Kara and Jason: Wedding

This past Saturday, two people declared their love for each other before God, their family and friends. They were the most calm couple I had ever seen before a wedding, and nothing was going to stop them from tying the knot. Jason and Kara joined as one in marriage at Waverly Chapel in Santa Ana, and I had the opportunity to assist Christopher Wren for the day to document this momentous occasion. Their engagement pictures were done by one of our friends, Jasmine Star.

The day started off with my going to the home where the reception was going to be held to document the bride and her bridal party getting ready. Seriously, Kara was so calm, and her bridesmaids were hilarious. As the final few were getting their makeup done, we watched the Office. And I have to mention, that Jason is so romantic! He left Kara these little notes in her room, declaring his love for her. I hadn't met Kara until Saturday, and we hit it off great, and laughed at everything!

Kara's beautiful wedding dress was hand made by her grandmother. It took her approximately two months to finalize this gorgeous work of art. The granddaughters are lined up to have their grandmother make their wedding dress. The detail was exquisite, and it fit her perfectly.

Jason and Kara opted for a first look, which I highly recommend! This is the perfect opportunity for the bride and groom to have some special moments together. It was the most beautiful part of the day, and I think I shed a few tears behind the lens. They were so tender with each other, and then prayed before we continued photographing before the ceremony.

Jason is the fantastic customer service dude behind Showit Fast Inc., and his boss is Todd Watson. Hence the reason we have a picture of Jason and Kara at a tombstone of WATSON, pretending to mourn. (we apologize in advance if anyone is offended by this). We love you Todd!

Not a detail was missed from the prep before the ceremony, the ceremony, and the reception. Although, this was the very first wedding I have been to where the groom got a bloody nose. Later, we found out it was due to the heat and stress. Poor guy! Kara's father and stepfather joined her at the alter while Jason took care of his nose. The ceremony was filled with love, peace, hope for a new day.

The reception was a beautiful celebration and the joining of two families. Some of the most memorable moments were when Kara's sister gave the most beautiful speech and toast, Kara wrote and sang a song for Jason, and as the father / daughter, mother / son dances took place, they created individual slideshows for them. When Jason and Kara did their first dance, all of the guests surrounded the dance floor with sparklers and candles, celebrating their love.

Kara and Jason, congratulations to you both. I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon, and celebrate your love for one another each and every day. I am honored to have witnessed your special day.

*you can check out additional pictures and a slideshow by visiting Christopher Wren's blog!

Special thanks to Jodi from MCP Actions and her amazing Blog it Boards! I could not have created these amazing collages without her.

Happy Fall Ya'all!

Fall is the most beautiful time of the year, so Happy Fall Ya'all!!

Even though we are a week into the fall season, I just had to do this post. I love to see the trees change colors, the feel of cooler weather so we can wear cute sweaters, and the smell and taste of hot apple cider, just warms my soul. I know that I have been a bad blogger, but I promise that I have a lot more to come. I feel like the last few weeks have been a roller coaster, since school started at APU (no homework, finally) and preparing to do some pretty hefty changes to my business. I even turned a year older....last week, the day before fall. I will post some of the fun pictures from my birthday weekend in a few days.

Below is a fun picture Christopher Wren took of me before we met the Fieldhouse Family. I just love the light, and of course, my Shootsac, with it's fun fall colors. The other picture is one I took in Vermont a few years back when I attended the Legal Issues in Higher Education conference with some of my classmates in my graduate program.

The Fieldhouse Family: Anytime

Monday evening, I had the opportunity to meet up with Christopher Wren to assist him with a family portrait session. We will be shooting a wedding together in a few weeks and wanted to see what it was like to shoot together. We met the Fieldhouse family at Scherer Park down in Long Beach to shoot the Fieldhouse family. While Chris and I were waiting for the Fieldhouse family to show up, we actually found out they had been waiting for us at the "pretty" side of the park. I was a bit worried about the light on the side we were on, as I love the yumminess of the sunset. We ventured around to the other side of the park and finally found our groove as we began to shoot Cari, Brad, and their four beautiful children. What a fun family! There was a little of that yummy light left, and then we just followed the children around the park, shooting away, letting kids be kids. Cari and Brad have the most beautiful children, two girls and two boys. The girls, Brynn (9 yrs), Lauren (8 yrs), and the boys, Grant (5 yrs), and Nikolas (3 yrs). Nikolas was a cutie patootie, as he had my favorite shoes on (Crocs), so we had a blast.

Cari and Brad, it was a pleasure to meet you and your beautiful family. I wish you all of the joy and blessings this season has to offer you. Cheers! Tira J.

Aloha Cyri!

Tomorrow, one of our dear friends will be moving back to Maui. Cyri has been in our lives since she first ventured on the APU campus a little over 8 years ago. I had the opportunity to work with Cyri in the Registrar's Office and it was because of one of her best friends Mona, that we all got to know her so well. She is known for her quirky sense of humor, and a fabulous laugh. She is so outgoing, and all of her kids in her new classroom on Maui will love Miss Cyri. On Sunday, her roommate Mona hosted a farewell party for Cyri, and many of her family and friends gathered to wish her well on her new adventure.

Cyri, we all love you and wish the best for you as you take part in the next part of the journey God has you on. We will be praying for traveling mercies tomorrow.

Mahalo!

To view more images from the great farewell party Mona gave Cyri, CLICK HERE for the slideshow! *be sure to give the show time to load.

Total Randomness!

One of my friends in Arizona, Melissa Jill has been sick this week and has had way too much time to mess around in cyberspace. I am thankful she is feeling better, and even more glad that she has finally made it to facebook, but she was really bored. Even though I gave her fair warning hour before she got sucked in that it was going to be addicting. Woohoo! Anyways, she discovered this random website from another photographer's blog where you can enter your URL and it will "spit out" the top 50+ words you have used lately on your blog. I examined the words from mine, and it looks like it took the last few posts from my blog and jumbled them all together. I agree with Melissa, that it is a time waster, but rather intriguing, especially when you begin to put your friends URL's in to see the top words they write.

