Koh Family Session

Memories of a sweet, warm summer day...
[taken last summer at Discovery Park in Seattle, WA]

This family is extra special to us because Suzi (mom) is my sister-in-law!

We always visit Seattle at least once a year, and every year I'm shocked at how big my nieces and nephews get.

 One year in the life of a child brings huge changes...

This is why, although it can be a pain in the butt to plan, I believe annual family pictures are so worthwhile.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week~ more family/kid sessions to come!

Softie

J and D - Save the Date

J and D are getting married! 
They are dear to our hearts...D teaches Naomi in our church's preschool ministry (where she is wildly popular among the little girls I might add) and J is my cousin-in-law's brother, so part of our family! For anyone that knows them, these two are awesome, and together, they shine~*
So excited to see how God continues to bless them in this journey they're on!


Since D already knew what kind of Save the Date card she wanted, it made it easy to shoot just what we needed (plus a few extra fun images of course)! We sent a million emails back and forth and when she showed up with a "value size" confetti bag, I was so happy! 
Also, our mutual friend Jane from Jane: An Event Design & Coordination Co. is coordinating their wedding - I know she will do an amazing job pulling everything together and excited to be there on their Big Day to see it all come to fruition!


Enjoy~

Their final Save the Date image (envisioned by D)

Congratulations you guys~

The Pak family loves you!

When I bake with my kids

(which is not often enough)
several things are guaranteed.

1. Playing around with the bakeware. Mask? Hat? Drum? The possibilities are endless. Actually, the possibilities come to a rapid close when mommy gets annoyed that all the bakeware is getting very dirty from being drummed on.

2. My kids will beg to lick the spoon/bowl/mixer. 

While they do this, I will secretly eat chocolate chips under the guise of cleaning the table.

3. Flour 

Flour in the hair, flour on the chair, flour on the face, flour in seemingly unreachable crevices. 

4. Complete silence while eating. 

Many crumbs. 

Many 

many

many

 many

crumbs. 

5. This Sheepish Face. 

And the words, "Mommy more?"

6. Naomi taking forever to eat one cookie. 

 Maybe she is savoring the delicate nuances of the Nestle Toll House recipe I used off the back of the bag. 

Maybe she's reveling in the awesome baker her mom is.

Actually, she's just a really slow eater.

Most of my baking experience consists of watching Ina Garten bake on Food Network,

and then going to the store and buying Pepperidge Farm cookies. Genevas are my favorite.

7. And my personal favorite:

Cookie Smiles~

So worth the mess of baking with my girls!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day - stay warm and bake something!

Celebrations

So much to celebrate these days~
Here is a sneak peek of another recent "save-the-date" session...excited to share the full post soon!

Also, so happy to share that Celebrations at Home, an "inspirational site for stylish entertaining", has featured JJ's Fourth Birthday Party! The full album and original post of his party can be found here on my blog. 


For anybody planning an upcoming celebration - whether it's a baby shower, kid's party, or bridal shower - their site and Facebook page are full of ideas, some of which have been featured on HGTV.com, Preston Bailey, The Wedding Chicks, Amy Atlas Events, and Hostess with the Mostess. The creative talent out there is amazing.


Hope everybody is having a wonderful start to their weekend~

Afternoon sun

A glimpse of how my girls nap... Naps are only for a season (oh help me Lord when that season is over) so wanted to capture it.


Big sis on the left in their room, little sis on the right in ours...they sleep together at night, but I found they slept much better in the afternoon when I separated them! Since their naptime is when I get my work done (ie. blogging/editing, cooking, cleaning, reading, and ok, maybe I should include just lounging on the couch, surfing the net and relishing the peace and quiet if I'm honest), synchronizing their naps was high priority when Noelle was born! Can any moms relate? 


Here is Naomi wanting to kiss Noelle before going down. (This may sound sweet on the surface, but was more of a stall tactic.)  

