Alexandre Miguel was born under unusual circumstances.  He is my nephew.  My brother Fritz and sister in law Josephine had their 5th child on Friday, May 3, 2013 in the parking lot of Sam’s Club in South Sacramento, CA.

Josephine felt contractions at about 11:30 pm, she told Fritz that she needed to call the doctor.  Then she said we have to leave now.  As they were leaving for the hospital, they grabbed the  luggage and camera bag.  However, the batteries were dead in the camera.  They got into the car and discovered there was no gas in the car.  The hospital was about 15 to 20 miles away and they knew they were not going to make it.  As they were heading to the gas station, they were stopped by a slow moving trains and according to Fritz, there were at least 90 cars in each.  Then another train was crossing.  At this point Fritz yelled out “Are you serious?”

Fritz finally made it to the gas stations where the contractions slowed down a bit.  He filled the car half full, and started to head to the hospital,  and when they were heading towards the freeway, a slow moving vehicle was in front of them.  As he passed the slow vehicle, Josephine said he needed to stop because the baby was coming.  Fritz decided to pull over towards the Sam’s Club parking lot.  As he got out of his seat, the baby was already crowning.  He called 911 and within a few minutes the ambulance arrived, however,  at that time the baby was already born.  It was 11:56 pm when Alexandre Miguel made his entrance to this world.  The firemen told Fritz “Looks like our job is done here”. Congratulations to the attending, Fritz and his wife Josephine.  Too bad our friend Scott was not working, he works at the station where the firefighters/ambulance was dispatched.  Apparently, Scott went fishing that day.

Local new station were at the hospital interviewing Fritz and Josephine and here is a link to one of the stories.  http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/sacramento-man-delivers-own-baby-in-sams-club-parking-lot/-/12969376/20034510/-/xu7igxz/-/index.html?utm_campaign=kcra+3&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=hootsuite

Here are some pictures of my visit with family to meet Alexandre Miguel for the first time…

Hannah is a beautiful senior at Elk Grove High School who plays the trombone and euphonium for the band and she’s a drum major… When her mom called to book her session, I got excited because Hannah’s grandparents owns property in Wilton, which they have landscaped over the years for their entire family to enjoy.  Hannah would spend summer days camping out in the tea house, sit on a boat floating in the pond, and climb trees, where she can sit for hours.  Sometimes she will be in the tree without anyone knowing and spy on whomever was outside, listening to their conversations.

All in the family!  These kids are just adorable.  They range from 16 years old to 5 years old.  Final count, 5 boys and 1 girl.  They are cousins/brothers/sister.  The day was so perfect!  Perfect weather, perfect location, with no one around and a perfect set of kids!

You would think that by having to take 6 children photographs would be a lot of work.  Not these kids.  They made my job easy.  In fact all I did was press a button and they did all the work in making great pictures.  They were always ready to smile for the camera.    Even Trent, the youngest of them all, who is wearing a gray and yellow plaid shirt was always smiling for me. He even loved giving himself bunny ears!  Their smiles were  perfect every single time.

Mason

Trent aka “Frank the Tank”

Wes

Callie

Tad

Cole

Another session for the Taniguchi Family!  I love it when they come back every year for a family portrait.  Jean, the matriarch of the Taniguchi family leaves for Guam every winter,  has decided that she would like to have another family pictures done of her family, especially of her only two adorable grandchildren.  This time we weren in Old Sacramento by the Railroad Museum.  Tina, Jean’s daughter in law wanted to take pictures on railroad tracks.  We found the perfect spot.  We also saw atrain come by which fascinated Dominique, the youngest Taniguchi.  This year was a special year for Dominique.  He was actually posing and smiling for me the minute we started shooting.  In fact he was the first one I took a picture of that day because he was ready and each shot was just adorable. As for Alex, the only granddaughter of Jean’s, is just so photogenic and so willing to pose for me.  She has done all I have asked her to do.  Just looking back at some old pictures from two years ago, you can really see how much each of the grandchild has changed.  Jean knows that time is passing by so quickly that she wanted to pause some of those precious moments.

This was another FUN session!

Marie’s daughter Amanda couldn’t have said it any better “So proud of my mom today for restoring her faith in love and accepting this wonderful person into our family. Congratulations to my mom and Craig! So happy and excited for you two!!” They are definitely a delightful couple and I am so glad Marie’s other daughter, Stacey recommended me to photograph her special day.

They had a simple ceremony in the morning at the Sacramento County Courthouse, followed by an elegant reception with just their immediate family and close friends at a golf course, The Reserve at Spanos Park in the evening. It was a very intimate event. They even had a special room for the grandchildren to play in and were entertained with coloring and craft activity.

Their blended family consists of Craig’s three adult children, two son-in-laws, and four grandchildren (one newborn); and Marie has two daughters, two son-in-laws and four grandchildren as well.

The reception was simple and elegant, no bouquet, no boutonniere no best man or maid of honor; however, they had a cake and favors.

Any person who finds love is always lucky to have found that special person in their life. It doesn’t matter at what age, as long as you have your best friend and the person who has your back at all times by your side.

