Little Bumps and Big Babies

Our little girl Aubrey is 11 Months Old this week!





Her new favourite word is "Hi" hi, hi hi hi hi!



"Wassat?"



My cousin, Karyse, and her husband, Derek, are expecting their first baby [A BOY!] this December! I think she has the most perfect baby bump and I LOVE how these images turned out! Derek and Karyse are just overall a super awesome couple. I feel so blessed that they are part of my family. Right from the start of my pregnancy they have nothing but excited and happy for us, gifting us with the coolest things for Aubrey and even coming to North Carolina to see her when she was born. I know that they will play a special role in Aubrey's life! Their little nieces are so fortunate to have such a cool and loving Auntie and Uncle!

FINALLY! Photographers Speak Out!

If you are a photographer out there, specifically a CANON user, I think you will appreciate this post. I frequent the blog of Jessica Claire, and she recently put up a post called "Doing the best I can". Ever since I finished my School of Photography in Kona, Hawaii in 2007, I have had problems with getting the sharpness in my photos that I believed I should have achieved with all the tips that my instructor had equipped me with....(The best gift he equipped me with was a critical eye. Not sharp? Not good. ) Her post says it all, and I am relieved (yet still frustrated) to know that it is not just me or my fault (most of the time ).

Sometimes you just can be too hard on yourself...it has been a journey! Lots of photos to come, I promise. I have them saved up. Keep checking back in the next week!

Cheers,

Chelsa

Good Food & Great Friends

This last weekend our good friends - Jeff, Cara-Leigh, and Hudson - came to BC, Canada to visit us on the Okanagan! We had such a fun time, lots of laughs...and some great meals from my all-time favourite cookbook - REBAR. (The restaurant in Victoria, BC is AMAZING, also a family favourite). Below are not any recipes from Rebar, however it was Jeff's birthday meal and it was incredible too...one of Care's recipes that I love :)

FISH TACOS!



Start with homemade tortillas from the Rebar cookbook




My Oh Mahi, That's a Good Fish Taco


1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 jalapeño chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 small red onion, one-quarter finely chopped, the remainder thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, grated or finely chopped
One can black beans (15 ounces), rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
Juice of 2 limes, plus 2 teaspoons grated peel
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro (a generous handful)
4 mahi mahi fillets -or use any white fish (I use tilapia)
8 corn taco shells
8 flour tortillas
1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
 

In a medium skillet, heat 1tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add the jalapeño, chopped red onion and garlic and cook for 4 minutes. In a small bowl, mash the black beans with the cumin and season with salt and pepper; add jalapeno mixture. cover.
In a large bowl, combine 2 tablespoons oil with the honey, hot sauce and lime juice; season with salt and pepper. Add the sliced onion, cabbage and cilantro; toss.
Pre-heat a grill or grill pan to medium. Coat the fish with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the lime peel. Cover and grill the fish, turning once, for 8 minutes.
Warm the taco shells and tortillas on the grill. Spread a few spoonfuls of mashed beans (stir 1 to 2 tablespoons hot water into the beans if too thick) on the outside of the tacos, and wrap a tortilla around each one, pressing to adhere.
Flake half a piece of fish into each taco shell and top with some cabbage slaw. Serve 2 tacos per person, with the crème fraîche and extra slaw on the side.
 


I think my favourite part is the red cabbage slaw. Amazing. We also attempted homemade crème fraîche...however next time it will be wise to start it 48 hrs in advance ;)

Birthday Cake



The Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Yogurt Cake....a family favourite!! Try it with a blueberry sauce on top. (I use a lot less sugar in the syrup).


One afternoon Care and I decided to go take some fun photos. She was experimenting with her new camera and I with my new LENS!! the 50mm f1.2 ! I LOVE it!

Birthdays to Celebrate

Tasting the rocks...



It was Aubrey's BFF's Birthday today! Hudson turned one!

It is Aubrey's 10 Month Birthday the day after Hudson's! She loves to swim all day (with naps in between), is an adorable little crawling machine, and is loving all the orchard fruits that the Okanagan boasts of every summer :) She is my lake girl for sure!!



