Everywhere I go and everyone I meet, is always commenting on my big “blueberry” eyes. I hear my mother always politely saying “thank you” and looking at me with a huge warm smile. If I could say “thank you” to any one person, it would be my late Great Grandma Bonnie. My mother always says she was a warm spirited, loving, and kind person. Great-Grandma Bonnie, was always known for her “blueberry” eyes and always received comments from everyone she met. Sadly, she lossed her battle with Lung Cancer, and I never had the chance to look into those loving “blueberry” eyes, that everyone commented on. As my mother lays me down to sleep at night, she always wispers in my ear, that Great Grandma Bonnie, is looking down from heaven, with a big smile on her face. I know Great Grandma Bonnie is smiling down, because she passed her “blueberry” eyes to me. I know she is proud of me, for being apart of a charity that can help those who are suffering from Cancer and maybe give them one extra day on earth with the people they love the most.”

Thank you,
Bella

Thank YOU Bella & Emily

And here is beautiful little Bella, with her amazing blueberry eyes:

Thanks again to all the parents who brought their little ones out for their portraits to benefit the American Cancer Society & don’t forget to purchase your calendar now!

So – enough of my babbling – and lets see their family & their little bitty cutie (who as you’ll see, likes a high sodium diet of Florida Sand!).

As you can see, he loves the beautiful white sand of Destin so much, he even was willing to take it off Daddy’s feet!  He probably won’t remember just how much he loved the Florida Beaches, but at least he’ll have this as proof when he grows up!  All in all, we had a great time, and the gallery will be online soon!  We’ll have more family beach portraits from our beautiful Destin Beaches to come!

]]> http://bellavitaphotos.com/blog/2008/09/destin-beach-portrait-photographer/feed/ 0 http://bellavitaphotos.com/blog/2008/07/eden-gardens-child-photographer-celebrating-adoption/ http://bellavitaphotos.com/blog/2008/07/eden-gardens-child-photographer-celebrating-adoption/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:11:31 +0000 admin http://bellavitaphotos.wordpress.com/?p=104 I am so eager to finish the editing on these, sweet little Cara was so much fun & what an adventure our shoot was! it was on my shoot with Cara that we meet Mr. Lubber the Grasshopper out at Eden State Gardens (past Destin & Sandestin, north of 30A, and still in Walton County but not quite to Panama City and just across 98 from where Alys Beach is).

But, I will say – Cara gave us all a run for our money – and I do mean RUN. Mostly, this is what I saw for the majority of our shoot:

Yep, that’s right – the tail end of Cara. She was on a mission, and she was FAST! But, luckily I’ve been trained by my two little ones & I can book it! So off I went, chasing Cara around:

Oh, and I just have to post these. Not only did Cara collect sticks, pinecones, and pretty much everything and anything else that wasn’t firmly planted & rooted into the ground (she even tried to catch a fish!), she loved to smell things. I am always amazed watching kids explore the world, and I always try to think about how they must see it from their perspective. Only kids can inhale, smell & actually appreciate the smell of a pinecone & smell a flower 20 times over & never grow tired:

Or – also in Cara’s case – climb the stairs of the porch at Eden State Gardens 1,743 times and never once grow bored!

Oh, and I just had to post this one – I’m not sure why I like it so much – because I’m not quite sure if it shows just how big the tree is or just how little Cara is – maybe a little of both:

But as Cara’s mother says, she is in fact, a little Guatemalan Princess – or doll, take your pick!

Thanks for being so much fun, Cara!

And if you haven’t checked out or been to Eden Gardens in South Walton yet, definitely check it out.  If you’re in town visiting, it’s just north of Hwy 98, and a must-see!  It’s also a state park, so there is a small fee to get into Eden Gardens, but it is well worth it & gorgeous year-round!  (But because it’s not on the beach, there’s less breeze, but also far more shade!)

So – just a heads up for everyone emailing me for sneak previews, here they come!!!  I’ll have some up tonight, and they’ll just keep coming over the next week!

And also – lots of exciting news!  I know, I know, I’m not a fan of suspense either, so I won’t leave you hanging too long!

Now – let the sneak peeks commence!

Here’s an update/sneak peek as I upload all the pictures from this session just a couple weeks ago. View this Post

Tani & Brayden were absolute dolls. They’re not twins, just really close in age, adopted from Russia. They were such fun, and while I normally would post some really sweet & sentimental pictures, I’m gonna break the mold today. Why, you ask? Well, because while Tani & Brayden were certainly sweet, they were two of the funniest kids you’ll ever meet! Now, Brayden was a little sweetheart, he will certainly be a little ladies man before too long – but Tani reminds me of my daughter. She wears the pants for sure, and has the funniest & goofiest little personality. The world is her stage for sure! Here is a sneak peek of what it’s like to hang around Tani for a bit:

Yes, they’re definitely two peas in a pod!

And heres a picture that normally wouldn’t have made it through the editing process, but considering Tani’s face, well who can resist…

My littlest baby, Azlin, often sits on my lap as I edit photos late in the evening, and she saw this and giggled her little behind off. All she kept saying was “Baby punny mommy, baby sooooo punny”.

(For those not accustomed to little ones – punny is toddler-speak for funny!)

