Meet Baby Levi…just the sweetest little man.  To tattle on myself on how bad I am at blogging this summer, Levi is headed for four months now!!  Yeesh!!  Ok, so when you have little ones at home in the summer they tend to take precedence…add on top of that my crazy May weddings and a month long road trip!!

So, Levi’s mama is one of my oldest friends, let me clarify she isn’t old but our friendship is.  It is such a sweet blessing to reconnect with old friends (and no we didn’t reconnect on facebook, it was an ancient thing called a telephone!).  Well, this mama is blessed beyond measure, her husband is one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met with a huge heart and they are raising three amazing boys.  I just love this family!!  So, honored that they had me photograph there pumpkin!!

I have five more newborns to blog after this including the most darling twin girls, so if you are needing a baby fix, you’ll definitely be getting it!!

Exhausted from our shoot, no doubt.

I love shots with Daddy kisses…

How amazing does C look after having baby number 3?!  Lucky girl.

Family of five…love family bed pictures!

Thanks for being so patient with me C & K!!  Can’t wait to see how big Levi is now!!

Blessings!

Janelle

Honestly, I don’t feel that my camera can capture the beauty and breathtaking wonder of this remarkable creation.  The Coastal Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world.  When you look up at them it is almost dizzying as they seem to touch the clouds.  The canopy from these trees allows little light to pass through them and even when the sun is shining it is this soft beautiful light that filters down.  We spent the first several days with clouds and a few sprinkles, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying our surroundings.  The kids enjoyed the fabulous junior ranger program that is available at a lot of the California State Parks.  They did nature walks, campfires and fun projects like making animal tracks.

The Eel River runs along the opposite side of the Avenue of the Giants from our camp and we were able to drive down to the river and have some fun the last day we were there.  The water was a little chilly for me, but didn’t stop the kids (or hubby).  The weather that day was absolutely perfect.  We enjoyed our week in the Redwoods immensely…really hoping we can convince our extended family to join us one of these summers!!

One little side note…after we left Santa Cruz we decided to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  The only problem is when you are vacation you forget days of the week…who goes through San Francisco with an Excursion & trailer on a Friday, well we do.  Tack on two hours to our drive…it’s all about the adventure!!

Cool view, but not sure we’ll go back through on a Friday - Ha!

Daddy got right to work with a fort!

Gage was out collecting a stick for the fort…gives you an idea of the greatness of these monstrous trees.

I have very few pictures of me and my kiddos, so this was sweet of my hubby to capture.  {love}

I have a picture from three years ago of Gage & Sadie on this same bridge…

Yea…for a tire swing under the bridge…score for kids!!!

Avenue of the Giants…AMAZING!!  Our camp was just around the next bend.

The Eel River

Love the Bob the Builder towel…#1 Daddy!!

One more post tomorrow as we made our way to our sweet friends in Oregon!!

Blessings!

Janelle

I can’t believe that summer is already starting to wind down.  I am happy to say that we had an AMAZING three week road trip with our family and are back in the hot (& muggy) Southwest.  Ugh.

Every time we are up in the Northwest we try and figure out how we could live there…it wouldn’t work out now, maybe one day.  So, for now we will just keep visiting!!

So, here was the itinerary for our family fun…LEAVE the HEAT!!

Our first camping spot was in Santa Cruz, California at New Brighton State Beach.  It really is amazing how you can be up in the pines (right off of the freeway mind you) and walk down to the ocean.  The temperature was a little chillier than we expected (I guess I just couldn’t wrap my mind around anything cool with all the heat at home…I only packed one sweatshirt).  The kids didn’t mind the chill in the air…as they ventured out into the water.  I however, stayed put on the beach!!  We spent some time at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk as well, which was a great time.  It was especially fun for me to remember being a kid at this same place!!  Here are a few pictures of our Santa Cruz fun (and no these aren’t edited…most of them are with our handy dandy point & shoot - Ha!)!

This was the campground over looking the ocean…

The beach right below us…(on a side note, this is a very steep hill and I forgot there were 100+ stairs at the bottom that my poor husband had to go up & down with the double jogger stroller!  Oops!)

Goofy kiddos

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

My husband looks really intense about his fire…

There were lots of amazing climbing trees at our camp

Sweet Gunnar… :)  He couldn’t help, but stick anything and everything in his mouth when he was put down…I think on the beach he ate several handfuls of sand…yum!

Tomorrow…The AMAZING Redwoods!!  Seriously, the camera can’t even capture what we saw, just breathtaking!!

Blessings!

Janelle

I am so excited for Cheryl & Patrick to welcome TWIN GIRLS in the early fall.  They are two of the sweetest, kind and genuine people I know.  They are going to be amazing parents!!  I have photographed Cheryl several times as she is one of the Dollies at DollyRockers (and my Gracie’s hairdresser, for those of you that love her sweet bob, Cheryl is responsible for that!).  I have never seen Cheryl so relaxed in front of the camera…she exemplifies the true pregnancy glow…you can see it all over her face.  Pregnancy just plain looks good on her! 

I loved her ideas for their maternity session…I have to say my favorite set of pictures was at the end in the pool!!  So, fun.

Cheryl you look absolutely AMAZING…I can’t believe you are having TWINS!!!

We joked that this next shot looked like they were at a small cafe in Italy…Thanks to Cheryl’s sweet client, Nicole for opening up her home for us to shoot…it was stunning.

Love.

I’m a little jealous of this next shot…one of my most favorite family shots ever.

Favorite.

Can’t wait to meet these precious girls!!  So, happy for your growing family!!

Blessings!

Janelle

This spring was crazy with weddings.  In May alone I shot three of my own weddings and second shot three for Erin.  I don’t recommend shooting SIX weddings in a month, but amazingly it was SO MUCH fun and I survived!!  (Side note…shooting most of these six with one of your best friends makes it super fun too)

Ashley & Anthony have been waiting for this day a long time and I was honored to be able to capture their amazing day.  My sweet friend, Amanda, who is married to Anthony’s cousin, Jon told Ashley that she had a friend (me) that she thought would be perfect for her wedding day.  Well, as soon as Ashley and I chatted on the phone it was a perfect fit for us both.  Ashley & Anthony were both so relaxed about the wedding and just so excited to share this day with their family and friends.  It was warm outside that day and I was a little concerned about it, but everyone was super troopers!!

A special thanks to my sweet friend, Doni who shot with me, I was so thankful to have you with me!

The wedding ceremony was at the gorgeous Highlands Church in Scottsdale.

Ashley & her girls were so fun just laughing and enjoying her special day

Ashley & Anthony chose to have a first look, I love the next series of them seeing each other privately for the first time…

I always love the way a groom looks as his bride is coming down the aisle

Ashley’s ring really came out of a Cracker Jax box…Ha!

Wedding Party

Lookin’ good Mr. Hatch

Ashley told me she wasn’t very photogenic, but I beg to differ…Ashley, you look amazing.

Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Hatch

One of my favorites from the day

The reception was held at the Monterra at Westworld and it was beautiful…this was Ashley & Anthony getting in the stretched Hummer to get there…

Gorgeous cake made my Anthony’s cousin, Jen Hatch…while this cake looked amazing…everyone was gushing about how it tasted!!

Ashley’s brother who also happens to be the Best Man, that’s right, Anthony did not follow the rule of not dating your best friend’s sister - Ha, did the funniest rap for part of his toast…

Ashley & her dad

Anthony & his mom

A big thank you to DJ Mark Sanchez, he had so many fun things happening through the night and kept the music rocking!

Ashley & Anthony many blessings as you begin your new adventure together.  I was honored to share in your day!!

Blessings!

Janelle