Hayden's Toy Drive

This is my nephew, Hayden. He is an amazing guy. Hayden was born with heart problems and underwent open heart surgery twice in his first week of life and since this time has endured several more surgeries. He has spent a lot of time at Phoenix Children's Hospital, but is now doing great! Last year, at the age of 4, Hayden decided that he wanted to start a toy drive to help the kids that will be spending Christmas at the hospital. He received toys during his first Christmas at the hospital and many times since then. He says that it makes him feel better to get a new toy when getting a scary procedure done and wants other kids to feel better as well.

I am proud of my nephew for thinking about other kids at such a young age so I am doing all I can to help support his cause. Brooklyn and Hayden went through their toys throughout the year and held 2 garage sales to benefit the toy drive and have passed out cards at school functions and around the neighborhood to get the word out. I figure if a 4 year old and a 5 year old are willing to give up their toys for other kids then we as adults need to help them collect as many toys as we possibly can this Christmas.

If you would like to donate new toys, gift cards or money to Hayden's Toy Drive please email me at jdavisphoto@gmail.com and I can either pick the toys up or give you an address of where to send the toys/money. Phoenix Children's Hospital will send you a donation receipt if you include your name, address, phone number and list of donations. Thank you in advance for your generous donations. I will post pictures of the kids delivering the toys to the hospital in the next few weeks. We will be delivering toys this weekend and next, but we will continue to collect money and toys throughout the year.

Polar Express

So this post is WAY late, but better late than never I guess. I have all of my holiday orders out finally and I have to get back to my neglected blog. Anyways, the weekend before Thanksgiving we went on The Polar Express in Williams, AZ. This was our second time doing this and we had a wonderful time. For those of you that have not done this--it is a MUST! You get on a train all dressed in your jammies and go to the "North Pole." After reading The Polar Express book you get hot chocolate and cookies and then you pass an area that is decorated like the North Pole. Santa then gets on the train and gives each child a bell. It is the greatest!

After the train ride we went to Mrs. Claus' workshop for some crafts. Brooklyn LOVED Mrs. Claus because "she's a girl." She was terrified of Santa.



Brooklyn even wrote her first letter to Santa. How cute is that?



Here she is putting her letter in the mailbox to Santa. You better believe I went and took it out when she wasn't looking. I had to have her first letter to Santa. The "elves" just laughed and said that a lot of moms do the same thing.



Here are just a few pictures from our weekend.

I can see the Light!!

There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like I have been living at my computer for the last few weeks working like a madwoman trying to finish up Christmas orders. Several days I have sat here for 12 hours or longer editing into the early hours of the morning. I have almost everything ordered and then I will just need to package it up and deliver it, which is the fun part. I LOVE seeing people's reactions when they open their orders. It is like Christmas morning! All of the hard work and heart that went into the pictures really pay off!

Since I have been pretty much abandoning my kids the past few weeks, we headed out of town for the weekend for some much needed family time. So what do I do as soon as we get out of town??? Well, take pictures of my kids of course! I know, I know, it is an addiction. We were in the cutest old town and I just could not pass up the opportunity to let this beautiful location not be photographed. My wonderful family, sister, and in-laws humored me and walked around the town camera in hand. The could not believe the places I wanted to stop at--old brick walls, tin walls, old doors. Junk to most people walking by, but a photographers dream!! We just don't have cool locations like this here in the valley so I have to take any opportunity I can get. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

This is my cute nephew, Hayden. He HATES getting his picture taken, but I torture him anyways because his mom loves pictures almost as much as I do. I LOVE this picture of him so I guess it was worth the torture!



Isn't Brigham just getting SO big??? I can't even believe it! Time really flies.





Troy was behind me on this picture making Brooklyn laugh by pretending to wipe boogers on me (well, at least I hope he was pretending :) ).



I definitely want to head back in that direction for another weekend because we had a great time!! I will share more about what we did once I finish downloading the rest of my pictures.

Soulographer

I spent the weekend at a photography workshop in Phoenix with Skye Hardwick. I learned so much and met so many wonderful photographers. I am grateful that my wonderful husband was willing to keep the kids for the weekend so that I could go enjoy myself. And not only did he have the kids, he cleaned the house which was a HUGE mess and did probably 20 loads of laundry!! What a wonderful surprise to come home to. Thanks again, hon, it really means a lot to me!!!

