Name That Bird

This will be a really different journey for you all. I am going to go
backwards on my reports. So this is the day before Costa Rica. Hope
you can follow me! This is the bird that followed our boat. We were
out to sea all day, no land in sight. The sea was pretty calm, but
still hot and humid. We managed to stay busy all day, mostly eating,
going from the buffet to the aqua deck, then to the restaurant. Todd
spent half the day photographing the bird. So we have quite a few nice
pictures of the bird. The exciting part of the day was being invited as
special guests of the Captain to come up and visit the bridge. No
cameras were allowed because of security. So Todd had withdrawl
symptoms, walking up there without his camera! It was very interesting,
but the thing that kept me entertained, was watching the beautiful birds
drafting off the bridge, just floating along, catching the drafts. They
would glide right next to the windows, so we got very "up close and
personal" with the birds! Also, I was amazed by the steering wheel of
the ship...it is no larger than a dinner plate! No wonder they don't let
many people up there to see! We still don't know why we got special
invitations... no one else in our group of 7 got invited!! There were
about 20 in the tour, so we felt pretty special!
I hope someone out there can name this bird! Even the first Mate didn't
know.

Costa Rica...heading home

We are now in the Pacific,and we stopped for the day in Costa Rica.
Since we have had zero internet access,
I haven't been able to blog. I'll do the rest when we get home, I guess.
Here is where we went swimming today . The last time we came south on a cruise, I had the time of my life swimming with dolphins. But this time we got the Bargain Excursion to
the nearest beach. There was one problem...well, FIVE big problems!
This is not the best way to lose all that weight we have been packing on
in the dining room this past week.
As you can see, we made it back to post this blog.

The Three Barbaras

Barbara Louise, Barbara Jean and Barbara Elizabeth (my beautiful niece)


Today my Aunt Barbara passed away suddenly. I will really miss her. I didn't see her very often because she lived in Southern California, but it was always comforting just knowing she was there. I loved calling her and saying, "Hi, Barbara, this is Barbara!". Then she'd laugh and say, "I know that is you". Just a little family tradition we had. The last time I talked with her, a few weeks ago, she was happy and healthy, walking daily and playing Bingo at her retirement home.
She will be in Heaven and meeting up with Al, her husband whom she missed so much after he passed away. I'm glad she believed in God. She was my mom's younger sister and our last close blood relative of that generation. We still have our Aunt Ruth, tho', who was married to my mom's "big brother". I'll be sure to keep in contact with her.

The Races

Linda, my godsister, treated me to a weekend at the Breeders' Cup races at Santa Anita.
We had a teriffic time! We got to see history made as Zanyatta, a 5 year old filly, beat a field of very famous colts in the Classic. She will retire now, I think, having won 14 out of 14 races!
Very exciting. She was so beautiful and had such personality. She is really a big girl, in fact, bigger than all the boys in the race. She is 17.25 hands tall. She does a little "dance" before her race, which makes people wonder if something is wrong with her. Then she is the last one out of the gate and most of the time runs dead last before she makes her move. I guess that tactic has worked, as she has never lost a race. Her jockey is Mike Smith.

Three of my favorites at the Breeders' Cup.

You can view some other pictures of a couple of the races on my Flickr site.

An Adorable Ballerina

Here is Kiera. She is a little doll. She is one year old and is as smart as can be. We are almost related to her because we photographed both her parents as Seniors in High School, and then photographed their wedding, so that makes us "almost" family! She was so much fun to chase around the studio. She makes the cutest little squeak when she is excited about something. Bethany and Jason are amazing parents. They are definitely bringing her up the right way.
I think she is going to be an athlete because she is so coordinated already. But right now, she is a perfect little model. It is going to be so much fun to watch her grow.

The Cutest Little Doctor

This is Hunter's second Halloween...well, it is actually his third! He was a tiny baby for Halloween #1. Then last year he was Superman. So, as you can see, there is a new Doogie Howzer in town!
Just look at him in his little scrubs. He is so adorable. He had a wonderful time celebrating by hosting the UCD golf team for a spaghetti dinner on Halloween night.




Kelly sure makes good spaghetti. No one needed medical treatment, so Hunter tossed his stethoscope away.

Danny and Vibeka

We visited Danny and Vibeka last week. We took them their Graphi wedding book. I think it really looked beautiful. We had good subjects! We wanted to deliver it to them because I wanted to meet their new puppy, Harley. She is about 6 months old and is a Bull Mastiff. She is a doll... a very BIG doll! Here are some shots Todd took.

The many faces of Harley.

