Last year I really wanted to get my son a kitchen for Christmas but he was only 1.5. So my husband talked me into waiting till this year because he would be older and appreciate it more. Well he was so right. I was glad we waited. He LOVES it and just yesterday came to me and said, "Mommy I like my kitchen". He loves to help bake!! I posted a couple of him the next morning playing with it. Poor baby got a cold on Christmas with a fever so he didn't get to open many presents that day. He did get to open some for a few days which he loved.

The one photo is of him after he went for a walk around the neighborhood with his Daddy looking at the Christmas lights. It's his favorite thing to do.

I also posted a couple of him playing in the rain, since it rarely ever rains here in Phoenix. He put his tongue out like it was snow. I can't wait to take him up to the snow tomorrow.

Today I met Jenifer and her husband Earl with their 2 gorgeous daughters and baby son.

The girls are 8, 4 & their 7 months old son. I had such a fun time taking photos for this family. The girls were well behaved. Their parents told them one time and they listened. Wow I was so impressed that after the shoot I asked how they discipline them. They said they really don't have to the pretty much listen majority of the time and sometimes they ground the older daughter Miss A. I dream of that, it seems as though I have to put in time out at least once or twice a day.

This family was so cute. Jenifer mainly wanted photos of their baby little Mr. W. for gifts for Christmas. I was kind of sad when she said that because her girls are so beautiful and I knew their photos would just be so gorgeous. So luckily at toward the end of the shoot she let me take a couple.. YEAH I was so excited!! They were so good. I could take photos of girls between the age of 4-13 as long as I can. Girls this age enjoy having their photos taken and are always so cute. Plus they like to pose and get into it. I LOVE that!!!

Check out how beautiful this family is. Thank you Davidson family!

My Mom used to make this on Christmas morning. It was my Grandmother's recipe. I don't like walnuts but this is really good. To me it doesn’t taste like walnuts cause of all the rest in it. I made it last year for the first time. Our family was in town for Christmas and they loved it. I was a little nervous since I never made it. But it came out tasty. The recipe is doubled but I tried to cut it in half which is to the left.

NUT ROLL

Makes 10 rolls. I will cut it in half so you can see that too.

12 C. flour -6 C. Flour

3 C. Evaporated milk– 1 ½ C. Evaporated milk

3 tsp. salt ----1 ½ tsp salt

6-8 eggs ----- 3 – 4 eggs

1 C. sugar ----- ½ C. Sugar

1 pound butter ---- 1/2 pound butter

2 packages dry yeast (quarter ounce each package) --- 1 package dry yeast

Warm milk, add butter, salt, sugar then cool. Dissolve yeast in mixture. Whip eggs in another bowl. Add to mixture when cool. Put flour in large bowl. Make a well and pour the liquid in. mix

Then grab that dough till it comes free from side of bowl. Let rise till double in bulk. Put down and let rise again. Then divide into 10 balls. Roll out in oblong shape ¼ inch thick. Fill as for jelly roll, roll, let rise under towels. Brush top with beaten egg and little milk. About 5 rolls to a good sheet.

325 for 45 minutes watch carefully.

Filling

2-4 pounds ground walnut. (3 is probably best) ----1 ½ pounds of walnuts

2 eggs ---- 1 egg

Half a pound of melt butter

1-2 C. sugar ------ ½ -1 C. Sugar

Squeeze 2 TBSP lemon --- 1 TBSP

½ c- 1 C. milk

ICING:
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 to 4 teaspoons milk

My Mom used to make these when I was a kid. I am not a big orange fan in general but these are incredible. It's a little different recipe, but my Mom and sister said it's really good. I thought I would share it.


• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 (6 ounce) can orange juice concentrate, thawed, divided
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• FROSTING:
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1 tablespoon reserved orange juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons milk
Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and eggs. Beat until well blended. Reserve 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate for frosting. Add the remaining concentrate with combined dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; mix well. Stir in orange peel.
2. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until smooth. Spread a small amount over each cookie.

Chrissy was an actress in California before she moved here to Arizona. She was a natural in front of the camera, so photogenic all the photos of her turned out beautiful. We were shooting her family portraits yesterday and I had to post these really quick for her because they are my absolute favorite!! I have been dying to shoot a woman who would pose for me since I started this business. I think honestly she should model!!! I will post more when I get them done. This is just a quick sneak peek. If you want to hire her for a wedding. Here is her website : http://www.cerrickentertainment.com/Thanks again Chrissy for being such a good sport and posing!!!

