cambria vacation - part one

CAMBRIA!!!

I just couldn't let another day go by without going through the rest of our vacation pics and OHHH, it's so fun!  I'm reliving it while I sort em all!  Ever heard of Cambria, California?  If you've never been, you HAVE to go someday... it's where the pacific ocean meets the pines and the rolling hills in Central California!  My grandparents had a home there when I was kid and I grew up going several times a year, now my parents take us (long with our kids) every summer for a big family vacation! What a blessing!  I wrote a bit about it here in 2008 and a lot in the month of AUG 2009 ...AND NOW for some Cambria 2010!

The house we stayed at is owned by a friend of my Mom and the view doesn't get much better!  Those last two pics were taken looking in and looking out from where we stayed.  Does that make sense?


BUT, the best part of Cambria is the tidepools!  Come along, I'll show ya...

Mam-ma helping G and niece K find crabs.


ddd

The whole time we were there G wanted to find a PURPLE STARFISH!  Purple IS her favorite color after all.  I kept trying to break it to her gently that we probably wouldn't see one...

...UNTIL, that is.... DADDY ACTUALLY FOUND A PURPLE STARFISH!!!

The best part was she didn't even act that surprised... it was like she expected to find one all along! Shows ya what I know!

AND E... well, she was in ROCK HEAVEN!  Something about that little girl and throwin rocks!

Throwin rocks with daddy... 

...except, E, NO EAT!

Here's what E did everytime we were at the water...

daddy supplies rock...

wind up...

throw...

YAY!!!

Every. time.

It was too cute.

ANYWAY... LOTS OF TREASURES TO BE FOUND IN THE TIDEPOOLS... and NOT just the crabs (we didn't take those, its illegal) but lots of memories of childhood adventure and discovery!

Beautiful.

one more preview

babies, babies, babies!!! 

Would you just look at how sweet?!  Hmmm... I better be careful or I just might catch the bug ;)

preview preview preview

I resolved myself to catching up on photo shoots for friends and family this summer ... here's a preview of three done recently!

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...and cause I just can't help myself... I may have been playing with photoshop again.  :)
What do you think?

natalie norton contest

Cambria pics still coming, just wanted to share a little contest with you all!  The fabulous Natalie Norton is giving away an hour consultation and so I'm posting here as my entry!

Been following Natalie for a while now and I'm completely touched by her heart aching story, her raw honesty, and her beautiful photography.  If you haven't already read her story, take a sec and delve into her site ... you'll hug your kids a little tighter tonight and if your like me, her faith will strengthen yours.  I'll just add that Jon got his adult Pertussis vaccine booster last month and I'm scheduled for mine this month, in part because of Natalie.  YOU getting the adult booster is a no brainier protection for your kids, whether they're vaccinated or not.

And in the interest if full disclosure ;)  if you enter and win, I win too!  So head on over!

Aaaand, cause I cant post without a picture here's another beautiful vacation sky...

happy monday

Happy Monday Friends!

Hope you had a great weekend!  Here's to a week full of promise and beauty!

vacation withdrawals

It's official.  I need another vacation.  Sorting through all the pics is making me go through vacation withdrawals I think.  And the sunsets, OH the SUNSETS... I might have just a few sunset pics comin up.   But no more picture sorting tonight, to bed I go...

...to dream about the Cambria Coast I hope!

Ohdeedoh

Um, hello friends.... it's Ohdeedoh!!

Check it out!!

Yeah... I guess you could say it totally made my Monday!

The link to this blog wasn't working so I didn't get much traffic but who cares!  In my little bloggin world Ohdeedoh is about as big as it gets!  If you don't already know about Ohdeedoh, check it out... I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do!

BTW I didn't realize they would post what I wrote in its entirety... soooo you can skim read ;) Am i always that wordy people?! :)  Don't answer that!  Oh and you don't need to point out my type-o's either... after all, spell check is sooo overrated don't you think?

cambria, california

I'm home!!!

We got back from vacation last night!  I've got a huge pile of mail, a full inbox, two tired kiddos and laundry comin' out of my ears... but I'm completely recharged and ready for life!  Just had to give you a sneak peak!  This was our view for the week, HELLO pacific ocean!!  We had an amazing time... more to come! 

Happy Monday friends!

d's maternity shoot

Meet D!  D is a friend and fellow Tot School mom (more on that later) and she's... well, pregnant!  Due tomorrow actually!  I know, poor thing, right?  You wouldn't know it though cause she's a total trooper and still looks amazing all the time!  You know... it's very dangerous to have friends that make pregnancy look so easy! ;)

Anyway, D's hubby and I go waaay back... I'm talkin elementary school, jr high, high school and college even!  We're related somehow too!  It was SO fun to have them over, eat some dinner and shoot some pics of their cute little growing family!  I don't have much experience with preggo ladies so I had to keep reminding myself to aim low!  Lately I seem to gravitate toward the head shot... that and black and white editorial kinda shots.  Funny how styles evolve!  ANYWAY, I'm totally rambling!!!

Enough talk, more pics!

YES, that was a rainbow you saw!  It was that crazy sky night a few weeks back!  In fact, the light was so completely bizarre and orange that I shot most of these in the TOUNGSTEN setting!  Crazy!!  And totally amazing too!!!

Can't wait to meet that little one D!