Ok, now in all seriousness… I can’t just post these without at least a few of the sweet sentimental ones!  After doing the pictures you just saw with our portable studio set up at their home off 30-A, we headed out to Alys Beach.  If you haven’t been out to Alys Beach, it’s a definite must-see when visiting our beautiful area especially if you’re already in Walton County & on 30-A.  So many people already know Seaside, which is a beautiful community on it’s own.  But take Seaside, less crowded, and certainly as beautiful if not more so, in a very modern, elegant & sleek Mediterranean way… and you have Alys Beach in all it’s wonderful Glory!  It’s got a fabulous little children’s park, and a lush green lawn that walks right up to the white sandy beaches.  Anyways, here they are with their sweet sentimental moments out in Alys Beach:

Alys Beach has the most wonderful architecture and doors that are made for taking pictures:

Who can resist baby feet:

As you can see, Alys Beach is almost as beautiful as these two cuties!  It’s nice because it’s so not crowded, but in the same token… not just any photographers are allowed to shoot.  Even we had to call ahead and get special permission before shooting out there!

Ok, More coming soon with a sneak peek of them playing in the park & on the big winding hill!

]]> http://bellavitaphotos.com/blog/2008/07/grayton-beach-childrens-portraits/feed/ 0 http://bellavitaphotos.com/blog/2008/06/crestview-childrens-portraits-in-the-rain/ http://bellavitaphotos.com/blog/2008/06/crestview-childrens-portraits-in-the-rain/#comments Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:41:56 +0000 admin http://bellavitaphotos.wordpress.com/?p=39 Most people don’t consider rainy days to be the best days to go out & get their little one’s portraits done – especially not on location up here in Crestview where it rains so often!  But a little rain never stopped me – if you want to get good portraits, well… where there is a will there is a way!

So – we set out to do some pictures of my good friend’s little girl Rebecca. She shows up in her favorite dress. She was so cute, but with the shoot going on at the height of the Polygamist Compound Raid, I felt the need to let everyone know she wasn’t a runaway & we weren’t housing a FLDS kid with her in her “prarie” dress. Nonetheless it made cute pictures despite the horrible weather! And thankfully, my poor camera survived me running through the rain.

Rebecca NOT enjoying the thunder:

See… I told you we didnt take her from the polygamist compound,

They never wear these short dresses!

Now THIS is the Rebecca *I* know!

I’ll spare all the other “Hands over ears” pictures!

All in all, we made a fun day of running around to various places in Crestview including one of downtown Crestview’s antique stores, a fun little tea shop in the north side of Crestview, and a few other little local holes that only those of us that live in Crestview might stumble upon on a day to day basis.  If you’re looking for some fun things to do with the kids, or even a fun spot to grab a few portraits, these spots are absolutely perfect!  In fact, I hear that the tea shop hosts tea parties, which would be a great party idea for a little girl!

So without further ado, here is “Handsome” himself!

Now who can resist this smile:

Here are those baby bunz:

And with just a tad more decency, and a tad less crack:

And I have to say – we should consider ourselves lucky to live on some of the most beautiful white beaches in the world right here in Destin, FL.  Nowhere else can you get such amazing beach portraits!

Ok, thats all for now, keep an eye out for this little looker!

I’ll be running plenty of specials to get the most use out of this thing, thats for sure – so keep one eye on me!  We’ll mainly be doing our Maternity, Newborn & Children’s photography here, accepting clients from all over the panhandle including Destin, Crestview, Niceville & Fort Walton Beach.

Angela

I’m sharing my recipe for Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars – I’ve got tons of chocolate chips, and tons of pecans, so I’m off to bake some. Now, if you’ve never tried these, then you MUST try them (and don’t come knocking on MY door ’cause I can eat an entire batch, and down a gallon of milk along with it in no time flat!). And just to clarify – I HATE pecan pie, and I LOVE these…

So… cheers to calories, chocolate & fatty goodness!

Crust –
1 1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Butter — Softened
1/4 cup Brown Sugar — Firmly Packed
Filling –
3 Eggs
3/4 cup Corn Syrup
3/4 cup Sugar
2 tablespoons Butter — Melted
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup Pecans — Coarsely Chopped
12 ounces Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Just last night we attended the World’s Greatest Baby Shower on Okaloosa Island & what a BLAST we had! Bad, Bad Photographer, I didn’t get ANY pictures of our booth or of all the hard work we put into it, but that’s ok because we were absolutely slammed most of the night taking belly pics of moms! Luckily, I love pregnant bellies, cause I sure got to see a whole lot of them last night! Big, small, you name it. One really really freaky thing though – I bet 90% of them were having boys! I bet for an hour STRAIGHT we didn’t put away the “Baby Boy” ribbon! But, we also got some babies through there too & got to take some really cute pictures of them too! We had a great time, got to see a lot of other folks like the nurses from Dr. Hennessy’s office, Dr. Stoneking, Dr. Sarah Leatherman, and of course all the great folks from Healthy Start who put on the great show.
BY THE WAY – GREAT improvement from last year! The layout was so much easier for mom’s to navigate through. And I definitely think that the whole “photo booth” concept is here to stay for the World’s Greatest Baby Shower. Its a great fun thing for the moms, and I don’t have to stand around all night chit chatting, I get to move around & do what I love to do – TAKE PICTURES!

Speaking of pictures – the shots will be up soon – VERY SOON! So any ladies that are looking for their pictures, hopefully they’ll be up by Sunday evening. Keep an eye out & post a shout out here if you’d like!