Thank You!
Thanks for all of the birthday love, friends! You all sure know how to make a girl feel good! By they way, if you want to feel extra special on your birthday you have to go to Disneyland! It’s so much fun seeing the other people wearing their birthday buttons. And everyone says happy birthday to you. It’s fun! B and I were in line waiting to say hi to Pluto and there was a little 3 year old who shared my birthday waiting behind me. I told her I was turning 3 too and her big sister called me out and told me there was no way I was 3. So, I told her she was right and I was really 4. She still didn’t believe me. Kids!
I gave away 9 UNposing Guides yesterday! How fun that we all have the same birthday! And I think half of those were guys. Who knew so many Dads read this blog too? Interesting…
My hubby surprised me with a trip to Seattle this weekend so I’m going to be taking a blogging break to catch up on work and enjoy the trip! I’ve never been to Seattle before so I’m excited! Anything we must see / do while we’re there??? Oh, and if you really miss me that much I will be updating the DrewB blog with at least 1 (maybe 2) awesome family sessions before I leave.
Happy Birthday To Me!
Yes, it’s my birthday. The very last of my twenties. Which makes me sad. So, let’s not talk about that. Instead, here’s a present for you! If your birthday is today as well email me at drew at drewbphotography dot com (I need some proof, peeps. A copy of your ID with the pertinent info blacked out? A link to your facebook page? Something that proves November 17 is your birthday!) and you’ll get a free copy of the UNposing Guide (offer good until midnight of the 17th)! For all you non-birthday peeps enter in the discount code “birthday” and receive a $20 discount good for today only!
I only hope I have as good of a birthday as this guy did on his birthday! A girl can dream, right?

Haircut Number Two
We waited until the very last second to get Brayden a haircut. He needed one so bad for the last couple of weeks, but Chuck and I were dreading taking him after what happened the first time. We learned a couple of lessons though from that first haircut:
1) As cute as those little cars and airplanes are, Daddy’s lap is a much better place to be. Don’t even attempt the cars or airplanes!

2) NO SMOCK! B definitely does not like the smock.
3) A lot of suckers are needed. Suckers and new Hot Wheels to choose from.

4) Sit directly in front of a TV with Thomas the train playing.
He still cried a little, but he did much, much, much better this time around! Thank goodness! I love his new haircut, but he looks like such a big boy! Kind of makes me a little sad!

This backdrop is from Drop It Modern. I’ve been admiring their backdrops for sometime now, but I don’t have a studio and wasn’t planning on shooting anything in doors. But, I’m planning on doing some fun and different (for me at least) newborn pictures soon so I decided to invest in one. You all know I’m a fan of just plain old fabric backdrops, but the great thing about the Drop It Modern backdrops are that they are a really thick material so they don’t wrinkle. Mine is a little wrinkled in this picture because I literally just pulled it out of the box. It will be much easier to get the wrinkles out than thin fabric and I think it will store much easier than fabric. I just pinned it to the wall really quickly and snapped a few shots of my crazy boy because that’s all the time he will allow me these days! They are a bit of an investment (ie not as cheap as fabric), but the quality is great and they ship same day so I got it fast!
Happy 21 Month Birthday, Brayden!
Dear Brayden,
Happy 21 month birthday, B! This month I’m not even going to try to make a list of all the things you can say. Your vocabulary list is so long now that sometimes I can’t even remember what you can and can’t say. Your favorite words right now are “up”, “down”, “push”, “pull”, “flowers”, “more”, “water”, and “juice”. You love your opposites although you sometimes get them mixed up. I love how you say “yes” (“ha”) and I hope you never, ever say it correctly. I think it’s just about the cutest thing ever. That and how you add an “s” to a lot of your words. Like “mores”. I know we should probably correct you, but I actually encourage it because I think it’s so cute. I love how in the morning you will stay in your crib and yell, “MAMA! DADA!”. Sometimes I will stay in bed and every time you yell “MAMA!” I will yell “BRAYDEN” back at you and see how long I can stay in bed before I really have to go get you. I don’t like it when you yell for us in the middle of the night for no reason. At least you’re not jumping out of your crib anymore! Thank goodness!
You love to hide. Sometimes when it’s just the two of us you’ll hear a noise and think it’s Dada (even though he’s at work) and say, “Hide! Hide”. You’ll hide for a minute before you realize no one is coming to find you. You also love to be scared and surprised. I think it’s fun to scare and surprise people so we have a lot of fun at that.
You will eat just about anything as long as you can dip it. Tonight at dinner you dipped your fries in cranberry sauce. That freaked me out a bit. At Pretend City last week you dipped your pb and j in ranch. That really freaked me out. But, I did get you to eat carrots by letting you dip in ranch. And you also tried hummus by dipping pita bread in it.
You learned to kick really well this month. And with your left foot, I might add. Just like your mommy. I think we have a left midfielder on our hands! Or maybe a kicker for UCLA? Daddy says you’re not allowed to be a football kicker. Too much pressure. I think you can handle the pressure though.
We took you to your very first UCLA football game. You had the best day of your life. Better than the San Diego Zoo. Better than Disneyland. We sat three rows behind the old man. You learned how to boo. You danced and did the Eight Clap and got the Washington fans behind us to be UCLA fans because you were so cute. You said “mores” when the band stopped playing. I will never forget that day. One of the best days of my life too. And we won. First Pac-10 win of the season. You’re their good luck charm.
I love how you bite your bottom lip when you’re thinking. You get that from me. One of the only things you get from me besides your crazy stubbornness.
Oh, and my boy can also say boobs now. He actually calls them “boops”. I guess he’s starting young.
I can’t wait to see what you will do next, B. I’m so proud of you. Every time you learn something new or do something different I am so unbelievably, crazy proud of you. My heart hurts I’m so proud of you. And although I’m excited to see you grow, I also hope you will never stop being my baby. Never stop holding my hand, giving me moochies, snuggling in the crook of my arm. I hope you always get as excited to see a choo choo as you do now. I hope you never lose your sense of curiosity of everything that’s happening around you. I hope you are always able to dance like no one’s watching. And even when you’re taller than me I hope you will always know that you will be my little B boy always and forever.
Love,
Mama
* All images taken with the Canon G10




I Love My Job!
This past week I had my fourth shoot with one of my very first clients. They gave me a chance when I was first starting out, when I didn’t have a lot to show or a big fancy camera. And they’ve stuck with me throughout the years. And I love them for it. I only get to see them once a year (well, I got to see Jen twice this year because she did a mentoring session with me over the summer), but every time I see them it’s like seeing old friends again. It’s comfortable. I love how the girls get excited to see me because I get excited to see them and hear all about their new teachers, the tooth fairy, and even boys this year (yikes!). It’s the best part about my job. Connecting with my clients and getting to be more than just their photographer.
Yesterday I shared this image that Jen shot of me during their session

Here’s what I saw


And I love this one that Jen took. Sneaky Sydney was doing bunny ears behind my back and I love how I’m wearing Kendall’s scarf.

Here’s what I saw

And I can’t go without posting a few of the woman behind the camera who looked absolutely fabulous!



I’m so lucky to get to capture families year after year as they grow. I love my job!





















