5 Tips to Enjoy Photographing Your Next Family Vacation

Traveling is my absolute favorite thing! I love to go on any kind of trip, I’m not picky. Long weekend getaways, day trips, road trips, family vacations, staycation, I love them all. And, if you go on vacation and don’t take pictures, did it really happen? I think not!

Seriously though, taking photos of your trips is part of the fun. Photographs are our memory keepers, our heirlooms, our triggers. Looking at a photo can help bring back all the emotions of that day, the whole vacation, or even that time in your life. Photographs can help us remember what we may have forgotten or overlooked. Photographs are not only visual reminders of times past, but they bring back so much more. They help us remember how we felt, how the grass smelled, what we ate, even how we felt when we woke up that day.

Yes, photographs are powerful. It’s important to document life. Not just the fun, beautiful moments, but the ordinary days too. But, that’s for another post. Today, let’s talk about how you can document your family vacations. We work hard for that time off from work. We plan, we save, we sacrifice, all so we can spend a week or so away from our routine. To spend time with the ones we love and maybe show them something new or go back to a place you love. Documenting family vacations through photographs can be tricky. We don’t want to spend our entire time behind the lens and miss out on the fun and/or not be in any of the pictures. But, we don’t want to forget to take any pictures and get back home and regret not having taken photos to remember all the fun you had. So, here are a few tips to help you balance out having awesome family pictures and enjoy your vacation too.

1. Have a Plan! I’m big on planning and making itineraries, but I’ve come to learn that with kids we need to be flexible. So have a loose plan of things to do and then figure out where picture-taking is going to be a must! Obviously, if you’re going sight seeing or to the zoo, you’ll want to plan on taking your camera with you all day. But, if you’re going to be relaxing by the pool, then you won’t need your camera there, at least not the entire time.

2. Use your timer setting! This works great for those fun and cheezy family photo ops and ensures everyone gets in the shot! We don’t travel with a tripod, but there’s usually a spot where we can set the camera up safely to get our photo.

3. It’s about the people! Here’s a pet peeve of mine. When people take tons of pictures of the Disney parade or the zoo animals, but hardly any photos of the family members. I get it. We all get caught up in the details and yes, the penguins are super cute, but at the end of the day, our family is what matters most. Don’t forget who is there with you. Take tons of photos of your kids playing, interacting, and having fun. A few scenery and animal shots are fine, but you want to capture your family in that space too. A photo of the Golden Gate Bride is awesome, but a photo of your kiddos walking on the Golden Gate Bride is even cooler! I’m sure you’ll think so too years after the vacation is over.

4. Share the camera! Don’t be afraid to share the camera with your spouse, even if you are the better photographer 😉 Depending on the age of your kiddos, you can even let them take a photo or two! This will give you a different perspective and views from your trip, you’ll actually get to be in some of the photos, and enjoy the day or activity without worrying about taking pictures.

5. Know your camera! I can’t stress this enough. Even if you prefer to shoot on auto-mode (which is totally fine!) It’s good to learn your camera settings. Play around with the various settings and functions prior to your trip, so you aren’t dealing with camera malfunctions or blurry photos due to “user error”.

BONUS: Have Fun! Don’t feel stressed our pressured into taking perfectly composed images during your family trip. I used to do this and it took the joy out of it sometimes. I had to learn to leave my “job” behind me and be a mom and enjoy my vacation. So, now we don’t even take our big DSLR cameras on most of our family trips. I will take my DSLR for some trips, but 80% of the time we simply pack our Fuji X100s digital viewfinder camera and that’s it! The camera is small, lightweight, but does a great job for capturing our family vacation snapshots. Of course, we also take tons of photos with our iPhones too! Come follow along on Instagram 😉

I sure hope these simple and easy tips help you when taking photos during next family vacation. Do you have any tips you’d like to share with me too? When’s your next trip?

Rock the Tea | Fashion Show Party

My daughter loves to dress up and get fancy! She’s been asking for a fashion show party for awhile now, so I told her that if she worked hard and continued to do well in school (she’s in kindergarten) she’d get her party. Well, she certainly worked hard and we couldn’t be more proud of her.

