danielle ashley photography

A Growing Boy

danielleashley — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:00:32 +0000

Ezra is coming up on 15 months and I must say, after taking and editing these photos, I see less “baby” and more “little boy”. He is so much fun, and is also such a stinker sometimes! I love it when he grins and shows the mouthful of teeth he’s got coming in, and what better way to capture that than with some photos? I may have tickled his side with my big toe in order to get him laughing for these shots…hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Korean Folk Village

danielleashley — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:02:30 +0000

Back in October we spent a day at the Korean Folk Village in Suwon, just 1 to 2 hours south of Seoul, depending on traffic. The folk village is a large outdoor museum that teaches visitors about traditional Korean life and culture. There are multiple folk villages in South Korea. While there are usually many traditional performances and activities happening at the folk village, the day we went was wet and cold, and therefore a very quiet day. Though the weather wasn’t ideal, the park was nice and quiet, and we enjoyed walking around and taking photos. The trees were gorgeous shades of red, yellow, and orange. We plan to visit another folk village sometime this spring or summer when the weather is nice and warm.

Christine & Dennis & Ryan & Baby Girl

danielleashley — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:53:41 +0000

These guys braved the cold for their photo shoot and I’m so glad they did. I had a great time photographing this adorable family, and capturing them as they are right now. In just a few short weeks baby girl will make four! M family, thanks for spending the morning with me. I can’t wait for the arrival of your little bundle!

Ezra’s 1st Birthday

danielleashley — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:54:26 +0000

Kiddo had his first birthday……..two months ago. As you can see, I’m a little late in getting these photos up. However, I shall make up for my lateness by sharing lots of photos, and Ezra’s cuteness. Without further adieu, here is the birthday boy!

We decorated and prepared the food ourselves. I made that banner out of an old pair of Jason’s jeans and pinned paper letters onto it. My plan is to take the the letters off and hang the banner in Ezra’s room. I’ve yet to make it happen though.

Everybody squished together on the couch to watch Ezra open presents.

All the kiddos were excited to help Ezra open his presents. See that picture of Ezra on the TV? I put together a little slideshow of my favorite monthly photos of him during his first year. We had it running during the party.

The cakes! Jason slaved over the cakes pretty much all day Saturday, and I frosted them. We were happy with how they turned out, as this was our first layer cake experience.

Time for the cake smash! I was so excited to watch Ezra dig into his cake and take photos. Ezra was not sure what to think of the cake and very gingerly picked at a bit of frosting with his first finger and thumb.

He went in for second taste, then another, and then decided that he didn’t like this whole cake smash thing and was done.

This is all he managed to do to his cake. Don’t worry, we tried again later that day and I took more photos.

Here is the inside of the cake! It was yummy.

This is what I found the kids doing in Ezra’s room when I went to check on them.

We gave the cake smash another go after dinner that same day. Ezra was a bit more into it this time. We actually had to cut him off for fear that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep after so much sugar.

Happy birthday Ezra bud!! We love you sooooo much and can’t believe you are already one. Now, the question is, when will you decide to start walking?

Flagstaff & Prescott

danielleashley — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:03:05 +0000

Here is the final roundup of photos from our trip to the States in October. After our time at Lake Powell, we drove to Flagstaff to spend a few days with Jason’s family. Ezra loved the swing in Gramma Debs’ and Papa Craig’s yard.He also loved being the center of attention as we all watched him swing.Gabby took the opportunity to relax and soak up some sun.The next day, Jason’s sister Elizabeth and her husband Anthony came by with their little guy, Noah. He is about one month younger than Ezra. We put the cousins together for some photos. It was a challenge to get them to stay put, and I don’t think I have a single shot of them both looking at the camera! Oh well, they are cute as can be, whether they are looking at the camera or not. Later that evening, Jason’s brother Tyler and Tyler’s fiance Antje arrived. I love the adorable outfit and cute hat they brought for Ezra.The next day, we drove just past the Peaks in Flagstaff to enjoy the fall colors and have a picnic. The weather was so nice and the trees were beautiful, as always.Tyler brought his GPS with him from Germany, so he showed us all how to geocache. It was a lot of fun to find the caches, and now Jason and I geocache often with our friends here in Korea.Here is Jason’s mom, Debi, right after finding a cache.And here is Tyler…being Tyler. Jason took this photo, so I don’t know what is going on here. We took some family photos the next morning before heading out to Prescott. Here is Ezra with Gramma Debs and Papa Craig.Here’s Jason, Ezra, and I with Jason’s parents. Tyler had us cracking up about something, though I don’t remember what.We drove down to Prescott for one more evening with my family before catching our flight in Pheonix the following morning. Here is Ezra with my brother’s son, London. Ezra is just two months older than London. You may remember the last photos we took of them together, when they were itty bitty ones. Click HERE to see those.We let London and Ezra crawl around together at the park for some photos. Just like with Noah and Ezra, it was hard to get photos of these two together. They just didn’t want to sit still, and I don’t blame them!Here’s my dad and mom with their grandsons. They are proud grandparents!And finally, here is a photo of my brother, Brandon, and I with our little ones. Getting together like this really makes me wish that we lived next to family. It is hard to be so far away!Want to see more photos from our trip? Click play on the slideshow below!

