Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok so I am a little late getting these Thanksgiving pictures up but for the past two days there has not been very many moments in the day where I did not have a Turkey leg in one hand and a slice of apple pie in the other. In fact, I am typing right now with one finger as I shove an oatmeal cranberry cookie into my mouth.

This is the second year that we have hosted Thanksgiving day dinner and did all the cooking from scratch. It always makes me feel like such a grown up! This year we got even better at perfecting the meal and did much better at timing everything to be ready at the same time. This is also the day I put my perfectionist tendencies aside and let the kids dive in and get dirty in the kitchen, and boy do they get dirty!

After our bellies were full we brought out all the boxes of decorations and gave our house a Christmas makeover. We have been in Hawaii for five years and I still feel so weird putting up a tree when it is 85 degrees outside. I have to blast the air conditioner and brew hot chocolate to help set the mood!

I think I might be getting used to it though because I am really in the Christmas spirit this year!

Friday, I braved the crowds of Black Friday shoppers and got most of my Christmas shopping finished. It was a long day, but I felt very accomplished when I got home and massaged my sore little piggies. Now I have the tedious job of wrapping!

The Nifty Fifty

I have had the 50mm 1.4 lens on my wish list for quite some time, and yesterday I finally got this little gem in the mail. I could not wait to get out and play with it. So I rallied up my four favorite models...my beautiful blonde hair blue eyed children and hit the park for some shots! This piece of glass just rose to the top of my favs list! I love the crisp detail I can get with this lens. Having the worlds cutest kids certainly helps, but take a look at what this lens can do!

It's all about the shoes...

I had a blast the other night with a fun couple of three years who had spunk from the inside all the way down to their shoes! It turns out that Tony is a collector of the sneaker. His shoe collection goes well into the double digits and are stacked neatly in boxes in his closet. We only teased him a little bit about having more shoes then most girls.

It was not only the shoes that made this couple great though. We had a blast capturing fun shots and trying out some new poses. As you can see Cherri is drop dead gorgeous and made my job way to easy. I think I might start frequenting the restaurant they work at just so I can hang out with them again. I also have a big crush on one of the bartenders there.....and so I married him!


Thanks Cherri and Tony for being so laid back and climbing all those rocks in your fancy shoes:)

Jack and Joy

It was the perfect day,  for an intimate wedding,  on a perfect beach in Paradise.  On this day as the sun was setting Jack Crabtree and Joy Bayle pledged their lives to one another.  You could feel the love in the air as they exchanged their personal vows to the sound of the crashing of waves on the shore.  It was intimate, It was personal, It was perfect!

The Guzman Five!

A few months ago I got a call from a past client who needed donations for the Island Pacific Academy annual school fundraiser.  They were having a silent auction to raise money for the school and I was more then happy to donate a free family package and sitting.  Their annual event held at the Marriott Resort in Ko Olina was a huge success!  The Guzman family took the highest bid on my silent auction package, (which in my opinion happened to be the best prize) well maybe second to the year of free orthodontic care donated by a local dentist.  At any rate it was a pleasure to meet the Guzman's and their three boys.  However I am pretty sure their oldest son Ben would have much rather got wrestled down and had braces glued to his teeth then have to pose in front of my camera.  Although as much as he did not want to admit it,  I think even he had fun and cracked a smile to show off his pearly whites.  Thank you Guzman family for a fun evening.  I hope you win again next year!

Happy Halloween!

It feels like I just blinked once and summer was over and we are rounding the corner on Halloween!  Where does the time go?  My kids are all getting very excited about all the Halloween activities and most of all the obnoxious amounts of CANDY!  With four kids trick or treating we end up with enough candy to build a small island by the end of the night.  Londyn has mastered the fine art of being so cute that she can stick her hand out for seconds at every house and they never turn her down.  We are going to be in trouble with the one.  She is only two and already knows all she can achieve by battering her beautiful blue eyes.

Last weekend I took on quite the adventure and hauled all my kids to the Polynesian Cultural Center for a full day....in the RAIN.  We are not talking about a little sprinkle of rain.  We are talking about cats and dogs falling from the sky and splashing up in our face RAIN.  The kids had a blast, and I being the great mom that I am, I endured!  The whole purpose of the trip was to go on the new haunted boat ride they are hosting at night.  So after sludging though 6 hours  in the rain it was finally time to get in the hour long line up for the boat.  SO here we are with 4 kids, 1 hour long line up, still raining, but maybe even a little bit harder by this point......It just gets better and better!  So we finally make it onto the boat which at this point has a foot of water floating in the bottom.  The kids are  bumping the people in front of them with their umbrellas and they are in return glaring me down.  I better be getting mother of the year for this!  So the boat ride starts and I have to say it was scarier then I thought it would be.  Not so much for me but I had two screaming children with their heads berried in my chest begging me to turn around.  Did I mention that this was about two minutes into a 25 minute ride.  I should also mention that the two ladies in front of me that had been whacked by my children's umbrella several times were just loving me even more then ever now.  There were monsters jumping out and grabbing us from the water, a guy chasing us with a chain saw, ghosts walking on water.  My two youngest kids were crying hysterically!  Just when I think I finally got them calmed down and let them know that it was all just pretend two zombies come out of the grave yard grab one of the patrons (who was obviously planted) off the boat kicking a screaming, drug her into the woods and began to pretend to chop her with the axe.  Yes this is the point where MY KIDS COMPLETELY LOST IT!  So here we are on a scary boat, in the dark, in the  pouring down rain, soak and wet with our feet floating in a foot of water, two kids trying to crawl back into my womb where they can be nice and safe, two old women glaring at me, my other two girls wanting more, and me clicking my heels together chanting "please take me home!  Please take me home!"  The ride finally came to and end and I carried the kids to the car, each weighing an extra ten pounds in wet clothes.  We got to the car, rang out our clothes, (literally) and  went through the McDonald's drive through for the second time in one day.  Maybe I do not deserve mother of the year after all.  Moral of the story:  Next time you look out your window and it is raining cats and dogs,  turn around, pull those covers back, and get back in bed!

Happy Halloween!

The Mennuti Family

Here is the first family to take advantage of my October special and get a free 10x10 album of their entire session!  These fellow vacationers had a great time exploring the beaches of Ko Olina.  I love it when a family starts off really camera shy and end up like this:

• only a few more weeks to take advantage of the October special.  Book your session today!

Early Bird Special!!!

Can you believe it is almost that time of year again?  Christmas is just around the corner!  I would love to say that I am one of those people who get all their Christmas shopping done throughout the year and does not wait until the very last minute.  I would love it if I did not have to admit to sending out my Christmas cards  well after Christmas , if at all.  It would be great if I would buy Christmas decorations when they are 75% off at the end of season instead of paying FULL PRICE the next year!  However I am just not that organized:(

So as incentive to all those fellow procrastinators out there, or an added bonus for you organized folks, I am running a special for the month of October.  Anyone who books a family shoot during the month of October and purchases a copyright CD will receive a 10x10 hard cover album for FREE!  I will also have a draw for 3 lucky families to win 25 free photo Christmas cards!  

So what are you waiting for?  Book your session today!