Lori Sandoval Photography

There’s Snow in Southern California?!

adventure, Christmas portraits, Lori Sandoval Photography

Hey guys! So, ’tis the season for our annual Christmas photos! We attempted these photos twice this year. The first time, we decided to venture out to Sequoia National Forest. I had seen it snowed there a bit and I was so excited to see snow that I forgot all about the Christmas-y theme of the photos. On top of that, the road to a trail we were going to hike was closed. We were able to take some photos, but I just wasn’t super happy with them. So, I went to buy some Christmas props and we went out for a second attempt, this time to Big Bear, California.

I was absolutely in love with this little mountain town. There were so many cute little shops in their downtown and there was a lake surrounded by mountains. There was snow everywhere! The only problem was that it was mostly for the ski/snowboarding resorts. We didn’t know where to park to hike around on our own. After driving around for awhile, we saw a couple park on the side of the road and start walking into the woods. We decided to stop there as well and hike up the trail. It was mostly icy snow that covered the ground but it was still fun to play in. We took our photos and tried to get back to the car as soon as possible because my poor baby Sadie was freezing her little tail off.

We drove around Big Bear Lake and then stopped to watch the sun set behind the mountains over the lake. It was absolutely beautiful! We started driving back down the mountain and I had wanted to stop to take photos of the after sunset sky over the city and it was then that I realized I didn’t have my tripod. Lyle was so concerned about getting Sadie back into a warm car that he put it down and drove off without it. I was pretty sad about it but I realized it was replaceable and not a big deal. It’s better than him putting the tripod in the car and forgetting Sadie on the side of the road!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy our annual Christmas photos! And we want to wish you all Happy Holidays!

Moving West: Roadtrip Day 4 // Hoover Dam, Las Vegas & California!

Lori Sandoval Photography, travel

Day 4 starts at 12 midnight on Friday. Fair warning, this is probably the least exciting day we had. We pretty much had to drive straight to Vegas overnight to make sure we got there in time to pick up Maria from the airport. You see, originally she was supposed to land at 11am so we had to be there early. Her flight ended up getting delayed a few times and everything worked out so… moving on!

As I was saying, at midnight we were definitely somewhere in New Mexico. It was pitch black out so there weren’t any exciting things to see or anything. All we had was the radio and each other’s company. However, it was late and had been a long day and I couldn’t fight it anymore so I fell asleep. Lyle was a trooper through and made the drive all the way through New Mexico. I woke up at some point and we switched so that he could get something to eat. I didn’t last long driving though. With Lyle already asleep, I didn’t have much to keep me awake or entertained. I decided it was best to stop at the next place I could find to rest. We stopped at a gas station about an hour into Arizona so I could sleep. There were a few truck drivers who had stopped here as well but for some reason I was too paranoid to sleep. I would pass out for maybe 30 minutes and then wake up. Finally, I could see the sun coming up and decided to just get up and go get breakfast. I went inside the gas station and was pretty disappointed to find out I was too far west to get breakfast tacos. Instead, I had to learn to settle for a breakfast “burrito”. They’re basically the same thing though; equally delicious and definitely satisfying.

After coming to terms with the fact I couldn’t sleep, I decided to take off around 6am. I drove for a bit until Lyle woke up and we switched. I slept maybe an hour before he woke me up so I could see where we were. I woke to see we were driving through a forest area in Flagstaff, AZ. He knows I get super excited over things like this so he said he had to wake me up so I wouldn’t miss it. We found out there was a meteor crater nearby, tried to visit, but it was closed. We didn’t want to wait so we just kept going. There really wasn’t much else to say about our drive through Arizona. It was mostly a lot of mountains and forests so it’s safe to say I definitely still enjoyed the drive and the views.

We crossed into Nevada around noon. Since we were no longer in a rush to get to Maria, we decided to stop and take our time to take in some more views. We had stopped at an overlook and since Lyle knew I had never been to the Hoover Dam, we spontaneously stopped there next. I was pretty excited about that. So after we explored around there, we were finally en route to Las Vegas!