Random goodness:

• The best family stories of 2011
• I laughed my head off reading this post. Oh Ryan Gosling.
• How cool is this photographer dad! (click on the slideshow)
• and lastly, our 2011 family photo shoot Taken by the talented Min of L&M. Thank you so much Min!

Catching a Ride

[Taken on the morning of our sixth wedding anniversary]

The girls love to catch a ride on Daddy's feet and be carried around the house.They've been sick, so playing inside the house has been frequent these days.
One day, I told him, they'll be too big to do this. Probably next year actually. Naomi is growing like a weed. 

 I will always remember this day.... six years married and the kids still fit on Daddy's feet. 

Snapshot

Noelle, you LOVE being given a "big girl" cup... you inevitably spill it on the floor or dribble it over your chest...but I like giving it to you just to see the look of joy on your face. You're getting so tall these days, I've been digging out all the bigger clothes for you just to catch up!

Andrew and Jessica - Save the Date

Wedding season is fast approaching and 'Save the Dates' are probably filling your mailboxes~
A&J had asked me to take a shot for their Save the Date card last fall, and recently mailed it out in anticipation for their upcoming summer wedding. They are so lucky to have the talented Youkeun Oh shoot their official engagement session/wedding - his photography is gorgeous and I know they will be well taken care of!


Andrew is one of my husband's cousins and actually sang at our wedding reception (A is a VERY talented musician/singer/dancer) - so it's pretty timely that I'm posting this now, since Tim and I are celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary this Saturday. Time flies! I have a soft spot for Jess too because she always posted encouraging comments on my blog back when I just started Sky Blue Seed (thanks Jess, you were my sole commentator for months LOL!) - she is a fellow blogger as well and loves to cook/bake/take pictures.


I loved that they wanted to have fun on their shoot and were up for anything! Jessica wanted to incorporate an ice cream parlor in the shots, so we headed over to the Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain  in Pasadena, walked around the neighborhood and then enjoyed ice cream floats afterwards.
My personal favorite shot is when they are running away from the ostrich...yes, I said ostrich. 
Thanks Jess and Andrew for a fun shoot and for being my first 'love' session!

In 2012, I want more of...

this.

Sisterly love.

Playfulness.

Laughter.

Unscripted.

I had a wonderful winter break with the family, dates with my hubby and sweet rest...and now feeling refreshed and ready to take on the new year (with my coffee in hand of course)!

First of all, a humongous THANK YOU to all my 2011 clients who trusted a newbie behind the lens. I am incredibly humbled by your support and thankful for every one of you!


Thank you to Tim Park of Tim Park Photography for taking me under his wing this past summer and showing me the ropes so graciously. 
Thank you to all the blog readers/subscribers/self-admitted stalkers for taking time to comment, share encouraging words, and show love - every word always brings a smile to my face, thanks for clicking away!
Thank you to my prayer group girls who have walked through the ups and downs of 2011 with me and pointed me to Jesus.
Thank you to my family who have supported me from the beginning.

Biggest thanks to my husband who is my "iron sharpening iron", a constant encourager and support in ALL areas of my life, not just photography. Tim gives me courage to take risks, chase after dreams and trust in God alone. He truly leads by example. He has also turned me into a lover of all things Apple and a believer in Accordance (only seminary nerds will get that one - you know who you are. Be proud.) I call him my pseudo "editor-in-chief" because I always have him review my blogposts before publishing. I have a secret ploy to hire him as my real editor one day, but I think he has bigger aspirations. Sigh*** party pooper he is.

Truly looking forward to all that is ahead and to meeting many more awesome families, kids, fellow photogs and bloggers. My overarching goal for 2012 comes from John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Huge on my mind lately. Some new things for 2012 are in the works as well, so stay tuned! 

Wishing everyone an awesome week back at work/school/life-after-holidays! 

Happy New Year~

[ our 2011 Christmas card taken by the talented Min of L&M]