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Lake Powell, Part II

danielleashley — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:48:45 +0000

Both Jason and I took these photos of Lake Powell. They were all taken during a daylong outing that Joe took us on. He is the one doing the swan dive in one of the cliff jumping photos below. I’ve included the color and black + white versions because I love them both!

Lake Powell, Part I

danielleashley — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:17:48 +0000

Here are more photos from our trip to the States in October. After visiting friends and family in Dallas and Phoenix, we headed north to Lake Powell to spend a few days on a houseboat with my family.
I love Lake Powell. It is so unique and beautiful, and I have many fond memories of the week long houseboat trips we took growing up. Our first trip was shortly after we moved to Arizona from Hawaii, when I was just seven. Ahhh, memories.
Jason and I would have loved to spend a whole week with everyone on the houseboats; however, our whirlwind trip only allowed us three full days there. That’s okay, we had a great time and enjoyed each day to its fullest.
Below is the first set of photos from our time at Lake Powell. I am working on a second set, which I’ll share next, that shows the gorgeous landscape of the lake.
Jason took this first photo of my sister, MiKela, playing horseshoes. I love that you can see the horseshoe flying through the air.
Here are two of the three houseboats our group had. Joe, my dad’s cousin, works at the lake and always organizes everything for us. The houseboat closest to the camera is his family’s boat.

This was Ezra’s first lake experience. My mom took him to the water’s edge and he had a great time splashing and digging his fingers into the sand.

Here is Ezra hanging out with grandpa! I am still trying to get used to calling my parents grandpa and grandma for Ezra. Grandpa Dan and Grandma Donna just seems weird to me still.

We spent one evening roasting marshmallows by the fire. Jason and I took this photo by placing the camera on a rock and opening the shutter for 30 seconds. I love how bright the moon looks and that you can see the stars. We can’t see the stars in Seoul and I definitely miss it.

On our second day there we went to Rainbow Bridge. I have more photos to share from there, but will save them for the next blog post. Jason took the following three photos. The third photo is of MiKela, me, and my cousin Kristen. I remember putting so much effort into my jump to really get some air, but alas I am a terrible jumper. :-/

The houseboats each have a water slide attached to the back. I went down it once and then grabbed my camera to take some photos of everyone else sliding. Jason is in the third photo below–he went head first!

Thanks for looking and check back soon for the second set of photos from Lake Powell!

Twelve Months

danielleashley — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:46:41 +0000

Happy first birthday to this adorable little guy! I can’t believe how fast the last year went! It’s been amazing to watch Ezra grow and change from an itty bitty newborn to the little personality he is now. He still is great in front of the camera and I am taking advantage of it. I know there will soon come a day when things will be just the opposite and it will be quite a challenge to snag a photo of his cute face.
He’s not walking yet, but will pull himself to standing at every opportunity. He also likes to push a dining room chair (very lightweight Ikea chairs) around the house as he walks behind it. He loves to eat, eat, eat! Bananas are still his favorite food, but he’ll try almost anything we give him. He’s started to wave and will often wave with both arms at once–it’s so cute!
We’re celebrating his birthday this coming Sunday with a little party at our place. It will be fun to watch him dig into some cake for the first time.
Happy birthday sweet boy! Mama and dada love you so much and we are looking forward to another fun year.

Dallas & Phoenix

danielleashley — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:56:42 +0000

We took a whirlwind trip to the States in October, and I’ve finally got a few photos to share! Our first stop was Dallas for just over two days. While there, we got to see Jason’s grandparents, his brother, brother’s wife, and their two kiddos, Sam and Ben. I confess, I did not even think to take my camera out of the suitcase in Dallas until it was nearly time to move on to our next destination. I blame it on the more than 30 hours of travel time and jetlag. I did however take a few photos of Sam and Ben as they were playing in the front yard of Mimi and Papa’s house, where I managed to attract at least 15 mosquitos. Ah well, it was worth it–these two are so cute and growing up way too quickly.

Before we knew it, we were on a plane to Phoenix. We spent the night at Jason’s aunt and uncle’s home and then had breakfast with Jason’s grandma the next morning. Jason snapped a couple photos of Grandma Stephens showing Ezra some of the beautiful flowers in her backyard. She also took a family photo of us with her camera, which we need to have done more often! I have many more photos to share from our trip and promise I will post them soon. Lake Powell is up next!

Whitney & Neil (& Marley!)

danielleashley — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:41:57 +0000

I had the pleasure of photographing this cute couple with their adorable pup, Marley. The forecast promised rain, but it ended up being a beautiful, unseasonably warm day, and rain-free in fact. Marley was in heaven with so many sights and smells to check out. The timing of this session was perfect, because the trees are so pretty right now. Whitney and Neil, I had a great time and I hope you enjoy your photos!