Gisele Holloway Photography » Gisele Holloway Photography

I know I haven’t blog almost anything this month! All this crazy Christmas shopping, parties, spending time with family and friends, also my mom moved here from Brazil this month as well – All of this kept me so so busy! All good news and lots of blessings! My mom sold her house in Brazil, got a new place here and is all moved in! Took a while to convince her, but finally my dream of having my mom closer to me came true. It was so nice spending Christmas together and celebrating my husband’s birthday on Christmas day!

I am expecting a baby boy! I was so surprised when I found out, because I was having dreams with a little girl and I was thinking pink all the time, but I LOVED the idea of having a little man! Mark and I are so happy and we can’t wait to meet our bundle of joy! We haven’t decide a name for sure yet, I am looking for names that can have the same pronounce in English and Portuguese. I am really excited to have a baby boy and I couldn’t post without a picture of my little angel from my last ultrasound:

Happy New Year everyone! God bless us all and that we can all create wonderful memories in 2010!

Yesterday we needed to say goodbye to our dear dog Rusty. A really hard goodbye that my husband and I didn’t want to say, but it was necessary. We miss him so much already… I can still hear the sound of his breath when he was sleep, or his nails sounds on the house tile when he was walking around.. It’s hard to accept that we will never have him around anymore.

Rusty was around 14 years old, he was adopted by Mark 4 years ago, a year before we met. After his first owner died, Rusty spent a month at the dog shelter, then hopping house to house, until a friend of Mark asked if he wanted Rusty. He was a mess when Mark decided to adopt him, very disturbed. Mark gave him so much love and took really good care of him, this old dog he just met… He saved Rusty, and Rusty loved him back. He was Mark’s best friend, his favorite buddy… I heard Mark saying that to him many times. He was always on the side of Mark’s desk, making him company all day long… It’s so sad to know he will no longer be there.

Rusty was old, he had arthritis and every winter was becoming harder and harder on his legs. He also was having a hard time to breath, to hear and his vision was partially affected. It was his time to go, we knew that.. He was suffering and feeling pain and the best decision was to put him to sleep, so he could rest in peace. We have really good memories of Rusty over the years we could spent with him, he made us smile many times and we will never forget what a good dog he was.

We made his last two days really special. He had a chance to do his favorite things again – riding in the car, walk on the park, eat vanilla ice-cream, chicken for dinner, and lots of love. We could see his tail wagging happily.

A man’s best friend:

I caught one of Mark’s tears.. He told Rusty he wished to make him young again…

Goodbye Rusty… we will never forget you!

I have BIG news to share! Many of you already know, I am a mom-to-be! That is right – I am 13 weeks pregnant! Still all so new for me and sometimes I can’t believe I am going to be a mom! It’s such a surreal and wonderful felling… My little baby is growing healthy and strong! I can’t wait to hold her or him in my arms.. My hubby and I are so excited to became parents for the first time, the experience has been wonderful and we look forward for the amazing moments that are ahead of us! After 3 years being married with the most incredible person, Mark and I really wanted to start a family and all happenned exactly how we planned! We will have a “made in Aruba” baby. I feel so blessed…

This first trimester was kind hard, morning sickness wasn’t fun, that was actually the reason I couldn’t keep up with my blog for the past two months, now I am enjoying a lot more and felling great! It’s too early to know the baby gender, I have a feeling that is a girl, but let’s found out in a month! Can’t wait to start buying all the cute stuff for my little one! The Mini-Holloway will be born in May and I look forward for this day to come! Having a photographer mom, my baby needs to get used to photos already!

Here is a 4D image of my last ultrasound! Technology amazes me. My bundle of joy taking a nap:

I recently came back from a 7 days vacation on the beautiful island of Aruba, Netherland Antillies in the Dutch Caribbean. I had a blast with my hubby and my friends Lorena and Dave that came along to enjoy this paradise with us. Aruba was a great experience, all the fun activities we did, the local people, music, the amazing beach… The water was absolutely beautiful – warm and very clear.

I was totally blown away by how beautiful the island is. Can I please come back in time and be right there taking this photo again?! Aaah… so peaceful!

Spectacular sunsets…

California Light house on the back.

A shot of a building in downtown Aruba.

ATV adventure we did around the island and below the banana boat! Whoohooo!

The cute Alta Vista Chapel with an ocean view. I love this image!

The Natural Bridge was one of the biggest attraction in Aruba, and it collapse in 2005, after a hurricane hit the island. Still a very popular spot to tourists, since we can still see the baby natural bridge nearby.

There are lots of Iguanas in Aruba, and we saw plenty of really large ones around the hotel. I fed them with some lettuce! They come to grab food from our hands! They are pretty neat to watch and don’t seem afraid of people.

A sneak peak of a beautiful photo shoot I took of Lorena and Dave. More coming soon!

We will definitely go back to Aruba again!

I haven’t post on my blog lately, I know. It has been a crazy month having my backyard and pool done. Glad it is all over and we can enjoy the rest of the summer! Also I have been really busy working on new projects, new website and new brand. I am really excited for all what is about to come! Also organizing a trip to Aruba by the end of month with my hubby and friends… yeah, another trip. Thank God! I can’t wait to lay on the beach, having a coconut water, or maybe a pina colada! We have a free week vacation offered by our time share and we picked Aruba! Yay! It will be awesome!

Anyway… I am animal lover kind person, specially dogs. I love them! They are super cute, so much love they can give to us and looking their cute faces makes me happy. I have four dogs at home. Yeah, youheard! Four. Two of them belonged to my mother in law. She asked my husband and I to take care of them before she passed last April. Has not been easy having four of these cute things around the house, but we are making it work. A lot of adjustments, patient and double of dog food!

Rusty is our Miniature Pincher, he is around 14 years old. Poor guy, he had been through a lot before being adopted by Mark around 3 years ago. He was at the pound after his first owner passed away, then hoping house to house until Mark took him. It was so nice of Mark adopting an older dog and giving him a good life until his last days. He haven’t been in a good shape lately and we don’t know how long he will stay with us… make us sad.

Hello, I am Daisy! I am 3 years old Maltese. When I saw Daisy it was love a first sign… She is adorable, silly, tiny and has a great personality! I love her!

I feel like we have a house full of kids wanting mama and sometimes can be a little bit challenging, ok.. maybe a lot, but we are all adjusting well. Chloe and Chrissy joined the family in April. Chloe is a cute Bichon who is obsessed with tennis balls! You can play with her all day and she will bring her ball back to you every time. If ignored, Chloe will put her ball right in your hands, to start over again! She is very well behaved and follows me everywhere I go! Just a cuttie!

The last one, I promise! Ha! Chrissy is a 4 year old Maltese. She is the most adorable thing! She loves to play with her tail, trying to catch it and she goes round and round.. non-stopping! It’s hilarious! I am planning to make a video of her doing it so I can prove how funny it is! She is a very sweet dog…

I didn’t plan to have so many dogs, life changes when we least expect. Never thought about having more than two! Mark and I will keep the promise we made. We love each one of them.