Benton Photography

I launched HELLO DOLLY, with love less than two weeks ago, with a goal of gathering 50 dolls to refurbish from head to toe, and donate to the Ronald McDonald ho...use for children in the hospital. Today I have in my care 36 American Girl Dolls and 8 Bitty Babies! I have also collected several clothing items and shoes along with some assessors. I spent the day setting up a work station, ou in this case, a workshop, to beautify these little cuties. My husband and I own a business that is my greatest passion. Santa’s Enchanted Workshop. We have owned our photography business for 15 years, and concentrate on this portion of that business very strongly for four months out of the year. However Santas and chanted workshop looks so charming and Christmasy the entire year. I thought this would be the perfect location to set Up the perfect workstation, so I can come work out here anytime I want. I’m super excited, three of my little granddaughter’s will be coming From Florida next week. They were really my first inspirations for the American Girl Doll experience. I had found some beautiful dolls through Facebook marketplace, and purchased one for each of my granddaughters. I had ended up with one extra doll and decided I’d like to donate that one extra doll to The Ronald McDonald house. That was just two and a half weeks ago. I’ll let you in on a little secret, I hate laundry. I hate folding it, and I hate putting it away. It’s the worst. Today I spent the day going through itty-bitty outfits, and teeny tiny shoes and socks, organizing them and putting them into various bins. It wasn’t bad! These doll cloths are so stinkin cute! My hope is to have each doll completely outfitted, with two extra outfits, a proper hairbrush and some hair assessor for each doll to be given to a child recovering in the hospital. I know while Kyle was there, days were long and scary. Everyone needs a friend! Kyle has even mentioned to me, you know mom, I think I would have even liked a doll when I first came out of my coma. For those of you who have donated, thank you so, so very much. I have promise to keep you updated. I plan to concentrate on 20 dolls first, to get them completely ready before presenting them to the Ronald McDonald house. This will take sometime. Please know how much Your generous contribution have meant to me. I promise to keep you posted along the way. PS. I have talked to RM house. This has been approved. :)

This weekend was full of more donations! I shared I received 6 in the mail on Friday and this weekend I received 6 more American Girls Dolls from local familie...s donating to HELLO DOLLY, with love. Along with several beautiful outfits and shoes! My first inclination is to say, "I'm shocked at the response". And yet, I'm really not. There are just so many kind people in the world and I'm am more aware of that each day! I am extremely grateful and excited! My original goal was 50. I think Im going to change that to 100! Now I need some brainstorming ideas from those who have leads or good thoughts on my next challenge. I want each of these adorable American girls Dolls to be presented to there new owners in a beautiful presentation. Clean, sweet and cheery! Here is what I hope to offer. Each doll, completely perfect from head to toe, with a darling outfit and shoes to match. I would like to have them each placed in a pretty box, with a sticker that says HELLO DOLLY, with Love and a personal note. I would also like to include 1-2 additional outfits, a proper American Girl hair brush and some hair assessors. These dolls with be presented to children in the hospital. I know personally, as a parent it's difficult to leave your child while they are in the hospital. So, some extras with their new doll would add so much. I am hoping to find a 20x8x6 box. I'm having a difficult time finding the proper size. I can find brown shipping boxes, but hope to find something prettier, perhaps a white box, or a box with a lid. I would like to wrap the dolls in pink and orange tissue and place the two outfits and hair accessories in the pink organza bag, and placed in the box with the doll. I have found a source to purchase the tissue and the organza bags, but I can't find a proper box to add to the perfect presentation. Any leads would be great! Thanks!

