All vacations have to come to an end:(

I knew my vacation would go fast, but boy did it fly by!  It is just a blur of fun, wine, and shopping  bags!  I have had such a great time in Georgia and Vanessa and her family really know how to make a girl feel special.  They bring Southern hospitality to a whole new level.  Her mom gives the sweetest most genuine hugs, and her dad makes the best BBQ this side of the Mississippi!  He calls it a labor of love as he stays up all night making it just right.  All this great cooking is going to have me doing a labor of my own....on the treadmil.  Vanessa and I have had way to many late night girl chats.  Each night we swore we would go to bed early but then are lips would start yaking and next thing you know we were heading to bed when the roosters were about to crow.  That did not stop us from getting up bright and early to hit the stores.  Oh no sir-eee!  We shopped like rock stars!  We shopped so much that I had to buy an extra suit case, and I shipped a 70 pound box at the post office today.  Carried that darn thing in there myself I did.  Here that Georgia accent coming out there?  I have been perfecting that while I am here as well.  One thing that I have enjoyed the most while I was here are her two sweet kids who have grown up so much in the last year.  I had Tyler wrapped around my finger after I smoked him in a pizza eating contest.  OK yes the contest was my idea, in an attempt to eat disgusting amounts of pizza without feeling guilty, but what ever works right?  Ava was a little harder to warm up  but luckily she is a women after my own heart and you can win her over with gifts and bubble gum!  You can be assured that I did not leave the great state of Georgia without getting these little cuties in front of my lens.  Check out how much fun we had:

Thanks Vanessa for a great trip!  I love you and miss you already:( 

Take time to smell the ocean

Well in a few short hours I will be hopping on a plain to go visit my best friend in Georgia.  Normally the days fly by,  but when you are brimming with anticipation the minutes seem to just barley tick by.  Although I will miss waking up in the morning and seeing Londyn's baby blues, Corben's bed head, Addison's nonstop chatter that begins the moment her eyes open, and Camryn's toothless grin, I am quite excited to be able to slip away to the bathroom without anyone needing me or barging in.  8 days of having no one to look out for but myself and my shopping bags.  8 days of late night chats, good food and good shopping!  I am sure the time will fly by and before you know it I will be brimming with antisipation to come home to Londyn's baby blues, Corben's bed head, Addison's nonstop chatter, and Camryn's toothless grin.  Huge kudos goes out to my husband Ben for being the awesome guy that he is and letting me go while I leave my precious cargo in very capable hands.

You would have thought I'd spent my last night home busy packing, but when I got a last minute call I decided to squeeze in one more photo shoot.  I am so glad I did because I got to spend the evening with this amazing family.  They are visiting from California and enjoying each other's company on the North Shore.  I would say that they are relaxing but I am not sure there is much relaxing going on while chasing after twin 16 month olds.  I can't think of a better place for those little feet to run then on the beach of the North Shore, can you?  Here are some of my favorite shots from the evening.

Is it fair to have this many gorgeous people in one family?

This past week I had the pleasure of shooting one of the best looking family I have ever seen. What makes them even more special is that they are just as gorgeous on the inside as they are on the out!

I have known Mike Kai for a couple years now as he is the pastor of my church at Hope Chapel West Oahu. So as you can imagine I was thrilled to shoot Mike's extended family who were visiting from all over the place. It was a joy to see this family interact with each other. They are Fun with a capital F!


Check out some of the pics from our session:

The Kai Family

The grandparents with all the grandkids!

Mike, his beautiful wife Lisa, and two girls

Can she get any cuter??

These eyes are increadible

The next two girls look like twins

Mike's oldest daughter

father and son hamming it up for the camera

Mike with his siblings

even as adults they like to harass their sister

precious

A big Mahalo to the Kai family for being so fun and fabulous!

I need more hours in a day

My to-do list is getting awful long these days.  I have many pictures to blog about but there are just not enough hours in a day.  We are once again amongst moving boxes, and have started hauling all our belonging to our new house.  I would love to just fast forward about a week and be all done and settled in. 

 I am also leaving on a trip to Georgia in two weeks.  It will be a much welcome holiday.  Ben and the kids will be holding down the fort while I soak up every moment with one of my best friends.  She used to live in Hawaii but when her husband was sent on a 15 month deployment she decided to move close to her family and I think she took a piece of my heart with her.  I am very excited to see her and her kids again.  I am also counting down the days to be reunited with my long lost love.  AKA Target!  

I had the pleasure of shooting a great traditional Hawaiian wedding yesterday.  I will be posting pictures as soon as I can find the time to edit them.  I am excited to get to them and relive all the happy moments of the day.  One of my favorites was the releasing of 16 white doves!  It was beautiful!

Well I have more boxes to get to but I just wanted to touch base and let you know that I have not forgotten about all you and you are definitely very close to the top of my to do list!

Start the countdown

Yesterday I got to enjoy a great Hawaiian sunset with a great couple.  I met Chandie and Ty at Starbucks about a month ago and we instantly clicked.  The countdown is on to their September 23rd wedding date.  10 more days!  I shot their engagement session yesterday, and here are a few of my favorite shots.  They both grew up on the island and I really think we captured that great island vibe, Mahalo to you both!

It's a nice day for a White wedding!

It was another perfect day in Paradise, but for Tommy and Becca the sun shown just a little bit brighter than usual. This was the day that these two high school sweethearts pledged their love and lives to one another.  On this day, August 2nd, 2008 they became Mr and Mrs White!

I had the pleasure of working with the White family two years ago when Tommy's older brother Willie got married and can I just say that this family knows how to throw a party!  From the sushi bar to the beautiful cake, not a detail was left out!  Here is a sneak peek to their pics:

                                           The Church

The Dress

The Gorgeous Bride

The Beautiful Cake

The Fabulous Wedding Party

The Love

Mr & Mrs White!

AlyssaPix Blog

I uploaded this blog months ago but have never gotten around to actually using it.  I have had a very busy summer full of weddings,  family shoots, camping trips, and a few runs to the water park.  The kids are just starting a new year of school and I thought this would be the prefect time to commit to this blog.  I am excited about all the new things I have planned for AlyssaPix this year, and I am kicking it  off with the launch of my new website!

www.alyssapix.com

Check it out when you get a chance.  I would love to hear feedback!