We spent the last days couple of days up near South Lake Tahoe, nestled within the El Dorado National Forest in Somerset, CA because of some kind friends who invited us up to a cabin they rented from Airbnb.

The first day we explored was NYE - and decided to just find an ample area with snow for some childs play. And we did. And it was a grand ol success. Jax even said - that was the best baseball field ever {because of all the snow}. In hindsight, we realized that on NYE we should have driven up to Tahoe and or the Sno-Park there instead of going up when we actually did which was on new years day - when everyone is off and everyone was thinking the same thing! Oh well, as is life - we didn't quite make it up to the Sno-Park because it was all sold out but did have some snow play, again off the side of the road around Strawberry Lodge.

Here was our first day for some snow play somewhere off the side of the road we decided to stop at! We set our destination out to somewhere near Pollock Pines since the elevation was at 4,000 feet - where you start to see some snow. It was only about 40 minutes from the cabin.

More photos to come soon!

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Every year during the 4th of July we've tried to make a trip out to a special Farm in Oregon. This was our first day on the Farm in Scappoose, Oregon. It's a town just 30 mins outside of Portland. Charlie's aunt (technically not his actual aunt but an aunt none the less. A dear dear friend of his mother who was a roommate of hers back in college. Someone who has known Charlie since he was a baby) owns the Farm and runs it along with her partner and a ranch hand. Charlie's aunt is also a dean at a local University in Oregon. We arrived on Wednesday July 3rd late in the afternoon. I was so excited for my kiddos to experience the farm, what with all the animals (like chickens, ducks, cows and horses - oh and yup, that is a donkey! His name is Elvis) but instead they fell in love with the kids in the above image and played with them all day and night up until our last night there. 

Ever since my first visit to this special Farm, when Charlie and I were just dating, I have dreamt of one day owning something similar but much smaller (they have about 25 acres) and living off the land (and yes, renting it out during the wedding season for some amazing rustic weddings!). What is so great about it as well is - you aren't that far from the city! Our first time up there was pre-kids and we actually had gone up so that Charlie could do some translation work between their ranch hand and themselves. Now, almost 5 years later - they are much better at communicating and you can really see how much work has been put in on the Farm itself. More images to come from our 5 day trip..stay tuned!

hi there! you guys still there? *crickets*...sorry for not keeping up with posts but it's been quite a busy month for me. i started second shooting weddings at the end of may, and haven't stopped since! every weekend has been booked solid even on father's day weekend! but we made it a special family trip because it was a wedding in the sierras!

it was the first time the kiddos went camping. we stayed at silver lake campground (can't remember if it was west or east) and found a perfect spot (#39) with a couple of good sized boulders that the kids loved climbing (a little too much)..and surprisingly, it was super duper fun. actually, im not sure how charlie handled one day by himself in the sort of wilderness with the two kids, while i was up at the hideout second shooting an amazing wedding with Lech. we did have a minor meltdown from both the kiddos at one point..we have another camping trip and road trip planned for 4th of july weekend up in oregon..

in other news and why i have been so busy is the huge momentum of my photography business. it has been an amazing and fantastic ride on this photography journey of mine and i can't believe where it has taken me, because if you asked me six months ago, if this is where i thought i would be (finding my specialty as a birth & documentary wedding photographer), i'd pretty much give you a dumbfounded look and think you were crazy. so far i have second shot 5 amazing weddings and yesterday, i was officially hired as an associate photographer for a large wedding studio! supposedly only about 1% make it (not sure if that is fully accurate) through to hiring once you've applied. it all honesty, i really can't believe it myself. i keep pinching myself to see if i am still dreaming! If you'd like to see more of my photography, please visit here. i've landed more gigs and haven't had a chance to do anything else lately, which is why there are cobwebs here (and why our house is a complete mess).

anyway, here are some images from our camping trip and father's day, enjoy! (click on the images to enlarge)

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Driving down the 5 as I type this on my phone because I left the laptop in our bags at the back of the van that I re-packed & rearranged after my hubby packed it. Yes, he asked me if I wanted to do it and I said no. Until I looked at how he had packed it. It was atrocious people, seriously.

Anyway..still need to get some gifts together- as in make them, print cards and get frames. Yikes!