I’m so happy to say that a few weeks ago, she had her Fashion Show Party at Rock the Tea. Rock the Tea specializes in theme party for girls here in Las Vegas. Their Rock Star party package was exactly what Elysse wanted and I didn’t have to do a thing! Her and her friends got a mini makeover including nails, makeup, and hair styling. They got to choose a fun “rock star” outfit to strut down the runway for their fashion show. Later, they enjoyed a light lunch. Rock the Tea also has an option where they can also provide the food, but we opted to bring our own. We brought in pizza, popcorn, chex mix, fruit kabobs, and cupcakes & brownie pops for dessert. Afterwards, each girl got to choose a little purse and 2 items from a shelf of goodies. They had lipgloss, rings, ring pops, 80s fishnet gloves, microphones, and such to choose from to tie in with the rocks star theme.

The staff was very attentive to the girls and did a great job with their hair! I think they could have been just a bit more energetic, but they were friendly and polite the entire time. They really made it easy for me to enjoy the party and not be stressed about anything. I didn’t have to worry about purchasing decorations, goodie bags, games, etc. I especially loved that I didn’t have to clean up a thing after it was done! I highly recommend checking them out if you are in Las Vegas and want to plan a stress-free party for your little girl.

Raising Healthy Happy kids in Las Vegas | Let’s Go! Fun Run

We’ve been living and raising our family in Las Vegas for 6 years already. Last year I wrote how I l enjoy calling Las Vegas home. Feel free to check out that post HERE! Do I get weird looks when I tell people this? Absolutely. And I always feel I have to defend Vegas. One thing I hear a lot is how Vegas doesn’t have a great public educational system. If you look at the data, it’s true, Nevada does not rank high in public education. Does this change how I feel about raising my kiddos here? Not really, not right now. I do wish kindergarten was full day, though! Things might change as my kids grow up, but for now I like the elementary school they attend. It’s a four star school and my son is in the Gifted & Talented Program. He’s involved in a weekly morning art club, and he’s in Instrument Ensemble, having music practice twice a week. He’ll be participating in Battle of the Books (kinda like Jeopardy for Clark County schools based on 8 books they had to read and study). He’ll also be attending Astro Camp in May! Their school principal and teachers communicate regularly with us, they put together fun activities throughout the year, and seem to really care about their students. Staying involved with school activities has helped my son stay on top of his grades and reading and I’m sure it will be the same for my daughter too. At least, I hope so 😉

One such activity was the Let’s Go! Fun Run! For the past 3 years, the school has put together not only the traditional cookie dough selling fundraisers, but also a fun run. I was so excited about it the first year and I’m so happy they have continued to have fun runs for the kids. We’re a pretty active family and anything that gets my kids out there and moving is a big plus! With the Let’s Go! Fun Run this year, they added the “color run” aspect to it, which made it especially fun for the kiddos. I’d participated in the Color Run 5K a few years ago, so my kids knew what to expect, but the paperwork they sent home was very specific in explaining the color corn starch they used and even had an optional colorless fun run for those who didn’t want to participate. The fundraiser works by having the students ask donors to sponsor their run. I really liked that this year there was no minimum donation required. I think it made it easier for folks to donate what they were comfortable giving. In the weeks leading to the race, they have The Go! Team visit the classrooms getting the students excited about fitness, healthy eating, and good manners.

As a family, we “trained” for the fun run about 2 weeks before. So, it really got them involved and having fun while running and exercising. On the day of the run, I volunteered to serve the runners water and got to see my kiddos running and having fun. It was a blast.

My little Elysse insisted on fun knee high socks for the run. She wanted to be like her mommy! Proud moment for me 😉

Raising healthy, happy kids is a big priority for me as a parent and doing it in Las Vegas is no different than doing it most other places. I also feel that it is my responsibility as a parent to take care of their educational needs too. I’m not going to just have them in school and expect the teachers to do my job. I expect my children to learn in school, yes, but it is my responsibility to teach them beyond the school system. Children learn and thrive in a hands-on environment and I believe life-experiences and travels will do so much more for my kids in the long run than going to a top-notch school. Don’t get me wrong, would I want them to go to a top-notch school? Absolutely! But, I am also realistic and I intend on making the best of what we have and where we are. I hope you do too! Do you love or hate your child’s school? In your opinion, what makes the difference in public schools? I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if you’re local to Las Vegas!

