Photo Contest Winner: The Sato-Alameda Family!

This weekend I made good on my promise and awarded the winning family of my Facebook photo contest with some new family photos for the holidays! Melissa (along with the help of many friends and family) blew the competition out of the water with a whopping 99 votes! It was great spending time with her little family at Danny's grandfather's property in Paia.

Big sister Idalia was melting my heart when she would cradle her sister's face!

 While the girls were off inspecting flowers (Idalia kept making sure that Alenah wasn't eating flowers, rocks, or anything else she wasn't supposed to put in her one year-old mouth), I was able snap a few of Melissa and Danny. Gorgeous! Of course, gorgeous is literally Melissa's business. She is the owner of U'ilani Salon and Spa; she does everything from make-up to hair and manicure and pedicures to massages! This girl has talent!

 Mom and Dad were great, of course, but it was those little ones that stole my heart.

Love, love, love!

Melissa, Danny, Idalia, and Alenah--A big mahalo for letting me take your Christmas family portraits! I really enjoyed your little family and I'm so glad you won my contest!

The Best Neighbors Ever...

...are my neighbors! My husband and I moved into our awesome rental home in Makawao in February of 2010. Right away, we felt like we belonged here. Often on cool Makawao evenings we hear the laughter of one of the many Silvas float through our open windows. They're such a great little family and in the two years I've watched them become even more tight-nit. First, the birth of Kaleb, the first grandson, then the wedding of Matt and Raeli (their daughter), and Lauren (the youngest) moving up to middle school. Then Leicey (the middle daughter) moving to Oahu to attend the University of Hawaii, Ryan (the son) graduating high school, the birth of their second grandchild Kaila. And now, Ryan has just returned from boot camp for Thanksgiving and Leicey is about to move to Georgia to attend school and be closer to her man. This holiday will be the last holiday for a while where the whole clan will be together.

I was so happy to take their family portraits during this Thanksgiving break. It's going to be a rough road ahead for the Silva's with two children on opposite sides of the country. But I know they'll be stronger and closer because of it all.

 Here's Kaleb in July of 2011 and then in November of 2012. Amazing what a year and half can do!

Little sister Kaila had grown a lot too! Here she is in June of 2012 and now, six months later.

OK, so they aren't all Silvas; here are two Casils as well!

  

And here's that Ryan guy, now the Marine guy, with his two proud parents

Thank you Silvas for choosing me again to take your family portraits! A special thank you to Ryan for serving our country. The Marine Corp is lucky to have you.

The Heier Family is in Maui!

Yesterday I met up with the sweetest little family from Washington at White Rock Beach. And as an added bonus, Grandma came too! I love generational shots, so I was pretty excited that the whole family was here! But I have to start this blog entry off with a picture of the kids. Alec and Jillian are so incredibly adorable. Alec was so curious about the sand and the waves and Jillian, for only being three months old, was so chill and go-with-the-flow. I can see how these two can easily steal your heart...

 

And here's the fam together! What a good lookin' bunch!

Grandmas and their grandbabies--does it get any better?

Three generations of beautiful women! I love it!

Mom and Dad had to sneak in one or two photos while Grandma held Jillian and Alec played in the sand

Look how natural this family is in front of the camera! Makes my job easy!

Thank you Heier Family for choosing me to take your family portraits! I had a great time! Between Dad's impressions of Alec and me swooning over that baby of yours, I couldn't have asked for better subjects :). Mahalo and safe travels back to Washington!

Arun and Bea are engaged!

Earlier this week I met up with Arun and Bea who are on their engage-cation! The day before our session Arun proposed to Bea during a helicopter tour (they had made a pit stop in West Maui). ::Sigh:: I love couples in love! And these two were definitely crazy about each other! Newly engaged and in Maui, how can it get better?

A HUGE congratulations to you both! And thank you for choosing me to take your engagement photos!
Aloha and safe travels back to Austin!

The Sharp-est family around

This post is very near and dear to my heart. Last week, my husband and I anxiously awaited the arrival of the Sharp family. Steve and my husband have been great friends since high school. They have been there for one another through each of life's large milestones: high school graduation, marriage, kids (David, their 15 month-old is my husband's spiritual Godson)...and now, Steve turning 30!

Becky, Steve's wife, is Wonder Woman. And I say that in complete seriousness. She is literally a super hero! This past spring Becky approached my husband and I about a plan she was concocting: taking Steve to Maui for his 30th birthday. But here was the catch: it's a surprise! So for six long and arduous months we have kept our mouths shut and have tried to quell our excitement about their visit. Not only is Becky amazing because she pulled off this incredible surprise (he didn't even know he was coming here until they laid over in Dallas), but they also had their 15 month old in tow.

Last time I saw David he was only 9 months old...and now he's 15 months! Oh how the time flies!

We got to share our home, Maui, and Steve's 30th birthday with the Sharp family; we couldn't have asked for a better gift to Steve AND to us!

The only downside of this vacation was that Steve got incredibly ill about half way through their vacation. The last three days were spent on the sofa with lots of liquids and some quality time with the TV. Even though Steve still wasn't feeling well when they left on Saturday, we were able to squeeze in a mini-photo session at Mama's Fish House on the North Shore.

 

He's kinda a Momma's boy--but at this age, that's A-OK :)

 Steve, Becky, and David: Thank you so much for coming out to visit us for Steve's 30th birthday. You guys are amazing and we are so blessed to have you in our lives. Only a month and a half until we are home for the holidays; I can only imagine how much David is going to change in that small amount of time.

Three Rhoads' and one on the way!

On Thursday I met up with the Rhoads family on Big Beach for a maternity/family portrait session. Mom Amanda is due in the spring so we got to spend some quality time talking about bun-in-the-oven and showing off her bump. Although Mom Amanda and Dad Patrick (along with baby Rhoads) were great, I knew right away who the star of this show was: three year-old Jack!

Three year-old Jack perfectly exemplifies the nursery rhyme that little boys are made of snips and snails and puppy-dog tails! Within the first five minutes of our session, Jack was off exploring, digging in the sand, and playing in the surf. But what I loved about Patrick and Amanda is that they didn't get up-tight when Jack got a bit wet and they just let him be a rambunctious little boy!

Oh dear, they are just too cute here!

Look at him go!

Patrick, Amanda, and Jack: Mahalo for choosing me to take your maternity/family photos! Give Jack a high five for me and give that bun in the oven a little pat :) Safe travels back to Washington!