We got to our hotel and unpacked and relaxed for a bit. I actually had to give Sadie a bath because she had spent the past few days adventuring around the red dirt of Palo Duro and sandhills of Monahans and her paws and fur were filthy. She was definitely due for a bath. While that was happening, Lyle headed to the airport to pick up Maria! Let me back up a bit. She had a bunch of days off because of her birthday so she decided to take the trip out to Vegas and Cali with us because why not?! So once they got back, we went to eat at a Mexican restaurant in the New York, New York hotel. We were all starving and ended up ordering more food than we could eat. So after that, we went back to the hotel and Maria and I ended up taking a nap (oops!). But hey, I only had about two and half hours of sleep that night so a nap was way overdue. I woke up later that night to Lyle and a friend of his (who actually lives in Vegas) talking. After struggling to wake up, we all got ready and headed out for the night. And we’ll just leave it at that! 😛


So we may or may not have struggled waking up the next morning. When we finally got things going we packed up the car, stopped to get food and were on our way to LA. The next few days were nothing but unpacking, cleaning and organizing. Maria had to leave on Tuesday so we took the day to hang out in Santa Monica. We went to Third Street Promenade, walked around downtown and then headed to the Santa Monica Pier for a bit. Then, we grabbed lunch and headed to the airport to drop off Maria. Can I just say that I have the best friend in the entire world. She flew across the country on a whim just to help us move into our apartment. I’m super thankful to have someone like her in my life.

Anyway, we have officially reached the end of our trip moving west. It was an eventful and emotional time but Lyle and I are super blessed to be able to say we’re one step closer in making our dreams a reality. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures and felt like you took this trip with us! Also, what’s a trip without a travel vlog to go with it? Be sure to check out the video down below and as always, let me know your thoughts! Love you guys and thanks for coming with us!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/148033563

PS- This song is called “Something Good Can Work” by Two Door Cinema Club. I chose this song for the video because it has always reminded me of Lyle. He has always been the one to tell me that things will work out for me the way the best way they can and that I have something big to show the world. It just takes a little time and hard work. It also really fits the transition in our lives right now. Give it a close listen. 🙂

Moving West: Roadtrip Day 3 / Palo Duro Canyon State Park & Cadillac Ranch

Cadillac Ranch, Lori Sandoval Photography, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas State Parks, travel

Hey everyone! So, day three started out on a dreary morning in Amarillo, Texas. I had never been to Amarillo before, in fact, I hadn’t even been that far north in Texas before. It doesn’t matter if Amarillo isn’t exactly a go to tourist spot, it’s just the idea of being in a new place excites me. It’s that seeing places I’ve never seen and driving on roads I’ve never driven on feeling that makes me so happy. I love being lost in new places (in a good way of course).

First thing’s first, we picked up some breakfast and were en route to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We stopped at the first scenic area to take in the awesome views and then started our drive to the bottom of the canyon. I think it’s pretty neat that you’re able to do that. It allows you to fully experience all perspectives of the canyon.

We went straight to the Lighthouse Trail because it’s the number one hike to take. While hiking the trail we met a few groups of people who were already on their way out. They warned us that there was a rattlesnake a little over halfway to the lighthouse and to be careful, especially with our dog. Already I was panicked because Sadie isn’t exactly an outdoors dog and she loves to stick her nose in places it doesn’t belong. However, we kept on going and just figured we would deal with it when we came to it. Now, this is about a five and half mile roundtrip hike, which means it’s about 2.7 miles one way. Keep in mind that I said Sadie wasn’t an outdoor dog. Back home, she wouldn’t stay outside longer than 20 minutes because after that, she’s whining and barking to come in. I did make sure to have plenty of water for her but she still started getting very tired. The weather started off being overcast but it cleared up and started getting pretty hot. That’s when things got worse for her. We were a little over a mile in at this point and she just kept stopping and wanting to lay down. I began to get super worried and decided that the hike wasn’t worth something happening to her. We stopped for a few minutes in the shade to let her drink water and calm down. When we felt she was good to go, we decided it was best to turn back instead of trying to push her to keep going. My poor little pup isn’t as adventurous as she likes to think she is!

After getting back to the car and making sure my pup had lots of water and took a treat, we decided to venture off to other areas of the canyon. We stopped at little areas to walk around and left her in the car with windows down so she could rest. All the other times we left her in the car she would start to whine and cry (#separationanxietyissues). After being exhausted from that hike, she didn’t care if we left in there or for how long. After a bit of other adventures, we noticed the clouds started rolling back in. We decided it was time to head out before the rain caught us. We stopped one last time at the main scenic overlook because I clearly couldn’t get enough. When the rain started coming down that’s when it was time to head to Cadillac Ranch.