Wanderlust | Let’s Travel the World

Wanderlust: a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world!

Yup, this is so me! I love to travel. I love to get away and explore new places. I love to break free from the daily routine and say yes to adventure. When I was little, my family always traveled. We’d travel for weeks on end. I blame my parents for my traveling spirit. Going on family outings, weekend getaways, road trips, vacations…these are all my favorite! I’ve been pretty lucky and we get to travel often. We make it a priority. We budget, save our pennies, and look for good deals! Being in Las Vegas, we’ve got lots of awesome destinations within driving distance, which is great because airfare for a family of 4 adds up pretty quickly!

Our last family trip was to Texas in early November. It was a really fun trip where we got to see family, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones! In December Jason and I got to travel to Orange County, CA with my sister and brother-in-law for a friend’s wedding and we made a nice weekend getaway out of it! Oh and let’s not forget our trip to Temecula, CA in January for our Spartan Beast & Sprint Races! Sadly, that trip didn’t end to well, which kinda leads me to the point of this blog post. Wanderlust.

I’m really itching to get away and I know that is not happening any time soon. First of all, Jason has a broken ankle. He’ll be using crutches for another 4 weeks and another 8 weeks wearing his boot and going to physical therapy to recover. I think just knowing this is making me want to travel even more. Why does that happen? It’s like when you’re on a diet and all you want to eat is doritos and brownies! Ugh, the struggle is real, folks! Plus, we’re planning a big trip to Florida in November and did I mention airfare for 4 is expensive? So, we’ve got some saving up to do to make that trip happen.

So, what to do in the meantime? I’m not sure, exactly. But, I think I will day dream. I will dream of the places I long to visit and the adventures I know we’ll have someday. I will remember. I will look back at all the adventures we’ve already had and the wonderful places we’ve been to. I’ll look at all the photos and relive those memories. I’ll reminisce and feel all warm and fuzzy thinking of all the fun we’ve had. I’ll be grateful for the life I have, my healthy, beautiful kids, and an amazing hubby. But most importantly, I will live in the moment. I must be present in the here and now. I don’t want these days and months to pass me by. I don’t want to only live for the next big thing or next big trip. I want to live every day of my life like it matters. Because every day I spend with my loved ones, is worth something. I need to remember to live with intention, to make every day matter. Not every day will be amazing. But every day we have the opportunity to be present and I don’t want to miss out on the present because I’m daydreaming of what’s to come.

Do you have a wanderlust spirit? Do you have a pinterest board of all the places you want to visit (I do!)? What do you do when you’re wandering spirit wants to run away but you can’t?

How to Stay Motivated Through Life’s Challenges

You guys, having a hubby with a broken ankle, on crutches, and not able to do a whole lot is tough business (you can read about his accident: HERE) Being honest here, I’m exhausted. I’m taking care of all sorts of things these days. I’m kind of an introvert, so going out to run errands and get groceries has become his thing. I know, I’m a lucky girl to have him take care of all that for us. Anyhow, it’s been challenging these couple of weeks tackling it all alone. I’m not complaining, just keeping it real. It does make me realize how good I’ve had it with a hubby who helps so much, but boy do I miss it now! So, what’s the point here? The point is, I have a million things to do and my workouts and training runs were starting to suffer. I was not working out regularly and I kept my runs short. But the other day I had a good 3 mile run and felt amazing. I was able to tackle the rest of my day with more energy and I just felt in better spirits. I’m sure my family noticed too. Cranky mom was gone! Hello, fun mom! After that run, I have made it a priority to go back to my regular workout schedule and improvise when I have to, but really make an effort to not miss it. While things have been sort of crazy in my life, here are a few things that have kept me motivated through it all:

1. Plan ahead. It really helps to plan your day. I’ve been using Jenny Collier‘s free printable planner. You can check it out HERE! I specifically use the Daily To-Do list and weekly meal planner. I try to get up a little earlier and with my coffee in hand, I work on my to-do list. I put it all down, from dropping off the kids at school to doing laundry. And of course, I put my workout time in there too.

