- A few weeks ago I was tucking Hadley into bed. I was wearing my (not cute) pajamas. As I was saying goodnight to her, she got a very serious look on her face. “Mommy. Mommy. MOMMY,” she said as she stared at my rear end. “Mommy-you are SO FANCY with your big bottom.” And that right there? That’s when I died! IF ONLY having a big booty counted as something fancy. I laughed when I thought how in Hadley’s sweet 4-year-old mind that having a large rear end counts as something exciting & fancy. So if you are in the fancy club with me, Happy Fancy Friday!

- I love this quote I found on Pinterest by Thomas Monson…”Don’t save something for a special occasion. Every day of your life is a special occasion.” I love this quote because I feel like every day should be fancy (the glittery & sparkly kind, maybe not the big booty kind)…every day should be an occasion to break out that glittery shirt, to eat that fancy chocolate & to vacuum your house while donning the glittery shirt & eating said fancy chocolate.

- I organize my closet by color & I’m not ashamed to admit that amid the blue section & red section of clothes that I have an animal print section as well as a sequin section. Bam!

- Thanks to everyone who voted for their favorite wedding photo of the year! You guys are amazing! The winner of the 20×30 canvas is….Shane & Tammy!!! Thanks to everyone who voted! Shane & Tammy will now have a huge fancy canvas of themselves in their home for all to admire!

Happy Friday to you all! Wishing everyone a very fancy & fabulous New Year! Here are some peeks of a few photo shoots that will hit the blog next week!

We just wrapped up the fundraiser for Cristian & my heart is filled with gratitude for those around me who are SO giving & so willing to share what they have with people in need.

After the fundraiser closed for Cristian, a tragedy struck in a young family that lives in my hometown Reno.  Through the help of my friend Nicole, I’ve realized that doing another fundraiser is a very appropriate thing to do. I know that so many of you have already given, but please read the following story about Karli Johnson:

Karli was a young, positive, loving woman who was 7 months pregnant. Last Thursday morning Karli had an aortic dissection – doctors felt it was safer to separate Bodie and Karli. He pulled through like a champ, 5lbs 1 oz 18 in. Karli, on the other hand had to get through the next 48 hours. She was so brave and courageous through all of this. As she waited during those hours, she was positive, cheerful & worried about others instead of herself. Saturday afternoon Karli was finally able to meet her sweet baby, Bodie. She held him for about a half hour & shortly thereafter she went into emergency surgery. Sadly, the doctors were unable to save Karli’s life.  She was a young wife, someone who had a passion for everything around her & someone who was so excited to be a mother. She loved Bodie & her husband Willie more than anything.

There are so many people whose lives were touched simply by knowing Karli. I simply cannot imagine the heartbreak that this small family is going through right now & I’m hoping that together we can raise some money to help with medical bills & other expenses. It is better to give than to receive…Karli spent her life giving others joy. I have learned this month how much better it is to give than to receive…I know that at this point in the year we are all strapped for cash as dollar after dollar has been spent to purchase Christmas gifts for the ones we love. If you can, please make a donation to this family during this time & share in the true meaning of the Christmas spirit by clicking on the donate button below the photograph.

Any dollar amount will be accepted. 100% of the donations received will be given to to this family. The photograph of the poppies will be emailed to you in high resolution format. The photograph is then yours to print, frame, give as a gift, use as a desktop photo, etc. The photograph will not have my watermark on the image. ALL of the proceeds will be given to the Johnson family to help them during this tragic time in their lives.

God bless each & every one of you who have been so gracious to give…you are truly angels in someone’s lives this year. XOXO, marielle.

It’s a song we sing at church every once in awhile. And it’s a song that I simply cannot sing without crying. The words are so simple but there is so much beautiful powerful in them. And whether you believe in God or not, the words are so true because they apply to each & every one of us…

Because I have been given much, I too must give.

Because of thy great bounty, Lord each day I live.

I shall divide my gifts from thee with every brother that I see,

who has the need of help from me.

Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care…

I cannot see another’s lack and I not share-

my glowing fire, my loaf of bread-my roof’s safe shelter over head,

that he too may be comforted.

At this time of year, it’s easy to look around us and see how blessed we are. It’s also easy to look around at those around us & see that there are people who are struggling. Family illnesses, home foreclosures, people losing their jobs, those without the means to provide basic needs for their families. Life.is.HARD.

