This post is long overdue…but that line is starting to sound like a broken record around here.  Good news though…my kids are back in school, so here’s to productivity!

I took these pictures of my nephew and his lovely fiance this summer.  I’m not a wedding photographer which pretty much means I don’t do engagement pictures, BUT, family is always an exception to the rule.   Besides, I wouldn’t pass on an opportunity to hang out with these two for a couple of hours.  I just love them.  Anthony handed out programs at my wedding 15 years ago and I’ve got some pretty darn cute photos to prove it.  Since then, he’s been nothing but fantastic…especially the past few years.  He’s such an awesome cousin to my kids…acts more like an uncle really.   This summer alone he’s taken my kids swimming, out for Slurpee’s, taught them to surf, and simply hangs out with them at my house.  How can it get better?  Glad you asked.  Enter, Danielle.  She’s just as wonderful as Anthony and we’re pretty thrilled to be welcoming her into the family.   

I’ve got a slew of pictures to share of these two so sit down for a few minutes and enjoy!

I’ll start with my personal favorite.  (For tonight anyway…it changes daily. )

Next, my favorite of Anthony.  Yes, I know, he’s pretty handsome.

I couldn’t pick which shot to share of Danielle…so I picked three.  Girls always get a little more.

A little PG-13.

Remember me mentioning slurpees?  They always have one so we HAD to get a slurpee in at least one shot.

Ok…now I’ll just lay out a bunch more!

I see blue-eyed babies in your future.

That’s all for now.  Can’t wait for your big day next summer!

By the way…nice work on the ring Anthony!

This past week Grace and I, along with some of her friends, made the trip to LA to the American Girl Store.  We’ve been talking about going for months and we finally were able to squeeze it in just before school starts next week.  This place is extremely over the top, but we loved every minute of it.  I am a bit over the top myself at times, so I felt right at home.   Grace thanked me for taking her about 100 times.  Priceless.  I have oodles of pictures from our fun-filled day that I sincerely hope I will post on my personal blog, but for now here’s one of Grace and her favorite American Girl, Kit.

OK, so I don’t really want to throw in the towel and this 52 week project, but it just didn’t happen last week.  I had two great ideas, but social engagements, photo shoots,  and lack of light got in the way.  Oh bother.  Instead of calling it quits I pulled one from the archives.  It’s new to the blog, so that kind of counts, right?  In fact, this whole session of my kids is still lurking around the external drive begging to be processed.  Hmmmm…at this rate they might end up being our Christmas card pictures.  These pictures were taken right after school got out in June, and now the kids are going back next Monday.  Not quite sure where summer went. 

It warms my heart to spend time with families that genuinely enjoy being together.  When that true joy is there it makes my job sooooo much easier and this shoot certainly wasn’t much work. (Except for keeping Dad from bird watching…but that’s another story!)  We all laughed a lot and I loved it.   Sandy is the fabulous secretary at my kid’s school, although calling her “just” the secretary doesn’t do her justice.  She really does everything!  I know for a fact that she’s had to clean out gravel from many of  my Luke’s spills and do some serious bandaging of his cuts.  Thanks again for that…better you than me…really!

This family spends much the year apart (boohoo!) and wanted to document some milestones this summer with a family picture.  I’m honored to have had the job.  Enjoy!

Fair warning…when you do things like this in front of my camera, I WILL photograph it!

These are always some of MY favorite shots…maybe a little sneaky on my part because I KNOW what’s going to happen!

You might think all I got was outtakes….but I can’t help it…I love them!

One last one…and that’s a wrap!

It’s catch up week for me here on the blog!  I took Ross’s pictures almost three weeks ago (Gasp!) and I’m so happy to finally deliver! 

Ross is so great….sort of a gentle giant of sorts.   Yes, he’s very tall, and yes, he has a huge heart!  He’s been so great to my kids over the past few years… it always warms my heart to see God using others to touch the lives of those I love!  We had so much fun on this shoot!  Mom, whom I love dearly, and I laughed a ton which in turn made her son laugh, of course.  She named my car the “Silver Fox” on this shoot and she even had to move it at one point for me since the owner of the garage where we were shooting was literally chaining us in!   So, without further adieu, here’s Ross…TD&H! (Tall, Dark, and Handsome !!!)

I like to call this one, “You want a piece of me?”