Here are a few of the pictures that I took while at the workshop. We had wonderful models to work with, which made it a lot of fun.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas to me!! It was a great day today! Not only did I have a ton of fun watching my kids (we'll get to that in a minute), but I got a Halloween and early Christmas present today--I got a Canon 5D!!! I have been eyeing this camera for some time now and, well, my other camera has been having some problems and had to be sent in to get fixed so I finally had an excuse to bite the bullet and get it! For most people reading this a camera is just a camera, but to me (and the other photographers reading this blog), my camera is more like a baby and it is something to get really excited about. Sorry if I am boring you :).

Anyways, here are some of the first images using my new camera and I have to say that the colors are AMAZING!

On to my kiddos and our Halloween. Brooklyn was Cinderella and she was beautiful I might add. She has been so fun this year because she was finally excited for the big day and understood that this holiday means LOTS of candy and she is a candy fanatic. She loved playing at our neighborhood carnival with some of her cousins and friends and had a great time trick-or-treating.





Brigham was the hit this Halloween! Everyone LOVED his Yoda costume and he LOVED the candy. He had a sucker in each hand all night (I am sure he ate at LEAST 10 suckers, if not more) and I found half eaten candy bars all of the place. Yep, they still had the wrapper on them. This candy lover wasn't going to let a little thing like a wrapper stop him from having the greatest night of his life!





Did I not tell you that this camera is incredible?? I know, I know, enough already!

I hope all of you had a wonderful and safe Halloween as well! Until next time.

--Jodi

4 Boys and a Babe

I had fun yesterday spending some time with my brother and his wonderful family. After having 4 boys they were finally blessed with a girl. She is 9 months and is such a doll.

It was quite the adventure trying to get 4 boys to stay near each other long enough to get a few shots together. Picture day for these boys is sheer torture in their eyes, but they should be happy to know that it will be another entire year before the dreaded day comes again. As if 5 kids didn't add enough excitement, the sprinklers decided to come on and drench me. Yes, I got completely soaked because I was more worried about saving my camera than saving myself. There is something about this family and water. You see, the last time I took their pictures we were shooting at the ocean and I fell in the water. But, yet again I saved my camera--I got the wind totally knocked out of me, but I saved the camera. Next time I will be prepared--we will be headed to a location that is as far away from water as possible :).

Enough rambling and on to the pictures. Don't you just love how little B is looking up at her mom?






Anyone that tries to mess with B better watch out because she has got some pretty tough older brothers!





I had a great time with all of you! I know that I kept you in suspense big bro, but you should be happy to know that you made the blog!

Our Little Menace

I haven't shared any pictures of Brigham in a while and I just couldn't resist this one! He is getting so BIG. We loving call him our little menace because he is into EVERYTHING! He loves to scatter ice around the house, empty all of my cupboards, chew on markers, and throw his food halfway across the kitchen. I realize it is just the age, but it is driving me CRAZY!

And then I look at this cute picture and it makes the crazy days worth it. I could just eat him up he is so cute! And let me tell you, some days it is a really good thing that he is cute. I love this kid.

Tree Climbers!

I had so much fun yesterday with the B family. They made my job so easy--they were relaxed with natural smiles and they were up for anything. They were also VERY patient as we had to search for some good light and dodge the puddles of mud. We accomplished our goal though and got some great pictures. Isn't Little Z so cute?





I just love how he dad is looking at him. It just melts my heart!


This was last picture of the night. The entire shoot D kept talking about how eventually I was going to make him climb up in a tree because I kept asking them to walk through mud and all sorts of things to get some decent light. Well, at the end D was standing next to the tree and decided to climb it. I will spare you the pictures of him trying to get up, but he made it and it turned out to be a great picture!



Thanks again! I had a lot of fun!

Sisters...Secrets...and Boyfriends

I just had to share these pictures. They make me smile everytime I see them. So how do you get 2 girls to start telling secrets and laughing? Well, you ask the younger sister who the older sister's boyfriend is--in front of Mom and Dad. You will be sure to get a reaction as they try to create a cover up!

