This past weekend was a busy one. It was however capped off by an engagement session at the California State Citrus Park. Michelle and Dwayne joined us in the evening for a casual walk around the park for their shoot. I originally met Michelle last year for Danette and Byron’s wedding. This year it is Michelle and Dwayne’s time to get married. We look forward to photographing their wedding next month. It came up so fast.

In a rush to get some photos up, here are a couple photos that stood out from their session.

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This past weekend we photographed the wedding of Soila and Steven. They were married at the Lake Oak Meadows in Temecula. This is the first wedding we have photographed since Johanna was born. We took a few months off to spend with her. So it was fun to get out of the house and photograph weddings again.

Soila and Steven said their vows in the hot of the day at Lake Oak Meadows. They followed up with their reception in a large white tent at their home. The reception was quite fun. Anyway, I have compiled some photos of their day. They are in no particular order, and only a few are editted.

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Today Yolanda, David, Sweet Pea (their dog), Jolene, I and even Johanna went on an engagement shoot. We went to Old Town Sacramento, and then to McKinley Park. Wedding season is now in full force.

The morning started out cool, which worked out great for photos. Old Town Sacramento is a great place for photos. It offers numerous locations of unique architectural work, trains, and of course views of the river. We luckily got some shots in those places. McKinley Park has a nice lake to take photos near, and of course a rose garden. It’s a lovely place to smell the roses.

All and all, it was a fun time, especially getting Johanna out of the house. These are a couple of the photos we got.

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On March 30th 2012, Johanna Belle Bearden came into our lives at 6:36 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. She was born on my grandmothers 69th birthday at the UC Davis Medical Center.

It seems everything has become about Johanna. Even this blog. We do have weddings scheduled for this year, but I did decide to take a while off to spend with our baby. We will return to weddings in May, at which we still will only return to about half of what we did before. At least for a while.

Johanna is giving me the opportunity to practice my skills on baby photography. So from time to time you might see some photos of her on this blog. This experience is like nothing else we’ve experienced, but it’s all for the best. Enjoy the photos.

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Valentine’s Day has just past. Countless phone calls and e-mails are coming in. In addition to that, many people are following suit and announcing their pregnancies. Jolene’s cousin (who we live near) announced she is pregnant over a month ago. A couple weeks back Jolene’s Uncle’s wife announced she is pregnant. Then today, Jolene’s sister announced she is due in late October. (update: my youngest sister just announced she is pregnant too). We get to lead the year off with an April baby. Jolene is now past 34 weeks.

We just had our baby shower this past weekend. We appreciate all the gifts we received, and thank all those who came. Prior to the shower, Jolene and I went out with Daniel Martinez for a maternity shoot. The last few times, I’ve been taking the photos myself in studio. This time I wanted something outside, and it was just easier to have someone help out. Daniel has helped us photograph many weddings and maternity sessions before. So, of course we asked him. Thanks Daniel. Below are the photos we took. In over a month, we’ll have lots of baby photos, and of course more weddings posted.

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Aside from editing photos, I’ve been painting murals, making nursery items, making preparation for Johanna, and unfortunately attended Jolene’s aunts’ funeral. I’ve strayed away from mentioning Carol (Jolene’s aunt). It’s just sad to think about. I’m just glad I got to know her this past year, especially taking her to the doctor and helping her with dialysis.

With all this craziness we finally got an accepted offer on a home. We’ve been looking for a home for the past four months. We’ve visited over 50 homes, and placed an offer on eight of them. We were outbid, we’ve overbid on some, we’ve underbid, we’ve even blind bid, and shortsales just fell through until now. So in a month hopefully our new address will be 1081 Landmark Cir Lincoln, CA 95648.

We’ve looked in many cities. Some far away, some close to UC Davis for Jolene. This one is in between. We looked at old homes, and new homes. This one we chose because it is new. Right now we don’t have the luxury of fixing it up because Johanna is coming our way. This way we can move in and enjoy it and spend more time with Johanna. Some day we might find a home to fix up.

I am posting some photos of various things that we’ve done in the past few weeks. We put together a lamp for our Alice in Wonderland theme. It consists of tea pot, cup, and our version of the hatter’s top hat. Also the mural I am doing is far from done, but it is a Alice and Wonderland photo that I am copying, but making my own. Many more hours to spend on that one. Eight more weeks to get everything done. Anyway, we will be gone for a week in Hawaii. Jolene and I are returning to Hawaii for a last second vacation. We felt we wanted to go on one more trip before our lives are filled with a bundle of joy.

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Jolene is now 28 weeks pregnant. This past couple of days we’ve finally began working on a mural for our little one. It will be on a canvas, just in case we move. That way she can take it wherever she wants. I’ll get some photos of it as it progresses.

For now we finally had a few minutes to capture some more photos by ourselves. Here are a couple for you to enjoy. We’ll do more as she gets bigger.

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This new years eve I had the chance to photograph a small wedding in Lake Arrowhead. This is the first time I’ve been away from Jolene on New Years Eve in 10 years. All for the best though, because I was able to photograph the wedding of Nicole and Michael.

They got married in Nicole’s parents home. What a better place than in Lake Arrowhead. The home is reminiscent of a medieval castle. For a short planned wedding all the details were great.

Both Michael and Nicole are currently living in Scotland as Nicole is attending school. I wish them the best of luck as they finish schooling and continue on their lives together.

The following are photos I was able to take. Enjoy. Feel free to like us on Facebook.

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This past week Jolene and I spent time with her family in Daytona Beach Florida. Christine and Jamie, Jolene’s sister and brother-in-law, were able to come from Michagan, via California. Jolene’s parents and younger sister Ariana came from Southern California, and us from Sacramento.

We spent one night in Orlando before meeting up with everyone in Daytona. While were there we had the chance to visit St. Augustine and Ponce De Leon. Both places have light towers. One of which, Ponce De Leon, we got to walk up the stairs.

The following photos are a few photos I took while there, except for one. This vacation I spent less time taking photos, and most of the photos I took were with my phone. But here are a few anyway.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted any information about Jolene’s pregnancy. So I’d like to take this time to give you more information on how things are going. She is now 23 1/2 weeks pregnant. This past week we decided on our baby girls first name. At least 90% for sure. Her name will be Johanna.

We’ve also been working on our nursery theme, which will be “Alice in Wonderland”. We’ve been working on a creative tea cup/pot bedside lamp. Eventually we have other things we want to make, but that will come with time. If any body has ideas on what would go with that theme, feel free to let us know. For now, the following photo is of myself, Jolene, and Johanna. It’s our first official photo together. Except you can only see my face…..Sorry. This was an interesting shoot, as we were both photographers, and models. Thanks for a 10 second timer. I’ve done a similar photo for other couples, but I wanted one for us as well. We’ll definitely do more as Jolene gets bigger so keep posted.