My family spent this past week camping at the beach.  It was a lot of fun, but I’m still not calling it a “vacation.”  But, if the goal was to enjoy being with my family, laugh a ton, hang out by the campfire, eats lots of junkfood, sleep, read, play games, ride bikes, laze around on the beach for hours on end, watch my kids learn to surf, and marvel at God’s creation then….MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m either “all in” or “completely out” when it comes to picture taking.  It was a “completely out” week.  At one point Ben asked me to take a picture of all his sand crabs and I had to disappoint him by telling him I didn’t have it with me.   I did actually take a few photos, but most of them are still hiding out on their flash card, but, I did manage to pull out one.  Here’s the result of yet another family photo with the self-timer!

On a different note, I promise to have pictures of people other than my family up on the blog next week!  I believe I should be making at least three new posts…..let’s hope anyway!

Sigh.  This week had been unbelievably busy for me and I’m suuuuuuper behind on client photos.  If you’re reading this, “I HAVEN’T FORGOTTON YOU!”  I’m doing photos for VBS at our church this week and having a blast hanging out with everyone there.  God has truly blessed our week with amazing weather, incredible volunteers, and about the most cheerful kids in North County. 

In true Kristen Bons fashion, I’ve taken far too many pictures.  Is there such a thing as over-shooters anonymous?  If not, I might be the charter member.  As I weed through all my images I ‘m having a hard time getting rid of some.  I must.  I still have tomorrow and that includes water and snakes.  Can you say photo-op?

My generous photographer friend is letting me borrow her fisheye lens this week.  LOVE!  I need one.  If anyone feels the desire to leave one at my doorstep I won’t argue!  Last night as the sun was setting, I grabbed two of my kids to snap a few outside.  Here’s one of Luke. 

I found it particularly funny that my hair stylist drove by and honked at the very moment I was taking these photos, further adding to the impression that all I do is take pictures.  Just to set the record straight…I do other things…like EDIT photos. 

Thanks Kristin for lending me this yummy piece of glass.

As we were prepping to head out to Legoland tonight for the last of the summer fireworks, I told the kids to make sure they grabbed a sweatshirt.  “It’s the coast and it’s colder there than here” is what I said.  A bit later I came down the stairs with all the kids’ heavy winter jackets, gloves, and hats…you know, the ones we ONLY wear when we’re going to the mountains.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” is what Ruben said when he saw it all.  I was laughing so hard I could barely explain myself.  It wasn’t for Legoland, but I had this idea for my photo of the week.

In my 37.5 years of life, I’ve spent all but one summer in Southern California, and I’ve never experienced one like we’ve been having.  It has its pros and cons.  For example, I’ve turned the air conditioner on exactly two times this entire year and my SDG&E bill reflects that…in a good way, of course.  Yet on the other hand, going to the beach in sub-70 weather isn’t exactly “summery”.  

This is what I feel like we need to dress like when we go to the beach:

Here’s to summer in San Diego!

First, thank you all for your sweet comments about the first half of this shoot.  Get ready to do it again.   I adored the batch of photos from our first shoot, but I’m completely in love with this next set.  I apologize in advance for how many pictures I’ll be showing, I just can’t help it…plus she’s my niece so I can pull the family card, right? 

Annelise…you are a true beauty, inside and out.  You are completely genuine, mega-talented yet ultra-humble.  It’s been such a joy to see you grow into a Godly woman.  I hope you have a fabulous senior year and pray God will grant you wisdom as you make decisions regarding your next steps after high school.  Now if you just lived closer so you could babysit!

OK, no more time for words…let’s get to the pictures!

One word.  Rawr.

One more word. Fierce.

And yes, her eyes perfectly match her pom poms.  We planned that.

And that’s a wrap.  I know that was a ridiculous amount of pictures to show on a blog post, I tried to narrow it down, really I did.  And the answer to your question is, “Yes.”  We really did go all over San Diego County.  I promise to never do it again…maybe.  She really did me a favor…now I know where I want to go back again.  I didn’t do her any favors though because she has entirely too many pictures to choose from!  Have fun!

As is the pattern with my weekly photo, I’m cramming in at the last second!  Tonight we went to Borelli’s for dinner (scrumptious, by the way!) and I had the perfect opportunity!  I’ll admit that I did think about it a bit before.  You’ll see what  I mean!

Off to watch some more of the John Adams series with Ruben!  Good night!