Dance music.

As I opened my car door and headed to the entrance of their exquisite craftsman style home, I felt like I could see the energy and joy pouring out from their front door like water pouring from a newly opened dam. Dance music filled the air. When I peaked my head in, I saw their eldest daughter dancing, and I am not talking about a subtle shake, but the uninhibited kind. Dancing like no one was watching. It was at that moment that my heart stopped racing and I knew this was going to be a great photo shoot.

I fell in love with this family the first time I met them a year ago, and I fell in love with them again last weekend. No, not because of what you may think. My love is not because they are all so beautiful and look like they just stepped out of a J.Crew magazine. Or because Erik always has the best ideas for getting a great shot. Or because they are so relaxed and easy going that they make my job incredibly easy. I am in love with them because they are fun. They laugh together and play and dance with one another in a way that I just want to be around and soak up.  They love each other in the most beautiful way and they all just love life.  I could photograph them all day.

Thank you so much you guys for being incredible, beautiful, and for being so much fun!  I can’t wait till next year!

Do they not look like models for J.Crew? You guys are beautiful. Way to bring it.

Something about this picture chokes me up. They were hugging each other the entire shoot and very few of them were prompted hugs. They just love each other and it melted my heart!

Easton had this box of his “special things” that he carried everywhere with him and you could tell cared about so much. It was possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. He organized it about 5 times and cleaned the items in it twice in the 2 hours I was there. I just had to grab a shot of him with it.

The middle picture is a “hug your sibling” moment. I love this family!

The hat picture was so fun last year, so we had to try it again. I love traditions!

Every good shoot should end with faces like these! I LOVE silly faces and I was cracking up as I took these! *someone* was not as amused as I was though.

Work is stacked up to my ceiling, spewing all over the floor, bursting out at the seems, and avalanching out when you open the front door. Figuratively that is. If my work wasn’t all digital and all stored up neat and tidy on the computer, that is what my home would look like right now. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. Every day and every moment that I am staring at my computer screen, I am feeling blessed. I love this job with every bone in my body. But this is my busy season, with thousands of images of incredible families calling my name.

So to give me a little reprieve and a little uninterrupted work time, Daniel took Dayla on a train trip this weekend up to Grandma and Papa’s. When he told me he was willing to do this, my heart leapt. It is moments like that when I feel loved. I love that my husband knows me well enough to know that it is not candy hearts and flowers that brings me joy, but the gift of time. My husband is truly amazing and I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to have him by my side. I cannot think of a man who more embodies being both a leader and a support for his family. And I cannot think of a man more perfectly suited for me. And today as he showed his love by leaving me alone, I am here glowing.

There are so many things I love about being alone for the weekend. I love that I can get more work done in one day than I usually do in a week. I love that when I clean the house it stays clean. I love that I can eat cookies and ice cream for dinner and I don’t have to worry about if I am being a good role model. But the thing I love the most about being alone for the weekend is realizing how much I love my family. Realizing that it is all the best parts of me that are gone. That at the end of the day I have work done, a clean house, and a happy tummy but I am also a work-aholic, a perfectionist neat freak who is addicted to sugar. See, it is Daniel who tells me to take a break, who has never judged me when the house wasn’t clean, and who cooks most of my meals. Today as I sit here I realize how lucky I am to have a husband like mine and I thank God for giving me the perfect match for me.

Love you babe.

And because every blog post is more fun with a picture, here is a shot that our two year old Dayla took of us recently. This is her first one she has gotten of the two of us (and we are so proud)!

I had a suspicion it was true, but now it is confirmed. The last three photo shoots I have done have all been families near and dear to me, and at each session my heart felt like it was in a “beat as fast as you can” contest. I am definitely more nervous for the photo shoots of families close to my heart. Maybe because I love them so dearly and want to be able to capture images that embodies their awesomeness. I am not sure exactly why, but I can tell you it is true. Like a school girl attending her first dance, I am a cornucopia of excitement and nervousness and love.

