by donna flores on January 22, 2010
Starting January I decided to take the 365 Challenge, which is to take a photo each day and post it on Flickr or your website. This didn’t seem like much of a challenge at first, buuuttt…. by day 12 or 13 it started to strain the old creative juices here and I have had to stretch myself and continue to work on new ideas. Often I have to take the shots with my iphone because of time restraints due to working at Hillview and don’t have time to get out with my 5D before the sun goes down. Here are a few that I have done lately.





by donna flores on January 12, 2010

This year we were blessed to celebrate Christmas with all of our children, Racheal’s husband Ben and our good friend Ange. It was a very laid back and relaxed time. We spent time playing games, and having a fun time as a family. I was still recovering from surgery so we didn’t do a lot of running around. Unfortunately I got sick the week before Christmas, but all things said & done it was a wonderful season. I hope yours was blessed too!
by donna flores on November 28, 2009

Caleb was transformed into Link from Legend of Zelda Twilight Princes. His dad made the Ordon Sheild. Caleb looks like a fierce warrior

Rebekah used her make-up skills by helping transform Joshua into Two Face for the Halloween Party that he went to with Caleb.

Here are the awesome results! Joshua tied for most original for his costume at the party. They had a blast and the rest of us stayed at home and waited around for the non-existent trick or treators- so we had plenty of treats for ourselves
by donna flores on November 21, 2009
Last days of summer catching some rays at Will Roggers State Beach

by donna flores on September 21, 2009

Ahhhh the last day of summer! So it isn’t endless is it? I walked out of the front door this morning at 5:10 am and could smell the faint smell of smoke wafting on the breezing from some distant hills still burning from the Station Fire. Today I sent my sons off with Daniel to buy Slurpees to celebrate the end of summer. And we look forward to fall. We look forward to cooler days and hopefully some rain. We look forward to family and friends gathering together to enjoy the holidays together. We look forward to what life has next for us, the next chapter. Ange and I are moving forward with our photography business. Daniel has been working diligently with the Church and his home business. Rachael and Ben are moving into the parsonage. The next chapter has a lot of changes, good changes and we keep moving forward step by step in faith.
by donna flores on August 30, 2009

It is great to see the people of La Canada and La Crescenta showing their appreciation to the men and women who saved our community! It was the brave, hard working firefighters and the policemen that backed them up and kept the looters from robbing the homes that had to evacuated as well as the paramedics and medical personal that treated all those who suffered from smoke and fire related injuries.

This was the view of the fire from the end of my street on Orange Ave and Briggs in La Crescenta on Monday 8/28
When the fire came down to the bottom of the mountain it literally looked like it was going to come down the street. It was a bit un-nerving to say the least but I had to stay cool to let my kids know that everything was going to be all right.

This Sikorski helicopter is a double bladed one which really looked cool!

Sighting one of these Sikorski helicopters is a way of life now. I shot this one on the way home from work as Ange drove home on the 21o. Which says a lot for image stabilization in her mini

This is another image taken on the way home on 9/1. This is a back fire set by the fire department to prevent the homes below from being burnt down, it clears the brush ahead of time.

We spent part of the afternoon Saturday watching the helicopters dropping water on the hot spots along the fire where we live. This picture was taken from my friend Angela’s apartment window. It is absolutely amazing how much water they can drop and how accurate they are in their drops. I have a series of pictures that I want to sew together in photoshop to show the water drop, I hope to have up soon!

This was taken from the roof of my home this is the fire cresting the hills behind our home.
by donna flores on August 29, 2009

Tuesday afternoon August 25th I was at home from work sick when I got a text from Ange telling me that there was a fire near by in the mountains near my home. This is not something you want to hear in August when it is 106F and the brush is as dry as parchment paper. The only thing that would make it worse would be if there were Santa Ana winds- then you have disaster! This week, so far, we have been blessed. The picture above is the evening of the 27th. The fire had originated five miles north of La Canada above the Forest Rangers fire station- and so it got its name the “Station Fire”. By the night of the 27th it had crested the Angeles Crest Mountains and began to work its way down the mountain side like a slow moving lava flow. The small dots of light along the mountain are homes. As you can see they are very close to the path of harm.

This is a close up of the flames. Our chaparral has a high oil content in it because plants like Manzanita shrubs and the pine trees. As of this blog entry there have been no loss of homes or injuries. We can all thank the Lord and all the hard working fire fighters for that. If you are reading this blog entry and this fire is still in progress, say a prayer for the fire fighters on the lines, and for those in harms way. Thank you.
by donna flores on July 21, 2009

Here’s an update from Endless Summer 2009. The Flores Fam hit the road Monday 7/28 and went to Hermosa Beach. I wasnt feeling to great cause my back was hurting and I had a sun burn from the day before with Ange (same beach & I forgot to put sunscreen on the top half of me
more of that later) so I didn’t take many pics. Anyway Rach & Ben joined us on this trip. It was really laid back, we enjoyed the cool sea breeze & the waves. The water is warm for California 71F- so the boys & Daniel had a great time body surfing. I didn’t go in, I usually do, but I didn’t want to fry any worse. Sunday Rebekah flys out to South Carolina to visit her friend & Monday Josh goes to surf camp. It’s a busy endless summer

Well we finally made it to the beach! We made an impromptu trip to the beach Monday to get away from the heat. It has been so hot lately with triple digit heat that the waves were very refreshing. Caleb is searching for some shells in the surf in this picture. We packed up the boys and a few sandwiches the Boogie boards and headed for the beach.