The 12 Days of Blogging- Day 12! *Love*

It's here! The last day! I can't believe it's over but I have to say, it's kind of a relief. As fun as it has been, 12 days of blogging in a row has been a lot of work. Instead of doing a a recep I'll put it in order so you can sing the ENTIRE song! here is goes...

On the twelfth day of blogging, I will bring to you, twelve moments of love
Eleven nativity scenes
Ten tiny toes
Nine lovely leapers
Eight year old Cole
Seven skaters skating
Six funny moments
FIIIVE of my FAVES!
Four loving shots
Three-ee vacations
Two parents and their sons
and a roommate with a Christmas light or twoo-ooo-oo!

So I've separated my moments of love into six categories. Convenient, huh?

First category- Love of parents




Love of animals




Sibling love




Love- the "I do" kind




Love of nature





God's love- it's all around us!



I picked this photo because I think it shows God's creation and how it can work together peacefully.


Merry Christmas!!! I hope you enjoyed The 12 Days of Blogging. I'd love to hear what you think...feel free to comment.

The 12 Days of Blogging- Day 11

So I'm slightly late with Day 11 but the good news is you are going to get two blogs in one day! yay!

Here is the recap:

Day 1: A roommate and a Christmas light or two
Day 2: Two parents and their sons
Day 3: Three-ee vacations
Day 4: Four loving shots
Day 5: FIIIVE of my FAVES
Day 6: Six funny moments
Day 7: Seven skaters skating
Day 8: Eight year old Cole
Day 9: Nine lovely leapers
Day 10: Ten tiny toes

Ok, Clear your throats, especially if you are singing the entire song!

On the eleventh day of blogging, I will bring to you, eleven nativity scenes.

So why nativity scenes and why on Day 11 and not 12? I chose nativity scenes for a few reasons. First, because I remember growing up seeing the plastic ones with one light bulb in each piece sitting on the grass in neighbors yards. Remember those? I was curious to see if people still have nativity scenes and what they look like now. Second, if you go back about 2000 years or so, before Santa, Christmas trees and tinsel, there was a bigger reason to celebrate Christmas and it has to do with the baby that sits in the center of a nativity scene. It's always fun to see how people represent the day Jesus was born... and I have to say there were a few really interesting ones. =)

I picked this for day 11 because I have something extra special for day 12.



And they wrapped the baby in a purple outfit? hmm, that's not how I remember the story. haha


These people were serious about their nativity scene...and their santas too. They had two life size santas in their driveway. Check out their house in the photo below this one.




I don't know about you guys but I'm not a huge fan of the inflatable yard decor... of any kind (sorry mom).



This was on the top of the roof.


This one covered the entire front of their house. I think baby Jesus was behind a plant.


Much nicer than the plastic ones I remember growing up.


Loved this one, mainly because the homeowners were giving hot chocolate!


Umm, yeah, not quite sure what to say about this one. They also had a penguin santa and penguin reindeer. I think they like penguins.


Can you find the nativity scene? It's in there.


I think this was my favorite that I found.


They even had separate scenes with the wise men and Joseph and Mary on the donkey.


I hope you enjoyed these. I had to drive around all of Orange County to find them. Ok, not really... there is one street in Tustin that is amazing. Almost every house had crazy lights!

Thank you Emily and Aaron for walking around with me while I found all the nativity scenes!

The 12 Days of Blogging- Day 10 *Brody*

Day 10! woohoo... double digits!

Here's the recap:

Day 1: A roommate and a Christmas light or two
Day 2: Two parents and their sons
Day 3: Three-ee vacations
Day 4: Four loving shots
Day 5: FIIIVE of my FAVES
Day 6: Six funny moments
Day 7: Seven skaters skating
Day 8: Eight year old Cole
Day 9: Nine lovely leapers

I know your singing voices are getting worn out but there are only two more days after this.

On the tenth day of blogging, I will bring to you, ten tiny toes.

This is Brody and he was five weeks old when I took these photos. He was very easy to work with... listened to everything I told him!

Count em'... all ten toes!

So tiny


Brody was very content hanging on his dad's arm


I love the curiosity in his eyes


Brody had the coolest nursery. There were vintage airplanes painted all over the walls.




Special Delivery!


Doesn't he look comfy? I want a big basket with a fluffy blanket to hang out in!


The way he gripped this football was impressive. Get his autograph now!


Ten toes... if you didn't count the first time, you can count now.

Molly, I'm so glad I got to meet your family! I hope to work with little Brody again!

The 12 Days of Blogging- Day 9 "Leaping!*

I can't believe there are only 3 days left after this one! Time flies!

Here's the recap:
Day 1: A roommate and a Christmas light or two
Day 2: Two parents and their sons
Day 3: Three-ee vacations
Day 4: Four loving shots
Day 5: FIIIVE of my FAVES
Day 6: Six funny moments
Day 7: Seven skaters skating
Day 8: Eight year old Cole

Did you warm up your singing voice???

On the ninth day of blogging, I will bring to you, nine lovely leapers.

The theme- all jumping or leaping photos. I usually don't post jumping photos because they aren't my favorites but they are definitely fun so here are a few from recent shoots!

Let's start with a traditional jump. I like to call this one "the star" leap.


These leaps are a little more on the difficult side. I call these "the super heroes" leap!


Aww, the heel click... classic. Not to mention perfect technique!


This I call "a leap with a purpose". She's on a mission to get somewhere.


This is the "I don't want to get wet so I'll leap into my mother's arms". Much more difficult then the others. This takes a coordination and trust.


We can't leave out the "I'm only two so I don't jump very high" leap.


Another classic- the "I'm pretending I don't want to get wet so I jump when the water is coming but still land in it and splash everyone around me" leap.


I would call this one the "junior super hero" leap. He's not quite there, but close.



And to finish- the "I'm going to jump as high as I can, think it's a fun shot, until I see my facial expression and hope that nobody ever sees it" leap. No, it's fun! I love their dedication to the jumping shot... it's awesome!


Hope you enjoyed all of the talented leapers! Be sure to check back for Day 10. I can promise it will make you say "awwww".

The 12 Days of Blogging- Day 8 *Cole*

I'm really excited about this blog. I've been waiting for Day 8 to share these photos. So, here's the recap:

Day 1: A roommate and a Christmas light or two
Day 2: Two parents and their sons
Day 3: Three-ee vacations
Day 4: Four loving shots
Day 5: FIIIVE of my FAVES
Day 6: Six funny moments
Day 7: Seven skaters skating

You better be singing it by now!

On the eighth day of blogging, I will bring to you, eight year old Cole

This is one of my favorites. I love this blue door!



More blue... love it with her blonde hair.

If you saw the Day 5 blog you saw my favorite smoke photo... this is my second favorite.

Cole was getting slightly annoyed with me at this point. haha

I love this because she just sat down on the concrete for a quick snack break behind a bar. Recognize the red door from the Day 6 blog?

I love this spot!

Look at her sparkling brown eyes! She's adorable.

Cole having a rare serious moment. =)

Love the background for this one. I see a new trend starting... dumpsters and minivans.

Let me tell you a little about Cole. She is one of the most fun 8 year olds I know. She also happens to be one of my ice skating students. Cole is a great actress and needed new headshots so we walked around for two hours on probably one of the windiest days of the year... and there happened to be a fire too. Although it was a challenge we had a ton of fun!