this past January, Stephen and i went out to Texas to visit his family. while we were there, he mentioned that he wanted to go by and see some old friends that used to live in California. so, we headed over to their home one morning and we were greeted by three of the sweetest people i’ve ever met – Aaron, Melva & their 2 year old daughter, Melea.
Melva had prepared a wonderful breakfast for us, and we got to know each other a little bit while we ate =) following breakfast, Aaron & Stephen retreated to the studio where they talked music and reminisced about leading worship together. and Melea showed me her room & made some wonderful “tea” while we went on an adventure on a “boat” in the living room. i think my favorite part was how she called me “Miss Jess” though =) sooooo darn cute!
when i heard that they were going to be back in Cali for a short visit, i couldn’t wait to see them again! Melva & i had also talked about doing photos of Melea (now 3 years old), so this worked out perfectly. we met up last week at Prospect Park in Redlands and had such a great time!
we went from the bamboo to the awesome outdoor stage to the orange groves.
Melea sang the whole “It’s a Small World” song on stage. i couldn’t get over the fact that she knew all of the RIGHT words. i had so many of the lyrics wrong all these years =)
we also did some yoga. Melea demonstrated Warrior and Tree Pose for me…
at one point her dad gave her a kiss on the cheek, but she decided she wanted it to be a surprise. so she would wait and suddenly Aaron would kiss her cheek, and she would start cracking up! i almost forgot to take a photo for a moment because i got wrapped up in how much fun they were having.
it was also an educational day for me. Melea taught me her Filipino word of the day…”kili-kili” – which is Tagalog for “armpit”. here she’s showing me =)
when we were taking some family photos toward the end, we were trying to get Melea & Melva to each kiss one of Aaron’s cheeks, but Melea wanted to do it this way…
i believe they called this a “fuddle”…so adorable =)
at the end of the shoot, we went over to the little park area and, i’m not sure why, but Melea started crying =( being the horrible person i am, i had to capture this moment…i just thought she looked so cute.
and a few more of my faves, just for the heck of it!
Melva would tell her to give me the “princess smile” and she would look at the camera like this…
thank you again so much you guys! it was so great to see you and hopefully we’ll see y’all in Texas again soon =)
xoxo
jess
How precious! Melea is adorable…beautiful smile and head of hair. She totally let her personality shine in those pics. Great job honey, but great subjects.
Love you, Mom