Monthly Quote Blog Hope - June edition {San Jose, California, family photographer}

Welcome to our June Quote Blog Hop.

"Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever." - Walt Disney

When I look at my four year old I see all of this and I hope, pray, hope some more and pray even harder that she will keep her young imaginative spirit, where she will always want to dance to The Nutcracker, play Legos, read books, and laugh at herself!

I learn from her every day. Every. Day! 

Follow the ever so talented Amy Hohl to see how she interrupted this same quote. 

just another day at the park

lavender, bees and sunset

My French Lavender plants are in full bloom. I never noticed how beautiful they were until I was walking by them last night as the setting sun was hitting them. I ran and grabbed my camera to catch the last few minutes before the sun hid behind the hills. I decided to go wide open (1.2) to see what would happen. The bees were crazy buzzing around me and I was lucky to capture one. It's not totally in focus (man, you have to have a steady hand shooting at 1.2!) but I love it. And so glad I didn't get stung!!

five on friday {san jose, california, family photographer}

1. Yep, it's been awhile again. Life is just happening, that's all. Oh, and summer is fast approaching! Early Bird gets out next Wednesday and I plan on not doing a lot, doing a lot, and of course having fun!!

2. Recently Early Bird's teacher gave us a book to read called We All Sing with the Same Voice. As I was reading it to EB the words sounded so familiar, like a song I had heard. I decided to YouTube it and the original song popped up from Sesame Street. It hasn't aged one bit. Early Bird has been singing it over and over, which I love!!

2. Last FoF I hinted at some fun surprises coming up. The first one was that Saturday We (as in the next door neighbors and I) had a  surprise birthday party for Sweetie. We tried to "surprise" him with water balloons and squirt guns. It didn't plan out exactly but he was still surprised. No pictures unfortunately because I was too busy planning. However, the next surprise was for Early Bird and we ended up going to DISNEYLAND with our neighbors and their two kids!

3. A few pictures from our adventure!

our first stop was the giant Lego store. "Someone" in the family looooves legos (**cough cough** Sweetie).

and yes, that's the Hulk all made out of Legos! Crazy!!

while we were there Sweetie celebrated a birthday and of course we couldn't let him get away with not being embarrassed a tad. Luckily for him we just had him sport a crown during lunch!

4. Since I hail from Texas, which is close to Oklahoma, I was saddened by last week's tornados that ripped through the state. Growing up in Tornado Alley you get somewhat used to tornado warnings and bad storms. Luckily I was never IN one but I know plenty of areas (and people) that have been affected. This week at our local Starbucks here in California we could donate some money towards rebuilding that part of Oklahoma that was hit, which I graciously did. It was just a small part of something bigger that I could do to help.

5. Random photo of the day:

five on friday {San Jose, California, family photographer}

1. I'm squeaking in just under the wire for today's FoF.

2. There's alot of things happening around our house in the next few days and it's unsuspecting to a couple of people. Luckily, I (the knowing of all knowing) knows everything (Bwahahaha!!). One person (aka Sweetie) THINKS he knows everything about all happening things but he doesn't ;) And Early Bird doesn't realize she knows nothing about any of the happenings. Is that pretty cryptic or what?!

3. Here's a hint for you (and if we see you between now and Monday you don't know anything about anything... wink wink). Sweetie's birthday is Thursday but we'll be out of town (that's one of the secrets) so I'm throwing him a surprise party on Saturday... and he HATES surprises!! I haven't told Early Bird because she's not very good with secrets. The other secret is the trip we're taking, which Early Bird doesn't know about either. If you're keeping score that's 2 for mom, 1 for Sweetie and 0 for Early Bird. Thinking about it now there better not be any surprises for me!! Now, that wouldn't be very nice :(

4. A guess for where we're going next week: think small, round, black ears!!

5. Random photo of the week:

HAPPY FRIDAY!

monthly quote blog hop - may {san jose, california, family photographer}

It's time for May's edition of Monthly Quote Blog Hop.

This month's quote:

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need." - The Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want.

A little explanation for my choice of image this month. I've been practicing yoga for about a year now. I originally started practicing as a way to reduce my back pain due to pregnancy a few years ago. I knew it would have benefits far beyond pain management but I never fathomed other ways it would effect my life. I'm definitely stronger, I tend to handle stress better (most of the time), and I can play with my 4 year old much easier. However, I don't always look forward to my yoga classes because sometimes there's pain involved. Pain getting into a new position, muscle pain, heat pain, etc. 

I had just come back from yoga class when I decided to work on my quote project. I decided to use juxtaposition with the pain of yoga but the calming nature of it. I've come to realize that is how yoga is for me and really it's what I need in my life!

Hop on over to see Tami Siriani's interpretation of the same quote.

spring/mother's day mini-session {san jose, california, family photographer}

Last week was my Spring/Mother's Day Mini-sessions and I had so much fun!

I loved that I got to see some old and new friends!

Even though Mother's Day is technically not until next weekend I'm thinking it should be changed to the entire week? Am I right?! I mean, why should we only get one day?! (And honestly, that's how I celebrate my birthday. It's a week-long event!) 

So, I'm making an executive decision. I'm officially (unofficially) renaming Mother's Day to Mother's WEEK! Who's with me?!!

To start off our Mother's Week here are a couple from the last weekend!

To all the moms, grandmas, and almost moms Happy Mother's Week!!