Sometimes I just get the urge to shoot things, with my camera! HA! that leaves this post with a little sense of humor! I’m not a fan of guns, nor do I know anything at all about these pieces of hunting rifles, but I do know that they are fun to photograph. Things that are hand made, really intrigue me and anything hand made, is made with pride, well most of the time. When I first saw these rifles I probably didn’t think too much of them cause I don’t really think about guns, not an NRA member you know what I mean. But as you look at these photos, I just imagine the craft and time involved in creating each of these guns. They are stunning. IF I WAS ABLE to get them out of the secured gun case that they were in, I had plans to have some STUNNING images, but in the case they remained. At least I got the glass alarmed door open. But truly, they can’t really be handled and not by me seeing I have no idea how to handle them, and the polishing and all that I could do without so I admired them without touching, sort of, for the most part…SHHHHH……

My dear friend Roberto Valenzuela, well, not only an amazing and inspiring photographer but He also believes in practicing, I love being able to practice and shoot things that I’m not used to shooting, it gives me a different perspective on how to look at anything, what angles can be interesting and how to best depict something for another person, so they to can experience in your photos what you experience first hand. It’s not easy, but as Roberto would say, game day is NOT FOR PRACTICING!!!

I have passed this car several times on highway 93 in Northern/Mid Nevada. Truth is I have no idea where it is. I photographed this car a few years ago with my canon rebel and a kit lense and it was cool, thought I would give my Pro Equipment a shot it with a little editing to see what I can come up with. I Love it! HA! and to think my husband had to flip a ” ” you know what in order for me to get this! TRUE!!!! He’s like really? And I was like, “otherwise I will twitter how mean you are that you wont stop for me!” LOL. He’s so awesome and sat in the truck watching me take photos of this old heap!

Well I’m still on the road but thankful that I have the internet. For a few days there I was feeling a bit disconnected since WPPI and living on internet and email from my iPhone! It works, just slow as heck! We had a great time in WPPI and having my kids was fun, a little difficult that I truly wanted to conquer Vegas with my hubby but I’m sure he loved being there with us, visiting the kids attractions and not working! We both volunteered at the GoBee Bag Booth and that was so much fun! I just love my GoBee and if you don’t have one, you should, I mean I haven’t seen a sexier bag and for sure not one that looks this great and holds your media cards. So check them out www.gobeebags.com And use promo code “bentley” and save $15! WOW!! Yeah..and you thought the sale was over…tiss tisss! Stay Tuned for my GoBeeBag Review coming in the next blog post! XXOO

Road trips with kids are a total blast….what? Did she just say that? Well yeah and I am totally kidding! I can remember driving from Newport Beach with 3 older brothers, my not so favorite Step mother, one large golden retriever, a house keeper and myself in one conversion van. No DVD player! NO NOTHIN! I think my older brothers had a walkman or two with cassette tapes but for sure it was a long ride and then the biggest hotel was Circus Circus at least as far as my eyes could see….AND it was safe to go there and not have your parents, and no gangsta’s were rocking out their fire power!

So my kids watched 5 movies, ended with The Wizard Oz, so as you can imagine, my kids have been belting out EVERY great wonderful song, completely butchering them, such as “The house began to Itch, and then the witch, trying to catch an itch”, But it sounds hilarious coming out of the mouth of a 4 year old cause he’s totally in tune! (sarcasm).

We’ve been here for a few days, love it! My kids have NEVER been to snow. They are having a terrific time although it is totally melting….slushy city. I have a few pictures that I will post but the funny ones, my poor Travis telling Troy, “HOLD STILL TROY”….he gets frustrated cause Troy runs away and Travis can’t throw snow balls on him!

We are having fun and I am on vacation and whats a photog to do but take photos of EVERYONE and everything like Dad’s keys….even well……Mouse POOP!!!!!! So today on our walk in the “forest” for real, we came across TONS of tracks that actually turn out to be Elk Poop, but Moose tracks just has a ring to it….ice cream anyone? It was beautiful, but the fact that I could barely navigate the hip high snow and I had my two children with me, AND there are BEAR AND MOUNTAIN LION tracks all over, we decided to cut it short, amazingly the view of the river photo is only about 100 feet away from the property line of the house, kind of fun!

We are having a blast! My kids love the snow and we are so very sad that it’s melting away! It is supposed to rain tomorrow which will pretty much make this town a mushy mess. Not quite ready for that! So Cheers to road trips! This one has been fun and WE all just can’t wait to come back and spend quality time here with family. So many of my childhood memories were created here! SO MANY! and so much fun I love seeing my boys enjoy it as well!

