, italian soda bar}

So this day finally came! My baby girl turned 1! When my son turned 1 we planned his party theme around his nursery theme, Pooh Bear. Which happens to now be his favorite stuffed animal ever! So with Isabella we did the same. Her nursery theme is Alice and Wonderland so we went with a Tea Party theme. I worked with Kanga Crafts through etsy.com and had some amazing party decor made with pictures of Isabella! She made me photo-fetti, a photo name banner, cupcake toppers, stickers with her picture on them to top the cake jars, food and drink tags, a door sign, a center piece sign, and little party favor bags of skittles with a top with a cute picture of Isabella eating candy. I loved everything she made, it was amazing! She worked with me every step of the way too! Letting me have tons of input and always delivering just what I asked for!!!!! I had it in my mind that we'd do the party outside and hang these big puffy paper lanterns from the trees in my backyard and I was going to make these beautiful damask runners for all the tables to match the bright green trees. So I went to the fabric store and bought lots of fabric and thread. Then it hit me that I haven't sewn since I was 12! and well lets just say I'm not really anywhere near the age of 12, not by a long shot, I'm not even 12 backwards! Oh I wish I was though!!! Anyways, so I reached out to my Mother in Law's best friend, Pam Stafford and I brought her my material and she graciously made me the most beautiful table runners I've ever seen!!! Well this little tea party would not be complete with out a tea cup twirl skirt and #1 shirt for my little birthday girl!!! I ordered that on etsy from Lakin and Lila! I just LOVE etsy.
Then it was on to plan out the food and desert. Of course it would be hot gorgeous weather by June so I didn't want to make hot food, I wanted summery food like pasta salad, fruit, and maybe sandwiches or lots of summer-like finger foods. With wine, iced tea, and all that fun summery stuff. I had just come across my friend Elizabeth Kartchner's blog http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com (the most amazing woman with the best, most inspirational blog out there) and she had blogged about her birthday party and posted a few pictures of these cake jars that just looked amazing and she had an Italian soda bar!! What a great, fun, summer-like idea that I thought would go perfect with the tea party! Well the closer it got the gloomier and gloomier the weather looked! I had a little hope that in true Sonoma County weather fashion, I'd wake up and it would be 90 degrees outside...but instead I woke up to the easy up we put up the night before for the guests that wanted to escape the "kid fest" well that had been demolished by the nasty wind storm that took over our backyard!!! It was so bad the bars were bent to the point that we couldn't fold it back up! The sky wasn't just cloudy, it was dark grey and it was raining in my ears not on my head! Not fun! But the tea party must go on! So I strung up the lanterns in my tiny playroom and staggered the tables and turned my house into a maze! and after a trip to 2 different costcos and a trip to walmart my Mother in Law tracked down another easy up and we were back in business for our evacuee center! and wouldn't you know it by the end of the party the sun popped out it's little head! just in time for the kids to go running outside into the rain demolished backyard, now filled with snails and worms and piles and piles of mud and water puddles! wooo hooo! I guess the lesson is learned that you can't plan anything!!!
The one big hit though was the deserts. But I had no doubt that it wouldn't be! I had all the desert made by Carolyn at Your Sweet Expectations in Rohnert Park. She is only the best cake baker on the planet! ....and that's an understatement! don't believe me? try her out, I'll buy your cake if you don't like it! She's amazing! Her and my Mom have been besties since I was a toddler. So my Mom and I went to her bakery a couple nights before the party and helped her put together the smash cake and the cake jars. We made cake jars from carrot cake and her signature wicci frosting (whipped cream and cream cheese aka heaven times a million) and we did a dozen cake jars with chocolate cake and my Mom's (now Carolyn's) peanut butter frosting (I could eat this alone with just a spoon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) I also wanted to have a few red velvet and vanilla cupcakes so she whipped up a couple dozen of those as well. Let me just say, I had 2 dozen cake jars and 2 dozen cupcakes, maybe 25-30 guests and not one left over crumb! ok well I had 1 cake jar but that's because I hid it in the back of my fridge!!! and we ate it for breakfast!!! YUMMMMMM! Ok enough of me re-living Bella's wonderful day! Enjoy a few shots from her opening her presents the morning of her actual birthday and some of her party this past Saturday.

my son liked the baby stroller more than she did!


notice my son in the back ground playing with the candy he just stole from Isabella! But I's her party and she can cry if she wants to! Is'nt that how it goes??

