I remember the exhaustion.  The weariness.  The revelation of how much work a baby ACTUALLY is.  No one can really prepare you or warn you for what you are about to get into.  You are blissfully romantic about the idea of having a sleeping newborn, how sweet they are, each little finger and toe is certain to make you swoon, and of course you will have plenty of time for swooning, for all they do is sleep and eat.  Then you bring that little bundle of joy home.  And the truth hits you.  Sure, all they do is sleep and eat and poop, but they do it A.LOT.  I am tired just thinking about it.

Now imagine all that, times TWO.

Let me publicly announce that Kristi and Mike are, by far, the most relaxed parents of newborns I have ever seen.  They let me hold, bend, shush, and put their two 11 day old babies into all sorts of crazy things, without one scared look or moment of panic. The babies cried or fussed or pooped and they just picked them up and dealt with it like they had done it for 15 years.  These two got pooped and peeped on more times in the 3 hours I was with them then I did the whole time Dayla was wearing diapers, and they just smiled and laughed and said, “nothing that hasn’t happened before”.  I don’t know if it was the weariness, or that you have two of the most wonderful and HELPFUL helpers there with you, or that you really are the world’s best parents, but at any rate, you two are AMAZING.

Kristi and Mike, you guys are going to be amazing parents.  I ADORE your carefree attitude about life , possessions, parenthood, and to top it off, your love and relationship is simply divine to be around.  Thank you SO much for inviting me to capture this amazing time of your life!  Your little ones are beautiful and perfect I can’t wait to see you all again!

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Madelyn

And meet Bennett

I always mention to parents of newborns that it is fun to have something at the photo shoot that is meaningful to them…a great time to capture something from the past right next to your new and exciting future. I have always wanted to photograph a baby in a crate so when Kristin brought this 7up crate to the photo shoot that was her dad’s when he first got married, I was thrilled! I am SO SO excited with how these turned out!!  Bennett in a crate!

Despite their tight quarters for 9 months, these two were not excited to be touching!  We were able to sneak one shot…and I just love how peaceful they look.  Hopefully this is not the last time and they will always be this sweet and peaceful as brother and sister…


It was so fun to pose these two and see that even at just over a week old, they already have their own personalities. I couldn’t get them to look the exact same, no matter how hard I tried, they each already had their own way. LOVE THAT!

Kristin’s grandma MADE these adorable hats! How cute are these?!


One more seeing double…

It has been HOT.  H.O.T. hot.  Please don’t misconstrue this as complaining though, I like hot.  I LOVE summer. It is my favorite season by far.  I mean, why do you think I moved to San Diego?  Summer all year long here!  LOVE IT.

With the heat comes some of my favorite things, hot summer nights, smelling water hit hot pavement, the aroma of a freshly cut lawn, strawberries, sipping ice tea, playing in the sprinklers, and of course, a wonderful, cool, summer salad.  Here is one we threw together the other day, and at risk of sounding really prideful, I am going to tell you it was GOOD.  Please know that part of what made it so delish was that I most certainly sautéed the shrimp in an INSANE amount of garlic and butter. And that garlic and butter that was left in the pan after I took the shrimp out?  Yeah, I poured that on the salad too.  Don’t tell Daniel.  ;)

Today’s Feature:  Summer Salad with Sautéed Garlic Shrimp, Avocado, Strawberries, Candied Pecans, and Goat Cheese

When I first walked over to the car door to greet Nana, she looked tired from a long day. “Did you have a fun day?” I asked. She proceeded to tell me about all the things they had already done since her flight to San Diego.

Then, without warning, she perked up, every ounce of “tired” disappeared from her face, and she beamed as she said the words that not only rang in my ears, but rang in my heart.

“I just love to be with my family.”

There was a pause. A reflection.  Then the conversation took a quick turn to other things, “Did you know I just turned 88?” “No!” I replied, “That sounds like a fun year! Double 8′s!” “Yes! I didn’t think of it that way, I like it!” Then we quipped about how 8′s were great and that made her pretty great. Unsurprisingly not even five minutes went by when the conversation turned back toward her children and her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. “I just love being with my family” she reflected again as her eyes twinkled with an outpouring of love.

I think Nana knows something I still have yet to truly appreciate.

As the “busy” of life whirlwinds around us, as we sweep our children off to dance and swim and music, as we obsess about offering every opportunity that we never had, as we strive to work extra hours so we can afford that trip to Disneyland…..sometimes we have to stop and reflect, does it all matter? Or is life really just about loving those around us, and spending time with those who we love.

I think Nana knows.

This is biggest group of people I have ever done a photo shoot with, all 23 of them! Coming from a family of seven children myself (we also reflect the wonderful number 23 when we all get together!), the chaos didn’t scare me as much as it just made me feel at home. And this family was nothing short of FANTASTIC!