Maxwell Bryant: 3 Month Session

It was a two day process, but we managed to capture some great images of Maxwell Bryant at 3-months!

Last weekend, Max got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Mom and Dad went to the Jack Johnson concert. This was the first time Max spent the night away from his parents, and since he was going to be next door, what a perfect opportunity to try to capture some images for his 3-month session. On Friday, I went over to take some photographs, and noticed the great new rocking chair Grandma Susan had purchased on e-bay. That is the chair in all of the pictures, and it ROCKS! Max looked so cute in it, so I could not resist. I do have a chair which I want to photograph my little ones in, but have not had the opportunity to use it quite yet. Anyways, Max was a rockstar for all of his pictures.

The second day of this session was on Saturday, and I went over to Susan & Jerry's house to get some images with Max's parents, Kathi and Jerry. We had a lot of fun, and once again, Max was a great sport, until he told us it was time to sleep. We had a great time, and I am glad that I had to opportunity to work it into my schedule to get next door.

Thank you Susan, Jerry, Kathi, and Jerry for allowing me to capture more images of your precious Maxwell!

To view more images CLICK HERE for a slideshow!

You can also see some more pictures in the previous post!

Sneak Peek - Maxwell 3 month session

I just had to share a quick preview of my neighbors adorable grandson Maxwell, from his 3 month session. More to come in a few days. Enjoy!

We Believe....We Achieve! Class of 1988!

It's hard to believe that almost three weeks ago, I had the privilege of co-chairing and attending the 20-year class reunion for the Class of 1988 of Temple City High School. This is the event I had been nervous about for the past six months. I worried about whether people would show up, enjoy themselves, and remember this night forever. Well, at about 6:45 on August 16th, our first guest showed up, and over time, everyone started to trickle in. We had approximately 150 guests, which was a perfect number for a perfect evening. While we were obviously missing many classmates because we graduated with over 380 in our class, they were remembered throughout the evening. Ten years back, we had our 10 year class reunion, which was also a huge success, but this one was different for me, because I played an intricate part in it. Looking back to my days in high school, I would have been the very last person who would have stepped up to put on such a massive party. Well, a lot can change in 20 years, and I am thankful that I got up the courage to do this.

I could not have put on this huge production without my dear friends on the reunion committee, Myrriah, Vanessa, Joanna, Tony, Erik and Mike. Myrriah was the co-chair for the event, and I am thankful for all of the experience she had at planning the Monrovia reunion, and many other events. Vanessa, helped put so many things into perspective, and I appreciated her attention to detail and for opening her home for the first few months of planning. Joanna for her new company, Jo Show Promotions! She was a huge help at purchasing the party favors for the event, and for putting together the music list for the DJ. Joanna could not have ordered the party favors with our class reunion logo if it were not for Melanie of Melanie Kronemman Design. Melanie created the greatest logo for us and we had signs, keychains, flyers and magnets made with the images she created. Tony and Mike called it like it was and made some last minute calls to classmates, encouraging them to come to the event. The night we were making the phone calls, we went through the yearbook to reminisce about our times in high school. Wow! How time flies. And Erik, he is a news anchor in Corpus Christi, Texas, and put together a slideshow of hundreds of images to be shows at the reunion. And to my husband David, our friends Tim and Scott, they helped coordinate all of the photography for the event. Without Tim and Scott, we would not have the great images that will last a lifetime!

I am so thankful for each of them and for what they brought to the table for this reunion to be such a HUGE success!

And to all of our classmates from Class of 1988, thank you so much for coming! It was a true honor and pleasure to put on this event for you. We hope you had a great time, and we cannot wait to get together again. Enjoy the slideshow and pictures!

Sincerely, the Reunion Committee.

To view a slideshow from the reunion, CLICK HERE! *please give it a few moments to load.

To view and purchase images from the reunion, CLICK HERE!

password hint: Our mascot - plural!

Co-chairs, Myrriah & Tira



The reunion committee, L to R: Vanessa, Erik, Mike, Tony, Myrriah, Tira



Class of 1988!

My Addendum......

I AM … blessed.
I WANT… someone to find a cure for cancer and autism.
I HAVE … a full tummy from lunch.
I KEEP … old t-shirts that bring great memories from the past.
I WISH I COULD … get out of bed early enough to work out in the morning.
I HATE … rude people, but try to offer them grace later.
I FEAR … not saying I Love You enough.
I HEAR … my co-workers laughing out loud about the student loan industry.
I DON’T THINK … I will make it to the gym today.
I REGRET … not jumping on certain band wagons earlier.
I LOVE … a fresh pedicure, huge bear hugs from my hubby, my two kitties, and a good night sleep.
I AM NOT … going to waste another day.
I DANCE … when my hubby is watching those crazy dance shows and mock some of the dancers. Sorry. :(
I SING … in church and rock the house.
I NEVER … burp in public.
I RARELY … speed.
I CRY WHEN I WATCH … those sappy Chick Flicks on cable.
I AM NOT ALWAYS … quiet.
I HATE THAT … I need to stop drinking Diet Coke.
I’M CONFUSED ABOUT … life sometimes.
I NEED … work on my new website.
I SHOULD … go to the gym after work, but will probably work on a slideshow!

I borrowed this idea from my friend Jasmine Star. Thanks J* for those little things in life that put things in perspective.

Also, if you know Jasmine and have not done so already, please stop by her blog and say a little prayer for her Mom. She is having a biopsy tomorrow (Friday) and we are all praying that cancer has not returned.