Friday, February 10, 2012

a few things that made me smile | arizona children’s photographer

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    A few things I liked this past week

…Picking up film from the lab and seeing the expressions on the children’s faces in the photos taken by Keith at Gabby’s birthday party. Pure joy!

…My favorite photo of the week above (from the film referenced above!)

…A little ensemble Isabella would look so pretty wearing

…Miss Gabby would complement her sister perfectly in this beautiful dress

…The most used craft supply in our house this week, hands down! (the kids used lots of pastels, love and color making Keith’s birthday cards)

…A cool Valentine handout that I’ve been meaning to do for years!

…Gabby’s new pop-up book

…My new favorite cupcake!

…Love this e-zine (and love that they use photography in all sorts of cool places!)

Happy Weekend!

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

traveling in the land of life | family travel | portrait photographer arizona

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Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! Albert Einstein

With the 2-Day Paris Photography Workshop official, we needed a few photos from the archives to use in our blog post. As we poured over all the beautiful photos Keith has taken in Paris, I started to reminisce.

The last time we were in Paris, I was pregnant with Isabella – exactly 8 years ago this month. The above picture takes me right back to that trip.

When we originally made our plans to travel, we did not know that I was pregnant. Imagine the idea of traveling to a city famous for its mouth watering cheese and amazing wine and not being able to take advantage? Anyone who knows me, knows I couldn’t resist completely. (I did cheat a bit and Isabella turned out perfectly fine!)

Conveniently enough, France is also the land of homemade crepes, buttery croissants, fresh baked baguettes and drop dead gorgeous patisseries. Pregnant in Paris turned out to be my excuse to say yes to every single food that looked delicious.

I showed this picture to Isabella and she said “Oh yeah, I remember that”. Isabella is convinced that she was able to peek through my belly button and be a tourist in utero. Asked if she’s ever been to France, her answer is a convincing “yes!”. To her, the fact that she traveled in my belly to a far away land means she was there, she remembers!

I love her imagination. I love magical thinking. I love her conviction that she has traveled to far away places. The land of life is beautiful.

Apparently she had a pretty good view.

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Friday, February 3, 2012

2 Day Photography Workshop in Paris | destination portrait photographer

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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

our baby turns 5 | scottsdale birth photographer

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So hard to believe that our youngest daughter is 5.

I just asked Keith, “what do you love most about Gabby?”. His answer, “What I love most about her is what drives me the most crazy!”. She is not wishy washy, she is passionate, she is full of extremes – and most of them will melt your heart. She is full of hugs, and laughs, and tears. She wears her emotion on her sleeve and is just so honest and precious, caring and loving and frustrating all at the same time. She is just so lovable.

When I was snuggling with her this morning in bed, I was laying there thinking about what I love most about her.

I just love her.

I love everything about her. She is priceless in so many ways. There are times I wish we could just squeeze our kids and not them go and hope they stay exactly the same: beautiful, sensitive, intelligent, sweet little girls.

Happy Birthday Gabby.

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Monday, January 30, 2012

henry’s hope | scottsdale children’s photographer

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I love my kids more than anything else in the whole wide world, but every once in awhile I feel overwhelmed raising them. There are times when I am impatient or tired or think life is challenging. But then I try to put it all in perspective and realize that these frustrating moments are fleeting, just growing pains for Keith and I as parents and Isabella and Gabby as kids. This is stuff every parent goes through at one time or another. And some parents go through so much more.

A recent email reminds me of how lucky we are. These tiny little blips in our family life are so inconsequential to what some family’s grapple with on a daily basis.

A few years ago, Keith arrived at a family portrait session – 3 children and their parents. The kids were just adorable. As he was having fun photographing them – the parents mentioned that their little one, Henry had a debilitating condition called mitochondrial disease. The little guy could not eat solid food – he was fed through a feeding tube. “In his first three years, Henry had 12 surgeries and procedures, dozens of diagnostic exams, over one hundred doctors’ appointments (with over a dozen specialists), hundreds of physical therapy sessions, taken several medicines, and the list goes on. And, of course, he had (and has) gear. He has a feeding pump, a nebulizer, feeding tubes and other stuff, an IV pole, bags that depressurize his stomach, a back pack to carry his pump, leg braces, and . . . . You get the picture.”

That’s about the time Keith took the above photo of Henry.

Since that time, Henry’s older brother has also been diagnosed with the same disease. Yet somehow, the parents have found the strength to start a foundation called Henry’s Hope, adopt another child (2 of Henry’s siblings are adopted), write a book called Three Candles and help other family’s with children that have life-threatening conditions.

The email was from Henry’s dad – just keeping us up to date on the family and sending us a link to the Three Candles website.

Talk about putting it all into perspective.

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