a boy and his dog's website

a few weeks ago i took pictures of joey's cousin and his dog so he could post them on his website. well, i'm happy to announce that it's up and running. click here to see his website, and here to see more info on taylor.

splish, splash!

i love this photo of isabella. she was walking around in the kiddie pool, splashing water everywhere. joey managed to capture this photo of her after she splashed water in her face. i love her reaction!

busch garden

we took a family trip out to busch garden today. it was a beautiful day to be outdoors. this was isabella's first time to busch garden. i think it was a bit overwhelming for her -- she was exhausted at the end of the day. but we all had a blast. here are a few of my favorite pix from today (all shot with my point & shoot camera!).

sunset

don't you wish you were here? this is about five minutes from where we live. what a beautiful sunset.

irresistable...

i could not resist sharing this story. little miss isabella has a baby laptop that makes all kinds of sounds. it is supposed to be used for learning new words and sounds, singing songs, etc. unfortunately, my daughter doesn't think that's the best use for it. she puts it on the floor in front of the t.v. and stands on top of it. i'm assuming to look at steve from blue's clues at eye level. too cute. i didn't get a picture of it on time because i was afraid of her falling off of it. but here's one i got of her in her crib looking out the window. how could anyone resist this face?

gabriella

i took this photo of gabriella about a month ago. i just had to share it with everyone. she's gorgeous!

does this remind you of shirley temple?

my love

could i possibly have a better husband than joey? i think not. he's amazing. anyone that has the patience to deal with me has to be an amazing person. i love you, mr. rivera.

what is his name? jose aka joey

how long have you been together? almost 8 years

how long did you date? dated 4 years

how old is he? uh, he just turned 29 -- right joe?

who eats more? me

who said I love you first? joey

who's taller? joey

who can sing better? he would say me

who is smarter? joey

who does the laundry? joey does the laundry, i fold and put it away

who pays the bills? joey

who sleeps on the right side? me

who mows the lawn? we don't have a lawn

who cooks dinner? me, if you consider using a microwave as cooking

who drives? joey -- i hate driving!

who is more stubborn? me

who kissed who first? joey

who proposed? joey

who has more friends? we are pretty equal

who is more sensitive? joey

who has more siblings? joey

who wears the pants? hahahahahahaha ME!!!!!

love, love, love this song

shadows in her shoebox by matthew santos

too much time...

photo editing software + too much time on my hands = me

as a good friend of mine put it, i need a full-time career or a second child. lol! i was playing around with this photo editing software i downloaded and i got this as a result. loving it.

do you need me to take pix of you, your family, or your child? let me know. i need all the practice i can get. i'm totally having fun with this.

missing you

i'm missing this little face today. i'm sorry for posting so many pix of bella, but i just can't get enough of her. do you blame me?

the life of a fisherman

these rivera boys just love to fish. here are a few photos i took a few months ago by the beach. they are so content with their fishing poles.

as you can see, little miss bella was not too happy about the fact that i had the camera in my hands rather than her.

love this song

this is now my new favorite song. the way i am by ingrid michaelson.

a bella afternoon

we've been having some beautiful weather this week. so we took advantage and went to the park after work today. isabella loves being outdoors!

it's so hard to believe she's already walking. i'm getting all emotional just thinking about it. lol.

she was laughing at her daddy while we were driving. you can see her little snaggletooth that broke through today.

my favorite people

bella looks so funny in this photo. she looks like she's so irritated with her dad because he won't hurry up with her food.

my two most favoritest people in the world (smile)...

blast from the past

i bet you'll never guess who's in the picture below. yes people. it's me and mirei. we've even got the hot boots to match our little outfits. go mom! you did us such a favor.

salsamania dance studios

i'm so proud of leo and the folks at salsamania dance studios. i take pride in knowing that i was one of their first students. leo and his studio have truly come a long way! below is a performance they did at the 1st annual heart 2 heart showcase at the performing arts center in tampa. amazing!

yadhira and her belly

i love pregnant bellies. they are so beautiful. this is my cousin, yadhira a week before she gave birth to camila. so radiant. so beautiful. so amazing.

good morning, momma!

how could i forget to post a photo of my darling bella? she was gazing out the window at a squirrel on our patio after she woke up this morning. this was the look she gave me. the simplest things amaze her.

a boy and his dog

i had a lot of fun photographing billy and his dog, pur-plesur's soul patrol ... aka "taylor". he is named after taylor hicks from season 5 of american idol -- lol, i love it! taylor won 1st prize and best of opposite sex in a dog show held in brooksville this weekend, and his goal is to go to westminster kennel club dog show in new york in february. look out everyone ... you might be looking at a champion here.

here are a few of my favorites.

my first wedding -- whew!

can you spell nervous? yeah. that was me on march 1st when i was asked to photograph a small, informal wedding in someone's backyard. i know -- it was informal. but still, i was quite nervous. i wanted to make sure i nailed at least one good shot for this bride and groom.

favorites of the bride ...

out of all the pix i took of the groom, this was my favorite ...

i love this one of the kids. they ran over to the swings once the ceremony was over.

this next pic is my favorite of all. it is a tad blurry. however, there's something about it that makes me smile.

that's all for now. i hope you liked them. hopefully i'll get more practice in the near future.

attack of the clones!

this was a fun little project. i was just experimenting with gimp and got this as a result. i didn't think of composition or anything -- look at joey's "bunny ears" made from the plant leaves. but i thought it was kinda cool to be able to clone him.

my new favorite song

new soul by yael naim

something about this song makes me feel fuzzy and just want to smile.

mother loves daughter

i was looking through a bunch of old pix and i ran into these. there's nothing better than being a mommy (at least thru my eyes). joey took these pix of us. who knew he had such a keen eye?

welcome to this crazy world, camila isabelle...

welcome to this planet we call earth!

camila was born saturday, march 1, 2008. she weighed 7 lbs 3.8 oz and was 18 3/4" tall. yadhira and justin are truly blessed with two beautiful girls. congrats on camila's arrival!

gaby, not to worry -- we haven't forgotten you.

my first blog!

welcome to my blog, everyone! i will be using this to post pix of miss bella and our family. so please continue to visit. feel free to leave comments, jokes...whatever your little heart desires.

here's a recent photo of little bella. oh, i love that sweet face of innocence.