Jon & Christine...Take III

I have been lucky enough to be able to not only share in planning the wedding for my wonderful cousin and his oh so beautiful finance Christine, but am able to Photograph them on their journey towards marriage as well and the "BIG" day this weekend!! We've done a few photoshoots which have been posted already, but this one was a favorite of mine. We went up to Villa Montalvo, requested by Christine, and got some really fun shots of the almost newlyweds. Hope you enjoy them... Next post you see will be of Mr. & Mrs. Jon Lugo!!!!!!

Snow Camp: The After Math..

SNOW CAMP 2K9
end result: AMAZING!!!

The Best Cabin EVER!!!!!

The Whole Gang

Snow Camp 2009

So its that time of the year again.. Bethel High School's Snow Camp!! Its been 7yrs since I have gone and that was as a student.. I bet those of you reading this are thinking about the million memories we had from years past: Ice Skating at Long Barn Lodge, Boys running outside in their undies, Amysue's "Donkey" cry, The multiple amount of pranks that got us in deep trouble, Laughs, Cries, The Infamous Heaven Bound Sisters and who could forget the appearance from the Backstreet Boys!!! lol.. Man the memories.

This time I will be going as a Leader. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us and how he moves in the students, as well as the leaders. I have been on a high for this for months now and decided that I needed to make something for my cabin girls. When I was a student my cabin leaders always made stuff for us or brought stuff for us to make together, a little cabin bonding time. So I decided to make something for them to use throughout the weekend.. a prayer journal. Something they will be able to take notes with, write their thoughts and prayers down, I just remember being there, having a million thoughts going through my head, how I was feeling when God was moving through me and I wish now I had written them down. So I made 12 of them.. all different of course...

I hope these get put to good use.. :)

"Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

What better way to bring in the Christmas Spirit than hanging out with friends.. laughing and making Gingerbread House's.. well I'll tell you. Put all that together and make it a competitive contest.. so we did just that. We all gathered over at the Melynchuk's the other night to brag about our creative ideas and watch eachother make some of the biggest messes and masterpieces. The rules: Must be in teams of (2). All ingredient must be edible.. and 2 Hours to complete. The awards... "The BEST" "Most Creative" & "What the CRAP is that??" Game on!!

Yah!!! Our House Won "THE BEST"

.."Most Creative" went to Jacob and Madeline.
..."What the Crap is That??" went to Kyle and Amanda.

Overall we had a great night.. cant wait till next year. Merry Christmas.

Jon & Christine

So I not only have the privilege of being able to photography my amazing cousin and his even more amazing fiance for their wedding in 2009, but I also got to collaborate and come up with a unique and adorable photo concept for their engagement/save the date pictures. You know those ideas that come to your head and you cant wait to fulfill them and see the outcome.. this was one of those shoots. It all started with the inspiration of Fall. After getting our Christmas Trees we were driving along side the road and saw an entire sidewalk full of yellow leaves, so we of course HAD to take advantage of it and do a mini photo fun shoot. Then the idea only grew further.. Christine and I drove all around Saratoga raking up front lawns, sidewalks, street corners of all these amazing leaves... I think we ended up with 7 ful garbage bags containing some of the most amazing fall colors (red. orange. yellow. browns. purples and greens). We then took these bags to a park and made the magic!!

Here is the final product (there are of course a million and one more.. but these are my ultimate favorites!!!)

Thank you guys for choosing me to help celebrate this amazing time in your lives.
Love you both!!

Thankfull

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

First and foremost I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving.. spending it with loved one and enjoying time and laughter together.. what else could you ask for.

A Few things I am thankful:
God - For him giving his Son to die on the cross for our sins. For his care and passion for my life. For his concern for my fears and feelings. His love that is never ending. His support when I am down. I could not thank him enough.
My Family - They are always there for me.. Through thick and thin, hard times and great times. They are the one thing besides God that will never ever leave me.. they are going to be there forever. You can choose your friends but you cannot choose your family (and I got lucky and got a pretty amazing one) Mom and Dad: Thank you for trusting me in everything I do. Thank you for setting an example of Godly parents and loving eachother enough to make me want a marriage exactly like yours. Kyle: Thank you for being you. You are an amazing brother and friend. I can never truly apologize enough for the things I put you through when you were younger.. but now that we are older and more alike.. I am truly sorry for it all (now will you please stop hurting me physically to show everyone how macho you are..lol).

