Every year for the last three years, I’ve photographed the Avila family.  The best part of photographing the Avila family is that they are near and dear to my heart.  I have known Eva since college and I have watched her grow up, get married and have a daughter, named Olivia.  I am sure there will be plenty more adventures for Eva and her family to experience and share with me in the future!!  This year, the fam got all dressed up and met up with me at Soka University.  The campus was AMAZING – there was so much to shoot, we ended up hanging out there, amongst the student life, all morning.  Olivia has grown up to become such a ham, she loved having her photos taken but most of all, she loved to laugh.  And because of this love of laughing, she had my heart from the start of the shoot.  Her laugh was seriously infectious and in between all the takes, we were rolling around, running around, and just plain being silly.  Ahhh…and that’s what I love to do all day long…I am truly blessed.  Blessed to have this family in my life and blessed to be able to do what I do…

Check out all the Avila family…Happy Holidays!

Another beautiful weekend in La Jolla, can living in Southern California get any better?  Slightly overcast by the beach, an awesome bride and groom, and plenty of time for photos…it doesn’t get any better in my opinion!  Molly and Marcus celebrated their day at the La Jolla Women’s Club with 90 of their out-of-town guests.  There was love in the air for these two, all of their close friends and family gathered together to share in their day and it was absolutely beautiful.  The best part of these two…they loved to laugh together and that alone, melted my heart!

Check out these two lovebirds…

Meet the Vu family…April, Danny, Penelope and Madeline.  April and her family hold a special place in my heart – I’ve known April since the first day of college waaaay back when and we went on to be roommates after our first year in the dorms.  In this college life, that’s where April met Danny…and then life separated us a few years after that.  We recently reconnected and this time around, I got to meet two more people in their lives…their daughters Penelope and Madeline.  In the last 10 years or so, I’ve realized that there are those friends in life that may disappear for a little while, but when you finally get the chance to reconnect, it’s like no time has passed you by.  So when April asked me to work on a photo project with her, I was totally ALL about it.  One part of the project included a mini family photo session, where I got to see the entire Vu family in action.  April, I am so glad that we’re back in each others lives and I look forward to sharing more adventures with you and the fam!

Check out a few favorites from the project…

I’ve known the Farrell’s for a few years now and the Farrell’s are quite familiar with me!  James is one of my favorite Parenting OC Magazine cover models and he is quite the talent.  You probably would recognize him in a few of my blog postings.  I worked with James on the January cover and the fashion issue, back in August.  In addition to James being super fantabulous, there’s also Mom and Dad!  I met up with the Farrell family a few weeks ago at Yorba Regional Park to update their family portraits and to play around a bit.  What made the session so much fun was the family’s casualness and laughter…and not to mention that they’re just a great looking family!!

Check out some of my favorites from the day…