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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trunk or Treat at Ridge Point Church

Trunk or Treat at Ridgepoint Church invited us to photograph kids in costumes again, and we decided to deliver images differently this year. This year, instead of e-mailing images, or printing 4x6 prints, we are allowing you to take your photo off of Flickr to use as you wish! Fun for everyone!



If you would like to view and download your photos please go here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/21054501@N00/sets/72157622691914856/.


If you would like to print the photos make sure that you find the permission release in the gallery, (it's the first image in the gallery), and print it off of your home computer. Take that with you when you go to pick up the photos and the lab will then release the prints without any problems.


Make sure that you download the largest sized ones :)




Enjoy the photos :)








www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Home Sweet Home!

Our flights home went super fast, and Zeke was a great traveler again. On our last plane, we found our selves sharing the flight with Kris & Don Watjer, and Karen Watjer! (My other mom and dad :) ) We thought we'd post a photo of our family back in Michigan, so here it is :) Zeke was so happy to be home the first night, he ran around the house getting ALL his toys out at Midnight.... and couldn't sleep in his own crib, so he shared our bed.... which will end shortly. ;)


www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Monday, October 26, 2009

Las Vegas, NV

Ok... Las Vegas... what do I say? Well, it had it's ups and downs! On the one hand you have some amazing architecture, awesome tourist attractions and shops catering to everyones interests. On the other hand... well... this is Sin City! It was very uncomfortable to just walk down the street sometimes. People try to hand you inappropriate flyers and almost everyone that you can hear talking uses profanities as every other word in their sentence. There are crowds of people moving together as herds down the sidewalks and you are contstantly "right next to" any given person on the strip, which makes me quite nervous regarding our cameras, wallets etc. If you do happen to go inside any building or casino you can expect to get endlessly turned around and lost and trying to find your way to the other side of one can be a long stressfull process. Needless to say, this part of our trip was more so for Cara. She enjoys all of the art and architecture and the history that it represents. We did have fun, but I am happy to be moving on ;)

Just as the sun sets on the stip they fire off the exploding volcano at The Mirage. Spectators flock around as the heat from the volcano blasts into the crowd.

We pretty much put away the camera and walked straight to the Rainforest Cafe, which took about 2 hours to get to. Zeke had fun there as we ate our dinner, he got really scared when the thunderstorms started and grabbed on good to mommy. The thunderstorms go about once every 30 minutes so we got to enjoy 2 of them :) Zeke also had fun looking through the glass at all of the exotic fish.


Our view at The Rainforest Cafe.


Here is the ceiling at The Rainforest Cafe. It flashes and makes thunder noises every half hour to simulate a thunderstorm. It was fun!


Cara and Zeke took a second to pose in front of the Statue of Liberty replica at New York, New York.


The front of the MGM Grand.


This is what the strip looks once the traffic packs in. Looks like fun huh?


This is the front of Ceasers Palace.


Cara and Zeke walking down the strip. I just noticed how cute they were and felt compelled to snap of a quick shot.


And this was really the highlight of the trip... The light and fountain show at The Bellagio! We hung out for about 4 different songs and if we were to go back to Vegas it would probably be mostly to see the fountain show. It is amazing how well they are able to syncronize the songs with the movements of the fountains and the lights. Each song is completely different and sometimes the fountains shoot up to probably about 200 feet! You really need to see it to appreciate it!


After seeing "The Strip" and getting our fill of Vegas life we decided to move a little bit further out of town to a quiter little R.V. Park and relax for a few days before we fly back to Michigan.
Keep checking back.

www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Mojave Desert

In a couple of days we are flying out of Las Vegas, Nevada and had the awesome opportunity to cross of the Mojave Desert on our way from Southern California. The drive was very relaxing and beautiful. There isn't too much to see in the desert on a grand scale when you look out in the distance but there is an amazing beauty in the plants that can survive in this kind of climate. Here are some photos of our travels through the Mojave Desert in California/Nevada.



Next post; Las Vegas, NV.

www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

The Giant Forest

Our next point of interest was The Giant Forest National Park. We had to take yet another small, slow, winding road to get there but it was well worth it. Here are a couple of photos from our day there.

Every once in awhile we will just randomly pull of on the side of the road to enjoy some of the countryside. While we were headed to The Giant Forest we both noticed how extremely beautiful the drive was. There is a valley and creek running right alongside the road that we were travelling on Highway 198 right before we reached Three Rivers, CA. On a whim we decided to pull over and walk down to the creek. I grabbed my camera and we got some cool photos quick before continuing on to The Giant Forest.

