A Precious Life...

Jessica and I just got home from the memorial service of our beloved friend and sister in Christ, Brooke Prieto. Things have been a roller coaster for us lately and for all those close to Brooke, but I just wanted to take a minute to remember her for the awesome woman of God and friend she was.

Brooke was a young 26 years of age and had a wonderful heart of love for all she knew. She was the wife to another dear friend of ours Edmund Prieto. Edmund and Brooke were in our wedding and we were in theirs. We shared holidays together and served in ministry for many years. We grew to know them as family and will forever hold Brooke in the deepest place in our hearts. The impact her life has had on our lives is too great to explain in words. Her Christ-like character and strength as a woman has propelled Jessica as a woman, wife, and mother. Jessica looks forward to a tea time in heaven.

Her going to be with the Lord on January 5, 2010 has brought many tears as well as an overwhelming peace knowing she is now in complete comfort and love with her Saviour. Although we miss her very much and can't understand fully the reasons for her passing, we know that her life has touched so many and will continue to change lives for years to come. We are forever grateful to God for allowing us to be apart of such an amazing person. Brooke, we love you very much.

Edmund, we are here for you forever. We love you like a brother and know our relationship will only grow stronger through this. The love that you and Brooke shared and showed for one another was truly an inspiration to us. You were so good for each other and I know her testimony will be passed on by an awesome man of God.

To a life that has impacted so many, Brooke Prieto, a precious life.

'DECK THE HALLS!'

Jessica has been busy using her creative skills. Today she sat down and put together these sweet looking Christmas ornaments. I'm pretty sure she is somehow related to Martha Stewart. I'm blessed to have her because she makes our house look like it's from a magazine and is always so creative and festive when it comes to decor. Once we have a minute to settle into our new home I'll take some shots and post them for you all to see how it looks. But for now, enjoy these couple of shots Jessica took of her ornaments, which happen to be on sale at Carriage House Antiques!

Touch and go...

Our trip to "The City by the Bay" is coming to an end. As most of you know we have been up in the bay area shooting a couple weddings and taking a much needed vacation. Tomorrow we have a wedding in Santa Cruz before we head home, but I wanted to share a quick picture I took last night that doesn't do the awing view justice, yet it's the next best thing.

Have a great weekend and we will be back to our normal blogging soon. And trust me we have PLENTY to blog.

Aly and the Kuhl family

Some of you who know the Kuhl family are familiar with the foster care and hopeful adoption of little Alyssa. Today in court the judge ruled that Aly is to go live with her birth mom for a 3 week period, after which a decision will be made if that will be her permanent home. Please be praying for them during this time. The Kuhl family has been on a long journey with this process, and to have Alyssa leave breaks their hearts. They are joyful for the mother but also have a desire to care for Aly as one of their own.

We were blessed to capture some moments with them and Aly last week and although not all the photos are ready to be viewed I wanted to share a couple so you can put a face with the name as you pray.

Tim and Wendi, we love you and are praying for God's favor. Whether Aly stays or goes we know God is sovereign and will give you all a peace you can't understand as well as protection for Aly.

Some Micaiah for your Monday...

I was sitting here editing photos and thought I should share some of Micaiah. He seems to be getting bigger literally everyday. He'll be 14 months this week and he's walking everywhere and talking nonstop (not saying any real words, except for "no" and "hi", but he'll have a full conversation with you if you have the time). He makes us laugh constantly.

As for us, we are getting the keys to our new house this week! WOOP WOOP! So if you aren't doing anything on Thurs or Sun. (we have weddings on Fri. and Sat. so we'll be gone) come over and help me scrape the sparkly popcorn ceilings. They are too cool to keep. When we get in there, I'll post some pictures so you can see before and after. Have a blessed week and look for some posts coming up of weddings, engagements, and family shoots.



This is Micaiah making me a birthday present!

Family Update...

Hello to all. As some of you know, we are in one of the busiest season of life and things are only going to get busier. I thought in all the busyness I would give you an update as to what's going on in our lives.

Today Micaiah turned 13 months. He's been walking (kind of). I think he has almost ALL of his teeth, including molars. He talks ALL THE TIME and is a HUGE joy in our lives.

We are indeed having number two, due Feb. 24, 2010. We will hopefully find out this week if we are having a boy or a girl. Either is good with us.

We are in escrow with a house in Spring Valley Lake, set to close by Sept. 21st. Which happens to be right in the middle of 'round two' of our wedding season, which includes a couple wedding up in the Bay Area we will be taking a week off for in Oct.

We have had the awesome opportunity to worship on the 7 Worship Team at HDC.