I am going to share a story with you about a family who needs some extra help at this particular time in their lives…

Cristian is a 7 year old boy-currently he’s in the second grade at school. On October 1st Cristian was complaining of pain in his right foot. As the days progressed his foot started hurting more and more, by Wednesday October 5th, Cristian woke up unable to walk & unable to use his right side. That morning his parents took him to his doctor for a check up. The Doctor sent him to the emergency room & later that day they diagnosed him with a brain tumor on his left side. They soon discovered that the tumor was the size of an orange. He was flown to the Oakland Children’s Hospital where he underwent an 8 hour surgery to remove the tumor. After the surgery Cris recovered well….and as his family was eagerly waiting to hear from the doctor regarding the results from the tumor. On October 14, they were given the bad news that Cristian’s Tumor was malignant and that we would have to do Chemotherapy for four rounds along with a bone marrow transplant & radiation.

As if this wasn’t already a hard enough time for little Cris & his family, his father was laid off from his job at the same time. Their family has six children to care for along with heaps of medical bills.

I’m hoping that you can see all that you’ve been given in your life & recognize how much others can benefit from your small contribution. Because we have been given so much in our lives, I really believe that we need to give to others & help those who have needs greater than our own.

Although our lives & the trials we are given are uncertain, there is one thing that is for sure: that there are wonderful people out there who are willing to help…and I hope you are one of those types of people!

I am holding a fundraiser for sweet family-100% of the money raised will go to this family to help them in this time of their lives.  Thanks to my friend Liz for donating the lovely merry-go-round photograph. The other photographs are ones I took while traveling in Europe. Each photograph that you purchase will be emailed to you in a high resolution format. The photograph is then yours to print, frame, give as a gift, use for Christmas cards, use as a desktop photo, etc. The photograph you are emailed will not have my watermark on the image. ALL the proceeds will go to Cris’ family to help pay for his medical bills & to help them get back on their feet.

Here’s hoping that you can see another’s need & share what YOU can with this family. Thanks in advance for helping this sweet family in their time of need. Merry Christmas to each of you!

I am hoping that the photographs will be purchased for $7 each, but I am leaving the amount blank so that you can donate as much or as little as you like. Donations will close on December 24th, 2011.

I had the pleasure of hosting a fun workshop in Nevada in October-it was a ton of fun & we covered everything from posing to lighting all the way down to interacting with your clients. I am lucky enough to have amazingly beautiful friends who were willing to model for the workshop! Thanks to everyone who came & a special thanks to Derek & KayLynne for being so gosh darn attractive! And thanks to my sweet dad who let us use his prized Corvette for the photos!

Here are my favorites from the workshop…

Holy smokes, KayLynne. You are beautiful!!!

At this time of year, it’s clear to me that I am ready for a little break. So far this year I’ve photographed 36 weddings, taken over twenty five thousand photos (just at weddings alone!!!). In addition to my job as a wedding photographer, Sam & I were asked to teach an early-morning Bible class (Monday-Friday starting at 6:30am!). It seems like every second of every day there is something to do, somewhere to go, something to accomplish, hugs to be given, laundry to be done, weddings to edit, candy to eat, owwies that need to be kissed, dinner that needs to be cooked, a kitchen that need to be cleaned, paperwork that needs majorly needs to be filed. At this time of year my eyes, hands & my whole body needs a break. And I’ll be honest…being a working mom is HARD. But being a working mom helps me realize that even though that even though my plate is full (sometimes I feel like it’s so full that it’s overflowing), that my plate is also filled ten times more with blessings from God. It’s so easy for me to look at the things in my life that I need to do & I end up overlooking the things that I am blessed with.

The other day I had an appointment & instead of parking close to the building where I was headed, I intentionally parked six blocks away. I know that’s not a big deal for some of you, but walking six blocks for me is like RUNNING A MARATHON. Normally I (like everyone else in the world) would pull out my phone & check my emails while I walked but this time I decided to walk & look at all the beautiful things around me. The red & orange leaves rustled in the trees. They were beautiful, rich hues with golden light pouring through them. As I walked, I realized how thankful I was to have legs that move. To have a body that works. To have eyes that can see the beauty of the earth around me. I realized how grateful I was for my arms which could pick up my darling daughter & hold her. I remembered that the reason why I have all of these blessings is because of a loving God above.

Even though my plate at times seems overwhelmingly full, I realize that my plate is overflowing with beauty, love & blessings from God. And even though the rush of the holidays is here, I hope we can take the time to appreciate all around us. Wishing you all a very blessed Thanksgiving!

I let out an audible sigh of relief when Sam excitedly told me that he wanted to smoke a turkey this year for Thanksgiving. We have been married for almost eight years & in all of those eight years of marriage, I have cooked a Thanksgiving turkey ONE TIME. It was our first Thanksgiving where we were planning on staying at our home for the holiday so I rushed to the store to buy a turkey. I called my mom to ask for directions on how to cook the darned thing. She explained to me multiple times that it was PERTINENT to reach inside the turkey & find the plastic bag that held the giblets & remove it. So there I was, my hand reached all the way up inside this turkey & for the life of me I could not find that darned plastic bag she was talking about. I figured that the turkey I bought must have been special because I couldn’t find the bag no matter how hard I searched for it. So I threw the turkey in the oven & baked it for what seemed like a million hours (can you tell I don’t cook often!?!). We pulled the turkey out & began carving it. After carving it for a few minutes, we realized the was something shiny inside the turkey. Guess what? My turkey had not one but TWO plastic bags inside of it…and they were melted & still filled with all the giblets.

