As I saw the ominous clouds overtake the view from my window, I couldn’t help but hear her voice, with her sweet Dutch accent, on the phone,  ”We want a photo shoot at the beach with blue skies so we can send pictures of beautiful San Diego back home.”  As she inquired, “what if it rains?” I responded with confidence that it barely ever rains in San Diego, so not to worry.

Now as I was sitting there, I could taste my words.   I saw the dark rain clouds blow in and my heart sank.

When I first got to the beach the sun was peaking through, giving gorgeous light, and my spirits began to lift.  But as the minutes crept by, the clouds kept rolling in and the sun break disappeared.   As I met Dorinda, Ruud and Joshua, I think we all knew that this rain was not giving us any grace, but we optimistically decided to go for it.

I have to say, I couldn’t be more delighted that we did.  Not only was the light and the clouds a total dream to work in, this family stole my heart in a major way.  There is something about people who laugh easy and who you can tell just love life, that floods my heart with joy.  Add that to a family who is willing to run in the ocean and roll in the sand as the rain is starting to fall, and I am smitten.  I have never had to have a “two part session” before, but I can tell you that if the first part is any indication of how the second part is going to go, I CAN’T WAIT.

Dorinda, Ruud and Joshua, thank you again for your adventurous spirit and easy going attitude!  I can’t tell you how much I wanted to make the rain go away for you, but at the same time, I am so excited that we get to hang out again!  Hope you enjoy your peak from “part one”!

The one above kills me.  I LOVE Dorinda’s laugh!  Then we whipped out (by whipped out, I mean Ruud helped me lug it across the length of the beach.  What a great guy!) the MOST FUN PROP!  I was so excited when Dorinda talked about having a surfboard in the pictures!

Apparently on previous occasions Joshua was afraid of the ocean….and now…NO MORE. He wanted to do nothing but be in it! LOVE that!

Ingrained in them for SURE. Little boys love planes!

Are they not the cutest family?

Love this beach shot! LOVE.

See you guys again soon!

In the past, when I would read blogs of other photographers who did shoots with their family, I would think, “Uh. So easy!  I can’t believe you are blogging about your family!  I am sure they are so easy to capture, because you know them so well! Piece of cake.”

Now I KNOW.  THE. TRUTH.

How do you capture someone that you know that well?  You can’t just cling onto one fun characteristic and try to show that in your photos.  Like bringing out their quirkiness or their love for flowers.  NO.  That will not do!  You want to capture MORE.  Because you KNOW them. Really know. You have seen them laugh, and cry, and get married, and hold their newborn.  You know what makes them scream and what makes them glow like they are in love for the first time.  And you want to still in a photo each little piece of them that you love.  Leaving nothing out.  Trying to capture forever ALL that is them.  ALL that you love.

I can’t say that I captured all that is my sister in law, but I loved trying.  She is Daniel’s sister, so that means she is from the funny side of the family, which means we had a GREAT time while doing it too.  We laughed, and swung her one year around in “very safe” manner, and made all sorts of bad jokes (those are mine…remember, she is actually funny.  I, on the other hand, just attempt it….poorly.)  In the end I think I captured some of my favorite things about her….her energy, her super carefree and easy-going nature, her laugh, and her incredible beauty.

And her little Violet is still getting a hold on this world, only a year in it, so capturing her meant simply capturing her CUTENESS, and I think we definitely got that!

Hope you enjoy looking!

Every baby needs a pair of these.  How cute is that?

This next series of pictures I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. The blossoms. Uh. LOVE.

Violet gets a kick out of being flung around and I love this capture of it. (Don’t worry, no babies were harmed during this flying.)

We found this ramp on the side of a building and it had THE.BEST.LIGHT.EVER. Nothing like good light to make a photographer swoon. And I am pretty fond of the simplicity of the background too. Who says you need flowers and beaches to make a great portrait? Nah. Handicap ramps is where it is at.

