camille and rosendo's engagement session

you've got to hear this story...

this past christmas, rosendo was flying up to seattle where camille and her family were. he was excited because he was about to propose. but there was a bump in the road. en route to seattle, the engagement ring was stolen! not to be dissuaded, rosendo proposed to camille - with a promise of love and another ring to come. so, tonight at their engagement session - rosendo presented camille with the ring. i felt so privileged to be there to document it. camille's face was priceless. we got so many great images tonight, but i was so thrilled with the story that i'm mostly posting shots of the ring sequence.

i can't wait for their wedding at the amazing firestone vineyard this october!

ashlee and david's engagement session

my friends ashlee and david were so much fun to be with tonight. we were laughing constantly. and they were both up for anything i suggested - except getting in the water ;) and i was only half serious about that. they are so much in love, and it showed in every picture.

we went up to the beautiful nojoqui falls county park. besides being a beautiful location, i absolutely love hearing people try to pronounce it. go ahead...try it...

...here's how you're supposed to say it: nah-HO-wee

however you say it, all i know is that ashlee and david are such great people to be around that their wedding in august is going to be blast!

tell me can you feel the thunder?

here's how the story goes...

we entered the park the first day at 9:30 am, and didn't leave until 11:00pm that night. the last time we went to disneyland, the boys (noah and micah) were 3 and kaitlyn was 2. I was was stoked because the boys were tall enough to ride the matterhorn - and they loved it, but for the most part we went on all the "kiddie" rides. so this time, a year later - i was almost as anxious to get into disneyland as they were (i had checked online to see the height requirements - 40"). that meant that the boys were half an inch taller than the required height for most of the rides in the park! i started thinking along the lines of space mountain instead of dumbo. our disneyland experience was so much more enjoyable as my sweet mom (a.k.a. "nana") came with us. this way we could have a 1:1 kid to adult ratio.

the first ride the kids wanted to go on was "the rockets" - which just so happened to be in tomorrowland - next to "star tours". in line for star tours with the boys they became totally convinced they were in a real spaceport with real robots. so when they strapped on their seat belts and and we "took off" - micah turned to my wife (jenny) and asked,"are we still at disneyland?" the boys absolutely loved the ride, so convincing them to try "space mountain" was easy. of course my mom was upset that i would actually take my 4 year olds on space mountain! she may have been right, because when they got off, micah said,"i don't want to go on that again until i'm 5." to which noah said,"i don't want to go on that again until i'm a grown up." after mellowing out with nemo, autopia, toon town, and the train, we finally came across the most epic ride of the day for the boys..."big thunder mountain." i thought i had ruined roller coasters for them with the space mountain experience, but they were eager to try it. and after the first time through, they were convinced that it was the best ride ever. they were able to ride it 4 times each, and probably would have been content just doing that for the rest of the weekend. other highlights included splash mountain, pirates of the caribbean, and soaring over california.


just before we entered

finding nemo submarine ride

minnie mouse is a celebrity

time for a 30 minute power nap

noah on big thunder mountain with nana

micah too.

micah, as he tells us all about the ride.

yeah for disneyland!!!

right after pirates of the caribbean - we no longer had children - we had pirates.

they're convinced they can pull it out and then become king of disneyland

the happiest place on earth...

I'm out of town for the next few days. I'll be returning emails on Monday. have a great weekend!

save the date!!!

leslie and jamie are going to have an amazing destination wedding at the beautiful occidental grand xcaret in riviera maya, mexico. well, leslie wants all her friends and family come join in the fun - and to make sure everyone saves the date on their calendar, she wanted her wedding date written in the sand - so she could put it on a card and mail it to them. the only problem...she is landlocked. so, she asked if i could help her out. i had fun watching the water come up and erase all my attempts at drawing a heart - i was finally able to complete it...a few times. here is one of them. I can't wait for their wedding!

also, a shot from the website of the occidental grand xcaret...don't you just want to be there right now!

Mike and Kelly's Engagement Session

another beautiful day in paradise provided the backdrop for mike and kelly's engagement session tonight. mike and kelly were so much fun to be around, and kelly was radiant. We started out at serra cross park in ventura. What an amazing place, with views of ventura in every direction. we then headed down to the beach to catch the sunset. i can't wait for their september wedding at the gorgeous belle loreve in ojai.