I have to be honest here, this WAS one of the hardest tasks I have ever had to do! It was fun though! I started with a folder called, “2009 Top 10″, and kept dropping files in the folder….I had about, well 50+ photos! SOOOO since I don’t want to bore people, I went through them AGAIN, and AGAIN, and finally decided that I REALLY need to narrow it down. I guess what I really did was kind of just hurry up and choose so that I can get this post up! Well I do LOVE these photos and would LOVE to post more but I wanted to get a real feel for just having my favorite 10, I wanted you to see this also. So thanks to my friend Rustin Cerveny for the idea. I think it’s fabulous! Please note that these are my fav and top 10 photos for WEDDINGS, I will do another for portraits, but I may wait till the new year or post them in this post later….yeah that sounds much better I think I’ll do that. But for now, in no particular order, please enjoy! For some, it’s the actual photo, for others it’s what I remember feeling when I took the picture, or what my subjects were feeling….for one, I love the shoes and want them badly, and the prettiest hair piece, there are many different reasons why I choose them, but I love them…….

Have a very wonderful New Year, and cheers for all that we have accomplished, endeared, recovered, created, lost, gained, celebrated, struggled and benefitted from in 2009. It has ALL brought to a new year, with new-ness in everywhere! XXOO

The emotion of this Father and Daughter walking down the aisle is priceless!

OH!!!! You see my favorite shoes! Really I don’t think I need to explain this one!

This was a fantastic location that I totally loved! This stairs so beautiful and what a fun couple! It was great to shoot this wedding with Kenny Kim and Roberto Valenzuela! So much FUN!!!!

This is just such a sincere kiss…..I love it! She almost looks shy!

Okay I may have to explain the flower girl and ring boy! LOL…..that’s my son! (he hates to look towards cameras! Go figure! I guess he has enough in his face all the time!

This photo was taken as I decided to check my exposure photographing a wedding with my friend Gustavo Fernandez. There is something magical I love about it, I truly can’t explain it, it just do love it!

Ha! I know, Reservoir Dogs! By popluar vote, a very cool groomsmen shot, this one, my fav! What Hotties!

This next photo, I just LOVE how the groom is holding the bouquet, not sure why I’m not making most of them do this! Besides the fact that yes, it is a posed photo, but NOT a posed moment, they were both laughing…..I love when couples are having a good time it totally makes their photos come to life!

I LOVE Rolls Royce wedding cars and this car was no exception! What is so great about this photo, is not only the obvious smile of her face, but I and so loving how he is grabbing her arm, this picture says so much!

Look at these two! I mean, I just don’t think it gets better than this! Many of you may get to know the maid of honor soon as she is the fab makeup artist whom I refer and use! XXOO

The following are some of my favorite portrait favorites! It is SOOOO very hard to decide and really again I had a list of soooo many that this was just pretty much the ones I grabbed, and added to this post! There are so many…SOOOOO many and I think I went over my 10 limit but sorry…..DEAL WITH IT! Can’t wait to see what the next year will bring! See many of you Photographers soon, many of my old clients soon, and can’t wait to meet many of you new clients with my first portrait session of the year Monday, January 4th, I think this year is off to a great start! XXOO

Well…it’s over. HA! Well sort of~! I have been cleaning ever since Santa arrived and dropped off the loot. I have been finding wrapping paper, small twisty ties, bits and pieces of plastic just about everywhere! I have discovered that video games are great for kids to pass time, the minimum age on a Spark Razor Scooter is legit, cupcakes are what Santa really wants, gifts are for kids, Santa is magical, small trees are awesome, memories always linger, time is precious and laughter is forever!

Troy decided that this year he wanted a small tree. I was okay with that and we picked out a tree that was exactly his height. It was funny though because both boys decided they wanted it flocked. And when we went to pick it up the people at the lot said we’d have to wait an entire day to get it flocked….so…..flock that, we bought spray flocking and the kids had a blast spraying their own tree!

My Mom had a set or ornaments that she had purchased when my parents were married, like 40 years ago. She used them every year and each one was different and handmade. I sent my brother a large box of them and kept about 6 for my family. This is a photo of one of my favorites. Totally reminds me of all of our Christmas’s together! I love my memories!

Our family has decided that presents are for the kids! HURRAY! I mean, I have to admit I don’t complain when a gift comes my way but the pressure of giving has been taken off my shoulders! We asked the family to get the boys a Wii and with that came tons of games and tons of good times! Just teaching them how to use the controllers is pure comedy!

I had no idea what to get my husband, a gift was kind of out of the question, and a card was too simple. I love the man, so very very much and wanted to find a way to show him just how much. I found this book a few months ago, a fill in the blank book that I thought would be just great to give him! I have been so busy that I am actually guilty of not filling it all up. But he loves it and in time I will complete it. It was perfect…..getting it all on paper…..I think that I do a good enough job letting him know how deeply I adore him, but I know it never comes close to how I really feel….this is a start!

Santa I know was so THANKFUL for the cupcakes on Christmas morning that the boys made for him! First it was supposed to be cookies….then they wanted to make cupcakes….well….okay….thanks to boxes of cake mix! Santa was happy…..as he finished his santa duties at like 2:00am….. a cupcake or 2 were eaten!

