Remember, Celebrate, Appreciate, Live, Love

Yesterday's Oprah show feature on Erin Kramp touched me to the core.  Though she was battling breast cancer at that time, she summoned the courage to record hours upon hours of video for her daughter and her husband.  Her final words summed up why she did all this - TO BE REMEMBERED.

As a mother, Erin's story resonated with me.  I also have an overflowing love for my boys and I have so much to tell them.  Perhaps we just chose different mediums, but we want the end result to be the same - so that we can be remembered.

Photography and scrapbooking has enriched my life in unimaginable ways.  Sure, I get tired and I should probably just use the extra time I have resting and sleeping rather than scrapbooking.  It makes me happy though.  Scrapbooking gives me a deeper appreciation of life.  It allows me to celebrate our everyday.  It gives me the chance to record moments so that they will be remembered.  It allows me to speak to my boys and tell them just how much I love them.  It gives me the opportunity to teach them lessons.

I am proud to say I'm a mom with a camera, always hunting for memories to capture so they can be recorded, documented, and re-lived.

Live life.  Celebrate the everyday.  Appreciate the blessings.  Share the love.  Treasure the moments.  Life is beautiful!

Of course I couldn't end a post without sharing something.  In this case, a layout of Calix's milestones and personality at age three:

Template - CT Rachael Sheedy from www.digilovely.com; Papers - Little Boy by Echo Park; Paper Clip and Tag - Cutie Pie by Sir Scrapalot; Staple - Pattie Knox; Fonts - Zapfino, Ali Edward's Handwriting, Comic Sans MS (Title), Myriad Pro (journaling)

A beautiful mom-to-be

Tex and I have been friends since 2005 when we met via newlyweds@work (n@w).  We have exchanged countless emails since then, and finally met in person when they migrated to the US.  She is currently pregnant with their second child.  I offered to shoot her maternity portraits because I believe that every woman should have a remembrance of their baby bump.  She looked so beautiful at 7.5 months in her pregnancy.  Here are some of my favorites:

You can see the rest of the photos here.

I am by no means a professional photographer.  I am just a mom who enjoys taking photos, telling stories and documenting our lives through scrapbooking.  I have spent a considerable amount of time getting to know my camera, and learning how to take better photos.  I am a girl who never thought I can do anything creative, until I discovered my love for photography and my passion for scrapbooking.   

Congratulations, Tex, Bong and Kyle!  We can't wait to meet Kirk! 

Boys and their Bikes

Kail has learned to ride his bike without training wheels in just two days.  He started to learn when hubz took off the pedal on his bike so he can balance.  A day later, he can ride with his feet up!  Now he can ride fast and longer distance without training wheels.  Here's the evidence:

Calix is also starting to put his feet up so we think it's just a matter of time and he can probably ride without training wheels as well:

If I could only learn to do the same... :)

The Royal Wedding

I was almost 8 years old in 1981 when I first witnessed a royal wedding on TV.  I didn’t know who it was, I just know that it was a big deal with everyone around me.  My aunts were glued to the TV, and I saw this beautiful woman walking down the aisle wearing a gorgeous white dress with a very long train.  I asked my aunt who it was and she answered “she’s Princess Diana – she’s going to marry Prince Charles!”  That definitely piqued my interest because up until that time, I’ve only read about Princes and Princesses on fairy tale books.  I have never seen them in real life.  It was then that my imagination came to life.  I’ve dreamt about being a Princess, even practiced the walk and the wave when nobody else is looking. Of course, real life kicked in for Prince Charles and Princess Diana and they divorced in 1996.

 Last Friday, April 29, I witnessed another royal union.  This time, I am a lot more aware of what was going on around me.  Prince William (Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s eldest son) married a commoner, Kate Middleton.  The world watched their fairly tale unfold.  Despite the number of devastating events surrounding the news lately, their wedding was definitely a feel-good event.  I can’t help but smile whenever I see them kiss (and mind you, I’ve watched that a lot of times already).  Their look speak of love.  I am praying that theirs is a happily ever after one.