My Little "K" Isn't So Little Anymore

I finally had the opportunity to take some pictures of my niece "K" (the older sister to my other nieces K and K :) ) She is 7 and and looks SO BIG in these pictures. She was a great model and LOVED being the center of attention. I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures to only 3, but I needed to save a few surprises for her mom and dad. Here you go K, I sure love you !

Princess Brooklyn Turns 4!

I can't believe it--I am now the mother of a 4 year old! Isn't it funny how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday I held Brooklyn in my arms for the first time. I remember her looking in my eyes with a big smile on her face. After being in foster care for her first 8 weeks, she knew that she was finally home! What an amazing moment! It is etched in my mind and heart.

Fast forward 4 years and here she is, my smart, beautiful, happy, independent girl. She absolutely amazing and I cannot imagine our lives without her. She is such a big help! She is constantly getting things for me--glasses of water if I am working at the computer, diapers for Brigham, and she even can make Brigham his sippy with milk whenever he runs to the fridge. I also love waking up to her cheerful personality. It is a great way to start the day! Her smile is contagious and she is extrememly complimentary towards others. She is always telling me "Mom, I really like that outfit your wearing," or whatever. She brings a smile to my face.

Brooklyn wanted a princess party this year so that is exactly what we did and I must say that it was a lot of fun. This was the first year Brooklyn had a party with friends so we kept it to a minimum and just invited a few friends from the neighborhood. All the girls came in their finest princess attire and then we made crowns, wands and necklaces. Everyone had a great time! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

Doesn't she make the most beautiful princess?





This picture brings a smile to my face. You can't tell, but she was opening presents and went estatic when she opened make-up. The fastest way to this girl's heart is make-up. She could not contain her excitement (probably because a few weeks back I made her throw all of her make-up away when I found her hiding in my closet putting it on after I told her not to :) ) She has been begging all day to put it on. I guess that is what we will be doing tomorrow.



Happy Birthday, my sweet girl. You are truly one of a kind and I love you!

More Cards!

Here are more samples of holidays cards that are available this year. I hope that you love them as much as I do!








Here are some more samples of holidays cards that are available this year. I hope that you love them as much as I do!

Merry Christmas!!!

What??? It is only September, you say? Well, it is time to start thinking about Christmas--it will surely be here before you know it. In fact, if you would like to get that updated family picture or pictures of the little ones you better not waste any time. I am filling up quickly for the holidays and only have a few spots remaining! There are only 2 spots remaining in both October and November! The deadline for Christmas sessions is November 10th and the deadline for orders is November 30th. Don't wait until it is too late! Last year I worked until mid-December and I am not willing to do that to my family again this year. It was too hard on all of us so this year the deadlines have been set earlier.

There are many new design options for your cards this year. You are sure to be the talk of all your friends when they receive your gorgeous card that has been printed on linen or watercolor paper and features your beautiful children. Believe me, you WILL be impressed with these cards--they are AMAZING!!!

If you are a previous client and would like to use your images from your session this year just let me know and we can arrange this for you.

I want to leave you with a few sample cards that you can choose from this year!

I'm Back!!!

I know, I know, I have been the worst blogger lately. I really hope that somebody is still reading this. I went on a dream vacation--the Disney Cruise to the Bahamas (more on that later) and then the entire family has been sick. Hopefully now we are on the mend and back to life as usual.

I wanted to give "A" a sneak peek of her cute kids. We had a quick session as the light was fleeting, but we still got some great shots. I hope you love these and there are still many more to come!

I Love This One!

Just editing pictures today and I came across this one and I just had to share. It is a different crop than most people are used to, but I think that is why I like it so much.

My Little Girl is Growing Up!

Brooklyn learned to write her name! I figured it was time to start teaching Brooklyn how to write her name since she would be starting school so we sat down and within a matter of 20 minutes she learned to write her entire name. I couldn't believe how fast she picked it up. She was SO proud of herself. Here are some pictures of her writing her name for the first time!







Here is Brooklyn on her first day of preschool! How big is she? She was very excited to start school again. She really missed going this summer. I wanted a few pictures of her before we headed out and she was posing it up for me. What a doll! She absolutely LOVED her first week of school. It is exciting and sad to watch her grow up. She seems so much older than she really is. I think she is 3 going on 13. SCARY! Truth be told, while she is extremely independent and has a mind of her own, she also has a big heart and is always looking for ways to do things for others. I am so blessed to have her in my life.