The beautiful Cali

The whole family.

You can see what Harley thinks about family portrait time!

Caitlin and Dan

What a surprise when we received a call from Caitlin a few months ago. We hadn't seen her since she looked like this:


Here she is now, all grown up and about to get married!


Here is the "family shot" of Caitlin and Dan and the pups.

Here is Dan's favorite picture. Talk about a couple-in-love!!

We can't wait to photograph their wedding. They will be so much fun! And they are such a great looking couple! Now if we can just keep them from choking each other before the big day!

The Santoni Family

Here are some samples from yesterday.
Brooke, Charley, Kayla and Gianna are a very adorable family, as you can see. We met them at Brooke's parents' beautiful country home in Dixon for the photoshoot. It was a wild and windy evening, with a few rain drops thrown in, but everyone was up for braving the weather to get this family portrait session done! Baby Gianna just had her first birthday, and boy, was she a little doll! and Kayla, who is six, was a perfect little model. It was just so fun being with them all- we felt honored to be their "family photographers".











Baby Gianna gets acquainted with the resident scarecrow.

Gennie and Eric get Married

Todd and I had a unique way of celebrating our wedding anniversary this year. We got to photograph Gennie and Eric's wedding. So we spent the day in an atmosphere of love and celebration that kept us so aware of our own love for eachother. Gennie and Eric were a beautiful couple and their wedding was a perfect reflection of their love. They were made for eachother. And their friends were amazing and so fun to be around! The reception was really great and the fun thing was, there were 3 of our brides and a future bride present at the same time! That was fun. Maryann and Giovanni have been married 21 years!!! And they are still in love. I can't believe we have been photographing weddings that long!

Here is a collage of the day-you can click on it to view in a larger size:


Here's a link to a little slideshow!

Baby Rhyan

Now here is a cute baby girl! Her name is Rhyan and we just adored her! She was so amazing, she seemed to love the camera! She just smiled and laughed through all her wardrobe changes and placements on various surfaces. Justine and Adam are great parents and really have fun with her.
I loved the sparkle in her eyes. What a doll! It will be fun to watch her grow!

Gennie and Eric

I can't wait for Saturday! It is not only Todd's and my anniversary, but it is Gennie and Eric's wedding day! Here are some engagement photos we took a few weeks ago out at Gennie's parents' ranch. We had a lot of fun getting to know them - and Gennie's dad, Henry, who had already picked out some spots for the shoot before we arrived. He has quite a beautiful garden around the house and some prize-winning flowers that he took to the Woodland Fair. Gennie grew up out here on the ranch, so it was nice getting some pictures around her home.



They are a gorgeous couple!

Debbie and Rick

Last weekend we had the pleasure of photographing Debbie and Rick's wedding in Brentwood..that is, the northern California Brentwood. What a happy event that was!

There is a Look of Love!

The wedding took place at the beautiful home of their good friends, Ken and Linda. There were over 100 very special friends and family members present. I've never seen a group that was so supportive of a couple getting married. Debbie and Rick have 4 grown children between them and they now make a beautiful, complete family. You could just see the love and acceptance between the kids and their parents. It was a "beautiful thing to behold".



The wedding cake was made by 2 cousins and the top was a bride, a groom and...a motorcycle!





In fact, an exact replica of Rick's Harley! And I must say, the cake was delicious! I'm all for chocolate wedding cakes! Hmm...maybe Todd can make me a chocolate cake like that for our anniversary...with a chocolate ganache frosting and then chocolate ganache mixed with whipped cream for the filling...oh whoops..I digress...I'm supposed to be writing about the wedding!


Here is a collage of the wedding.

Davis Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team strikes again

Our famous Davis Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team of seven traveled down to Los Angeles to compete in the American National Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament. And once again Mia Matalon won a Gold medal and then a Silver in the Open Division. Michael Quigley, the owner of Elite Instinct Studios, won Gold in his division. Mauro Ayres, the instructor, won a Bronze in his Black Belt division. You can read all about it by clicking on Michael's name, above. The rest of the team did very well and they are now back in training to prepare for their next competition.
To have a team of seven come home with 4 medals in a National competition is quite a feat! We are all very proud of them.

Sunday in Kauai- August 9

Today we drove back to Tunnels after brunch. Jan and Joy fixed a delicious brunch of fresh fruit salad, scrambled eggs, bacon (that Todd barbequed), and blueberry pancakes.