My Friends - You guys are my life. You have stuck my side through it all. You are all so amazing and I dont know what in the WORLD I would do without any of you. You are all so special to me in such unique ways. Ambies: Thank you for being my other half, my inspiration my sister that I never had. Thank you for letting me be such a big part of your BEAUTIFUL daughters life. Jon: Where do I even begin for you.. THANK YOU!!! Thank you for dealing with my insanity of relationships, and giving me the most amazing guidance, and for being 100% true and honest with me about it all.. I am so lucky to have my cousin be one of my best friends. Becca: Thank you for being there for everything. I know we got blessed with this amazing frienship that isnt something that will blow out over time.. we will truly be friends forever. Domi: Thank you for being you. Thank you for setting an amazing example for me to follow on how to serve and follow God. I cant believe that from Africa we have grown the closest. I love you and cant wait to see you (1 more week!!!!) All of you and MANY others.. thank you for being who you are and letting me be who I am with you. I am beyond blessed to have some of the most amazing bunch of friends.. others should be jelouse for what I have :)

I am thankful for my house that keeps me warm and dry.
I am thankful for my full and smelly garbage cans, cause that means I have eaten well.
I am thankful for the running water in our house to keep me clean.
I am thankful for the perfectly good car I have.
I am thankful for the job I have.
I am thankful for my life, for every breath I take.

During this Holiday season I hope each and everyone of you can enjoy life and appreciate life as much as I have come to realise. It is not the material things that you have that you should be thankful for, but for the everyday, extra ordinary daily life events you should be thankful for... The red lights that we get angry at when we are in a hurry, those keep us from millions of car accidents a day... the taxes we pay; be thankful you have a job. the electricity bill; be thankful for the roof over your head.

I can go on forever, but I will come to an end. The luxuries in life may come and go, but the lasting relationships you have made with friends and family are never ending.. do not take advantage of these relationships, charish them.

Again.. Happy Thanksgiving :)

::UPDATES::

So yes.. I have been the ULTIMATE slacker when it comes to my blogg.. I dont even honestly know if anyone out there reads it.. but I now feel guilty for not posting ANYTHING for over the past month.. wow.

My last entry was a little more on the serious side.. and is something I am still dealing with in my life. It has become something that I now. I am on a mission to find myself.. through God. I want to be one with him.. give everything to him, every worry and every fear. Its been a huge struggle.. its weird. You grow up knowing what you need to do, but you avoid it.. and when you finally grow up and know what you need to do.. you still cant do it. Ugh.. So yah.. life besides that is amazing. In the past month I have never felt so uplifted.. more like me than I have in a long time. The ability to put God first in my life.. closely followed by my family and friends is amazing... which who by the way are the most AMAZING people in the world. I couldnt ask for better friends.. they have been my life support these last few weeks... special thank you too Amber. Becca. Jon. Johnny. Loni. Auntie Sheila. Elisia and even Domi (yes all the way from Africa I have support) I love ALL of you more than you will know and have honestly been a huge help through all this...

Okay now onto the FUN from this past month.. here are some montages of events that have happend in the past month, that I once again apologize for not updating you earlier...

(click on pictures to make bigger)

Mini Day Trip to LA to see ELLEN!!!
... I took a quick flight out to LA for one night to not only get quality time with my Amanda (who I hadnt seen since I moved back to San Jose) but to also go on the ELLEN Show.. It was amazing. During our adventures we went to the WB Studios and went on a tour and to top off the whole trip, we got to sit on the Central Perk set from Friends!!!

Will & Lauren Laing's Wedding
...by far the cutest couple...Had a blast dancing with my girls (and boys) enjoyed catching the BOUQUET!! better have something in it for me this time..lol


One of MANY movie nights
...this particular movie night brought MANY laughs, johnny's shake-a-face to be precise..lol


Apple Hill for Grandma's Birthday
...tradition is for Grandma's birthday every year we do a day trip out to Sacramento to go to Apple Hill.. buy random crafts, eat a lot of yummy foods and just have quality time together celebrating my amazing g-ma!


Sharks Game with church.. It was also Nicole's 1st Game :)
...self explanitory..lol


Johnny's Birthday
...a fun suprise party for Johnny's 24th birthday involved a fun night of Pictionary and oh to many memories of people's drawings.. Richards imparticular. lol


Halloween
...Candice and Lee threw such a fun party.. costumes were a MUST!! Appearances included: Fred Flinstone, Shaggy, King Kong, 70's Dancers, A Daisey and mannny more.


Domi's Birthday!!
.. so yah.. if you dont know the full story, bascally Domi is in Africa and for her birthday we made a carboard cutout of her and took her EVERYWHERE for her birthday.. we got a lot of wierd looks, but overall, we dont care. lol... Shes almost home!!


Jason Mraz.. (Johnny's Birthday Present!!)
...for Johnny's birthday I got him tickets to our most favorite singer...Jason Mraz. We took the day and drove out to Berkely to the beautiful Greek Theater and enjoyed a rainless day and lots of memories...


Beach Day (Pelican Rock)
... 80 degrees in Novemeber, how can you not take advantage of that. A few of us took a drive out to Davenport to go to Pelican Rock. We got there about an hour before sunset.. watched one of themost beautiful sunsets I have seen in a long time.. navigated though the mini tad pools... and yet again.. made lasting memories.



... so thats been life over the last month. Made some amazing memories and cant wait for the next few months to make more... I promise I will update more.. Just got out of the groove and lost it.. but Im back.. I promise :)

night.