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“The Mom Within Us” – Grace with Hearts Wide Open {Murrieta family photographer}

Monday, May 6, 2013 Posted in Life, lifestyle sessions, mothers day blog series, Uncategorized

Next up on our Mother’s Day blog series, is a mother/daughter duo that is so beautifully connected to each other. I have had the pleasure of photographing them twice now and I am looking forward to spending more time with them in the future. They are so beautiful, inside and out…

Here are the heartfelt words they wrote about eachother…

Kaet (daughter): “Ever since I can remember, my mother has lived her life with seasoned grace. Whether it was setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner, or remembering to get birthday presents for the neighbor children, she did it with grace.

Now…everyone makes mistakes and messy situations are common in this crazy thing we call ‘life’, but my mom has taught me to make the most out of each and every “Woops!” moment. I can remember a time as a young child when I was coloring and made a mistake. Instead of starting over, she suggested we turn my little error into a heart. That’s not only brilliant, but that is full-fledged grace. Ok—maybe that is ‘graciousness’ in a small form! But seriously–from all the years she raised me as a single mom and still making each day a “happy day”–to the girls trips where she threw her head back and just laughed in the airport when our luggage got lost thousands of miles from home–to the way she will NOT let her world get rocked when life’s heartaches are presented… she’s done it ALL with GRACE.

When you meet her, you will see notice that my mom’s aura is filled with a warm brightness that is unrepeatable. To me, she stands out like a glowing fire in an inviting hearth. She is filthy-rich in spirit– a reminder to myself that I too, have a magic about me that is all my own.”

Kim (mom): ”

If we are being ‘heart wide open honest’ here….being a Mother was something I

was uncertain was for me. I purposely waited many years to conceive my

daughter (she was very planned) and it was a difficult pregnancy. Kaetlyn

arrived VERY prematurely and although that was frightening on many levels, I

chose to look at it as a sign that she couldn’t wait to meet me and greet the

world!

I so clearly recall the moment I looked into my Daughter’s eyes for the first time

and I said to her “Well there you are…so great to finally meet you”….

I recognized her — from where I do not know, but I KNEW her the moment our

eyes met. It was like reuniting with a long lost love who you had always carried

in your heart. At that moment, I realized, it wasn’t our first meeting — we had

always known one another.

As a Mother, I wanted to be the teacher, the example, the mentor to my

Daughter. But it is my Daughter who has taught me SO much in life. She has

been a catalyst for me to be a better person so that I am worthy of being her

Mother.

It has been such an amazing journey — to watch her grow and learn and become

this beautiful woman. Worldly and poised, graceful and intelligent. A true

beauty inside and out…her light from within shines out of every pore like radiant

diamonds. At times, I can barely take my eyes off of her.

I look at Kaetlyn with such admiration, inspiration and hope.

I am so honored to have had the experience of raising her as a child and I’m so

excited to watch her journey as an adult. Although she is a woman now, when I

look into her eyes, I see the same eyes I saw moments after she was born and I

am forever filled with gratitude for the gift of Motherhood.”

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Friendships formed from a bad haircut! (part 2)- {murrieta senior photographer}

Saturday, May 4, 2013 Posted in High School Seniors, Life, senior photographer, Senior Style, Session Spotlights

You may remember this gorgeous senior from a few posts back. I showed a preview of her session and spoke about how we met (over a bad haircut), became friends, and basically how awesome I think she is! You can read that post HERE. Tonight I wanted to share more of her images and shed some light on why I love photographing seniors.

Most photographers say the same thing… “this is my passion!” As much as it is true, I am not going to share about how much passion I have for photography (that should be self-explanatory by now…I hope). I want to talk about how amazingly sweet, beautiful, and talented these girls are that pass through my lens. I love photographing seniors because I feel a connection with them (maybe because I see glimpses of my girls as teens now and again). I get to see, in a very short amount of time, who they are… including their little quirks and nuances that make them unique. I want to show them that those are the things that make them beautiful… those little traits that no one else can replicate. I love the story-telling behind each shoot and showing teens how perfect they are… just as they are … right NOW! Teens these days are so bombarded by un-realistic images of beauty. They could use a little reminder of what real beauty looks like (and it doesn’t always come in a size 1). I am so blessed to have met all these ladies that have trusted me to portray them in this amazing season of life. They all have a special place in my heart and we have made memories that I won’t soon forget! Not to mention the awesome time we get to spend in hair and makeup and all the laughs we have during the shoot! It’s not all sappy and sentimental…I promise!! I basically make a fool of myself during these shoots, fall or trip at least twice, and have been known to go into complete “nerd” status to get a laugh. I am planning on getting a behind the scenes video made someday and then there will be no where for me to hide! lol Get ready folks…it should be pure comedy!