And that is the reason why for the past few years I’ve opted to cook a Thanksgiving ham instead of a turkey. I.WAS.TRAUMATIZED.

Please tell me that nobody really uses the giblets during their Thanksgiving meal. PLEASE. And please don’t ask about the first time I made Macaroni & Cheese for Sam. It’s simply humiliating.

Let’s be real here: cooking just isn’t my thing. Clearly.

To redeem myself from the humiliation of being a horrible cook, here are some fabulous photos that I am proud to say that I made…without having to worry about burning, undercooking or being traumatized with the sight of a melted plastic bag holding giblets.

I think it goes without saying, but I choose photography over cooking every.single.day.of.the.YEAR.

I LOVE the month of October…or OctoVer as Hadley calls it. Personally, I like the V in there-it makes October seem a little more snazzy. In honor of a spooky month, here are some random, spooky things that have happened in my life!

* I went to lunch with Sam last week-he claimed that he wasn’t that hungry & then proceeded to eat his ENTIRE plate of Chinese food. I, on the other hand, wasn’t super hungry so I picked at my food…UNTIL I realized that there was a dead caterpillar in my food. With two black eyes. And cute little squishy legs. Except it wasn’t cute when it was dead in my vegetables. Thank heavens I hadn’t eaten a ton because Sam looked at the caterpillar on my plate…looked at his empty plate & almost barfed. Good times.

* Once while on vacation my younger sister hopped into her hotel bed, stretched out her long legs and felt something in the bed. And I bet you a million billion dollars that you’ll never in a million billion years guess what it was. A MOLAR. Not just a tooth, but a MOLAR. I think about that story all the time & it never gets less funny.

* When I was little, I had really, really long hair. One night I laid in bed & I could feel something crawling around in my hair. I went and told my parents that there was something in my hair. They sent me back to bed three times. I was persistent & finally my dad took me into his bathroom, had me sit down & he shook my hair…and a HUGE spider fell out & crawled across the floor. Told you so, dad.

* Last week we had a series of semi-small earthquakes that didn’t feel so semi-small. When the first one hit, I was so scared that my voice lowered like three octaves. It sounded like I was talking in slow motion. It was weird, creepy and soooooooo random.

* I think that’s enough spooky/random facts for now. I don’t want you to think that I’m weirder than you already do. Happy Octover, everyone!

Here’s a spooky photo of my sister at her wedding. Oh, the joys of photographing people you know REALLY well.

I have a problem. It’s definitely not the worst problem I could have. Let me come out clean: I am obsessed with candy. More specifically-holiday candy. More specifically-Halloween candy. I don’t know what it is about holiday candy that gets to me, but boy it gets to me BAD. I didn’t really realize it was a big problem until I was shopping with my sister the other night. Here’s what happened…

Last year I remember buying some Jelly Belly brand Autumn mix-it had candy corn, mini-pumpkins, CINNAMON flavored candy corn, etc. Let me just come clean here (this blog is laced with confessions): last year I ate that entire bag before I made it out the store & into my car. So imagine my excitement this year when I was shopping with my sister at the same store when low & behold-they have the same blessed Jelly Belly brand Autumn mix. I literally almost started crying right then & there in the store (must to the embarrassment of my sister). I quickly started loading my cart with EVERY.SINGLE.BAG. that they had in the store until the clerk picked up the phone & said, “Uh…Janice…do you have any more of those Jelly Belly candy corn mixes? It looks like we have a customer who is going to buy ALL OF THEM.” Hello. So, SO embarrassing! I wanted to tell the store clerk that I was buying the autumn mix (all 8 bags of it) for friends, family members, for my daughter’s teacher…but I was buying them for ME. And I had every intention of hiding all of the bags when I got home so that I wouldn’t have to share. Moral of the story: some people just don’t get it. Moral of the story #2: I am obsessed with candy & there’s no stopping me!

So I have every intention of eating every single bite of that Autumn mix. All 8 bags of them. If I happen to share some with you, consider yourself one of the lucky few.

And because I can’t do a blog post without a photo- here’s a photo from one of my recent mini-sessions with someone who I’m sure shares my obsession with candy. I mean, just look at how HAPPY SHE IS!!!!!! Candy makes everyone happy & if you don’t believe me, get yourself some Halloween candy today & thank me later. Happy Friday everyone!

