Weston Mitzvah Photographer | Aaron's Miami Dolphin's Themed Bar Mitzvah

Bar Mitzvahs are such a right of passage.  And as it gets closer and closer to my own son's Bar Mitzvah this upcoming December, every mitzvah photo I work on and look at gives me all the feelings!  But that's kind of the point of photography, right?!  An image can take us back to a particular moment, and freezing 'so you' moments in time is my fave.  Aaron was such a good-spirited mitzvah boy, who you can tell enjoys close friendships.  It was a pleasure to capture this joyous occasion, and I can't wait to see what amazing things he does as he grows!

S Family Lifestyle Photography Session

The littlest boy in this family is almost 3 years old, and will be getting his first haircut soon.  So mom scheduled a family photo session to document her little boy with the long curly blonde hair.  I let him be the star of the show, and took his lead, something I often do with young children at a photo session.  I want them to feel comfortable playing, and I also want to capture their true personality.  And in this session, there was plenty of play and personality!

Jared's Bar Mitzvah

Summer means time for mitzvah planning, and also catching up on sharing some of the amazing mitzvahs I had the privilege of capturing this year! Jared's photos are alive with the enthusiasm and excitement he had on his mitzvah day, and I love that 6 months later, looking at these images takes me back to those moments. I'm sure his family feels the same way! 🙂

Katie and Ethan's B'nai Mitzvah - Temple Beth Orr - The Venue Fort Lauderdale

After our dynamic Mitzvah pre shoot in Wynwood, I knew this was going to be a special B'nai Mitzvah.  And it did not disappoint!  Katie and Ethan made their family and friends proud when they completely rocked their service Shabbat morning.  This achievement was followed by an enthusiastic celebration that evening, with special touches that made their event especially memorable, and a blast to photograph!  There was a mime on stilts, a balloon dragon, dancing dragons, and a panda, just to name a few!  These special touches were only matched by this special family.  Their bond is beautiful to witness, and to capture!  A big mazel tov, and I wish you many more joyous simchas to come!

So You Travels: The Ultimate Grand Canyon Road Trip Part 2 - Utah and Nevada

Part 1 of this post describes the first four days of our adventures in Arizona.  Click here.

Day 5 - Zion National Park - The Narrows

After driving in from Arizona, we knew we wanted to hike The Narrows in Zion National Park.  So we drove through the scenic road within the park and eventually arrived at the Visitor's Center.  We didn't really know what to expect, and we got information from a park ranger who suggested visiting an outfitter to rent neoprene socks and walking sticks since the water can be cold and the bottom is like walking on bowling balls.  So we headed into town, which is literally right outside the gate of the park. and not only got neoprene (like wet suit material for those unfamiliar) socks and walking sticks, but we also got water shoes too! 

This was one of the most incredible hikes I've ever done.  In most cases the water was up to ankle or mid-calf height.  We had taken the shuttle bus out to the stop for the hike, then hiked the paved trail for about a mile, and then enjoyed hiking up and back in the canyon.  Could we have done it in normal sneakers? Sure.  But the warmer shoes allowed us to be more comfortable and really enjoy, rather than worrying about cold feet!

Day 6 - La Verkin, Kanarra Falls, and Toquerville Falls

Instead of staying right in the town immediately outside of Zion, we selected an airbnb in the nearby town of La Verkin.  Day 6 was originally earmarked for a day trip to Bryce National Park.  But the kids were exhausted from many late nights, and we were off to a late start in the morning.  Also, our hosts had a book in the apartment with some pictures and instructions for some more local hikes. 

That morning, Kay knocked on the door and delivered a bag of apricots hand picked from his tree in the front yard!  So we got to talking, and ended up deciding to do two local hikes.  One to Kanarra Falls, and one to Toquerville Falls.  For the first, it was another mile or so of hot desert hike, and then a hike similar to the narrows, walking in and out of a rocky creek. ending in a shorter narrower canyon, that was like a cross between Antelope Canyon and The Narrows.  There was a waterfall and a scary metal ladder that the kids and I climbed to further explore a natural rock slide!

Toquerville Falls was in a super remote area that can really only be accessed by ATV, which our host and his friend offered to take us to, and we couldn't refuse!  Once we arrived, we enjoyed the natural swimming hole.  At the end of the day, we got to watch as our host harvested the chicken eggs we had been enjoying for breakfast during our stay.

Day 7 - Las Vegas - M&M World, Coca Cola Store, NY NY Arcade, O Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio

We arrived in Vegas and checked into the hotel, then spent some time on the computer researching and purchasing tickets for a show later that night.  We explored M&M World and the Coca Cola Store which were down the block from our hotel.  Then we met up with my college bestie and her family whom we vacationed with 2 summers ago in Colorado.  They live in LA, so Vegas was just a road trip for them that morning.  

The boys enjoyed the game room at the NY NY Hotel, and we all had dinner together.  Then their family went to bed, and our family went to see O Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio. It was an incredible experience, with acrobatics in and out of the water, and a dynamic stage that transformed between covering the water, to being deep enough to allow dives from great heights.  It was only my second cirque show, the first being one my parents took me to on our trip to Vegas in 1995.  It was unforgettable, and I'm grateful I was able to pass that unforgettable experience onto my children.

Day 8 - Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, The Orleans Hotel

On our final day of vacation, we explored the Hoover Dam with our friends.  I think if I had known more about it, I would have wanted to plan some water time on Lake Mead.  Now I know, and will plan to explore should I return to the area.  We had planned to return to town and explore some of the hotels.  On the way into town, our friends' eldest wasn't feeling well, so we broke plans to spend time together.  My family saw a billboard for Incredibles 2, so I used my Flixster app to purchase tickets for the next showing.

The movie theater turned out to be inside of a ginormous off-strip casino called The Orleans.  And after the movie, we followed the signs to the Bowling Alley that we'd seen on the way in.  It was the biggest bowling alley I've ever seen!  70 lanes!  And that was on the second story of a part of the hotel.  Unreal!  We bowled a game together, and then decided to stay for dinner at the buffet for the full Vegas experience!  It was fun to explore this off the beaten path Vegas spot.  Our next stop was to check out Circus Circus, but the timing didn't work out for us to see one of their free shows, and we were kind of done by that point, so didn't do the rides or games.  We did end the day with a beautiful sunset on the way back to our hotel!

Day 9 - Travel Home

We woke up and had breakfast in our room as we had every other day of the trip.  We arrived at the airport only to find out our flight had been cancelled!  This had not been communicated to us prior to arrival at the airport, so we got in a short line, which ended up being long because it wasn't moving.  I called the airline in parallel, and received the 30-45 min call back before we reached the front of the line.  The airline had put us on another flight with another carrier approximately an hour later, so we were able to make it home on the same calendar day as originally planned.  In hindsight, I think it was just one final adventure to make it exciting to get home.