2. Be flexible. Once you have your day planned out just right, things sometimes don’t go as planned. I’ve learned that remaining flexible to what life throws your way is key. So, you slept through your 5am alarm and weren’t able to get your early run in, can you make/find time to do it later? Your appointment is running late and your going to miss your Body Pump class. Can you adjust your day and make it to a later class? Hey if all else fails, you can do a quick workout at home and get your sweat on anyhow! Maybe include the kids too! You’ll feel so much better knowing that you still got that workout in even if you could have easily called it an “unscheduled rest day”.

3. Be realistic. As much as I’d want to, I know I can’t do it all. By the end of the day, some things just aren’t going to get done and I’d much rather it be folding laundry than my workout! Seriously though, sometimes a good run is way more beneficial to everyone in the family than whether the book shelf got dusted. Just sayin’ 😉

4. Don’t forget your goals. Think about why you started working out. Was it to lose weight? Get healthy? Are you training for a marathon or your first Spartan Race? Whatever the goal is, keep it in mind. Don’t give up on your goals just because life gets hard.

Do you have any tips to share on keeping motivated when life gets complicated? I’d love to hear them!

Race 14 of 2014 | Changing of the Year 5K

I am such a procrastinator! I seriously waited until the last day of 2014 to complete my 14th race. Not only that, I didn’t even register for the race until the day before. Honestly, I’m not usually this bad at procrastinating. With the Spartan Sprint being postponed in Temecula in September, it throw off my schedule. My last race should have been Trails of Glory. So, I was stuck trying to figure out how and when to add a race to an already very busy end of the year schedule. I was going to settle for doing a virtual 5K, but I honestly don’t love “virtuals” so I held off. Finally, it was down to the wire and I had to find something. Like I said, Dec. 30th I finally signed up for the Changing of the Year 5K put on by Jus Running. It’s held at the historic Floyd Lamb Park in Las Vegas. It’s a nice park with lakes and pathways, so it made for a pretty location for sure.

I am not a cold weather runner. I live in Vegas and we have pretty mild winters, plus if it’s cold I run inside or change up my workout! I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to the cold. So, I was pretty nervous about the weather for the race, since all week the forecast was for snow! Brrrrrrrr!! I ended up purchasing a pair of fleece lined leggings and a beanie to cover my ears. The rest of the stuff I already had and layered!

On race day, we did have some flurries in the morning by my house, but the temps rose to upper 30s and the wind calmed down by the time the race started at 4pm too! My family came with me to the race, they too were bundled up. I did feel kinda bad for them because I knew that once I got running, I’d warm up, but they were just going to be waiting for me at the finish line. They didn’t even complain about the cold. I love them so much for always supporting me. My children and husband are just too good to me! I also met a few runners before the race from my facebook running group, so that was super nice! It’s always great to actually meet people you interact with only on social media.

Here I am with Emily, from Our Knight Life blog and my little Elysse!