Waving to the boats



Cool rocks



hmmmmm....cherries.

Good Friends in Wine Country

Meet our good family friends - Kenny and Christine and their beautiful children, Mattias and Annaliese.  We have been fortunate enough to see them a couple times since being in Canada, and each time is such a treat.  We always share a lot of laughs and I just love catching up with them.  Not only are Kenny and Christine such amazing people, their children take after them in beauty, energy, and kindness.

Thanks for the great visit in Wine Country!

Chelsa
xoxo

Summer Days

We are SO in vacation mode in our house! Since we have arrived at the Okanagan Lake in BC it has been hard to remember any important dates, including what day it is! Our days are filled up with reading, hanging out, swimming in the lake, warming up in the sun, and frolicking in the kiddie pool out on the dock.  Aubrey has been sleeping like a little fishy diva should.  Even updating the blog has seemed like too much work! But I promise to get better,  because she is hilarious, always rocking out to music, adorable in her little bathing suits, sporting her sunglasses and little curl-hawk.

Until I get a few summer photos up, here are a few I took of Ben and Aubrey on our overnight trip to Osoyoos, BC to visit some friends.  I love the desert look of the Okanagan Valley....it is so beautiful!

Jeff, Cara-Leigh & Hudson

Meet our close friends! Cara-Leigh and I have known one another since we were babies, and now we are having a great time having "play-dates" (more for our benefit) with our little ones!  This past weekend we made home-made perogies! It was so fun, I am going to miss you Care!

I'm pretty sure our husband's have been enjoying getting to know each other better since Ben and I are in Canada for a while, Care and I are always laughing about how much they have in common. And just look at Hudson!! How can you not just fall in love with him?! He is the cutest little guy and so smart too. Look at him walking...he is 11 months old now, but he started at 10 months!   And you can tell he is going to be a musician like his daddy with that kind of coordination on the drums :)

It was so fun to take their family photos for them.....and I am SO glad some of them turned out! You would not believe how insane the mosquitos were.  Ew, they were everywhere and we just had to rush to try and get a few good shots, I am really happy with these ! There are definitely some funny ones in between of them squirming and swatting....but it was worth it right ?!

Check out Hudson's baby portraits from when he was 2 weeks old

Notre Dame High School Grad Class of 2010!

This was such a fun day for all of us! These four good-looking grad's have known one another since they were babies, and it is just crazy to everyone that they are off into the world and their high school days are becoming memories! It was fun for me as a Nicole and Becca's cousin to help with make-up and picking out just the right accessories for their special day...I even got to help my brother Carson with straightening his tie on his tux...they all look SO good!

The top grad is Cassidy, a good family friend....way to go Cassidy! Cassidy is a super talented dancer and will probably do something great with that!  She loves cruises so she mentioned possibly dancing for a season or two on a cruise ship. 

The next is Nicole - my cousin - and her boyfriend, Scott. Nicole has an interest in studying photography or sports medicine. 

The beauty in the blue dress is my other cousin Becca....working to become an EMT.  (**if you like the necklace Becca is wearing, it is a brand of jewelry that I love and have been selling...come talk to me!)

And the super good looking dude at the bottom is my brother, Carson.  Going off to University at Texas of Arlington to study and play for the golf team .

Taylor's Graduation Day!

My sister Taylor has got to be one of my favourite people to photograph!  She takes my (sometimes confusing) suggestions for cute photos and she makes them her own in her own creative way that only Taylor knows how.  And who wouldn't want such adorable graduation photos! The day before Father's Day Taylor graduated from the University of Victoria (in BC, Canada) with her BSc and an acceptance into Med School next January!

Way to go Taylor! We all knew that you could and would do it!

xoxox

Click here for more photos of Father's Day and Taylor's graduation :) 

 After a couple days in Victoria, BC we all headed to Kelowna, BC for Father's Day.  And to celebrate, we went to a Car Show with my dad.  He has had the "black car" for as long as i can remember and he had it restored...which took about 4 years.  It really is gorgeous! So this year they put it in a couple car shows to show it off :)  I will have a Portrait Session with it soon ;) Until then...here are a few details...