Vicenta Turns 90 | Private Estate

What an honor it was to photograph this family in honor of Vicenta’s 90th birthday. This family was full of love and you could tell that Vicenta was a blessed woman. I love being able to take part in capturing such precious memories. Linette reached out to me with a lot of questions- she was doing her research! I gave her lots of details about what it is like for me to photograph an event for you. What I said was- I create the whole process from beginning to end to be what I would want in a photographer. That part is very important to me. Linette has the sweetest heart and just has a special light inside of her. It was a joy to work with her!

But this photoshoot got even better. After emailing back and forth with Linette we came to realize that I had photographed her brother’s wedding! It was so special to photograph Steph and Andy again! It felt so incredibly natural. This time their family had expanded to include a little fur child- Louis with his one blue eye and one brown.

To Vicenta and family- I hope that you love these pictures!

The Street Family | Marian Bear Park

I have been taking pictures of Ashley’s family since Kelsie was just a baby. Ashley and I worked together at the same elementary school and have had our babies at the same time two times in a row. In fact, our mom tribe formed naturally as 4 of us teachers became moms all around the same time. Since that time, our tribe has moved to different parts, gotten new jobs, and added more babies. I miss being able to see each other down the hall at work, but so blessed to call Ashley and the rest of our tribe friends.

Ashley, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

My Babies | Rosarito, Mexico

I am trying my hardest to be intentional about taking my girls out for pictures more often, because I know that this time is going to pass by so fast and I will regret every moment that I missed taking pictures of. Already my girls have grown so fast during this quarantine. Luckily, we decided to make a day of it and drive down to Rosarito and take some pictures of the girls. This spot was just less than half a mile away from where George and I got married. I feel like I could come to this place over and over again and it will always give me that special feeling. Also, I could just eat them both up- my beautiful babies!

Lucas Turns One | Balboa Park Family Portrait Shoot

Lucas’ Mommy is a fellow teacher, colleague, and much more- one of my close friends. We taught together on the same team for only two years, but in those two years we depended on each other ( and our team greatly) to be the best teachers possible to our students. It was such a joy to find out that Lucas was on the way when Linda was first pregnant. And although Covid has kept us from being together as often as I would like, I have a special love in my heart for him and am so blessed to be able to photograph him.

We started our day early in the morning- yes very early, 6:30 am- at Balboa Park and then made our way back to their house to shoot some traditional Korean One Year Pictures. Except for me accidentally popping the balloon at the end, the day felt like a success and Lucas did great.

Part 2

For Part 2 we headed back to their house and shot Lucas in a traditional Korean first birthday outfit. And look, he is still smiling even after going on the third hour of shooting. What a trooper!

Part 3

And lastly, we ended our shoot with a little cake smash!

Madison Is One! | Los Penasquitos Canyon

Sweet Madison! You are just barely beginning and yet your sweet heart and contagious smile as won so many over. You are literally the easiest baby ever to take pictures of and I am so grateful that I get to be the one to do it. Your mommy and daddy adore you and it is evident in the way the sweetly take care of you. You are a lucky girl to have such an amazing mommy and daddy! I hope that these pictures will be precious memories for years to come! Until next year Madison! :)

The Neslen Family at Presidio Park

The Neslen Family and I headed out to Presidio Park for their pictures. They are no stranger to my camera, we have taken pictures of them since they were a family of two. Their family has grown and so has our friendship over the years. Unlike my house full of girls, they have their hands full with three boys. It is so funny watching how different raising boys is from raising girls. Grace was calm as could be as the boys jumped, dove, fell, wrestled, ran and everything else that little boys do. I’m so glad that I could continue our tradition of taking pictures of their family as they grow.

The Acosta Family Portraits at Mission Trails

About 12 years ago I met Nena and her family for the first time on a mission’s trip down to Mexico. I had, of course, no idea how that trip would completely change the direction of my entire life. Just one of the countless ways that it changed was by binding my heart to my friend who has become more sister then friend. Fede and Nena are our children’s godparents, and truly love our daughter’s as their own. Those that have kids know that there is nothing greater than this that you can ask for in our friendship. They are also our pastors, our confidants, our encouragers, our “keeping it real” people, through the thick and thin they have stuck. I am so blessed to have this gift of friendship in my life.