I LOVE to bake around the holidays and share recipes. I always baked dozens of cookies with my Mom at Christmas. This year I don't get to bake with me Mom because we aren't going home to Pittsburgh this year. But I am hoping my Mother in-law will bake with me. Sometime we do that if I stay here in Arizona. My Mom has some great tasting recipes. Here is the Hershey Kiss Cookie Recipe. These are really GOOD and if you like dark chocolate, try the dark kisses they make them taste so good! Feel free to share it with your friends and family! I hope they turn out yummy! Merry Christmas everyone~

PEANUT BLOSSOM COOKIES

I am super excited I have been searching for probably over 6 months for a way to make my CD's more professional looking. Searching wesbites etc. Finally I had a photographer (Melissa Copeland) on Facebook told me about this great printer. Epson Artisan 810. You can print your labels directly onto CD's, with printable CD's instead of messes labels. Wow how much easier could it be.
You just put the CD in and it prints your label right onto the disk! If your a photographer looking to get labels on your CD's these look great. The printer is only about $199 on Amazon. Plus it's Wi-Fi so that's a big plus as well!
I can't wait to send out my first professional label tomorrow. I would like to get a new design, if you know a graphic designer send them my way! I don't like designing things. I am in need of some help!! For now this will have to do.

Caitlin hired me to come take their Christmas photos. Caitlin is so sweet and her kids were so adorable!! I have to admit I am in love with the sepia tone photo of the two babies.

Her parents live in a community in Gold Canyon with a guard at the gate and it has a beautiful country club there. The building looks like it is from Europe, it makes you feel as though your in another country when your walking through it. I am in love with this building. It was absolutely the perfect setting for photos. For the scenery there was the beautiful Superstition Mountains in the background. They are super nice to talk to and photograph, I had a fun time. I truly enjoyed meeting them. The session went super smooth , we busted out one after another. They even made a comment of how smooth it was going. I didn't realize but it went great. Check out their gorgeous family photos!! Thank you Caitlin and family for hiring me!

I am and never have been a writer. I actually hate writing more than anything because I am an artist and words just don't work for me. Images are how my brain works. So writing about families on my blog can be tough for me. So please bare with me my friends. I do enjoy telling you about the families I get the wonderful privilege of meeting though. It brings life to the photos.

I love meeting new families and it makes my job so much better when people are super cool and fun to talk to. This family brought their 2 daughter ages 3 and 7 months.. I asked if the older daughter helped out and they said yes and she wasn't jealous either. I really hope that works for us too, since we have another one on the way! This family brought their dog and a friend to help out with the session. Their lab Molly was very sweet. Dogs aren't easy to get into family photos but I think the photos came out great with her in them. They daughter little Miss A. captured my heart. She is such a happy, sweet little girl. I could have taken a million photos of her and never got tired. She was full of energy, laughing and singing. Wow I love kids and when they act like that, it just makes it much fun for me to get into.

I enjoyed talking to Lindsay she is a super nice person and felt like she is someone I would hang out with. She was so nice and laid back. I can tell she is a really caring, sincere and kind person. I bet she has lots of friends because of it. Her husband Eric is an account and is from Nebraska so they dressed the girls up in cheer leading outfits from the Huskers. Their baby girl spit up right when it was time for the photo. . I got to capture a couple cute ones of little Miss A. who looked absolutely adorable!!
It's funny because each girl looked like one of their parents. Makes me wonder what my little girl will look like. Everyone says my son looks like my husband, so I am wondering if my daughter will look like me. Sometimes that happens.

Please enjoy these sweet photos of this beautiful family. Thanks again Lindsay and Eric for being such good sports with the whole shoot!!

A few weeks ago I met Terra and Richard with their 6 month old baby N. Oh I just can't say enough about how big, blue and beautiful this baby's eyes are. Wow was he fun to photograph!! he was laughing and giggling literally almost the whole shot. Till it was too much for him at the end, as it is with all kids. He was such a good baby. I couldn't believe how sweet and adorable he was. He sat up really good and when he looked at
his Daddy and Mommy he would laugh. He had the best disposition. My son was just like that when he was a baby, always pleasant. An older woman said to me
it's because I was a good Mommy. I think it is from being loved so dearly, adored and cherished. So Terra must be a really good Mom and love her little baby N. very much!

I wanted to take tons more photos of him just playing around but it was getting cold out and he didn't have much on for the shoot. Plus I wanted to get some family photos in just in case before he got upset. Cause I know babies and kids don't always last the whole hour. It can be tiring on them.
So I like to ask at the beginning of the session what is the most important photos they would like taken. Just so I know to try and capture. Terra and Richard were such nice, laid back people I had a wonderful time talking to them. He was from Tennesse and she moved all over. Thank you H. family your baby was a dream to photograph!!