“I met Craig on Match.com Dec.2010. I finally got the nerve to go on a date New Years Day 2011. From the moment we met we knew we would get married. We both have special adult children and grandchildren that we love to be around. We wanted a simple intimate wedding and party, everything I wanted was achieved. A special thanks to Janice for the beautiful cake and crafts for the kids that came to the wedding. Also a special thanks to Stacey for suggesting The Reserve at Spanos Park…. it was just right.”~~Marie Tomasi Stone

By the way Craig and Marie, you can always count on Stacey for coming up with the most beautiful venues for any occasion. She should have been an event planner!

Congratulations Craig & Marie, may you continually have many more happy days ahead!

This time I only photographed the kids.  They have a new member, Sophia who was six months at the time of the photo shoot.  I think Ryan and Heidi did it again as well, another beautiful child!

During the shoot I actually learned something.  Heidi had taught the boys a great method in refreshing their smiles.  The will re focus by looking down, counting to three then look up at me with a great fresh smile.   It worked every single time, I got  great  pictures of the boys.  Their method allowed them to give me a very natural smile.  Thanks Heidi for the tip…I will definitely use this at every session.

“Character is what we do when we think no one is looking”, H Jackson Brown Jr.  These were the words Mrs. Allen said while talking about the recipients of the Golden Cougar award for the third trimester.  She mentioned that one of the recipients had already received the same award once before, but well deserved it again this last and third trimester of Raymond Case Elementary 2011-2012 school year.  The student she was referring to was my daughter Kyla and her classmate Brian.

Mrs. Allen said that Kyla and Brian had helped a fellow classmate without being asked to help.  Kyla and Brian helped Santiago during his 1 mile running test.  Mrs. Allen did not realize what they were doing until halfway through the running test.  She saw Kyla and Brian run next to Santiago helping him pace his run so that he could pass the 1mile test.  In the end, Kyla and Brian helped Santiago improved his time by 5 minutes.  She was so touched by this act of kindness that when she was presenting them with the award during the award assembly, she was tearing up.  I am so proud of Kyla’s altruistic behavior!

Besides having this great character, Kyla received a Golden Cougar award, she received all A’s in the third trimester.  She has worked so hard to get this award and it finally paid off.  She was always so close to getting all A’s every trimester, but never quite made it until now.  She also received the District Honor Roll award for the third time this year along with Perfect Attendance.

She also earned two gold medals at the Case Olympics in the 400m Individual Girls Run and the 400m Girls Relay (5th grade).

What a GREAT year for KYLA!

This is Santiago the boy they helped, they also helped him get the Principal’s Award because of his effort to pass the 1 mile test.

At the starting line for the 400m Individual Girls

Gold Medalist 400m Girls Individual

Marissa got Silver

400m Girls Relay-she ran the last leg

They took the Gold Medal in the 5th grade 400m Girls Relay

Click on this to view the video. Mrs. Allen made me cry too!

My beautiful niece Jessica! I am so proud of her! This girl knows that perserverance will get her to SUCCESS! She is a very intelligent, courageous and headstrong young lady. She is graduating on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 and in the fall she will head to University of Pacific on a scholarship! She is the first in our family (my parents, brothers, sister, nieces and nephews) to get a four year scholarship. It was tough, but she did it! Anything is possible if you believe; Jessica knew she wanted to go to college, she worked hard throughout her high school years, up late studying, got involved with school activities and she even donated her time to community events. It was an arduous undertaking, but it certainly paid off!

I will definitely miss Jessica when she moves away, she was also my assistant and now I am losing a wonderful employee as well.

Jessica will venture out this summer to begin writing her own ‘herstory’ as she leaves for college and lives on her own for the first time:

“Whatever course you decide upon there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires….courage.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good luck Jessica and I love you!

If you are a parent with a high school senior, you must be in a state of frenzy right about now because you are trying to figure out where the time has gone.  You probably still remember the day she was born, her first birthday, first day of kindergarten, first loose tooth, first soccer game, 6th and 8th grade promotion, first dance, and now high school graduation.  I’m pretty sure Kara and Todd are thinking the same thing.  Their eldest daughter Kaila is graduating and will soon move away to Boise State and live on her own for the first time.  Kaila, you are such a wonderful person, so well rounded, an athlete and a scholar.  You have made your parents so proud and they did such an excellent job in raising you.

Good luck with your future as you begin to live your own life:

“Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten”–Natasha Bedingfield

Here she is…all grown up!  Jade will soon walk down that stage to receive her high school diploma!   Where did the time go?  I believe I met Jade when she was about 4 years old!  She is really making me old!

I can’t believe that she will soon graduate high school and off to college!  I know that whatever she sets her mind on she will be successful!  She won’t let anything become and excuse to not be able to do it!  The reason, she has a 20 month old daughter who now depends on her;  she is even on track for graduating with her class while getting good grades.  In the fall, Jade will be a freshman at California State University, Sacramento.

Good luck Jade with everything!  I am so happy for you!