graduation photo shoot

two weekends ago i spent the saturday taking graduation photos of my niece.  she graduates this coming Sunday. 

she is stunningly beautiful and so incredibly easy to photograph.

her boyfriend was a hoot and such a great sport as it took us 

THREE HOURS with multiple changes of location!!

soph had purchased these 3 giant balloons, so we had fun with some creative photos in a meadow.

they are so funny......with their glasses, a vintage afghan & zach's big shoes.  how cute!  at one point they were chucking grapes up into the air & trying to catch them.  so many giggles.

i have these two vintage chalkboards, so i told them to write anything they wanted about "graduation" on them (but they couldn't show each other until after the photo was taken).  zach had graduated 2 years ago already.......so that explains what he wrote on his chalkboard (lol).

soph created a little digital "adventure" album for zach and it was a great prop for these fun photos!!  look how their fingers are linked -- love it.

happy graduation, soph!! 

love you.

 

 

keep creating memories,

jill

vacation highlights

There is no doubt that our family loves Costa Rica.  Now....it's not like we've seen the whole country....yet (but we look forward to enjoying that in the future).

There are so many things about this last vacation that hit the top 10 list, but I thought I'd share just a few with you today.

 

#1 - our view

This is the view from just outside our front door.  We had palm trees for those whole like shade, hammocks for those who love to lounge & read a book, sand for those love to build sandcastles, sun for those who love the heat & waves for those who love to surf & boogie board.  It was the best of ALL worlds.......and we lucked out and rented this one!!!  It truly was paradise.

 

#2 - surfing

Ron & the kids managed to take surfing lessons this time at playa grande.  They've wanted to for a while, and this time we made the time.  Ron & Daria ended up renting a board for the next four days and surfed everyday during high tide.  It was so much fun walking down to the beach with them and watching them ride the waves.  Definitely a huge highlight for them......and me.

 

#3 - Swords at Sunset

Just like out of a Magic Treehouse Book, the four younger kids would pull out their magical swords (palm tree leaves) at sunset and "dance" around the deserted beach in front of our house.  It had always cooled off by then (+28, instead of +36 degrees) which made them happy to stay out longer.  And, don't kid yourself, it was a pretty cool setting to play a quick game of pirates.

 

#4 - family time

No schedules, no structure, no homework, no work (period).

Just time for us.....together, at our favourite place in the world.

 

images editted by: http://pixlr.com/o-matic/

 

Come back soon to see more.

And (possibly) some layouts?????

- jill

winter beauty

took a few "winter wonderland" photos of daria last night.

she's so easy to photograph -- what a beautiful girl i have .......

....... inside & out.

enjoy your wintery day.
it's so gorgeous outside this morning.
jill