My son Travis is a crack up! He loves to play with anything and has been intrigued by little girl toys at times. So I thought it would be great if Santa brought him one little My Little Pony doll…I mean, it’s a PONY, not a Barbie, not too girlie….right? SOOOOOOOOoooooo, he opened it looked right at me and said…”Mommy, I think Santa put the wrong name on this. This is for you.” So secretly Mrs. Santa (me) was kind of bummed out cause I thought he was going to love it! But Santa (Marc) was more than happy and laughed…..It’s on video….It was pretty funny!

Okay so I have no girls and I’m good with that! I grew up a tomboy and have no issues with Boy’s things! ALTHOUGH….Santa could not resist this tea set and I have to tell you it was a complete hit with BOTH boys! The only issue…..I have to drink a LOT of tea these days and it’s so fun!

Little boys grow up…..they watch TV and then all of a sudden they are asking for things that are totally REAL….I mean, not just “toys” or “legos” but actual items with a title and specifics….like a RAZOR SPARK SCOOTER. Troy had asked about this over and over again and I had no idea what he was talking about until one very late night at Target, I saw “Spark Refills”. Sooooo I thought OMG! A Spark scooter really does exist…well…funny I say that cause it only did exist at very select Target, and other stores as I take it we weren’t the only Santa’s getting this request! We found it….yep….and both asked for it……the age is 8 and over…..well…the little one too…probably not the greatest of his gifts though!

Of course Daddy and big brother were out watching with the video camera! I mean I don’t think I took nearly enough photos this morning….but I do know we have it on video!

The problem with having a Spark Razor Scooter is that, well….. little boys want to see the sparks right? I would too….BUT the sparks are behind you which means you have to look behind you to see them….yep a crash and burn……..then me, I promised to photograph the sparks so that no more crashing will occur….too tempting though…it’s just that cool to watch your scooter spark.

Remember I told you about the age minimum? Well this smart guy found his older 3 wheel scooter and decided to let the spark scooter wait a while before he conquers it…I say smart!

But even with all the new scratched, skinned knees, bruises and all….they had a great time and now I need to find more Spark refills!

One thing about this Christmas that many of you know is it was my first without my Mom. I have to say that she loved the holidays but to her, everyday was more important. So it wasn’t like it was a terrible Christmas because I miss her everyday. It was very nice and the boys had a blast. There are things though that I can tell you make me feel so close to her, and also make me realize that there is more tradition in my family, passed on by my Mom than I ever really realized. Take this next picture for example. This juicer is not from 2009 or just a few years ago. My mom gave this to me about a year ago, but I used it as a child when we lived in Anaheim. It was given to my Mom by my Grandma Katie because we had an orange tree in the backyard. My Mom gave it to me, cause now I have several citrus trees in my backyard also. My Mom says it belonged to her grandmother…I’m not sure how old it is, I guess I can find out. All I know is it never struck me more than it did this year watching my 3 year old anxiously wait for the orange juice from this machine than works AMAZING and is most likely over 50 years old……memories are what it most important. SOOO my Great Grandmother used this, my Grandmother used this, my Mom used this, I used this and my children are using this! I can totally remember filling up brown grocery bags with oranges in the winter time and using this juicer to make the juice. I am so thankful for all my memories on Christmas…….I’m so enjoying creating memories like this with my family.

** Update….this Juicer was made in the 1950′s, purchased by my Great Grandmother and passed to everyone else…how totally cool!**

I can not tell you how much it has meant to me to have sponsored a child in the Dominican Republic! Actually it doesn’t matter where the child is, but I had never sponsored a child before. I know I will for sure sponsor more, even now. My friend Gustavo Fernandez, decided to start a charity ride called Hog For Kids. An avid Harley rider, Gustavo rode across the United States and Photographed families for a small minimal $100 donation, this didn’t even cover his expenses. But the idea was that every family that he photographed, that family would sponsor a child in his home country of the Dominican Republic. In fact, if you are familiar with his work, you totally hopped on board. Although many of us who donated and sponsored were his friends and fellow photographers, we all were not only excited to help out in the cause but truly super excited to get him to photograph our families, as he is that good! (Excellent Actually!) So I sponsored my child via his link (http://www.hogforkids.com), and he promised to visit the DM very soon and photograph our child…cool…I thought…

I received my first letter, written by my child Christopher a few months ago and every month get an update. I cried when I got my first letter and man, it puts things in perspective. We all have tragedy, great as it may be, but it is nothing compared to what these kids must endure everyday.

At the gym a few minutes ago I received a missed phone call from Mr. Gustavo again, and thought okay what’s up (he called 2 times and he always has good stuff to talk about…..so I checked my email and saw, photographs of my child and his Mom, and his home and I cried, there on the treadmill at 24 hour Fitness….I mean seriously. Come on people, I know money is tight, we are all making small sacrifices these days, but there I was, Ha….with all my problems at a fitness center with my iPod, reading email on my iPhone, sure yeah….I have problems. So again life in perspective. Thank you Gustavo for making a difference not only for me but for my sponsored child and his family. You are what we need more of, people making a difference cause they can, and they want to, not getting anything out of it for yourself but a smile….thank you so much! XXOO

Please Sponsor a Child or Support Gustavo by Clicking here: Hog For Kids