And Violet liked the ramp too!

Had to grab this little series.  Up and over.

Whittier College has such awesome architecture. If you could eat architecture, I would eat this archway. YUM.

(to those concerned…baby Violet was being held in these shots…she just has a mom who is really gifted at hiding.)

I am having trouble picking a favorite…so this one below is favorite #534 from this shoot. SO CUTE.

And what girl doesn’t need some head shots? And this photographer was happy to brush up on her head shot skillz. Ain’t my sister the purrr—tiest!?

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.  ~Kahlil Gibran

The thing I love about Abbey is the way that she can make a dress swirl around like no other little girl I know.  I love that she loves to pretend and is the girliest little girl, and I just die when she tells a story and she punctuates each point with her hands.  I think she always makes my heart melt because she reminds me so much of my sister Danielle when we were little girls, and I love that.  And Ben, well he is the snuggliest little guy I know.  I have never had a play date with Jen when it didn’t end in Ben coming over and snuggling his mama.  And his deep little laugh is TO DIE FOR.  If you could hear it through these pictures, it would melt your heart.

I love this family.  They have a peace and tranquility about them that makes you feel immediately at ease when your with them, but can also make you laugh until the milk comes out of your nose.  My kind of people!  I was SO excited to do a photo shoot with this family again and try to capture all that I love about them.  When they showed up with sunflowers and  a watering can I was stoked! Brilliant ideas!  But when 10 minutes into the shoot they kicked their shoes off to the side, that was when I knew we were going to get some great pictures.

Thank you so much you guys!  I love this location, but you guys made it come alive again in a whole new way!  I love that bare feet became a must and that the morning sun made each of you look as radiant as you are in real life.  Thanks so much for being amazing clients as well as great friends!

Maybe not your “perfect family portrait” but I just love these next 2 shots!  To me these are the best moments as a family: laughing and rolling around on the ground together!

These shots are because I know that once you become a “mom” and a “dad” you rarely get those sweet intimate moments together anymore…but they are the best when you do!

I am in LOVE with this spot and tree. I imagined that they would sit on it and pose perfectly, but then Jen kicked her shoes off and climbed up on the branch…and I was IN HEAVEN! YES.  YES. YES.

I LOVE families who will go bare foot in nature and climb on trees!

This next one is my favorite! I LOVE IT. Another one to go on my wall in my studio that I hope to have one day!

Mother and son shots make me swoon…

…and so do father daughter shots.

And a couple solo portraits…

Leaving you with some parting smiles! If your heart isn’t melted yet, you are made of stone. I am just sayin.

I can’t help but picture a small little doll with red hair, a sweet smile wearing a wide brimmed, pink, strawberry hat.  I loved that little doll.  I hear that they have come out with a new version of Strawberry Shortcake, but I will be honest, when I saw it I was less than impressed.  She looks like the teenage sister of the little doll I played with. Maybe it is just the nostalgia though; everything is better in a memory.

Today’s strawberry shortcake is a whole different story though….one of the YUMMY kind.  No recipe today, just go to your local store, buy, build, and have one happy mouth.

Food Friday:  Strawberry Shortcake

I remember the first time I ate it like it was yesterday.  It took quesadillas for me to a whole new level and to this day I am forever grateful.  Who knew that a quesadilla could really have anything in it, with any kind of cheese you desire?  I didn’t, that is until the night that I had the delcious piece of heaven called the “Mango and Brie Quesadilla” at The Kensington Grill. I don’t even know if they still have it there, but I do know that it changed my life that night.

I sometimes get on a food kick.  Recently it has been trying to make the “perfect” gourmet quesadilla.  I am not sure that this one was a “perfect” one, but it was pretty delicious.  Maybe one day I will attempt to make the heavenly one, but for now…Happy Food Friday!

Today’s Feature: BBQ Onion, Red Pepper and Smoked Gouda Quesadilla