We also got a chance to break into smaller groups and capture the smaller family units. I was a little nervous about trying to capture so many different families (okay, a lot nervous…). I was so excited that we were able to have some fun and capture some genuine laughs. These are some of my favorites….

The cousins with Nana

Four Generations of Women

The joy of being grandparents

Some of the kids. The “posed candid” shots are always my very favorite!

A little maternity shoot on the side was a ton of fun too! Love the belly! Love the doors! Love the hugs! Love these!

To me, there is nothing like being able to step away from the kids for a bit and just be together.  Some fun moments to capture.

Thanks so much to you all for making Sundin Photography part of your reunion! I can’t think of a bigger honor then to capture so many generations, and so much love!

“I just love her….” (fill in the blank with every little detail you can imagine).

We spent the time exchanging what we thought was absolutely perfect and adorable about her.  Her little rolls.  Her perfect eyelashes.  Her curls.  Her sweet baby bottom.  Her eyes…oh the eyes.  A doll.  A beauty.  A Miracle. A perfect little girl.

When I met Sean, Julie and Dylan a couple years ago I remember the first thing I was struck by was how much they just seemed to enjoy one another.  And with Ciara part of the family now, there is not less love to go around, but seemingly more.  It seems like a mathematical impossibility, that with love divided by four instead of three, it seems as though that each portion of love given should be less.  Right?  I mean, I was no math guru, but that is the way division works, does it not? But if you talk to parents of multiple kids, this remains a consistant truth:  with more kids, there is just as much love to give, if not more.  With Sean, Julie, Dylan and Ciara this mathematical impossibility is apparent.  They are brimming over with love and joy.

It was so fun to get to see this family again and to capture all their joy and love in the comfort of their BEAUTIFUL home.  When Julie contacted me to capture their new addition to the family, I was overjoyed!  Something about little babies makes my camera swoon.  But I was BOOKED…for months…and I was so disappointed.  Julie said they would wait.  And they did with the patience worthy of an award.  And I am SO glad they did! From the puppy’s licks, to Dylan jumping wildly in the perfect little boy fashion, to Ciara modeling her smile that could melt any heart, to Sean and Julie doing it all with such grace and perfection….we had so much fun! Thanks so much to you all!

Introducing Ciara….the sweetest little angel girl.

I am trying to get better at capturing the little things. The details. The sweet little pieces.  I love how these next two turned out:

When Ciara woke up she stole our hearts again. I had SUCH trouble narrowing these down to show you! This little girl knows how to woo my camera!

Then Dylan jumped in to show us his love for his little sister. It is SO cute to see how he loves and kisses this little girl. What a great big brother he will be!

This series makes me laugh out loud! I feel like it should be captioned something like:

“Hey look at her put her foot in her mouth… Let me help sister….Okay,  I think I will try it too!”

And of course we had to capture some of Dylan just being a boy. I love these many faces of Dylan:

Then a little bit more of Ciara being loved….

I love this one of Mama and Ciara! Aren’t these girls GORGEOUS?!

I don’t think I have ever posted nursing photos before, but I was SO excited to post these.  Julie is a huge proponent of nursing, the advantages and benefits are wonderful,and I think it is such a beautiful moment between mother and babe to be able to capture. Nothing quite like it….

Lastly, I thought I would end the post with my two favorites. I LOVE THESE. I want to go on and on why these have stolen my heart…how I think it is the sweetest and softest moment I have ever caught on my camera….but hopefully the pictures will be worth a thousand words…

Yes, we love to cook.  But I think every good artist has someone who inspires them, right?  We certainly do.  I could write pages and sing the praises forever of the food blog we follow called, Pinch My Salt.  I am not going to, but if I did want to sing the praised about Pinch My Salt, I would make sure to tell you how it was her who inspired us to start making bread at home, or that she used to live in San Diego (until recently) and that alone makes her awesome, or that she has emailed me a couple times and is the NICEST PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD….but I am going to keep it short, so I won’t tell you all that.  I will just tell you how Daniel and I love to read her blog and LOVE getting all the sneak peaks to things she will make via her Facebook Fan page.  (And no, this is not paid advertisement, just authentic desire for you to fall in love with Pinch My Salt the way we have!)

When Daniel came home the other day and said, “I wanna make creamed corn” I was less than enthusiastic.  I have never been a fan.  I will take my corn on the cob, thankyouverymuch.  But then he said the magic words, “I just saw it on Pinch My Salt’s Facebook Page”  ”DO IT” were the next two words out of my mouth.  I was sure it was going to be the best cream corn I have ever had.  I was right.

Check out her recipe here.  Make it. If you want to go crazy, throw a little salmon next to it, and some gnocchi covered in Alfredo sauce, and I will guarantee you that the queen herself will say she has never had a better meal.  Guar.an.teed.

Today’s Feature: Roasted Salmon with Gnocchi Alfredo and Creamed Corn with Bacon and Rosemary