Desert Warriors {1916th Support Battalion Change of Command Ceremony}

I love all the tradition and pride that is part of a Change of Command Ceremony, and it was truly an honor to capture this moment for LTC Bill Davis and his family...

As they celebrated his Command of the 1916th Support Battalion here at Fort Irwin, it was so touching to see the pride on his family's face. {I caught Zach's tears while his Dad was thanking his family during his farewell speech}

For those of you who haven't been to a Change of Command, the passing of the Guidon {below} symbolizes the transition. Here the CSM of the Battalion passed the Guidon to the out-going Commander, LTC. Davis, who then passes it to the Brigade Commander, COL Gaffney. COL Gaffney then passes the Guidon to the new Battalion Commander, LTC Kalamaris.

Congratulations on all your success here at Fort Irwin! Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this special day...I've loved getting to know your family over the past two years, and will miss seeing you all around post. Please keep in touch!! Enjoy your new adventures, and safe travels as you head to D.C.

Welcome to Fort Irwin, LTC Kalamaris!

The Santos Family

Saturday afternoon I got to "chill out" {nothing like an airconditioned studio on a 100+ day!} with the Santos family...and that meant not only getting to play with their adorable Maya again, but also get some snuggles in with her new baby brother, Jackson! {I gotta say, Fort Irwin just has the cutest kids...everyone complains about the water here, but there must be something good in it! hehehe}

I'm so glad I got the chance to work with you all again before you head off to "greener pastures!" Congratulations again on your little man...he's a keeper! hehehe

I'll be finishing up your gallery soon ... and {oh my goodness! so behind on this...sorry!} will be posting pics from the past couple weeks' sessions onto my Facebook page for you all to tag. Time is just a-runnin' away from me this week ! Ack!

Belly Laughs {Trisha & Kyle with little Jack}

OK-I'm having waaay too much fun....this can't really be a Monday, can it? {not complaining one bit!}

Saturday morning was a blast! I love maternity sessions....and Trisha & Kyle are such a cool couple, so that just made it even more delicious of a session for me. Trisha and I started chatting about their session a while back, and as soon as she mentioned that her hubby had painted a tree mural for baby Jack's nursery {and her love of "The Tree of Life"} I knew we had their theme!

We headed out to Rainbow Basin early Saturday AM to incorporate some Joshua Trees into their portraits to represent the Tree of Life. {I purchased some textures to use with their session in mind...and I've been having waaaay too much fun playing around with them. Somebody's gonna have to stop me or else I'll never finish proofing and getting designs done before I leave on Thursday! hehehe}

{The textured ones above are all done with one called "Field of Gold" ... I love the vintage feel!}

When I was first talking to Trisha, she described her & Kyle as "Crunchy" {I love it!} so I thought these textures would fit their personalities :-)

We also hit the studio...I just love Trisha's belly laugh in this one above!! Kyle was talking to Jack....I think this was when he told Jack to "get a job!"

{for this one I did a black & white overlay, then played around with the opacity}

Keeping with the tree theme, I bought washable paint for Kyle to recreate the nursery mural on Trisha's belly...and Trisha had her necklace...

Oh my gosh, you two - I cannot thank you enough for being so fun to work with! {and for getting up so early!!} I cannot wait to meet baby Jack and work with you guys again...sooooo hope you love your sneak peek!!! I have to head to the COG's farewell in a little bit, and I so don't want to pull myself away from the computer to finish proofing your session!!

I have to also thank my new friend, Jeanette! We struck up a friendship while planning her family session, and she's a fellow "clickaholic" {why do I prefer that term over "photog?"}. She came along with us for the session to watch. It was fun having someone to "talk shop" with on the ride out to Rainbow Basin!! {And I so hope it really does work out for us to link up for some conferences!!}

Chostin & Wyatt

As promised, here's more from Thursday's session with Kylin, Chostin, & Wyatt!

Thanks again, guys!! It was so fun getting to know each of you!

Ballerina Girl {Kylin}

Thursday morning I got to hang out with this pretty little ballerina and her two brothers. {I'll be posting their pics seperately} Sometimes I start to feel a little "trapped" here at Fort Irwin, but then I realize that sometimes being "stuck" out here in this remote location has a lot of benefits- for one, it makes it easy to bounce around to different locations during a session to get some different shots! And that's exactly what we did...for their individual shots we went to three different places to allow Kylin and her brothers to just be themselves. For her, it was her ballet studio...

Kylin is such a sweet little girl...it was so cute to watch her doing her little twirls! {and of course I just love the glittery ballet slippers!!} I just got these new textures today, so I had to play around with them a bit for these today :-)  {this one is a batik texture...I bought a set of 25 different ones, so now I'm never going to get anything done 'cause I just want to play!!! hehehe}

More to come from her brothers!....

"Slugger" and his travels

I grew up in the Jersey Pinebarrens, where deer would graze in our front yard, chipmunks would scurry about the fence by the pool, and rabbits would hip-hop their way around the yard. Living in the Mojave has been a bit of an adjustment for me {to say the least}; so while lizard and tarantula {and even the occasional desert tortoise} spotting is cool, it's just still not "home" for me...

so that explains my excitement over this little guy being in my yard on Monday! Actually, I guess I really sort of smuggled him in - I was planting flowers I'd just bought at a nursery {yes- trying that again...I will not give up on trying to keep flowers alive out here, even with my lack of a "green thumb"} and "Slugger" here was at the bottom of one of the pots. Is that sad that I was so tickled pink to have a creature that didn't have 8 legs inching about my backyard? {even with the trail of slug goo he was leaving}

Not wanting Slugger to fall victim to my playful {and always hungry} lab, Quilla, I moved him to my fence - where he "quickly" made himself at home. Man- wish I could just hang upside down in the shade!

So yes, I admit my {"nerdness?!"} at being excited about this small little visitor...but admit it- you think he's kinda cute, too! hehehe

{the equally gorgeous} Kiernan & Nanda

Anytime I get to work with Kiernan I just know it's gonna be a session full of laughs! Tuesday morning was no different! How I'm gonna miss this fun little gal ... {the downer to military life-getting to know such awesome families, then having to say "farewell!" and cross your fingers that the army will have you crossing paths again soon}...

So Dad had a special request for some pics of Mom...who's a bit camera-shy {and shouldn't be!!! You're gorgeous!!}...so what better way to make Dad happy than to get TWO of his special gals together...

Ah! How awesome are  Mother-Daughter moments...is it too late on the east coast to call my Mom?

So this is a not-so-sneek-peek since their gallery has already been posted...{sometimes ya just gotta shake things up a bit}...so sorry for the late posting on here, but enjoy!!