My son had a terrible fall off his longboard in September. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, was in a coma for two weeks and not expected to live. He had an 8 week hospital stay at UCDavis Medical Center in Sacramento. While he was in the hospital, my husband and I were blessed to stay at the Ronald McDonald house for 5 weeks. This is a beautiful facility and a huge benefit to the families of children in the hospital. I’m and so thankful my son is home and is expected... to make a full recovery. This will take a couple of years, but we have so much to be grateful for. I’ve create a community service to benefit the Ronald McDonald house in Sacramento. My goal is to expand the project over time and have others join me in and help other locations such as the Ronald McDonsld House. It’s called HELLO DOLLY, with love Upon our arrival to the Ronald MCDonal House, there was a gift basket for my husband, myself and some items for us to take to our son at the hospital. His gifts were age appropriate. As for myself, I remember how touched I was that someone would take the time to create a home made blanket for me. I used it everyday while my son was in the hospital. I had done service projects such as this in the past through church, but never knew how much it could touch a humans aching heart, until I experienced the gift my self. My goal is to collect 50+ American Girl Dolls, restore them and donate them to the Ronald McDonald house for them to be offered as gifts to the little patients at the hospital. Can you imagine parents coming into there room at the Ronald McDonald house to settle in and see a beautiful American Girl Doll to take to their child in the hospital? I am looking for AG dolls to purchase. I’ve set a budget for this project and of course hope to make my funds go as far as I can. I’m looking for dolls and for clothing. I don’t mind doing the restoration work. If you have a doll you are willing to part with, I would love to make you an offer and promise she will be well loved! I just started my search just two weeks ago. I have collected 9 so far. Just 39 more to go, or more PS. I’ve already gotten a couple of sweet messages of encouragement and well wishes for my son. Thank you! My life has been very humbled through this experience! I’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks. One thing, I cry easily;), another, we see so much anger and hate going on right now, but I’ve discovered and truly believe, there are so many good people in this world! I have seen it first hand with so many offering love and encouragement from around the world. That part has been incredible! This project is as much for me as it is for those who will receive the dolls. It’s brought me so much joy, and working with the dolls is very therapeutic:) I’ll add a picture of my sweet son. His name is Kyle His story can be followed @prayersforkylebenton https://www.facebook.com/Hello-Dolly-With-Love-106111794800221/

I am sitting here in our cute, quite, clean space at the Ronald McDonald house. Scot is spending the day with Kyle and helping with his morning routine and ther...apies. It's September 23. It's the first day I haven't been at the hospital and have a little down time. I cleaned, did laundry and will head over to Kyle in a few hours. So what to do with this free time? Life just kind of came to a halt at 5:30pm Aug. 31, and we've kind of just held our breath since then. We are so thrilled with the progress Kyle has made, and frankly are shocked through out the day when all the sudden we see more of Kyle come alive! Traumatic Brian Injuries take time to heal. There is know way for any of the doctors to predict Kyle future. Clearly Kyle is a fighter and we give thanks to our Heavenly Father for each blessing he is giving us as each day passes. I write all my post from my Iphone. This time I am actually sitting at our computer. Scot brought it from home, so we could focus on our business if we had time. This morning I have sometime, and I'm not sure where to even start. Those of you who know us personally know we have owned our photography business for 15 years. With in that business, 4 years ago, we launched my passion and love, Santa's Enchanted Workshop. (We offer one hour sessions for children to visit with Santa in his cottage Workshop. It is truly magical for the children, parents and for me. This is a whole other story ). While they visit, we are photographing and then creating stunning heirloom quietly art pieces for our sweet clients. In order to accommodate our growing numbers of families, we were going to start our sessions this Friday. Obviously, we are having to make some adjustments to our schedule and have postponed our start date to Friday, Oct. 16th. Scot and I, on a few occasions over the last three weeks, would talk a little about what we would do with our up coming season and if we would provide Santa's Enchanted Workshop this year. Little by little, as a side note to what we have going on here at the hospital, we have come up with a plan that we think is going to work perfectly for us. I'm excited to say, YES, we will be hosting Santa's Enchanted Workshop. I am a bit of a control freak. My #1 thing I am having to learn through this is, I can't control everything, and you must have faith. I have, and I will and it will all be good! So, for those of you who have asked, yes, we are booking for Santa's Enchanted Workshop 2020. Generally we can accommodate a limited number of 100 families. While we may be limiting that number a bit, I am thrilled to have this season coming up and look for forward to this beloved part of our lives. My #1 is Kyle, family, and God (of course, he is our family)! These will always be our #1. My #2 is my beloved Santa's Enchanted Workshop. It brings me so much happiness and light! I may have to relinquish some of my daily task, but the joy that our beautiful workshop will shine brighter than ever for 2020. Even among Covid, bonked heads and so much unrest in our great nation. I know many that follow Kyle are from around the world. I have gotten messages from many people in other countries and across the nation. Although you are miles away, I invite you to visit www.SantasEnchantedWorkshop.com Here you will see one of our greatest joys in life! No doubt is will make you smile!