We arrived at Cadillac Ranch to find quite a few people stomping around in the middle of the street. Of course we thought that was odd but as we got closer we realized that they were actually trying to get the globs of mud off of their shoes. Texas had been quite overcast and rainy the past few days (probably sad to see me and Lyle leave to California- haha but really!), so it’s no wonder that all of Cadillac Ranch was a giant mud pit. That didn’t matter because we figured “Hey, we’re already here. We have extra shoes. Whatever, let’s just go!”

First step in and squish, freshly mudded shoes. It got stickier and worse the further we got. There were tons of spray paint cans scattered throughout the mud. I had read that you could bring your own or use whatever was left on the ground but I had decided it was probably best to just get our own colors. It was a good thing we did though because the cans left behind by others were too far gone in the mud. So, we walked around all the cars and checked out the art others had made and then went in on our own spray painting. After enough looking, painting and picture taking, we were left with a good 2-3 inches of mud on our shoes from walking around. Not even kidding. Now we were the ones stomping like crazy people in the middle of the street.

After a somewhat decent attempt at cleaning off our shoes, we finally got in the car and started our venture west for good. It’s funny because after 3 days of driving around Texas, my family had been texting me saying “You’re still in Texas? You’re never going to make it to California!” Let me live, familia! I wanted to finish exploring my homeland before I couldn’t anymore! Anyway, I hope you’ve been enjoying my ramblings about our adventures! Day 4 will be next so be ready for that.

Moving West: Roadtrip Day 2 / Monahans Sandhills State Park

Lori Sandoval Photography, Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas State Parks, travel

Part two of day two began in Monahans Sandhills State Park. After we left Marfa, I put Monahans into Google Maps and started driving. The front office closes at 4:30 and it was just about 4:00 when Google Maps told me to take a right turn on a street that crossed over some railroad tracks and was now blocked off to traffic. I pretty much panicked because I didn’t know how else to get there. I pulled over to check the map and see if other nearby streets connected to the road we were on and pretty much none of them did. Great. So, I called the office and the lady at the front desk was more than kind enough in helping me find the park. She stayed on the phone with me the entire time until she saw the car pull up to the parking lot. It was pretty much right at 4:30 when we got there so I was very thankful that she was so sweet to help.

We drove through the sand dunes, parked and got down to explore. Now being that this is Texas, we were totally expecting the sand to burn our feet. However, it was surprisingly cool to the touch. It may have had something to do with the fact that it was an overcast day but who knows. We didn’t complain that’s for sure. So we ventured high into the dunes to get a good view of everything around us. And let me just say, Sadie LOVED the sand. She ran around and dug hole. I have never seen her dig before! It was so adorable. Anyway, we just spent a good couple of hours exploring the dunes, playing in the sand and watching a storm roll in from the distance. Also, we were pretty much the only people around so it was a nice and peaceful experience.

After we left Monahans, we drove to Odessa to grab some dinner and headed out to Amarillo from there. And on that note, I hope you enjoyed our day two road trip adventure! Day three coming soon! 🙂

Moving West: Roadtrip Day 1 / Marfa, Texas

Lori Sandoval Photography, Marfa, travel, West Texas

As you may know by now,  Lyle and I moved to California! Our new adventure began early on October 6. We headed out west towards Marfa, Texas. I thoroughly enjoy the drive out to West Texas. Some people have told me it’s boring because it’s just miles of nothing, but I think that’s my favorite part! I love how open and free it feels!

Anyway, we make it to El Cosmico, checked in and began exploring the grounds. We decided to have a night of “glamping” and stayed in one of their tents. It came fully equipped with a queen size bed, sheets and blankets, a chair and a desk, wood floors, electrical outlets and plenty of lighting. They also had teepees, yurts, trailers and self camping available. While exploring the grounds, we found an area full of hammocks. I’m obsessed with hammocks and was very excited about this find. However, it had just recently rained so they were all pretty soaked and we unfortunately never got to relax on them.

After a bit of wandering, we we were off to Prada Marfa. One thing I did not know was that it is not actually located in Marfa. It’s roughly 30 miles west in Valentine, Texas. Inside is the 2005 fall/winter collection from Prada. You’re not allowed to go inside and there are plenty of security cameras and alarms around the building to prevent you from even trying. I remember learning about this installation in one of my art history classes and have been wanting to visit ever since. I’m not really sure why it took me so long to go but I finally made it!

