i heart faces week 39- chalk!

Drawing artwork on the driveway is very serious (& messy!) business.

Make sure to head over to I Heart Faces for creative & adorable chalk photos by some amazing photographers!

i heart faces week 34- beach!

I have so many fond memories of spending time at the beach as a child, and I love that now I get to bring my children to the beach so they can make their own memories to carry with them. This particular day in Morro Bay was quite chilly, and the water was freezing. My oldest son, Sean, was not a fan of the cold water so he would run away from it laughing whenever a wave would crash on the shore. My younger son, Nolan, on the other hand, had to practically be dragged out of the water because he didn't care about the temperature, he just wanted to swim!

Don't forget to head over to I Heart Faces to see more fabulous beach entries!

i heart faces wk 33- gotta wear shades!

what a fun, summery theme this week over at i heart faces! this picture of my youngest son, nolan, really stuck out to me. i love the bright blue sky in the background, as well as the bright colors of his orange shirt & my husband's red sunglasses. i also love how he is looking off in the distance and you wonder where he's looking, but then see it in the actual sunglasses. plus, i just love this boy :)

don't forget to head over to the i heart faces site to see more fun photos of people wearing shades!

i heart faces wk 29- over my head

i had so many ideas of what to use as my entry for this week's i heart faces theme. i have some fun pictures with balloons, bubbles, etc. even some photos taken from over someone's head. but then, as i was editing photos this morning from our family reunion, i came across this shot and had to use it!

you see, the husband of my cousin (actually it's my mom's cousin's daughter... would that be like a 5th cousin???) was teaching my son, sean, to play baseball. sean is almost 4 and has never hit a baseball without a tee before. he was doing SO good that everyone at the reunion stopped what they were doing and watched him bat. at one point he hit a "home run" on their little field they had made, and everyone went crazy cheering for him. sean got so excited that he threw the bat up in the air (which is the moment i caught here)... only it was straight up in the air directly over his head... meaning it went straight back down... onto his head :/ don't worry, he was fine. poor little guy was more embarrassed then anything, but now we have a cute/funny/sad story to tell! and a great picture... as you can see if you look right over sean's head, there's the end of the bat ;)


make sure you head over to i heart faces to see the other entries this week!

i heart faces- BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!

ok come on... who doesn't love babies??? especially itty bitty babies! or the joy of seeing a mommy who is expecting walk past you through the store? i always find myself wondering (as i did w/ my own children) who that baby will turn out to be, what their personality will be like, what they will look like, ect. of course, the first few months they change SO much and their personalities consist basically of eating, sleeping, & pooping. but, they can manage to get a giggle (or laugh!) out of us during those stages too....

hehehe :)

to see more amazing baby photos, head on over to i heart faces!

i heart faces- play!

i was super excited about this week's theme for i heart faces- PLAY. being a mom, i immediately thought of my boys. they play well, and they play hard. they have so much fun together & i love watching them interact more & more now that nolan is getting older.

who doesn't have fond childhood memories of playing in a summer rain? a few weeks back there was a downpour outside, & all sean wanted to do was go out in play in it, so we let him. well of course nolan had to follow right along behind him. i love this photo of them playing in the rain- sean was being a new super hero "rain man," and nolan was splashing... both are things each boy LOVES to do when they play.

don't forget to head over to i heart faces to see more fun PLAY entries!

be blessed!
~ES

i heart faces week 21- yellow

ok, i think that color themes are SO much fun! i love color, especially bright colors, so of course i was excited about the yellow theme this week at i heart faces :) yellow is such a happy color, so i wanted to pick a photo that made me happy & smile. this one is perfect for that! as part of michael & whitney's engagement shoot, we went to the local splash pad and they ran around in the water. it was so much fun! then i snapped this shot of michael cheesin' it up for me. these two were SO excited to be in love with each other & for their upcoming (beach) wedding :) and i would have to say, they are a blessing and make me happy too (you can read more about their newlywed adventures here)!

remember to head over to i heart faces to see more happy yellow pictures :)

i heart faces week 17- SMILES :)

i was very excited about this week's theme at i heart faces- SMILE. there are SO many different kinds of smiles... but my favorite? the natural, truly happy kind that makes your eyes squeeze shut and your nose crinkle... i'm such a sucker for the nose crinkle. so, when i saw the theme for this week i immediately thought of this picture. this engagement shoot was so wonderful- the couple was beautiful and so comfortable with each other. every time i would ask them to kiss for a picture they would kiss and then laugh, and i happened to catch them mid-snicker. turned out to be one of my favorite shots of the day ;)

don't forget to head over to i heart faces and see more happy SMILE shots :)

i heart faces- week 13 {dramatic b&w}

i am SOOO excited about these week's theme over at i heart faces! who doesn't love an amazing, dramatic, stunning black and white photo? it is unbelievable the change in mood that can happen when you convert certain photos from color to black & white (along with adjusting the contrast and other levels to add depth). this is a picture i took at one of the weddings i've done. we found this old door on the property and it allowed for some amazing, dramatic shots!