Today is my 29th Birthday!!! My astrological sign is a Leo (believe me…it’s best sign EVER!). Like a true Leo, I like to talk about myself. Soooooooo, if you are bored out of your mind on this fabulous Friday, you can read 29 things about yours truly. And if you don’t read it, that’s okay-I’ll read it myself (because Leos like reading about themselves, as well!)

1. I sleep with my makeup on every night. I know it’s bad for my skin but I wake up in the morning looking halfway decent.

2. I ate a whole bag of cotton candy for lunch on Tuesday.

3. In high school I drove a Ford F-150 with a lumber rack & a tool box. It was my dad’s old work truck & let me tell you….it smelled like men’s armpits. Not cool.

4. I like driving in the slow lane…and I hate making left hand turns in the car.

5. My sisters used to raid my closet for clothes to use for Halloween costumes. Keep in mind they were taking clothes that I wore on a daily basis. And using them as COSTUMES.

6. I’ve never dyed my hair. Ever.

7. If you know me, you know that I am a bargain shopper. Last week for $50 I got a pair of shoes, three shirts, a sweater, two necklaces & a pair of earrings. And they were all cute. Bam!

8. In 8th grade, I had a Hamburger Phone. Kinda wish I still had it.

9. Butterflies terrify me. I just found out that my sister has the same problem so I’m guessing it’s genetic?!? I’m kidding.

10. I hate working out. So.Much. I own one pair of tennis shoes & they get used for about 3 minutes a YEAR. And a sports bra? Not even an item in my wardrobe.

11. One of my favorite memories of Hadley is when she walked up to the counter at Burger King & said, “Can I have a horn dog?” I literally died laughing!

12. My favorite music is Classic Rock-Aerosmith, Journey, Queen, Led Zeppelin.

13. When I go shopping, I always buy the same things: cardigans & shoes.

14. Baja Blast at Taco Bell is the best beverage. Period.

15. Dr. Pepper takes a very, very close second place to Baja Blast.

16. I got a 100% on my drivers test. AND I wore overalls so I was definitely being judged on my driving capabilities…not my outfit.

17. Cooking is my least favorite thing to do. I can think of maybe, maybe three meals I’ve made that were good.

18. I didn’t eat steak until I was 21. True story.

19. Halloween candy is already in the stores & I’m over the moon with joy!

20. My first cd that I bought was the single to The Macarena. Sad but true story.

21. One of my favorite movies growing up was Newsies! My sisters & I loved that movie so much that we named our pet goldfish, “Racetrack.”

22. I used to be on the springboard diving team in High School…even though I only learned 10 dives, my skin smelled like chlorine for four years straight.

23. Last weekend my friends & I deep fried everything imaginable from candy bars to peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. It was the grossest, most delicious thing I’ve ever witnessed.

24. If you’re still reading this, you must be super bored.

25. Our dog’s name is Brody. And no, we didn’t name him after Brody on The Hills…just to clarify.

26. I’m stopping at 26 because this post is just RIDICULOUS. 10 Bonus Points to anyone who actually read this post!

Here’s a photo of me at the 4th of July A’s game…for lack of a better photo of me, I’m using this one. PLEASE don’t judge me on my oversized A’s jacket…it was freezing! It’s super obvious but I was pretty excited to have my photo taken with the famous banjo guy!

Well, now you know more random facts about me than you ever wanted to! I hope everyone enjoys their weekend! I plan on celebrating my birthday the same way I celebrate every day…with a Dr.Pepper, 5 miniature candy bars & a fun day with my family. XOXO, marielle.

I loooooooooooooove the 4th of July! We have so many fun things that we do as a family that have become traditions to us. My favorite 4th of July tradition is going to the Oakland A’s game (they ALWAYS lose but that’s not the point!) & then they open up the field for all the fans to go lay on the grass while watching a fun firework display. It’s a fun tradition that I always look forward to. This year we went together with our church & Sam managed to get 100 hot dogs & drinks from Costco for everyone to enjoy at the game. Let me tell you-100 hot dogs is a TON of hot dogs. It was definitely no small feat to transport the dogs & drinks to the stadium, but if there is anyone who can do something like that, it’s Sam.

I am grateful for our nation where we are able to be ourselves. I am grateful for a nation that lets us practice our religion without persecution. I am grateful for our freedom, our country & for the men and women who fight for those freedoms. I literally cry every single time I hear the song, “God Bless the USA” because I really am grateful to be an American. And I also cry because it’s one of the best power ballads EVER!!!! In fact, I’m listening to it right now & Sam said, “Don’t cry, Marielle.” Haha!

Here are some fun firework photographs I took while at the A’s game the other night. I got a few weird looks while I was moving my camera around in circles while taking the photos but I LOVE how long exposures turn out! Enjoy your 4th of July & remember to take a minute today to thank God for being part of this incredible nation.