Although things are a bit hectic for us we are enjoying it. It is definitely a season of change and we are doing our best to take it one day at a time. So I'm sorry for not blogging as much as I would like to (or as much as you would like me too (hopefully)). I will do my best to blog more Micaiah pictures also, because I know you can't get enough of his awesomeness!


Lookin' good with Daddy.

Lookin' good with Mommy.


Brushing those molers.

Sneak Peek/Update

Our lives have been a bit abstruse and arduous the past weeks. I know I haven't blogged recently and that's not because there was nothing to blog. Rather, things going on haven't left us with time or energy for it.

To sum up a few things, in the past 3 weeks: we found out Jessica was pregnant, had an engagement shoot, had the first wedding of our busy wedding season, did a family shoot for dear friends, found out Jessica was pregnant with twins, endured through a urinary tract infection in Micaiah and a throat infection in Jessica, celebrated and early 3 year anniversary!, were saddened with the loss of one of our dear twins, spent time in San Diego with family celebrated birthdays, all on top of work and processing images as well as a 66 day (and counting) escrow with our house.

Thank you for all your prayers and support in all of this. I know life has few down-time seasons (especially at our age) but this has been a tough one. I didn't want to leave you without an image, so here's a teaser from the engagement shoot of Carly & Brian. We had tons of fun with them and will be shooting their wedding this October. Blessings.

My Father's Day Gift

We'll I'm blogging this a day later than I planned, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves, but I'll give this intro: This is the Father's Day gift my beautiful wife Jessica gave to me.


This is just one of several pages with photos of Me, Jessica, and Micaiah.

I didn't know what to expect.

This is where the shock, disbelief, and utter JOY came in!


Needless to say this made my first Father's Day one I will never forget.

Family Shoot by Morgan

A little while back Jessica and I were blessed with a family photo shoot by Morgan Taylor, a good friend and fellow photographer. He just recently posted the results of the shoot and we couldn't be happier. Thanks so much Morgan.

Be sure to check out his blog.

Something Scenic

Yesterday Jessica and I had a family shoot that we will be posting soon. While we out I couldn't help but take some shots of the scenery and I thought I would share a couple with you all.

Sunny Sunday

I walked outside today and felt the hot ground, but realized it was shady everywhere. I looked up and saw this awesome cloud passing by the sun. I hope you enjoy it. Sometimes an image just can't capture the beauty of God's creation, but I try the best I can.

Scary Lion

It seems like everyday Micaiah is getting more and more personality. He's sitting up pretty good now and has 4 teeth and a crazy tongue he likes to show off. The other day Jessica put him in a lion bath towel and so we had to share the awesomeness with you. Have a blessed week.


Lions have sharp teeth...RAARRRRR!

More Micaiah!

It's been a bit since I've posted some pics of our little guy. So here are a few so you can keep up on his growth. I will post later a picture or two of the TEETH he has. He will be 7 months old on the 25th of this month...time flies!

OH HAPPY DAY!

For those of you who are familiar with the Canon 5D Mark II, no introduction is needed. For those who are not photographers or maybe just don't keep up on the latest and greatest in the photo world, let me just give a couple stats that everyone can appreciate. 21.1 MP & 1080p HD Video. 'Nuff said.

Needless to say Jessica and I are extremely excited that we happened to order this elusive camera at just the right time. Apparently there was an unexpected shipment that came in just hours after we placed our order...they were sold out minutes later. So today we received the package and have been figuring out/playing with our new "toy."

If you live close you can stop by and check it out. (I know you want to).

We will (obviously) be posting images from the camera soon as well as some awesome video. Until then have a snowy night!

There are 2 kinds of people in the world...

That's right you woodchuck chuckers it's...GROUNDHOG DAY!!!

So I've discovered that there are basically 2 kinds of people in the world: those who like the movie Groundhog Day and those who don't. For example, I am one of those that think Groundhog Day is a GREAT movie. Jessica on the other hand would rather hang upside down and have eggs thrown at her face than watch Groundhog Day. So the question is...what kind of person are you.

Please respond to this as I am particularly interested in how many people love/hate this movie and this day for that matter.

Tuesdays

Jessica took this picture during a recent trip to San Diego. I will post some images of our booth at the Bridal Expo as soon as I get them. Have an awesome tuesday.

Server ERROR

For those of you who have tried to access the blog and didn't see any photos come up, I want to apologize. The server was having problems so the images were unavailable for most of today.

Everything should be back to normal now. If you visited our booth at the Bridal Expo, please call us or come back in and talk to us some more. God bless you all and I am sorry for the inconvenience.