head on over to i heart faces to see more dramatic black & white photos!

be blessed!
~es

i heart faces week 8- "hands on" fun!

i love when i heart faces veers off the normal route and focuses on something other then a face. don't get me wrong, faces are my favorite things to take pictures of (i mean, my photos are full of them lol) but it's so fun to see artistic views of feet, tooshies, and now hands!

these are the hands of robert & erin. they are getting married in june and i am more than honored to be photographing their special day. how fitting is erin's tattoo? i just love it (and them!)

don't forget to head over to i heart faces to see more photos of hands ;)

i heart faces week 7- i wanna dance!

i am really excited about the theme this week over at i heart faces- "i wanna dance"! dancing is SO much fun and makes people happy! so you think you can dance is one of my favorite tv shows. we dance during worship at our church. i have fond memories of dancing with my husband and daddy at my wedding reception. i've lost track of how many times my boys and i have danced around while watching yo gabba gabba on tv. what a great theme!

this photo is of sarah, who is an amazing dancer! she is SO talented. i took this picture during an outreach our church did at the local university during their lunch hour. we had a stomp routine with different people's testimonies thrown in, as well as several dancers. sarah did a tap routine that was nothing less than perfect. i cannot believe how high she gets when she jumps (did i mention she's 6 feet tall?)! i just love the action of this photo!

don't forget to head over to i heart faces to check out some more dancing photos!

i heart texture!!

i am still pretty new with using texture in my photo editing (and natural backgrounds) but it is SO much fun and makes a big difference in the outcome of certain pictures. since this week's theme over at i heart faces was texture, i played around with several pictures until i found one where i felt the texture improved not only the look of the photo but the mood as well. how fun is this red texture??? (i'm sorry i don't remember where i got it from!) make sure to be impressed with a lot of other textures at i heart faces!

to see more of this fun couple's engagement shoot, with this picture pre-texture (and what a difference it made!) click here.

i heart faces wk 3- families!

this week over at i heart faces they are celebrating families! i am SO excited about this theme, and i love that they are wanting to showcase the many different 'faces' of how families are these days. whether it's a traditional family w/ a mom & a dad and their kids, single parent homes, blended families, adopted children... lets enjoy and honor the beauty of one of the most precious gifts God has given us- families!

this picture of tasha and her kids was the first to come to my mind for this week's theme. tasha is a beautiful, joyful, strong, fun, energetic single mom who loves & serves the Lord with all of her heart. her three young kids are so much fun and they are just an amazing family. you cannot help but love them! as for this picture, i feel it captures them in their element, yet has a subtle beauty to it.

don't forget to head over to i heart faces to see more wonderful families!

i heart faces week 51- outtakes!

yes, i know, it's been awhile since i have entered the i heart faces contest. i have been SO busy it has just not been a part of my schedule. but i just couldn't resist this week's theme- hilarious outtakes. and we get to pick FIVE of our favorites instead of just one to enter this week... the funny thing is i still had a hard time narrowing it down to five! so, with the help of my husband (and judging by our laughter) here they are!

my son, sean. he was so over taking his 3 year old birthday pictures.

little kenlee decided it was time to be done with the photo shoot! ha! is it bad i still think it's absolutely adorable???

and this one of my two boys makes me laugh. every. single. time. the one time sean gives me a nice smile, nolan is screaming. nice! :)

this one is so fun! the oldest son was making funny faces & noises and doing funny poses the entire shoot, keeping his mom and younger siblings laughing.

and this one. nothing shows true love like a husband biting his wife's arm, and his wife pushing his face away. ahhhhh, makes me wanna go cuddle with my husband. or something. ha!

make sure to head over to i heart faces to see more hilarious outtakes!

i heart faces week 46- sun flare

ok, so i was going to do this picture in last week's i heart faces, but i obviously chose a different one ;) worked out great though because this one has some beautiful sun flare in it (not to mention the same, beautiful couple!). don't forget to head over to i heart faces to see more sun flare entries.

i heart faces week 45- autumn beauty

this week is a fun week over at i heart faces- autumn beauty! being a born & raised southern california girl, i never really got to experience autumn. since i've moved to alabama, i have thoroughly enjoyed every fall i've spent here (this is my 3rd!). the colors are amazing and the feeling is wonderful.

i did a really fun photo shoot of a family i love at their house out in the country. the house is surrounded by woods that were filled with leaves every shade of orange and yellow. it was beautiful! and this couple, les & rhianna, are a beautiful couple (plus good friends of ours). you can see their natural beauty and great hearts shine through this photo!

i heart faces wk 40- EXCITED!

i'm pretty sure there are few things that make me smile more than an excited baby... especially when it is my own :)
make sure to head over to i heart faces to see more adorable and fun excited entries!!

i heart faces- week 38 "blue"

well, i have decided to move my i heart faces entries from my personal blog to over here at my photography blog :)

i took nolan's 7 month pictures today and he just happened to be wearing blue! so... i figured why not enter one of the sweet pictures for this week's contest? this one actually cracks me up, he is so concerned!

make sure to head over to i heart faces for all things blue!!!