I wanted to share a difficult situation that our family is facing at this time. I’ve been sharing daily updates on my personal Facebook page, but decided to share here on our business page as wellFor a few reasons. 1) although this is a business page many of you have become personal to me over the years as I photographed your family. 2). because I am looking for as much support and prayers as I can for our son at this time. And 3). if I can bring awareness to the importance o...f wearing a helmet while long boarding or skateboarding, then that’s reason enough for this post. Our son fell off of his longboard on Monday evening, and sustained traumatic brain Injury. He is currently at The UCDavis medical center in critical condition, on a ventilator, in a coma. Yesterday he underwent surgery to remove a portion of his skull to allow for the swelling in his brain. The was from a fall off of a longboard with out a helmet. Prayers For Kyle Benton Here is the link to the page that we have set up to post our daily updates.

Sidney, 2020 Franklin High School Senior. CUTE!!!

After the strangest high school senior portrait season we have ever seen in our 15 years in business, it has been delightful to spend some time with a few seniors this last week, creating beautiful images for them to know they are honored and have truly achieved a life long goal! I'm sitting here, working on these images and loving every moment of it! I'm grateful for all the seniors we have ever had the privilege to work with over the years. Not being able to do what we love, has really made me realize how much it means to me! This is one of those images that jumped out at me as I work. Look at those faces!

Class of 2020, you will have the best stories to tell!

I love this lens! It lets me get up close...at 15 feet away. I've had a few parent call in the last couple of days asking about senior portraits, and if we are photographing. We are working with a limited number of seniors, right here at our location. We are loving the weather. We do ask that the senior come with a parent to help with adjusting clothing and hair, and we will take care of the rest. Call about our 2020 senior special we have created for this most unique senior session we have seen in our 14 years in business. 530-677-5369

Elder Mangleson. I love this kid!

....and to all a goodnight.

Thanks Your California Life Chanel 10. I do not love being on camera, but I do love talking about Santas Enchanted Workshop. I truly have the very best job ever!

Thanks for visiting Cristina Mendonsa!

I am ALWAYS on a treasure hunt for anything that enhances our Enchanted workshop even more. We've been looking for the perfect "something" to place Santa's suit when he's not wearing it for over three years. I found it yesterday & it couldn't be more perfect! I LOVE IT!!! I also found a fabulous cabinet to hold all the "lists". Both the nice list and the naughty are very long. So long in fact, there are actually several of them. Scrolls after scrolls. This beautiful hutch is perfect! The bottom part will house the nice list and the top will hold, well the not so nice lists. He's always checking it twice, and some times names can bounce around a bit. So,if you've had a grumpy day, try a little harder to be a little kinder tomorrow and I'm sure you can be on that nice list by Christmas! www.Santa'sEnchantedWorkshop.com 530-677-5369

Come take a peek. Www.SantasEnchantedWorkshop.com 530-677-5369

I answered the phone the other day as I always do "Hello, Santa's Enchanted Workshop" Yes, I am always tempted to say "What's your favorite color" ;). This time I heard a little voice say "if I send a letter to Santa's Enchanted Workshop, will Santa get it"? YES, of course!!! I thought it would be good idea to share this information with everyone. As you can see, Santa has a mail station in his workshop. If you send a letter to Santa at Santa's Enchanted Workshop, I will per...sonally see that it's put with his most important letters. Just send your letters to Santa Claus 2131 Peaceful Garden way, Rescue California, 95672 Www.SantasEnchantedWorkshop.com #SantasEnchantedWorkshop

Santa's Enchanted Workshop A magical experience your children will remember for a life time and you will cherish forever! 530-677-5369 WWW.SantasEnchantedWorkshop.com

It's such an exciting time of year for us at Santa's Enchanted Workshop. The new facelift on the studio is looking incredible and the phone is ringing with lots of inquiries about Santa and his workshop visits. One of the questions I often hear is "Is my child to young"? The answer is NO! I thought I'd share a few art images with children who are three and under...you be the judge. The beautiful thing about the design of these session is, they are an hour, so theirs no rush. ...The experience isn't frightening or scary. They have time to warm up to the environment. In addition, we use a constant lighting system that is free from lots of flashing lights, preventing the little ones from getting anxious. In fact, the children really don't notice were photographing. They are just enjoying a visit with the sweetest Santa ever. www.SantasEnchantedWorkshop.com 530-677-5369 Your welcome to call with questions See more