Bedtime Story

My kids seem to be at their wildest every night at bedtime. Usually, they are OUT OF CONTROL, as if they believe that they can squeeze just a little more fun out of the day before they finally nod off to sleep.

I'm pretty used to it, what I'm not accustomed to is quiet. A few nights ago, that is what I heard (or didn't hear) so I creeped upstairs to see what they might be getting into.

It was the SWEETEST thing--EVER:






My other son, T was reading too, alone in his room (just the way he likes it).


Before long, the antics started up again. Sigh.




Finally, they all settled down. Here is M, saying her last goodnight to me.


Sweet dreams, my love.

2010 Brides Choice!

So excited today! Ever After Photography has been given the Wedding Wire Brides Choice Award for the 2nd year in a row. What a huge honor. Following is the press release:

Gilbert, AZ – Jan. 19, 2010 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Ever After Photography has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Ever After Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Ever After Photography is among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.

For more information, please visit my website today at www.EverAfterbyLeah.com.

Hiking with the Kids: Pinnacle Peak

One of the things I most looked forward to doing here in Arizona is spending more time outdoors with my kids. Even though Phoenix is smack in the middle of a desert, there are dozens of things to do because the weather is phenomenal for most of the year. This week, for example, the average high temperature has been around 73 degrees. Don't hate.

So last weekend, after spending the day doing mostly nothing, we decided to hit the trail and take a hike. I did a bit of online research to find a kid-friendly, fairly easy and location and came up with Pinnacle Peak in nearby Scottsdale.

The drive was fairly short, but we wouldn't have found it if we didn't have a GPS unit because the directions I printed out were horrible. My daughter D accused me of not being able to read a map. That is soooo not true.

Scottsdale looks like what I imagined all of Phoenix would-a LOT of saguaro cactus, southwest architecture and wide open spaces. I felt like I was in a 1950's western movie. Like I should be on a horse. I even started talking like John Wayne, pardner.



Here are the kids at the start of our hike, with Pinnacle Peak in the background:



The trail is fairly steep, but still manageable for small kids. There were a couple of steep drop-offs that scared me, the kids didn't bat an eye.



Spectacular views. We were all impressed, and stopped often to gaze, take pictures and eat.


D cracked herself up with this pose. She said "Oh my God, why am I so funny?" You get it from me, of course.



Here we are, at the highest point:




And a rare shot of me with all the kids:



Things to know about Pinnacle Peak:
It isn't a "loop" trail. You hike to the end, then turn around and go back the way you came.
The highest point is about halfway down the trail.
Dogs and bicycles are not allowed.
The trail is 1.75 miles to the end. And of course, 1.75 miles back.
Rock climbing, for experienced climbers with appropriate gear, is permitted in three areas of the park with a variety of routes and skill levels.
Do not plan to take sunset pictures. The park gates close at 5:30, but the park rangers begin closing at 4:30 by walking from the end of the trail all the way to the trail head. If you meet the ranger on your way up, you must turn around and head back down.
The only restroom is located at the base of the trail.

My kids want to go hiking every week from now on. I'm looking for our next destination now. Any suggestions?

Giving back to my Phoenix, AZ friends

On Sunday, Jan. 10 (tomorrow!), I'll be doing FREE Facebook profile shots for anyone that wants one. Each person will get a 20 minute slot, which is plenty of time for me to capture your fabulousness, and we'll both have fun while we're at it.

You'll have access to your images in an online, password protected gallery, and you can choose one image for me to retouch to use as your Facebook profile shot. For FREE.

But Facebook isn't the only place you might want to use your image. Do you use E-harmony or a similar dating site? Then I know you could really use an updated, fabulous, but still-looks-like-you picture. And for all the moms I know, when is the last time that you had a nice portrait taken of JUST you? I bet you can't even remember. And if you have a business, you need a current image for your website, right?

You deserve this. Don't wait until you lose weight or your hair grows or whatever silly reason you have for not getting it done. I'm sure there is someone in your life who would love to have a picture of you exactly as you look right now. You never know what tomorrow might bring, so please don't put it off just because you aren't happy with your current appearance. If you don't like the shots, you don't have to use them, and I can always shoot you again in a few months, kinda like a before and after, except that you'll look great in both images!

To secure a spot, just comment below or email or call me. I'll be at Freestone Park tomorrow waiting for you.