We made our way back to El Cosmico to relax for a bit before grabbing some dinner. We ended up waiting too long and missed dinner. By “missed dinner” I mean the town seemed to shut down around 8:30 and we couldn’t find anywhere to eat. We had to settle for getting some food from the gas station (ehhh). We got rained in in the outdoor communal kitchen and waited for it to slow down to a drizzle before making a run for it back to the tent. When it finally stopped raining, I decided to capture some night shots. Fun fact: it was pretty much pitch black out when we suddenly heard what sounded like chains rattling nearby. I was freaking out trying to listen to figure out which direction it was coming from/heading to. Spoiler: it was just a dog going about his way. We went back to the tent for bed and not even 20 minutes into falling asleep it began storming. That lasted just about all night long, and I swore at one point the tent was about to blow away.

I realize that a lot of this sounds like a horrible time, but it really wasn’t. It’s all about what you make of the situation. Sure we didn’t get to really enjoy some of the amenities but it doesn’t really matter because I still had a great time and that’s what matters. That also just means a trip back during good weather is in order! 

We woke up to find the ground flooded, like at least 3 inches of water everywhere. We grabbed our things and headed out for some coffee and exploring. We spent the morning checking out the exhibits in Ballroom Marfa. Art galleries are my favorite places to visit, so it was pretty neat to check out a local one. Then we grabbed some lunch and headed out to Monahans Sandhills State Park. I hope you enjoyed our day one (and a half) adventure! Be sure to check back for part two of day two of our trip!

Sometimes you just need to get away..

Enchanted Rock, Lori Sandoval Photography, Texas, travel

Life can be stressful. Sometimes you just need to get away from everything that’s going on around you and go somewhere that makes you realize how little your problems are. One of my favorite places to visit when I’m feeling this way is Enchanted Rock. I feel as though Enchanted Rock is such an underrated place to visit. The view is amazing, the hike is definitely worth it, and if you visit near the fall time, you are pretty much guaranteed perfect weather. For this trip, I really wanted to hike up just before the sun was setting so we could watch it set from the top. The golden sun hitting the granite rock was absolutely beautiful, I just could not get enough of it! Lyle and I reached the top to find that a few other people had the same idea. We laid in silence watching the sun set and I was in my ultimate happy place. Just as twilight hit, mostly everyone else began to make their trek back down. Lyle and I decided to stay and hang around to stargaze at the top. After about an hour, we began to head back down so that I could photograph the stars. After some trial and error, as well as some help from some other hikers coming down with flashlights, we were able to get some pretty awesome photos. I was pretty thrilled about the results so I hope you enjoy!

A Day in the Life // Maria & I

2015, coffee shops, Lori Sandoval Photography

Hey guys! So, in my last post I stated that I’ve been enjoying documenting moments with my friends. Well, today was another one of those days. Maria and I frequently have lunch dates and what not and our typical days out include lunch, coffee and shopping! On this particular day, I had told Maria that I wanted her to pick out an outfit because I wanted to do a mini outfit of the day shoot in an urban setting. So we started out by heading downtown to our favorite lunch spot Rosario’s. I swear that place always hits the spot. It’s so good! Then, we decided to take a stroll along the Riverwalk to shoot. We found places that definitely fit the exact look I was going for, so I was pretty excited about that. After, we decided to head to a new coffee shop to cool off called Commonwealth Coffeehouse. Maria actually chose this place because she had found out that an old friend from her high school owns it! It was a cute little house turned coffee shop and I loved it. Of course we went shopping after our coffee stop however this time, it was more of window shopping. We decided not to do any damage to our wallets this time around, ha! Anyway, I hope you enjoy having a peek into a day in my life. I’m thinking I want to do more blogposts like this because it gives me a reason to post more frequently! We shall see though. As always, let me know your thoughts and I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Coffee Shop Livin’ // Paul

2015, coffee shops, film photography, Lori Sandoval Photography

Hey guys! Back with another post on this lovely Friday. If you know me pretty well, you know that iced coffee pretty much runs through my veins. It could be the middle of winter and I will still order an iced coffee over a hot coffee. This summer, I had busted my film camera out and shot on slide film. It had taken me a while to finally finish the roll and take it to get developed but when I got my film back, I was pretty pleased with the results. I also feel like I spent quite a bit of time inside (and outside) of coffee shops. I’ve been enjoying documenting little moments with friends lately. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to grab an iced coffee and relax! Hope you enjoy and as always, let me know your thoughts!

