I attended a workshop last night at the  Ritz Carlton with about two dozens other photographers.  The insanely amazing Furious Photographers/Tofurious and Bui Brothers offered a workshop with unheard cost of $50 held at the Ritz Carlton.  This was too awesome to pass up and we had people flying in from San Jose and other places just to be there on short notice.

Furious Photographers

Tofurious

Lan Bui

Vu Bui

We met Kathy and Andy at Jenny’s house in LA for their baby shower and decided to have a maternity session.  The party was small, but very enjoyable.  Most of the invited guests were not able to make it.  What made this baby shower funny was that all the kids who came were all boys.  We had a bunch of little monsters running around the house creating havoc.

Kathy and Andy are expecting two bundles of joy this summer.  As you might have guessed by now, they are expecting TWIN BOYS!!!  So after chowing down on some food, the kids decided to take a swim in the pool while we went outside to capture some lasting images for the two of them.

Today is Jordan’s second birthday.  Jordan is an extremely energenic and happy guy.  Last weekend we took the family to the Griffith Observatory.  It was a very cloudy evening, but we were able to see Saturn from the telescope.  The light from Saturn traveled almost two hours to get to our planet.  We’ll have to go back and enjoy it another day since it was pretty hard with Jordan running around.  Here are some pictures taken from the observatory.

The year is Nineteen-Eighty.  I had just landed in Orange County via a year-long journey that began on a boat in Vietnam to the Philippines to Orange County, California.  The first friend I made was Hieu.  We were in the first grade.  He lived a few blocks away.  We used to cut through a long alley to get to our homes.  Over the years we grew up together collecting the first print of Transformers No. 1 to Spiderman, played video games and hung out.  There were good times and some bad times.  We went to the same junior high and part of high school together.  During college, we worked together and learned the ropes.  Since then, nine years past by.  We lost touch along the way before reuniniting again.  This past Saturday Hieu finally got married and I was there to capture some special moments of Elaine and Hieu’s special day.

This year we decided to take Paul to Disneyland for his birthday.  Only problem is that his birthday  was back in early March.  With all of the family being pick for most of the winter (I got sick three times) and with scheduling conflicts, our trip got delayed until this past Sunday.  Has anyone look at how much it costs to spend a day at Disneyland lately?  We purchased 2-Day Park Hopper Tickets for Southern California residents for the four of us plus free admission for the toddler.  Face value was a whopping $266 just for admission.  Don’t forget about the $12 parking fee.  Lucky we saved a couple dollars on the price of admission.  We packed a bunch of water bottles in the baby stroller and thus saved ourselves another $2.50 a bottle!  None of this includes food and merchandise we purchased!

Looking back at the first three plus months of this year, it’s been a crazy year so far with everyone getting sick and tons of doctor visits for the kids and me.  Luckily, we are all in pretty good shape right now.  We have a lot of to be thankful for.  The state of economy has been pretty dreadful, but we are still marching forward.  Every week of the year has gone by so quickly; we are all guilty of not taking the time to enjoy our family and kids.  Starting with this visit to Disneyland, we are trying really hard to make more time for ourselves and the kids.

Today, the wife and I visited a friend in the evening.  We haven’t seen here for more than six months now.  She has gone through a whole lot the past 5 months.  In a span of less than two months, she lost her brother, an uncle and then her father.  Losing a family member is really tough, but when you start losing them at a rate of one every other week, it just drains on you.  How she survived through this ordeal is beyond belief.  She is a real strong trooper.  It has been rough, but seeing her back to normalcy just makes our day and all our troubles go away.

And now… a picture of our little soon to be a terrible two at Disneyland…  You can find more pictures on my facebook page.  Click on the “Find us on facebook” icon at the top of this blog and I’ll add you as a friend.

Last Saturday I attended Henry Chen’s Workshop, Day 1.  This was Henry’s first workshop ever.  The day was filled with lots of vital information to becoming a successful wedding photographer.  Most of all, Henry had reignited my passion for photography.  We spent the afternoon capturing a session with Solana Green and her husband Miguel Torres.  They were very gracious having 7 cameras pointing at them and clicking away.

Last weekend, I met up with my buddy Francis to take pictures of Harmony and her one month old puppies at the time.  Harmony’s mate and father of the puppies, Smokey dropped by to see his puppies for the first time.

The first time I saw the puppies they were between almost two weeks.  At the time, the puppies were learning to crawl, eyes still closed and very tiny.  At one-month old, these puppies are alert, up and about and just as cute as ever.

Here is the proud papa, Smokey.  If you rub under his chin, you better run to the sink and wash your hands.

Harmony and Smokey, side by side:

I recently took some pictures for a friend’s dog Harmony and her new puppies.  Harmony, an American Pitbull Terrier recently had a litter of eight puppies.  These photos were taken when the puppies were at two weeks old.  At two weeks, they are small, can barely open their eyes, make noise or crawl.  But they are very cute though!

This past Monday, January 26th signified the beginning of the Year of the Ox.  I was born in the year of the ox and this would make it my third go around.  With this year, comes many resolutions.  I am dedicating myself to achieving as many goals as possible.  Without further ado, my list is as follows:

1. Be healthier. I need to lose 20 lbs and get in better shape.  I have already cut down on white rice for a while, but now I am substituting it with brown rice.  I am eating more salads and making more fresh home made smoothies.
2. Be a kinder and gentler person. I will spend more quality time with the family.  Become  less stressed.
3. Blog more. Starting with this post, I will blog more.  I promise!  This post is long overdue.
4. Get caught up. I have a couple photography items I am going to cross off my list…starting in February.  I will strive to complete things on time and not let it linger for too long.
5. Be happy. Life is too short.  As of this post.  I know of three people who have mourned a family member or friend within the last week and we’re only in February.  I am truly blessed and grateful for everything I have achieved.  I have a good family surrounding me as well as good friends new and old alike.  I am going to connect with more friends from my past.  I have already met with two friends that I haven’t seen or talked to in more than 10 to 15 years.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.  The recession is in full swing.  Our family is still standing.  We  have our health.  We were blessed that the fires from Anaheim, Yorba Linda and Corona did not reach us.  We saw flames from the 71 freeway through our kitchen window.  Many people are going through tough times.  Knock on wood that we will continue to be spared.

Thanksgiving has always been a busy time.  Family and close friends come together for meals.  The kids get play with friends that they have not seen for a while.

As the holidays near, we still have each other.  We may complain that things don’t go our way and we struggle just like everyone else, but despite all that, we are truly blessed.