Now onto Elyse and her cute self! I adore all her images…and THAT hair!!! I want it!

The BEST smile!

I am already booking shoots for the Class of 2014 this summer so please inquire soon if you want to ensure that your desired date will be available!

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“The Mom Within Us”- Real life behind Instagram {Fallbrook Family Photographer}

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Posted in baby, Children, families, Life, mothers day blog series

Mother’s Day is just a couple weeks away folks, and we are continuing with day 3 of my “Mom Within Us” blog series (about real moms sharing tidbits and experiences in their own words). My next mama is Heather Hawthorne, owner of Raving Tans, blogger extraordinaire, and Mom of 3 ! Heather’s blog is always a source of inspiration for me as a wife, believer in Christ, and mom. She has a beautiful way of connecting to issues that are relevant to the world we live in. This post she wrote about “Real life behind Instagram” was one of my favorites! I am quoting some great excerpts below but I highly recommend grabbing a cup of coffee or tea to sit down and read the entire post (HERE) . Thank you Heather for writing about what all of us on social media are thinking!

From: A Mom without Facebook

“I’ve been wanting to post for a while now about real life. When I say real life, I mean the real life that happens in between the instagram posts and the status updates.I’m talking about real life that happens in all of our homes, but we don’t dare post about those times because then someone may think we don’t have it all together. I am not saying in the slightest that I am not one of those people, because I am. But I’m here blogging tonight in hopes to get an amen from a lot of mommas out there, and maybe just help a few of you feel a little more sane. ”

I was having a day of all days last week.

I woke up and within 15 minutes was already cleaning up Sawyer’s spilled bowl of cereal followed by his entire smoothie. How he could spill both items in such a short period of time I’ll never know. I’m not sure if I was more irritated by the clean up or the fact that I was watching my organic fruits and veggies that I had just whipped up lay strewn across the floor. For some reason I have become and absolute freak when it comes to wasting food. This is a total tangent, I’ll get back to my bad day, I promise, but seriously I hope someone can relate. Since spending the money to buy things organic and since spending the time to actually prepare meals, such as smoothies, I now for some reason feel that this food is like rare gems and not a bite should be wasted. I would save and refeed the kids’ almond milk from their cereal if I could! I’m a freak, I know.

Okay, so after cleaning up the spills I proceeded to chase the kids upstairs to throw us all together to get out of the house and get Addy to school on time. It was one of those mornings where I was on repeat. Get dressed, get your shoes on, brush your teeth, brush your teeth, brush your teeth. While trying to feed baby girl on my bed I did what any other mom in my place would do and covered baby’s ears with my hands and proceeded to yell, “BRUSH YOUR TEETH!”

Ugh, I feel horrible telling this story, but I’ll go on.

As we drove to school we sang songs, but I still couldn’t shake the morning. I was so irritable.

I knew at the end of the day of course it could have been worse, but I just felt exhausted. The moment my husband walked in the door to help relieve me couldn’t come fast enough.

That day I didn’t have cute pictures uploaded on instagram or fun meals I had made. It would have been pictures of whining kids, a quesadilla, and a mom so utterly exhausted, covered in spit up with no make up on and my hair in a messy bun on my head.

That was reality. Yet no one saw it.

If it weren’t for me posting on Facebook that I had a hard day with 3 kids 4 and under, that day would have gone by and no one would have noticed. Tomorrow I would have a cute picture of us all at the park and a new vegan meal I made and no one would even think that life may not be as hunky dory as it seems.

Crazy huh? Not so much.

Looking back at every one of my instagram pictures I post I could tell you a story that you would never believe.

But it’s real life. ”

Heather goes on to give us a message of encouragement as well and challenges all of us to get real and post one photo on instagram that isn’t all butterflies and rainbows (and shares some stories behind her instagram feed!) . This really hit home for me. We all see the e-cards with quotes that say “Don’t compare your behind the scenes to someone else’s highlight reel!” and I think that would be a completely accurate way to explain the social media world. We are human and we aren’t perfect! Why do we compare ourselves to other people’s “seemingly perfect” lives? We know its not real life…its just the highlight reel. So lets stop beating ourselves up because we didn’t cut our child’s sandwich into the shape of a heart. Let’s enjoy the real, messy moments of motherhood and be able to laugh at ourselves. Thank you Heather for sharing your heart!

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Booking info: jessiekenney@rocketmail.com

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