We all had a great time snorkeling at Tunnels. Todd's underwater camera was not working, so we knew we'd see great fishes. We saw the most beautiful school of large fish ever (of course). It would have made a beautiful picture. There were at least 50 fish in the school, right in front of us. They were beautiful. They were "grazing" on algae on the coral. They looked like beautiful leaves blowing in the breeze as the current swept over them. This is one time when a picture would have said it all.

We drove back to Kapa'a, showered and dressed in time to drive to the airport to pick up Art, my other brother. Joy was very excited to see her hubby, since they had been apart for a month. Art had been on an expedition to Banks Island, then on a lecturing tour. So for tomorrow, we will all be together. Hopefully, Davy will be able to spend time with us too, tomorow.

Jan, Tom, Art and Joy at the airport.

We had dinner (again) at Hamura's, then drove home to sleep.

Joy, Jan, Art, and Tom eating their Saimin Bowls.

Saturday in Kauai

Finally! I have caught up on my blogs and it actually IS Saturday!
Keith called and we are set for a trip up to his reserve at 2:00pm. He will be with the movie directors, scouting the location for a new movie. And we all will be tagging along. We will be met at the gate by the Sheriff, a friend of Keith's, who is a real character. So that will be fun.

Davy is going to meet up with Sean and Isa, down at Hanalei. He is disappointed he won't be able to go with Keith, but the timing just isn't working out. He and Sean might do a little surfing at Hanalei bay.

Correction: We drove Davy and the 2 surfboards to the Retreat House where the wedding people are staying. Davy decided to just remain at the retreat, so we left the surfboards with him there, since he is staying there for the next 2 days.
What a good choice that was! When Todd and I got to Hanalei bay, there were absolutely NO waves!! It was calm like a pond! So I called Davy and told him the news, so we made the right decision.

This is Hanalei Bay through my sunglasses. Not a wave in sight!

We met up with Joy, Jan and Tom in Hanalei and traveled on to Keith's reserve in one car.
There we met Keke and Logan, who are scouting for the new movie "Predators", and we packed into two trucks to drive up the mountain, with Keith as our guide. I got to sit in the nice, air conditioned Tundra truck with Carl, the Sheriff. everyone else had to sit in the back of the truck.
Needless to say, my trip was very luxurious, with a good supply of gum, peanuts and popcorn, and no mosquitos. In fact, I stayed in the truck the whole trip! everyone else jumped out at every stop to go with Keith and the 2 scouts to see more detail. Carl and I sat and talked about everything under the sun, especially the Bible! He used to be a pastor and he knows so much about the Bible, I learned alot!

This is the rear view of a feral pig. This is what the hunters come here for.

We are waiting for Keith to come to open his gate.

Logan, Keith and Joy looking around for details.

This is Keith's valley.


You can see that the road is not traveled very often.


We left at sunset. What a great day!

Friday in Kauai

Today Joy and Jan left at 4:00 am to go on a boat trip to the Napali coast and snorkeling off Niihau
island. The rest of us slept in 'til at least 7:00 and then went for a swim in the pool, then had breakfast. We watched from our balcony as a man cooked bacon on the barbeque. We called down to him to ask him how to do it, then as soon as he was finished, Todd took our bacon down and we ended up with perfectly cooked, crispy bacon to have with our grilled pineapple and eggs.

We met Joy and Jan at 3:00 in the afternoon at the Kauai Coffee Company. They had had a wonderful trip at sea, saw schools of dolphins, and beautiful fish.

Look! Jan and Tom discovered a leaf just for them! It says "Tom loves Jan '09". What a surprise (don't let them know that we had been there days earlier)

We drove up to Waimea Canyon for the beatiful views and then on up to Koke'e State Park to the Kalalau Valley Lookout to watch the sunset. It was cold and raining, so some of us sat in our cars to warm up while Todd and Davy kept watching and photographing. When the sun started to set, we could see the sky clear up so we all dashed back up to see the sunset. It was still cold, about 60 degrees (we, of course were dressed for 80 degrees), but worth the wait.

The Kalalau Valley on the Napali coast. This is the view from the lookout.

and then the beautiful sunset.



It was dark when we drove down into Waimea (of course), and we still hadn't had our picnic dinner (which Tom and I had fixed in the morning), so we finally found a spot with a picnic table and lights...at the Waimea High School! There was a football practice going on, so we had some entertainment while we ate!

Right down the street was the Waimea Foreign Church. Keith had taken us there last trip, so we knew all about it. It used to be called the Foreign Church in the 1850's because the services were held in English. It was very beautiful in the moonlight, so Todd and Davy took some shots. You can click on the link to learn more.
The Waimea Foreign Church in the moonlight.