I am continuing our L.A. trip on the blog this week because frankly, who was I kidding that I could finish it in one week.  We took A LOT of photos.

So, the main reason we made the trip out to Los Angeles was for the amazing west coast light and to see Brett’s brother Jason of course.  He was so excited that we were making this trip…or should I say, he was so excited that OUR KIDS were making the trip out.  :)  (He is kinda crazy about his niece and nephews, and it makes our hearts mushy that he’s this way.)  We arrived on a Wednesday evening and the following day was Jason’s birthday.  Normally he comes home for his birthday every year and the kids really look forward to it, so it was extra special for them to be in L.A. this time.

Our first day we had an amazing breakfast at the Griddle, which is the BEST breakfast, but I didn’t bring my camera.  Bummer. Then Jason and Brett made a small journey to a Sri Lankan restaurant called Wadiya to pick up food for a party we were hosting at our rental house.  (It made me laugh that we had a party in our house the first day in L.A.)  J invited some good friends, most of who we were meeting for the first time, and it was such a great evening with really AMAZING food.    Day #1 we scored on some food goodness!!!

Loading the car with the Sri Lankan food….

A small taste of what we had…mmmmmm.

Uncle J could almost always be found with one of the kids in his lap.  :)

With the help of some of J’s friends, we secretly got him a cake from the wonderful Sweet Lady Jane’s Bakery.  I wish I had taken a better photo of how pretty it was, but it even tasted about 200x better than it looked.  Seriously, it is so good I don’t live in this town.

The next day Uncle J had to go to work at the The Recording Academy, but we came to his office to meet him for lunch.  He warned the kids that they would feel like celebrities because of how many people knew them from the blog/internet.  I just laughed.  But wow, it was really true.  :)  People were coming out of the woodwork to meet “Jason’s family.”  It was so stinkin cute.

Adin is making sure Gabe’s head is pointing the right way. Priya’s doing her “normal” face.

Goofing around at the Grammy’s.

Here are two of Jason’s friends we met that were just awesome with the kiddos.  Christina on the left, and Suzy on the right.  HI GIRLS!!  :)

Kids. Sometimes they are so cute, you just can’t help yourself.

We scored on some new hair care stuff.  :)  Riah rocked it out.

That night we went to dinner with more friends at a fantastic Lebanese restaurant.  Some of you may know that Brett used to live in the Middle East, and he speaks Arabic, but you may not know that Brett and Jason are part Lebanese.  We had such a HUGE dinner that night, but it was so good.

We were all laughing because they wouldn’t quit bringing food out to us!

By chance right before we went to LA, Brett found a long lost college buddy from the University of New Mexico, Amery aka “cabron.”  They quickly figured out that Amery had been living about a mile from Jason for years and never knew, also less than 1/2 a mile from where we were staying.  Brett was so happy to reconnect with his old pal, and I loved meeting and getting to know him and his beautiful wife Felicia.

We also met a great little family.  In this family is an adorable sibling trio rock band called Lynhurst consisting of Jake, Matt and Mari.  Two brothers, with a baby sister who works the drums- Meg White style.  These three were so ADORABLE!  Go have a listen to them…

Mari, 18 yrs old, singer and drummer.  I can’t wait to see where these 3 go.  :)

Thanks for looking…Stay tuned for the next couple days coming soon….

While visiting Los Angeles, we were so happy to do a shoot for Claudine and her family.  We shot all around their home in Redondo Beach, and let me just tell you, we left just a wee bit jealous of the gorgeousness that surrounds them everyday! Steve actually grew up in Redondo beach too!  How cool that he gets to live there now with his own family.

Starting off the shoot was like any other…getting to know each other and feeling comfortable.  Matthew took about .003 seconds to feel right at home.  :)  I think this was literally one of the first 2 shots I took, and the only pic where he looks slightly shy.

Right off the bat we saw that Matthew was the little lover…always wanting to cuddle.

Could you guys look any more perfect?

We found this old church in the area a couple minutes before the shoot, and knew we had to go there.

This shot was completely Matthew’s idea…he said, “Let’s all look like we are sleeping.”

PERFECT + ADORABLE

Look at those big blue eyes.

and then DONE!

Just before sunset we went back and they got on their beach cruisers.  Claudine had the idea to incorporate them, and we thought that was SO great!!

One of my favorite family shots {ever}.

A Brett and Jess view…

first me (Jess)

and Brett’s view.

At this moment I was probably such a happy girl shooting in luscious California light…. and what was I shooting???

This sweet photo.  Matthew and Dad are pretty good pals.

He couldn’t decide…

“to get wet, or not.”

Sweet  :)  Claudine, you look beautiful!

Towards the end of our shoot Brett’s brother brought us all coffees + a hot chocolate for Matthew.  It was the PERFECT treat at the end of our 2 hrs of running around.  After we all took a few sips Matthew busted out with a “HOLLLLAA!”   Needless to say we were all laughing our butts off.

Boy, did he get a second wind!  He must have gotten word that the last 5 minutes of the shoot were for his solo modeling career.  :)  He rocked it out.

Little cutie.

Claudine, Steve, and Matthew: Thank you guys so much for letting us come out there and invade your turf!!  We had so much fun meeting and hanging with your sweet family.  :)  Matthew, you are such a cool kid!!  One of the coolest 5 yr. olds I have ever met.  Hopefully we will see you again down the road….

*LOVE*

jess + brett