Here are a few Facebook images I've done in the past. Gorgeous, huh?






Please let me do this for you, I promise you won't regret it. Pinky swear, stick a needle in my eye and all that.

Thank You!

I am so incredibly lucky to have the clients that I do. I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to capture you, your kids, and your once-in-a-lifetime events in 2009.

I put a few of my favorite images of the year into a slideshow, I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I do.

I AM BLESSED

2010. Do you say Two-thousand-ten, as I do, or Twenty-ten, which is what my kids say? However you say it, I think we can all agree that it is a beautiful, nice round number. It just looks clean to me, like a blank sheet of paper (or blog page) waiting to be filled with activities, friends, family and memories. I'm feeling soooo energized and hopeful about this new year and the decade to come. 2009, in fact, was a pretty good year for me, and I truly believe that 2010 is going to blow it out of the water. I feel it.

What was so good about last year, you ask? Well, our move to Arizona tops the list. I love, love, love it here. The weather is phenomenal for most of the year, the town of Gilbert is the most family-friendly place I could possible imagine, and I adore our new neighborhood. Moving here was a great decision that I don't regret for even a second, even though it seems so far that I may have left my photography business back in San Antonio.

But I think the real reason I am so very happy here is because of my new friends. They are all amazing people who I don't know what I'd do without, and I just met almost all of them.

Heather-I called her simply because her adorable and precocious son gave me his phone number during the first week of school and told me that he wanted to come to my house to play. I was afraid to call her because I just knew that she would think I'm a nut-case and warn all the other moms about me, but to my astonishment she agreed to come over to meet us all and to let her son play with mine. She has been AMAZING ever since. I can't even explain how much she has done for me-her husband fixed my computer when I thought all was lost, she kept my 5 year old all day while I dealt with the death of our dog, she invited me to lunches, parties and introduced me to everyone I needed to know at our kids school. I feel like I've known Heather for YEARS already, and I know that I'll cherish her for years to come. (Get this-I just called Heather to see if one of my boys could play at her house today. She was headed to Tai-kwon-do with her son and so it wasn't a good time, but she called her neighbor who zipped over to our house, picked up my son and took him home to her house to play with her son who is also in 1st grade. I love this neighborhood!!)

Christine-Our daughters are in preschool together, and they have pronounced themselves BESTEST friends, so naturally we see a lot of each other. Christine is so easy to talk to, always positive and happy, and I really enjoy seeing her and her family as much as I do.

Fanny and Tina-these are the two other moms from our little preschool group that accepted me as if I'd been here forever. I've had their daughters over to play, and they have had mine, countless times already. (Actually, Tina is a Grandma, but she doesn't look or act it and I guess I think of her as one of the moms.) I feel like I could call on any of these ladies to help me out of a jam at any time, which amazes me since we have been here such a short time.

Last but certainly not least is my friend Suzi-We went to high school together, although we never really ran in the same circles (it was a big school). When we were planning to move here, my BFF Gina mentioned to me that Suzi lived somewhere in Phoenix and that I should look her up to get some information about what the best areas might be. Thus began a beautiful friendship.

Suzi sent me tons of information about Gilbert and Chandler, steered me away from a couple of schools, recommended a Realtor, did drive-bys on some of the homes that I was interested in, reported back on the various neighborhoods and basically made it her business to help us find the best house that we could get. And that was before we even set foot in AZ.

Once I arrived, her giving nature became even more evident. I still don't think there has been a day that I've seen her that she didn't have something to give me-a magazine that she thinks I'd like, a fancy pen I admired, something for the kids, something for our house. She is just like that. Giving, always giving.

One day Suzi told me about an idea that she had for a new business that she wanted to open, creating and selling fabulous T-shirts and jewelry, called u2rblessed. I've been looking for a way to give something to Suzi in return for all that she has done for me, and so I hope that mentioning her business will send someone her way.