I have taken pictures of Lesly and Aaron since Aaron was barely old enough to walk. Now, Lesly has just turned 15. It is sort of unbelievable how time flies by. And also, how my photography has improved, haha… when I was editing these pictures I was somewhat taken aback looking at how they have grown, almost adults themselves. Any parent will know that this is bittersweet. You want to pause moments, relive them- but you can’t. So we try to do these shoots as often as we can because in some way we are pausing the moment so that we can later relive it. This is a gift I can give and I can’t put into words how honored I feel to do so.

I am going to warn you ahead of time, I am going to overpost, I can’t help it.

The Papapietro Family at Presidio Park

This special family are no strangers to my blog- in fact, this fall I did pictures of Amanda’s family by themselves and Liz’s family by themselves. But I absolutely love that every year Katie, Amanda and Liz’s mom, makes it a priority to get them all together and do what I refer to as “the big family shoot”. It is always eventful- full of laughing, crying (mostly the toddler but sometimes the mom chasing the toddler lol), and lots of singing/dancing/yelling/hooting/anything to get the kids’ attention.

I love this family, each and everyone of them. I can’t imagine a single year where we don’t do this. I hope it never stops.

The Metcalfe Family Portraits at Mission Trails

Two days before Thanksgiving I got to take pictures of this sweet family! How fun to grow up in a family with 4 kids- you have constant built-in best friends! My little family of two seemed so small in comparison! Belle kept telling me that it was going to crazy with the kids, but they did really well. I live for this type of crazy. :) .

Mission Trails was the perfect spot, just what I was looking for! I have shot here before but for whatever reason this field wasn’t calling my name. It definitely was this time! The day was pretty overcast, following a few days of pretty intense rain- but there were a few moments throughout the shoot where the sun would start to peak through and give the sweet, warm glow that I can’t resist. We had talked about maybe going to two spots but we were loving this field so much that we ended up starting and finishing our shoot here.

Belle I hope you love your pictures and thank you for trusting me to take them! I hope this is the first of many!

The Chen Family Portraits at Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve

What a special day to see The Chen Family again... a few years ago now I shot their wedding and now to see them again with their family expanded by two was so sweet. When they first reached out to arrange a family portrait session we considered a few different options for the location. In the end we decided on Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. This was actually the first time I had shot here before but what I loved about it was the variety of different places to shoot. From wheat colored grass fields, to big sweeping oak trees, a creek with an old wooden bridge and trees areas that looked like they came straight from the fairy tale. But what I loved most of all was how easy it was to access all these spots. When you have two kids in strollers the walk has to be pretty easy. The weather was gorgeous and the kids were so sweet- that makes for some great pictures!

It means so much to me to continue shooting people’s pictures through every season of their life. It means that the relationships we have formed will continue to grown and I have the honor of being able to keep taking their pictures in each season of their life. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

The Yoshinaga Family Portraits at Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside

Wow, there is something about an old Mission that is just magical. You walk on and you immediately sense the sacredness of the place, a place where people come to worship and to take time away from their busy schedules to slow down, quiet down, and just listen. That is the feeling you get when you walk through the San Luis Rey Mission. Aside from its gorgeous architecture, there are so many hidden treasures throughout the property.

The Yoshinaga Family was the perfect fit for this spot. First, because they are crazy enough to be willing to drive up north, text message a million times with me to pick out the just right outfits, and never get too stressed out even when chasing down toddlers. I have taken this family pictures so many times that now it is a personal challenge to choose a new location each time that is completely different from any other location we have shot at. The mission was a completely new look and we all loved it. Their pictures are timeless, romantic, intimate, and just the right colors.

Amanda, thank you for always choosing me to capture these moments for you. Your friendship is so dear to me and watching your kids grow is a blessing. You are a warrior and just about the coolest mom around. Love you!