I was inspired for this photo after seeing the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite the day before.


Cara enjoying herself up on a rock by the creek.



Zeke found yet another little platform from which he could jump off of while we were enjoying the beauty of the countryside. I think I am going to compile all of Zeke's jumping photos from all over California at the end of our trip ;)


We travelled on to The Giant Forest. As soon as we entered it we started seeing gargantuan trees all over the forest. Here you can see how large the footprint of this Giant Sequioa tree is next to Zeke and Cara.

That's me and Zeke standing at the base of that giant.


And another view of that same tree.


Here is a Giant Sequoia that fell over and got uprooted. You can see how large the footprint of these are by the size of Cara and Zeke inside it. This tree was an "average" sized one by the way.


The sun shone beautifully through the circle meadow.

While we were leaving we saw 3 black bears on a mountain side just off the side of the road. Cara asked to stop and get some pictures and of course I didn't argue ;) They are quite friendly and docile and they didn't even pay attention to us photographing them from a couple hundred feet away. They see quite a bit of human's and are numbed to our presense.


This is the view of the mountain range on the way out.


This White Tail deer let us aproach to within about 20 feet to get this photo. We were losing light very quickly and had to snap off a couple as the sun dipped below the mountains and brought in the night.


We had an awesome time in The Giant Forest! It was well worth the trip!

www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Yosemite National Park

You can't visit California without seeing Yosemite National Park. This is one of the most beautiful countrysides that I have ever seen. Everywhere that you turn there is something distinctly different to be seen.

I don't remember California having any fall colors but while we are visiting here we saw quite a bit. Here is an oak tree showing gorgeous yellow leaves.


Zeke plotted the course for us and figured out exactly where we needed to get on and off of the shuttle. He had fun.


Here is Cara and Zeke if front of the lower falls.



Here is another view of the lower falls. There are a ton of trails around that will take you all over Yosemite but this trail is one of the easiest and shortest trails which worked out well for us ;)


Zeke enjoying a lounge in a tree right off the trail. Doesn't Cara's expression look so relaxed towards Zeke :D

This is Tunnel View. From here you can see about 7 distinct Yosemite landmarks including El Capitan on the left, Half Dome to the right and Bridal Veil Falls. The light was hitting Bridal Veil just right to produce a rainbow down the entire waterfall.


Our next post will be the Giant Forest. Make sure to check back!

www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Friday, October 23, 2009

The Williams Family and Friends

So... I finally got a chance to see my family again : D

It was great getting to catch up with everyones lives again. This visit was a little bit short but that's alright, it was still great! Here are some photos of everyone. I am so bummed that I didn't get a photo of my Mom! I don't know how that happened! She was working a lot while I was there and apparently I didn't have my camera with me much while she was around. Here are photos of everyone else though.

Our old dog Tara. She's still hangin' in there pretty good but she is gettin' old.


My oldest brother James, he had me retake this photo because he wasn't "sitting manly enough". The photo below is the manly version.


Here is Carolina and Maya. They call her "MiMi".


This is some of James' flintknapping demonstration. You can find photos on YouTube or http://www.flintknapper.com/ under Jimmy Williams. Each piece of glass that is breaking off is sharper than surgical steel! It was very cool to see a normal piece of rock take shape into a pre-historic razor sharp tool.



This is my younger brother Andrew. He came down all the way from Oakland to visit me.


Baby James on the playground.

This is just a cute photo of baby James and Zeke giving each other five on the play set. They got along very well for having just met.





Here is another of Maya.




A good friend Robbie Foggiato from Tracy. He cracks us up! This guy has an awesome sense of humor... clean humor too. Here is Robbie having an impromtu comic act with Woody.




This is my youngest brother Reece. He is going to college for guitar and music. He is getting awesome at it! I wish I had more time to hang out with him and get to see more of what he has learned. He is really taking to blues and jazz. I can't wait to see where he goes with it!




This is Matt Foggiato. We go way back to elementary school days. I feel bad that I didn't give Matt and Robbie any good warning that I was going to be in town. I called them this day and they dropped everything to come and visit me. Thank you guys so much for that... you guys are awesome.




I didn't get the best photo of my older brother John. Just this one while he was talking to Cara. John is the one that introduced me to Cara! This was everyones first time meeting little Zeke. It was cool!




I am looking forward to the day that I will see you guys all again.



www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com