Romance. Friendship. Love.

Meet Hannah and Michael.

Hannah and I have known each other since kindergarden.  We went to school with each other all the way up until we both moved away from home for college.  We have kept in touch since then, but had never met up since we were living in different states until now.  Hannah has always been a sweet girl, and now she is an amazing woman of God.

And Michael...well, Michael was the guy that made fun of me in high school and copied off of my work in chemistry, even though I barely passed chemistry.  He can always make you laugh and is not afraid of being goofy.

With that being said, I hope that you are able to see just how much they love and adore each other in the photos below.  

...life as you picture it...

I find myself going through my daily life seeing frames that I could get if I was looking through the viewfinder of my camera.  I often think...humm, if I took a picture right now, this is what I would do.  I do this A LOT throughout my day.  A couple holding hands, the happiness in the faces of children when they see something new and exciting, and the tears when they fall down.  The beautiful nature that God has given us.

To me, a photograph is a memory frozen in time.  It captures a story.  The emotions, expressions, feelings of the people within the story.  A photo can be put away for years and years, often forgotten about, and when found, can bring a flood of memories back to the viewers mind.  And memories within that photograph can be different from person to person.  I find it very difficult to abstain from taking photographs, especially in rare occasions.  My husband, however, looks at it differently.  He told me yesterday (we were at the snow) that I needed to put my camera away.  When I asked "why?" he said, "...you don't need a picture of everything, this way, we can come back and make more memories..."  

...life as you picture it...

2 Energetic Kids

Today I realized how out of shape I am, and how in shape a 2 year old little girl and a 7 year old boy are!  I got to enjoy the simple life of living like a child at the Oso de Oro Park.  This park is any child's dream.  It has every play structure you could ever think of!  We didn't even get a chance to play on all of it!

It also has a TON of ducks!  Even if you forget your bread (like I did) the ducks still follow you around.  It was pretty cool if I do say so myself!

Below are some of the memories that were created today!  Enjoy!

This one is my favorite of the day!

(below)

Hilmar High School Winter Formal 2010

I went to Hilmar the other day.  For those of you wondering what Hilmar is, it is a very small town near Turlock/Modesto area where there are at least 20 cows to every person living in the town.  (Well, I don't know the exact statistics, and I'm not very good at math, but it's probably pretty close to being accurate).

Anyways, I went to Hilmar and luckily it happen to be Hilmar High School's winter formal.  I joined my Mom and brother, Garrett, along with his girlfriend, Victoria, and her mother to take photos of them at the local Hilmar Cheese Factory.  I hope you enjoy these photos!

The Lindo Family

I have known Justin (the Dad) my entire life.  He is my older cousin.  And this is his beautiful family!  When they asked me to take photographs of their family, I was very excited!  I love their kids, they are awesome! We went to a random bike trail that I had found a few days prior as well as new spots at Woodward Park in Fresno, Ca.  It was fun "scouting" out the park, chasing ducks, and finding peacocks.  I had a really good time with the Lindo family, here is a glimpse of our day.

Thanks Lindo Family!  

I can't wait to see which photos you choose on your Christmas card!

The Olson Family

After many phone calls and emails, canceling due to rain and then re-scheduling and then canceling again due to rain, the Olson family and I were finally able to get out and take some photos!  Only this time, it was not the rain we were battling...it was the cold.  We had our photoshoot in the early morning because the forecast called for...yup, you guessed it...rain.  But not until noon, and we were determined not to cancel our photoshoot yet another day.  And I'm glad we didn't!  The photos turned out great!  Despite a few red noses and ears, I had an awesome time getting to know the Olson family.  Here is some of my favorites from the day...

This is Luke.  He is a very cool 4 year old.

And this is Adam and his Mom...he really liked the leaves

Thanks again Olson family!