The Crouse Family

Troy, Julie and their twins, Zachary and MacKenzie were great sports. They all worked hard but had fun shooting this portrait session. Troy was strong enough to carry the whole family on his back. And we probably could have added Jackson (their dog) too if we wanted. The Crouses are a fun loving and close-knit family and I had a great time with them.

beautiful Mackenzie can do some modeling in the future?...maybe


along with Zachary too!


i love this shot...Jackson, their dog, has the most gentlest soul i have ever met in a dog



two cuties

mom and the twins...they adore her

a handsome couple

a beautiful family


Thanks for inviting me into your home!

Have a Blessed Christmas!! We want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and healthy New Year to come!

The Adaya-Almase-Fojas-Salvador-Rivera grandkids

Alecko and Antonios

The Kostopoulos boys have two of the best smiles around town. Brothers, ages 3 and 7 months, were lots of fun to capture and play with.

this handsome boy is Antonios...my how we've grown since I last took your portrait

enjoying a book together

big brother Alecko loves Elmo

how sweet!

all smiles for me

yes!

thanks again Kristi and Tony for inviting me into your home!

The Super Family

The Supers are definitely as cute in person as they look in their pictures. Joe, Jennifer and their two kids are my good friends and neighbors. I love taking pictures of their kids because they are not only adorable, but so easy to work with. It's been fun getting to know them over the years and watching our children grow up and experience things together is so great. We're so lucky to have great neighbors and the Super family is definitely one of them.

this handome boy is Nicholas

Lauren is such a sweet girl

they are so cute together

Jen's such a great mom

one of my favorites

what a fun shot and potrait session it turned out to be...thanks for letting me capture this memorable time in your family life!

Surprise...Happy 50th!

I just wanted to wish my uncle Emil Atienza a Happy 50th Birthday! Last month his wife, Vita, and two daughters, Terri and Rochelle pulled off a great surprise party. With the help of some of their close friends and family, Emil had no idea that the party was for him. The reception at the Holiday Inn at Skokie was a beautiful scene with all his family and friends to honor him. His sisters, Marilyn and Vergie (with her husband), flew in from California just to be there. Everything from the party favors( which were little pots of mini chocolate golf balls) to the center piece (which was a golf putting hole) was thoughtfully orchestrated. It was a terrific night of fun and dancing!
I don't know of anyone more deserving of a great party than him. He is such a wonderful person with a huge and generous heart that is was so easy for everyone to celebrate this milestone in his life with him. Thank you Kuya Emil for all that you do!

Golf anyone?

his lovely daughters

dancing with his equally generous and loving wife Vita


The Atienzas - Vita, Emil, Terri, and Rochelle...what a great family!

The Thomas Family

Tonya and Derrick not only have a beautiful home but gorgeous children to match! What a fun treat it was to capture the girls. And boy we were definitely limited by the weather outside. It was frightful that day with the wind and cold rain. But luckily the girls' spirits were great and willing to have me take their pictures.

little cutie Sariah

three cutie patooties

oh how grown-up we are...

but still so little...

and sweet...


and beautifully young.


Thank you Tonya and Derrick for inviting me to capture your family.

Michigan...part two

Maddie wanted to go apple picking the next day so badly that the minute she woke up she couldn't stop asking. So what did we do? We made her wait until we finished our Saugatuck sight-seeing tour :) Then we headed off to "Big Dan's U-Pick'em Farm and Orchard." Now mind you, Mike just found this place on the internet and decided to make it THE place to pick apples. So we kept driving through corn fields until we reached it. Luckily, it turned out to be a great place. It was a fairly large orchard that grew various kinds of apples from Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Ida Red, Johnathan, and so on and so on. They even had a peach orchard and pumpkin patch.

It was very cool that they drove us to the specific apple tree by means of a tractor hayride.

Remember the old days when we had to use a ladder to get the apples? Well, things have changed since I was a little girl. Or was it because I was little at the time? Anyway, the girls had a blast picking them right off the trees without any help.

But the little one still needed some help.

Mikayla taking a break from the hot weather that day?



Warrens Dunes State Park Michigan

After the orchard, on our way home we stopped at the Warren Dunes State Park. The road access to the beach area was closed so we had to walk. Well, we parked right under this large sand dune and decided to climb over it to get to the beach. I tell you that this thing you are looking at is actually much steeper than it looks. And between laughing so hard and crying, because it was sooo much harder to climb it than we thought, I seriously thought I wasn't going to make it. My kids however must have had enough sugar to pull them through because they didn't have half as difficult a time as I did.

And this is the beautiful scenery you get after you make over that hill o' fun.

More playtime in the sand was how we ended our wonderful trip. And that's how my kids wanted it to be.

Michigan

It's hard to believe that I have lived in the Chicagoland area all my life and have never really vacationed in Michigan or even explored it. Little did I know that it's such a beautiful scenic state just a hop and a skip away. We decided to drive up for an overnight stay and explore for two days. Our first stop was Redemaks Restaurant in New Buffalo. It was highly recommended by a very good friend of mine who is a Michigan native. They serve one of the best burgers I've tasted. The menu has a lot to offer but they are best known for their delicious hamburgers. I do think everyone has to stop by and try this one out!



Our main destination was South Haven. We were lucky enough to catch the Fall Harvest Sweets and Cider Celebration. It was a lot of fun to walk down the streets in their downtown area and sample the sweet apple cider and treats each shop owner had to offer while window shopping. All the stores were very cute boutique and specialty shops. But the only thing my kids wanted to do was try every treat that came their way!







As you can see, it had one of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a long time. If you think about it, aside from being in the west coast, it's the only sunset over water you'll see in the midwest. It took my breath away. And my kids loved the beach and played in it like it was daytime.









And the next morning, we drove to Saugatuck. The drive throughout Michigan was absolutely beautiful. It seemed that every fall color came to life with it's vibrant reds, oranges and yellows. It was something out of a picture book.

strolling through the downtown shops and restaurants of Saugatuck...they were all very charming and busy with lots of tourists

Maddie chillin on some lounges outside the shops


of course you can't overlook the water

Mikayla posing for us in her goofy way!