Lis was one of the first warm, friendly, smiling faces I remember meeting when Daniel first started working at PETCO 7 years ago.   Today, everything about Lis still makes me smile and Travis couldn’t be a more perfect match.  When I first met her husband Travis, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Daniel and I. See, I was the girl that walked up to Daniel and talked his ear off the first night we met. One of the things that I have always loved about Daniel is his patience and skill in listening. If I had to place a bet, I would say that Travis is a listener too. And well, Lis and I could probably talk forever. But I just love how people are drawn to each other like that, complementing each other.  Like yin and yang, fitting together perfectly.

I remember Lis announcing her pregnancy. And then her second. And now here we are, in what seems like just a blink of an eye, doing a photo shoot with the most beautiful 5 1/2 and 3 year old ever! I had so much fun capturing this family!

I had to include this image above. This is how 95% of my photo shoots start, sad faces and hiding behind legs! But time is always my friend.

I just love this capture below. Isabelle sat in her dad’s lap, and for the first time smiled (without prompting that is), and said, “This is my daddy.” I love how little girl’s love their daddy’s.

Playing in the trees was the secret to fun.

Can you tell which smiles were prompted and which were not?

Sweet sibling love.

My mind is racing. And blank. Is that possible? The problem with knowing someone so well and loving them immensely is that I don’t know where to start when telling you about them. The list is endless of the amazing things I could tell you about this family. They are funny and quirky and make me laugh. They have a heart for God and trust him like no one else I know. I can’t think of a married couple I know that are more perfectly suited for each other. Two peas in a pod. Peanut butter and jelly. Chocolate and bananas. Then they go and have two little girls who are definitely the sweetest little girls you will ever meet. And somehow their little family became more perfectly made with each addition. And that is just the icing on the cake that is Jeff and Kristy. I am just going to stop there because I could go on and on.

When Jeff and Kristy asked me to do a photo shoot of them again this year I was overjoyed! When Kristy told me they were going to dress in bright colors and wanted fall leaves….I said YES YES YES! I am in LOVE the color we got in these images!Just reminds me so much of how cheerful they are as a family and how happy I feel when I am around them.  Just a little window into who they are and how much of a blessing it is to know them. Come and see…

I love that we were able to capture a little bit of San Diego’s fall. Don’t the bright colors they’re wearing look perfect?

The railroad was closed so we got to capture some fun railroad track pictures.

Tabby is such a great big sister!

Check out Charlotte’s adorable dimples!

I am a sucker for kids with suckers!

I love this next image SO much. It just is so them to me. Jeff looking great, Kristy making baby Charlotte laugh, and Tabby just being the cutest two year old ever!

How sweet is Tabby? She sure does have my heart and I love this capture of her sweet demeanor.

More.  What is it that you want more of in life?  Love?  Happiness?  For me the one thing on my list recently has been TIME.  Time for more photo shoots.  Time to get things done.  Time to make my house look as perfect as I have it envisioned in my head (there isn’t all the time in the universe for this though…).  Time to really appreciate my daughter and to enjoy the little moments.  Sweet precious time.  I can’t seem to make time appear though.  I have tried, but it seems to slip through my fingers day after day.  So I thought I would focus on the second thing on my list that I want more of.

The second thing on my list is MORE BLOG POSTS.  I have no idea if YOU are into it, but that is something I have been wanting to do.  I love journaling.  I love photos.  What better marriage of two of my favorite things then a blog?  Oh sweet, sweet blog.  How I love you.  So I am again going to vow to you, my wonderful, glorious blog readers, who appreciate my ramblings and photos, to post more.  I have a couple ideas in store!  Oh, I can’t wait to share it with you!

So for today….today’s blog post I will call, “Whatever Wednesday”.

Today’s “whatever”  is an impromptu photo shoot that I did with Dayla and I thought would be fun to share!

My delightful sister Danielle gave me as a gift some clothes from Alpha Industries, and they are without a doubt the CUTEST CLOTHES EVER.  The catch?  They were all 3T, and my kid is only 2.  Boo…I have to wait a whole year?  I mean, I am not a clothes junkie AT ALL, but these children’s clothes are unique and fresh with a little military flair…very cute….like clothes I have never seen before! So when Dayla recently had a growth spurt and for the first time fit into one of her Alpha tops, I was stoked!  And I used all my convincing power (ie….a lollipop) to get her to go outside and take some pictures.  So I thought I would share just a little of my excitement with you!