my son and his buddies

So as I go through this journey as a Mom I start to connect the memories that I treasure from my childhood to the memories and opportunities I have to make memories for my own children. My son briefly attended Kindercare a couple half days a week so that he could enjoy a little social interaction and so Mommy could have some alone time with Isabella and maybe get some work done! With crazy wedding season here we decided to have someone come to the house and watch the kids 2 days a week so we had to trade in Aidan's pre-school in order to make that work. The biggest benefit we saw to Kindercare was the friends he made. Everyday that he'd go to school, the second we'd get there he'd look for Gio and Peegan (Keegan). Everytime I'd talk to him about his day he'd tell me all about Gio, Peegan and often Iby (Ivy). It didn't take me long to figure out which ones Gio and Peegan were! They were the other 2 little boys in the class that were just like Aidan!! Ivy was harder to spot. How to you picture what your son's first baby crush looks like?? I finally got to meet little Miss Ivy at a birthday party and she couldn't have been cuter! She reminds me of me when I was a little girl with white blonde hair always in french braided pig tails! She is a doll and always has her big brother in tow! I love it! Aidan will quickly be that older brother looking after his little sister!!!
Luckily since we've stopped taking Aidan to Kindercare we have been able to get Aidan together with Gio and Keegan at a couple Birthday parties. We invited the boys over for Isabella's Party and I was so delighted that they both were able to make it. I thought I'd post a cute picture I took of the 3 boys. Now if you have boys and they've hit the age of 3 you know how hard it is to get 1 3 year old boy to sit for a picture let alone 3 3year olds...ok no not just 3 year olds these are 3 boys of a very special, crazy, wild, active, rambunctious nature. So I thought I'd share the rare catch!

From left to right Gio, Keegan, and Aidan

Jenaye + Kyle {foxtail wedding, wedgewood wedding, Giants Fan Wedding, Double Tree Wedding Photos}

Jenaye and I have known each other for about 6 years now. We worked together at Best Buy! Wooo Wooo! It was such an honor to photograph Jenaye and Kyle's Wedding a couple weeks ago at Foxtail Golf Course in Rohnert Park. I had most of the images processed a week or so ago and had every intention of going through and picking out a few of my favorites and putting up a sneak peek post last week. Well, I GROSSLY under estimated the work it would be to put together an indoor tea party for my daughter's 1st Birthday. So I got slightly behind (to put it nicely) So I sat down today to pull aside my favorite images for a quick sneak peek before I uploaded the final gallery. Well that was next to impossible! I'm not sure if it was because I haven't blogged in awhile or if it's because I am getting worse at narrowing my choices down but I have never picked this many images for a post before and I CAN'T seem to narrow them down!! So this is basically a sneak peek of their album! LOL because I'm sure these and a handful of others will make the album!
Also I do have to add that this wedding went flawlessly! Not one single bump in the road. It was almost weird! Jenaye's dress had a seam come undone at the top but we got a sewing kit from Sue at Wedgewood and I sewed it back up. But really that wasn't even a big deal, it was one little loopty loop. I'm telling you this wedding was like a picture of perfection!!!
When I do my final consultation with my couples I usually work out a "putting the dress on time" and we work a timeline from there. It's very similar with all couples but with minor adjustments based on each couples desired outcome of images. In order to get all the shots you want we need to be sure to plan out the hours prior and directly after the ceremony just right in order to get all the images with out pressing you for time which will then make you nervous and stressed out. SOOOOO not my style! so I try to avoid that at all cost! Well let me tell you Jenaye wasn't just on time she was early! Because of that the entire timeline ran so smoothly and we had plenty of time to get the shots they wanted and plenty of time to just take our time through everything. It left everyone cool, calm and collected which I think proved beneficial in the images.






Now this picture needs a little explanation! So there we were in the Double Tree parking lot taking pictures of the ladies. I had finished up with the Bridesmaids so they went up to the room to gather their stuff, just as Jenaye, her Mom and I were walking back around to the front we noticed a big pick up truck drive through the parking lot covered in Giants decals. Knowing what huge Giants fans Kyle and Jenaye are (and that Kyle proposed to Jenaye at the Giants game) I immediately ran after the truck to the far end of the parking lot. He must have been dropping someone off at the airport shuttle!! He so kindly agreed to park his truck in the front of the hotel under the overhang in the shade for me so I could take a few shots of Jenaye with the truck! I had sooooo many fun ideas in mind but there was no way to execute any of them with out totally destroying her dress so we just took a few in front of the truck. I wish I would have gotten the guys name so I could call him for a "trash the dress" session!!! If anyone recognizes this truck tell the owner to send me an e mail!!!!!











OK Justin Beiber and any other super cute child star better watch out because this kid is gonna take over the world! Look at how cute he is!!!!!