I took the following paragraph from Suzi's website, because she explains it so much better than I could:

Some would say it was too hot (110 degrees), too sunny (Arizona June afternoon) and the food was cheap (Burning some generic hot dogs on the grill). But what we saw was kids having fun in the pool, a great day to be outside (in the shade or water) and the sharing of a meal with friends. The conversation ranged from one of us being let go from a full time corporate job to being “upside down” on our houses. And every time another topic came up, agreed there was always a silver lining. We talked about all the job opportunities a sudden layoff provides. Even when money was tight in a household, we recognized the blessing a home brings with its love and laughter within. We came to realize, and verbalized with one another, how truly blessed each of us is. And from that conversation we realized we wanted to share that message with each of you. Life can sometimes bring burdens on us that we think we cannot overcome. It is very easy to only focus on the negative. Each day you get to decide what you will fill your mind with-and we choose to remember and focus on the good.

u2rblessed was an attitude and belief before it was a business. And what better way to form a business than upon a principal you truly believe.

I really, truly believe in Suzi's business premise, because I know firsthand what an amazing, giving, happy soul she is. I also know that like a magnet, she attracts people that are just like her, and her husband Ivan and son G are male versions of Suzi-amazing, giving and happy. I hope their business takes off in a huge way, because they more than deserve it.

So you see, I am the one who is blessed. I have a wonderful home, beautiful neighborhood, fantabulous friends (see above), and an awesome family. It is going to be a great year.

Christmas at The Islands

Our neighborhood is AWESOME. I mean, where else can you host a Christmas get-together in your backyard and have the evenings entertainment float by?

Every year, our neighbors get together with their spectacularly decked-out pontoon boats and cruise the lake, giving those of us with lake-front homes a gorgeous lighted Christmas boat parade. Our boat is not appropriate for this lake because it would have to be both electric and smaller, and so we couldn't participate in the parade, but I believe it was just as much fun to watch.

We invited our friends Suzi, Ivan and thier son G (who has the same name as my son, G) over to eat some grilled hotdogs, drink some eggnog, enjoy the parade and finally, visit with Santa at the Islands clubhouse.

Here are the boats, as they began their tour of our section of the lake:


I had a very difficult time getting good shots because there were several things working against me.

1. It was really dark that night. No light in the sky AT ALL. I wish the parade had started at least an hour sooner.

2. Since the boats were moving, I couldn't slow my shutter much without blurring everything to total obscurity.

3. Also, the boats were pretty far away, so I couldn't reach them with the flash.

Once they got closer to our yard, I started to experiment with slower shutter speeds and got some interesting shots like these:




These are our neighbors that live across the street, with their grandson at the front of the boat. Hi M!


A blurry shot of my kids, watching the boats go by and waiting for candy:


After the last boat motored past, we headed down to the park to see Santa!

Doesn't he look fantstic?

I was expecting a less-than-authentic looking version, but when we walked up to him Suzi and I looked at each other and said "He looks real!!!"

He let the kids test his beard:


I took at least 20 shots of Suzi's son sitting on Santa's lap. I'm not sure what they talked about, but it was a good, long conversation!


I also got a shot of G's friend, A:

My kids, who were being their usual camera-shy selves, would only sit NEXT to Santa, not on his lap, and only long enough to take one picture:


You can see the decorated homes in the background on the other side of the lake. I believe many of the lakehomes are more decked out in the back than the front:

And M, who was the most excited to go see Santa of all, who talked about it non-stop for weeks and weeks, wouldn't go anywhere near him. I was lucky to get this:


We stayed late enough to see Santa leave the park, but never did see any reindeer. Weird.


I think Deidre Garber, Islands Community Events Coordinator, did a fantastic job organizing the activities for the kids. I can't wait to participate in the next event!

Brooke & Rocco: Los Encinos

During Thanksgiving weekend, I had the fantastic opportunity to fly back home to San Antonio to shoot the wedding of Brooke and Russ(Rocco)Cortez. It was a beautiful wedding from beginning to end, partly because of the bride and groom's casual and no-fuss attitude, partly because the location for the ceremony is one of my favorites, and partly because I had the opportunity to visit with some of my friends who were family and friends of the wedding couple.

The day began with a portrait session of the Brooke and Rocco. I always love it when my couples choose to see each other before the ceremony. Besides the benefit of having the day flow so smoothly, it is awesome for the bride and groom to carve out a few moments to themselves.

It was a fantastic night with gorgeous details, great music, tons of happy guests and a very calm/content/happy wedding couple.

If you look closely at the images below, you will even see a proposal happening. I had to blink back quite a few tears at that!


Thank you Brooke, Rocco and Minerva for allowing me to be there. And a special thanks to Michelle and Raul for recommending me. You are all very special to me!