I am not a huge fan of 5Ks because it usually takes me about 2 miles to warm up and find my running groove. I’ve only ever done a few fun 5Ks with friends like the Color Run, Bubble Run, and some trail 5Ks. My time for the trail races was not so good and of course, we weren’t running for time on the fun ones! So, when the race started I wasn’t going for any PR, I just wanted to give it my best, push myself to take off faster than my usual pace, and see what happened. I forgot to take a whiz of my inhaler before the race started, so 3 minutes in or so, I pulled off to the side to take my puffs and move on. A little after mile 1, I saw the first person heading back to the finish and that’s when I realized how much I don’t like out & back courses. I can see all the faster runners coming back and it’s a little disheartening. It killed my spirit during the Wild Land Fire Awareness Trail 5K and I was starting to get that same feeling during this race, but I didn’t let it creep in. This was my race, not anyone else’s and I shook it off. I made it to the turn around and started to lose steam. The gap was getting wider between me and the small group I was behind. I’d also been having some calf pain all week and it was acting up. I slowed down a bit and even took a 10 second walking break before I took off running again. I knew I was close to the finish line and I really wanted to push myself to run faster. I saw my son at the sidelines and he started running alongside me. That was the best thing ever! And when I looked up a the timer and saw it was at 29 minutes, well that was just gravy! I ended with an official time of 00:29:24 with a pace of 09:28. I was 6th in my age group, 14th female, and 28th overall. Woohoo!! Not only did I finally get a sub 30, but my family was there with me cheering me on and supporting me. It’s such a great feeling to have your kiddos say they’re proud of you! I was so happy with how I ended my year of 14 races in 2014!

Southern California Getaway

Earlier this month we got invited to our friends, Linda & Sean’s wedding in Orange County, California. My sister & her hubs (the Riveras) were also invited, plus it was a kid-free wedding, can you say “Road Trip!”

We left early Friday afternoon and made it in time for dinner out there. Every time we’re in the area, Jason and I try to make it out to our favorite sushi spot, Orange Roll and Sushi, and knew the Riveras would love it too! It did not disappoint! It was the perfect way to start our weekend!

The wedding was on Saturday (12-13-14) at 4pm, so we got an early start to our day with a workout in the hotel’s gym before making our way to Newport Beach & Huntington Beach. The weather was perfect and we had a great time relaxing and enjoying the California sunshine and taking in the ocean breeze! Before we knew it, it was time to get dolled up for the wedding. I gotta say, as wedding photographers, being guests at a wedding was such a treat. I got to dress up in a fancy dress, wear heals, and makeup! We only took our handy little Fuji x100S point & shoot camera and enjoyed the evening drinking, dancing, and mingling!

Sunday was our last day before heading back home and I had scheduled a photo shoot in Laguna Beach while we were there. I got to photograph a gorgeous couple in such a fun location, while the rest of the crew enjoyed the sights. I caught up to them after my session and we all walked along the beach for a bit together before it was time to say “till next time” to lovely SoCal! Ya’ll know I love my kids, but getting away for a couple of days to recharge, is a must in my book! I am so grateful we got to relax, enjoy uninterrupted adult conversation, and make some fun memories with friends and family.

Taking a Break | Visiting Valley of Fire State Park

On Black Friday, rather than deal with crowds of eager shoppers looking for great deals, we took a little road trip to visit the Valley of Fire State Park. It’s about an hour’s drive north from Las Vegas and well worth the drive to get away for a bit. To our surprise, the park entrance had a super long line and we ended up waiting about 20 minutes to get to the gate. I guess we weren’t the only ones not interested in shopping!

I know I say this all the time, but I really do just love getting outdoors with my family and enjoying our time together unplugged from the world, even if it’s just for an afternoon. We sometimes (read lots of times) are so overwhelmed with being busy, that we forget to slow down. We know we should, but we end up getting wrapped up in our day to day routine. We get lost in the chaos of life. This is why it’s so important to be intentional with our lives and our relationships with others, especially our family. It’s important to carve out time to be together to visualize how you want to spend your time with each other and make it happen. For us, we find that being outside exploring nature, brings us together. There’s less bickering and whining out there. There’s time to breathe and laugh and just be.

What kinds of things do you do when spending some time with the ones you love? I’d love to hear about it and get some ideas for my crazy bunch too! xo

Family Travels | Visiting Texas

As I mentioned yesterday on my little recap post, we just got back from our trip to Texas this past Thursday and it was definitely a much needed break. Life has been so crammed with activities, appointments, work, and such that we’ve just been feeling very rushed and unable to catch up. Thanks to a great friend, we got an awesome deal on airline tickets so we decided a getaway to visit family in Texas was just what we needed. We didn’t plan anything, as we were just going to relax and unwind. It worked out perfectly. Way better than I imagined it would! I’m a planner, winging it is out of my comfort zone.