Fujichrome Velvia Color Reversal Film ISO 100

Fashion // Ashtynn

fashion blogger, fashion photographer, Lori Sandoval Photography

Hey guys! So, it’s been a while since my last post and I feel like it’s because I’ve been super busy. I’m not really sure if that’s the case or not but we’ll go with it. To be honest, I’m not sure what’s happening anymore, but I digress. A few weeks ago, however, I did take a trip out to the Houston area with my family. We visited the Kemah Boardwalk one day and boy oh boy was it a miserable one. I don’t recall the actual temperature that day but I do recall feeling beads of sweat drip down my back. Attractive, I know. Anyway, before we left for the trip I made sure to tell my niece to pack cute outfits. If you don’t know my niece, she’s 10 years old and already a little fashionista. She’s adorable when she comes over and tells me “you should wear these shoes because they match your outfit best”.  She loves clothes and throwing outfits together and, let’s be real, she gets it from me (muahaha). This was her little outfit she chose and I think she rocked it. I did let her borrow my sunglasses to complete this look. Don’t forget to let me know what you think!

West Texas / New Mexico Adventures Part I

Balhmorea State Park, exploring, Lincoln National Forest, Lori Sandoval Photography, New Mexico, Texas, travel

Hey everyone! I’m so happy I’m finally here with this post! I’ve been procrastinating on developing some film. Anyway, if you remember last year, I blogged about my birthday trip to Big Bend National Park with my best friends. That trip was so much fun and I knew I had to do something again this year.

This time around it was just Lyle and me and we decided to head back west. We left early Sunday morning in the middle of a thunderstorm and made it out to Balmorhea State Park. This place was absolutely amazing. I didn’t take too many photos because it was a super hot day and we just wanted to jump in! The water was pretty cold but it felt amazing.

We left Balmorhea and got back on the road to New Mexico. Monday morning we got up and headed to White Sands National Monument. It was a really hot day but the sand was so cool on your feet. It eventually got a little windy and was basically perfect weather. We spent a few hours here flying kites and running around in the sand. We left to grab lunch and then decided to check out Alemeda Park Zoo. The zoo looked really small and didn’t seem to offer much but we decided to visit anyway. It ended up being way bigger than we thought and had lots of cool animals! When we finished there, we headed back to White Sands to check out the sunset. White Sands when the sun is setting is an entirely different place. It was so peaceful and amazing. A small storm began rolling in but we only got drizzles so it wasn’t too bad.

On Tuesday morning, we got up and had breakfast at a cute waffle house/diner across from where we stayed. We sat at the bar and watched them cook our breakfast right in front of us! I wish I had snuck some footage because it was really cute but I honestly wasn’t thinking about it at the time. From there, we headed out to the mountains! It was such an amazing view just driving through the winding roads and I was absolutely in love because I had never seen anything like it before. We ended up taking a turn down some random road, losing cell service, and getting lost in the forest. We eventually made it back out and found a trail head and then ended up getting lost there too. Clearly, we’re great adventurers. We probably wouldn’t have had the experience we did if we didn’t get lost though, so it all worked out. Throughout our time in the forest, we spotted an elk, some bear tracks, deer tracks, and smaller animal tracks.

Pictures or it didn’t happen? Nah. I didn’t document any of this, but after finally making it out of the forest, we ate dinner and a tiny Italian restaurant. We ordered a pizza and I’m willing to say that it was honestly the best pizza I’ve ever had. After that, we ended up on the other side from where we started and made our way to Ruidoso. We headed to Inn of the Mountain Gods to do some gambling and what not. After spending a few hours there, we headed back to where we stayed and went to bed. I was super sad to leave the next day but this trip only motivated me to get out and adventure more.

If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures out west. There’s so much more I could say about it but I decided to keep it (somewhat) short. I have another blogpost coming up with more photos and the video from our trip so be on the look out for that! I’m definitely thinking of keeping the tradition alive. Where to next year?! 0:)