Mood Board

(Apologizing in advance, since the following post is not anywhere near being related to photography.)

Since moving to Arizona, I haven't had many photo shoots to keep myself occupied, and so naturally my attention has turned to decorating our new house. Of course, if I had more photography work then I could better afford to get the things I want, but then I wouldn't have time to do so. Such a terrible problem to have!

I created a mood board to keep myself focused as I decorate. I got the idea from one of my favorite DIY blogs-Young House Love. Check them out for some amazing inspiration and tips to transform your house within a budget.

At the moment, my house is a very tan, blank slate:



The curtains below are the first things things that I've purchased from my mood board. This weekend I'll be adding a chocolate brown panel to the bottom 1/4, bringing them all the way to the floor.


The red prints on the wall will GO. I'm so not into red anymore.


The color of the walls are most accurate in this picture. I seriously need something on the floor to warm things up:



What I'd like to do is add some texture with lots of baskets, add warmth with chocolate brown accents and and to maintain the airy feeling with a calming blue and tan palate-sand and sky.

So here is my mood board-most of these things are from Target:



1. The colors I love-chocolate brown, tan, pale blue-gray, creamy white.

2. I found these amazing curtains at Ikea, but they are 6" too short so I'll be sewing chocolate brown panels onto the bottom 1/4 to add length and hopefully a bit of style.

3. These prints, or something similar, will hang on each side of the dining room window. I just love the sand and sea colors, but you won't find any pictures of beach scenes or any sea shells in my home. Too cliche' for me.

4. To add texture and depth to the room, this sisal rug will go under the dining table and chairs.

5. and 6. These tables will go in the living room-one is for the TV, the other is to go behind the sofa.

7. and 8. I love this little birdy pillow. I'll need at least two of each of these.

9. A very thick throw, in the perfect colors.

10. and 11. Two lamps and a decorative bowl. These will go on the sofa table. Or somewhere. I love them.

12. and 13. More rugs for the entry and hallway by the stairs.

There are a few other things that I have my eye on, such as some silver candlesticks, wall art, and green plants, but I can get those things pretty much anywere.

I plan to get a little at a time, it simply isn't in the budget to purchase everything all at once. But thats OK, I'm enjoying the planning and hunting for the perfect combination of price, function and beauty. I just hope that we are still in this house by the time I get it all together.

White Painted Table-Part Two

It's done! Yesterday, finally, I put the final coat of paint on my tired, old Craigslist table. I worked on it very sporatically, spending an entire day here and there, an hour or two occasionally, and mostly not doing anything at all. For weeks.

But over the last few days I went into overdrive because I'd like the entire set to be finished by Thanksgiving. Now that I know how difficult the chairs are going to be, I don't see that happening, but I'm going to get as far as I possibly can.

In case you've forgotten, here is the "before" image:



It really wasn't the ugliest table, but I wanted a white one.
Note the hideous water damage on the base:


And now it looks like this:






The table was first lightly sanded, then primed using Zinzer Bulls-Eye 123, painted with Valspar's Off White latex paint in a satin finish, detailed with some brown craft paint mixed with the Off White, and finally top-coated with water-based, clear semi-gloss Polycrylic Protective Finish by Minwax.

Here is a close-up of the detailing on the pedestal base:


...and on the top:


The water damage is long gone:


I worked endlessly trying to get a perfect finish on the table top, and I can honestly say it just wasn't going to happen. I believe I have (not kidding here) at least 20 coats of paint on the top, because I couldn't stand the brush marks. I tried using a sponge roller, several different brushes of different sizes, and a flat applicator. No matter what I tried, the brush marks were visible. I believe that I could have achieved a spotlessly smooth finish if I used a sprayer or even spray paint, but that was an expense that I couldn't afford.

After many, many days of painting, sanding, painting, sanding and painting again, I finally decided to purposefully apply the brush marks in a random pattern. And it looks JUST FINE. I could have saved a tone of time and paint if this had occurred to me sooner.

You can see a little of the brush marks, purposefully applied, here:


I'm so happy with how it works in the room. I love light and airy spaces, how can you feel down in a such a happy place?


Here is a side-by-side look at the table before and after:


So, what do you think? Was it better before? Did I ruin a perfectly good table? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so let me have 'em!