We spent our first 3 days at my cousin’s friend’s lake house. They’d been planning this getaway with a bunch of their friends too so we totally just crashed the party!! We didn’t really know most the folks before this trip so I was kinda nervous about just spending 3 days with a bunch of peeps we didn’t know. But, I gotta say we totally just made some lifelong friends. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. It truly felt like we’d all known each other forever by Sunday night! And it was a total blast to see my kiddos playing in the lake where I spent so much of my own childhood playing and swimming in.

After the lake house weekend, we spent a day at my cousin’s house playing farm! Jason and Diego got to do some target practice (Yes, I was freaking out!) They took a walk in the woods, fed the chickens and collected their eggs, and ended the day riding a horse. By this point, we’d had enough of the country life and us adults went out for a nice date night in town about an hr away but it was worth the drive! Don’t worry, the kiddos were well taken care of and had plenty of fun catching up computer games and ipads! It’d been days since they played with their electronic devices! We went to this awesome sushi spot that was so yummy and had a great time!

The next morning, we left my cousin’s place and headed to do some sight seeing. We spent the day at Natural Bridge Caverns exploring the underground caverns, playing around the canopy challenge, and panning for gems. It was a really great day (minus some whining & bickering from the kiddos) I highly recommend checking it out if you’re ever in the San Antonio area. It ended up getting really cold that day and night, but we braved the chill and walked around San Antonio’s River Walk on our way to dinner.

The next day was even colder, so our trip to The Alamo was pretty short and we went ahead and made our drive to Austin early. Once in Austin, we found the coolest movie theaters we’ve ever been to, Moviehouse & Eatery! It’s a big multiplex cinema with conventional theaters, IMAX, and dine-in theaters with awesome reclining seats! We opted for the dine-in experience and munched on bottomless popcorn, fish and chips, gourmet pizza, and for Jason and I, a nice bottle of riesling. Yea, watching Big Hero 6 and drinking wine was a fabulous way to end our trip!

So, although this is most definitely not our typical vacation, jam packed with activities and sight seeing, it was most definitely an unforgettable time spent with family and friends. It taught me that sometimes it’s good to let go, relax, and go with the flow rather than having it all planned out. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my itinerary vacations, but I think we can add some of these trips into the mix too 😉

How do you like to travel? Do you like to wing it, plan it all out, or somewhere in between?

It’s a Messy Life Update & What’s to Come

Life’s been pretty busy and hectic these past couple months, so we took a last minute trip to Texas to visit family and friends and unwind. It was just what we needed and the kids had a blast making new friends, playing outside, and exploring new places! I like to plan our vacations with lots of activities & sight seeing, but this trip was really different and I enjoyed the relaxing time!

When we got back home on Thursday, it was back to the busy and hectic days! Friday, I met an instagram friend in real life and we went hiking at Red Rock Canyon and had lunch. Later Jason and I had dinner with some photography industry friends. Saturday was World’s Toughest Mudder and my friend, Eve, was participating in the 24 hr event! I went in the morning to help her set up and support her and her teammates, as well as take photos. I also had a small wedding to photograph so I left around 11am to photograph a wedding, but went right back around 6:30pm to continue supporting her with whatever she needed. I had woken up at 5am for World’s Toughest Mudder on Saturday and didn’t get home until 3:30am on Sunday. Sunday we had family over for dinner! To say I was beat is an understatement and I didn’t even race! Huge thanks to my hubs for always supporting me when I overextend myself! He’s really my rock!

I’ll be blogging all about our Texas trip and World’s Toughest Mudder throughout the week, but I just wanted to post something today and let ya’ll know I was still around! Sadly, with traveling and working, my workouts and runs have been slacking. Let’s not even mention my eating. I mean, really Texas, why does your BBQ & tacos have to be so good?!?! I’m planning on doing a 3-day Juice Cleanse this week to help get me back on track and to hopefully lose some of those extra pounds I gained while away. Has anyone ever done one of these before? Did you love it or hate it? I’d love to know!

xo,

Jessie