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Meet Ryan and Jackie. They are getting married next month. Ryan just so happens to be my cousin.
Some of you may not know, but I moved to WA from CA about a year and a half ago. These two had already made that move two years prior and they are the only family we’ve got (excluding a few extended relatives) in the state. Thank goodness they are fun to hang out with, because when holidays roll around, it’s us and them.

Their engagement session has to be the funnest session I’ve ever had. They came prepared with some costumes and wacky ideas, and were up for anything.
Let’s just get to the goods, shall we?

We finished up the session at an Irish pub. Great way to end the day.

These are some of the whack-a-dos of the day. The stretching photo is all their idea, and I’m kinda jealous of that. So fun.

Last week my husband was in L.A. for his big industry event, E3. Rather than sit at home, just me and the boys, we headed south as well to my mom’s house in northern California. It was nice to just hang out and visit with her, with no real plans or agenda! Having other people around to occupy the kids didn’t hurt either. I was able to go to San Francisco for the day, by myself, and meet a friend who was in town from North Carolina- the wonderful photographer,  Julia Wade! I’ll have another blog post later this week with some pictures from my trip.

While I was down there I had the opportunity to photograph a gorgeous family. Not being from the area, they had to do their own location scouting. Kristi gave me a few places she thought would work, one being an old cemetery. Who does family photos in a cemetery?! Well, we do. It was too cool! Old, beautiful, with just a touch of creepiness. I was there a bit early walking around the old tombstones, nobody there but me and a few hundred dead people. I  started hearing a knocking sound and imagined the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, only scary. Sure it was a woodpecker, but that, along with the giant crows cawing at me, had me speed right through the old part of the cemetery and onto the way less creepy new area. And there I saw wild turkeys. Odd.

Mother’s Day just came and went and would you believe that I, a mother of two, forgot to send out cards to my moms? Oh the shame! I did call, though which must count for something.

My boys indulged me with a visit to the Seattle Art Museum and a nice dinner at an old favorite restaurant of mine from back in California that I just found up here. My taste buds must have drastically matured from 10 years ago because I thought it was pretty sub-par. I won’t name any names but it rhymes with confetti schmactory

In the morning I had the privilege of photographing one of my favorite families again. They are so stinkin’ cute and such fun to work with! We hit up the Bellevue Botanical Gardens which is all in bloom and just gorgeous. Enjoy!

I have been wanting to do a session in a diner or some sort of fun shop for months now and Stacey was up for it. Yay! We had planned on taking her family out for a scoop of the best handmade ice cream in town. Come Saturday and Seattle’s first official day of sunshine in 2 months, everyone had the same idea. After switching up our location to make sure we got some great images, we headed over to Molly Moon’s and waited in the longest line I have ever seen for ice cream. I was drooling over the scent of those waffle cones! We also horsed around in Archie McPhee’s, where she so graciously donned a horse mask for me.

Stacey has been a great client of mine. It was just last year that I did her maternity and newborn photographs for her second baby, and now here she is awaiting her third, a little girl. I’m so stinkin’ excited for her! As a mother of 2 boys with no plans for a third, I have somewhat mourned the fact that I won’t have a daughter of my own. I love my boys, don’t get me wrong. I LOOOOVE them. And absolutely love being the mother to two. When I see other mom’s of boys I like to observe them, in a very non-stalkerish way, and picture myself and my boys at those ages. It warms my heart to no avail. Yet still, I guess I have a dream of having a daughter to shop with or french braid her hair… Having the opportunity to watch this family as they await their daughter is a good fix. I can’t wait to photograph her. Maybe she’ll have enough hair for a teeny tiny braid…

We just got back from a family trip to California. My family got to finally meet Knox, and we took Brock to Disneyland for his 3rd birthday. It was such a fun trip, and probably the first vacation we’ve taken as a family where it really felt like we were “adults”. Which is weird since I’m 32 years old, but it was the first time we planned a big trip ourselves that wasn’t somehow attached to our parents plans.

While we were there I did a quick session with my lovely niece, Emma. I took her to the field next to the house I grew up in. I knew it would be awesome as the sun set, but I did not think about all the fox tails the beautiful field had. My shoes and pants were absolutely covered with them! Emma didn’t even bat an eye. She was on a mission to find ladybugs and a few little stickers were not going to get in her way.

It was a lovely vacation and it’s nice to be home. Maybe next time the family will come visit us. hint hint.

Maya was a little treat I got to photograph this week. This little pumpkin was born 4 weeks early and weighed in at a whopping 8lbs. I was touched by these new parents. Dan was so thoughtful of Heidi, I captured him giving her water and feeding her berries. They have been together since high school and still give off such a loving aura.It really was a pleasure to come into their home and capture their new family. Enjoy!

I was really looking forward to meeting Carrie after several emails prior to their session. She seemed like a cool chick and she, and her family, didn’t disappoint. We had a really fun in-home session where I almost got kicked in the face by Parker’s kung fu. I love that they were so comfortable in front of the camera, dancing around and being silly…  Makes for funner photos that truly capture the family’s spirit.

I loooove this image. It looks like he’s in trouble, but really he just wanted to get off the bed but was patiently waiting for me to get my shot.

This is my favorite of the session. I asked for eyes closed, no smile which led to several minutes of laughter as Carrie tried, unsuccessfully,  to give me a straight face. The honesty of this is so much better than what I was asking for!

Showing me his karate moves. I think he liked this a little too much

These types of images, while probably not what the family was hoping for, are some of my favorites.

I can’t wait to shoot Kylie’s 1 year pictures – I already have lots of fun ideas floating around!

enjoy!

My last session before my maternity leave was this lovely family. They have a new little guy, 4 week old Mason, and handsome big brother Michael. They kept me on my toes with some great ideas and lots of fun. Somehow I managed to forgot that I was 9 months pregnant, keeping up with them. It caught up with me later, though! My back was hurting the rest of the day!

This is my last session for a while, as I get ready to welcome my own new addition. Be prepared to see lots of newborn pictures in the coming weeks! I will start booking a limited number of sessions in late November/early December, and will return to business as usual in the new year.

Enjoy!

I have to say, I had so much fun photographing this family. Neil & Jenn are great people and were very comfortable in front of the camera. The session was at Farrel-McWhirter Park which has a great mix of locations – open fields, farm animals, wooded trails, etc.

Jenn is the 3rd of a great group of friends who I have recently photographed. They became friends when they had their daughters almost 3 years ago. It made me really miss my friends back in California… We were a similar group, with boys the same age, lived in the same town, and share the same passion for photography.  Luckily the internet keeps us in touch, but I sure do miss those playdates!

You may remember this family from a few months ago. It was fun to revisit them and see how much the girls have grown, especially little Quinn. We just started getting some rain (buh-bye, summer!) but it held off for a nice morning in the park.

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