Life is precious!

Its been one crazy week for me since my last post. Life has changed in a blink of an eye for my little family and I. I can't stress how important it is for each of us to take the time to cherish the moments we have to be with our loved ones. My mom in particular has been such a great example of courage and strength as she discovered last week she has cancer. You can imagine how horrified I was to hear this discovery. Just the word "cancer" alone was enough to stir so many mixed emotions and feelings for me because its hereditary in my moms family, and anyone who has had cancer, has died of it. I can't even imagine how my mother feels right now. I know she's scared, terrified, and so sad. It was almost like the news of it all has already taken a part of her. Seeing and experiencing this all is so surreal right now, but its evident just how important it is for us to keep my mom uplifted right now by staying positive, showing no fear, and keeping her busy. This whole experience although its only just begun, has brought my siblings and I even closer to my mom ten fold! - and that alone is so amazing. To see the strength of my familys love shine through this trial has been miracle in itself. I love my mom more than she'll even know! I have been so blessed to have a mom who has always taken care of me, even up until now, married and all - she has never missed out on anything in my life, big or small! She has always been there for me when I needed her and I have always seen her the same, "my mom". In my eyes, she never aged, changed, she is timeless. I can't explain it, because don't get me wrong, physically she has changed, but mentally those changes have never impacted the way I saw my mom until now. Its like the news of this all was a huge wake up call for me! Was I crazy to think my mom would live forever:)....My mom means the world to me, and without her in my life right now I would be a mess. She is at the core of who I am today and has taught me the importance of humility. She lives a simple life, doesn't care about fashion, doesn't care about material things, but has always been such a spiritual powerhouse for my family. She is made up of the deepest devotion, joy, and sacrifice. She has always been selfless, and has shown me how to endure to the end. There is no way to measure this womans love because there is no beginning or end. I love you Mom! With this, all I can say is that our life is so precious, fragile, yet fleeting. Photography is such an important piece of documenting the blessings and experiences of the human spirit. The power of imagery has become so real as this experience has moved me in the direction of capturing every moment with my mom whom I adore, respect, and aspire to be! I'm making our memories tangible and enjoying every minute of it. I don't expect anyone to feel bad for me, but moreso hope that anyone that reads is able to recognize the blessings of our mothers and how invaluable that love and relationship really is. Much luv!

My "subjects" for life!

My kids are seriously models in training with all the pictures I've been taking of them lately and pose practicing at home.  They use to be so excited about taking pictures, but with the recent overexposure - I now have to bribe and entice them to get some good shots.  Luckily, they still have quite a few years with me at home.... they are my "subjects" for life:)

Baby "D"

Meet baby "D"!  So lil' guy flew all the way down from California to take his pictures and let's just say I tried.  He is our nephew who came with so much energy.  I forget what its like to have 1 yr olds, and realized just how much more work goes into location photos rather than studio.  My studio shots with my 1 yr olds was a breeze compared to this.  Nonetheless, I had so much fun and have to thank my husband who was my assistant for the day.  Here are just a few of my favorite shots.  

Pahulu's Undies Day!

Now I don't know about you, but when I am in the privacy of my own home I want to be comfortable.  Well, for a while we have always had family and relatives living with us which meant that my level of comfort had to be sacrificed.  Well as of last weekend, we are finally guest-free.  Now don't get me wrong, its always a blessing to help others out when you can, but nothing beats being home with just your family.  So last weekend I was so excited to be able to just walk around in my undergarments...lets be real, who doesn't walk around their home with their most comfortable clothes on:)....so, as I walked out my son Alani who is pictured above said, "Mom, why are you walking around in your underwear?", I told him, "because I can...in fact today is the Pahulu Family Underwear Day!"  Both of my boys started laughing and within seconds they joined me!
As you can see here, my daughter who is the youngest at 2 yrs old (just barely turned two) was too mature to join us and watched as an onlooker thinking to herself, she's too cool.  However, my boys thought it was the funniest thing to be able to run around our home in their undies!
Then they kept saying, "Mom take a picture of me, take a picture of me!" They started jumping from the hearth of the fireplace.......
Then my oldest Bruce began dancing.  I thought to myself, because my boys are getting older I may not be able to convince them to have another Pahulu's undies day, because they'll be just like their lil' sis who didn't want to join us.
All in all, it was a fun day in the house of the Pahulu's but I think Lehua got the last laugh!  These three kids are my life, and I love them to pieces!

B-day Boy!

I couldn't resist posting a few pixs of my super high energy son Alan, who is pretty much attached to my hip. He's so photogenic and loves to be in front of the camera...can u tell? Love you son!

Happy Birthday Lehuanani and Alan!

Getting ready for a bday party for my babies!  While I was at WPPI, my Lehuanani turned 2 yrs old, and today is Alan's 5th bday!  So we are going to celebrate at Boondocks.  As my kids always say, "I love you to infinity!" 

Home Sweet Home!

Finally I have touched Utah soil and am so happy to be home with my babies! Thank goodness I met and made a great friend Kathy on my trip home who made my flight here seem like a minute as we dived into conversations revolving around business, photography, family, goals, etc. "Networking is your networth".....I've been so blessed to meet some incredible people within this last week. However, my week away from my babies was pretty hard. I have never been away from them for more than 1 day, so a whole week was almost mere torture. My kids have grown so much within one week and I learned to appreciate them so much more upon my return. My daughter was talking more clearly and in complete sentences, my boys appeared to be so much more mature, and it was krazy to see how much they had grown within a week:) As soon as I got into the vehicle they were all squeeling in the car with excitement. Alan grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go, and at that moment I started crying. As a mother, I find myself constantly evaluating myself and the time I spend with my babies. I plan to make my weeks stay in Vegas work some magical things this year with my photography goals. If anything, its these people you see above who push and drive me to work hard so we can have the luxury of time to spend together as a family! I work hard to do my best, but my family makes me even better. My family is at the core of my inspiration and I am so lucky to have them in my life! Last night was so much fun as we all cuddled up in our bed singing, telling stories, and catching up on all the things I missed when I was gone! Its so great to be loved, and even at one point each of my babies were fighting kz they all wanted to sleep by mom. Gotta love being a mom! I needed to take a break from WPPI kz it was beyond overload, so give me some time to digest it all and I promise to have something posted about my wrap up and J* experience.