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What more could you say about this family, other than how sweet they are. I mean, how could they not be sweet, they own Pacific Cookie Company. I don’t have to say much more about those cookies. Anyone who lives in the area and walks by their downtown location already knows how great they are. It’s like a magnet for my husband, he can’t walk by without being drawn in to buy a cookie or two or a dozen.

I contacted Cara (mom of the 2 beautiful little girls) last year to see if Pacific Cookie Company would be interested in partnering with me for a bake sale to benefit cookies for kids cancer. Cookies for kids cancer encourages people to hold local bake sales to raise money to directly support research at Comprehensive Cancer Centers across the country. We met, discussed a few ideas, and like me, Cara wanted to do more. I was able to put Cara in contact with the amazing mom who started the organization and in the end, Pacific Cookie Company ended up being the ones to provide the cookies when someone orders online. When Cara and I initially spoke, we discussed holding a bake sale. This past September, with the help of some other local moms, we were able to make it happen. Pacific cookie company generously donated 500 cookies and through two bake sales at Vine hill School, we were able to raise $1500. I was so honored to be able to do a photo shoot for this amazing family as a little way of saying thank you.

Before I did this shoot, I sent out a questionnaire to Bonnie to learn a little more about her family. Fun loving, competitive and dramatic were the 3 words she used to describe her beautiful daughters. I not only LOVE that in the short time that I spent with them, it was clear to me how accurate those words were, but also that Bonnie is so in tune to her girls and is able to describe them so well. Bonnie described herself as relaxed, which I clearly saw when “competitive” child climbed very high up a tree and it did not seem scare Bonnie at all. Bonnie & Paul, your girls are beautiful and I can only imagine what life is going to be like on your house in a few years! It was such a pleasure to meet you and I hope that you love the photographs.

Where do I start with this family? We have been planning this shoot for about a year and was so excited when we finally were able to make it happen. I knew this would be a fun shoot, because what else could it be with 4 crazy kids and a very large dog?! As an added bonus, Brian is into photography so I new he would be very patient as we played. As you will see from many of the photos of Brian, he seems to know how to work the camera. That must have something to do with his acting, or was it singing and dancing past. And Marnie..well she is just beautiful, you put them together and look at what you get.

And baby makes 6.

A calm and peaceful Brian, Marnie and Baby R while chaos surrounds us.

I got plenty of perfectly posed photos that will make grandma happy, but my favorites are usually the ones that happen in between and show what life is really like.

In addition to these photos, they played in the leaves, tickled each other on the couch, played some some Beatles rock band on the Wii and piled on a very large dog named Reggie who came into photos whenever he wanted.

Thanks Brian and Marnie. I could do this every weekend for your family. It makes the chaos at my house not seem so bad ; ). Can’t wait to do it again when the little one can join in the fun.

Wow..two blog posts in two days, if only I could keep that up, I could maybe get all the sessions I want to share up here in the next few weeks.

Every session is special, but this one was extra special. Not only was it with the daughter of Erin, one of my oldest friends, but it also took place in the home that I spent many a day and evening in YEARS ago during high school. I have LOTS of memories with Erin, pretty much all of which I will not share here, but one memory of her that sticks in my mind is that she always loved to cook and bake. In high school when there were millions of other things to do, it would not be unusual to find Erin in the kitchen (usually with Miami Vice or Baywatch on in the background).  When we started talking about doing a shoot, it seemed only fitting that it should involve baking.  And if that wasn’t enough to make this a great shoot, my photographer friend Adrienne was with me to help out. Someone who I have no doubt would have been hanging out with us in high school if we had known eachother.

We started out by working with the dough in dress number one. Erin told me this is the ONLY thing that Izzy will wear. When they came and visited a few days ago and she was wearing the same dress, I realized she wasn’t kidding. Such a shame, as she has quite a few adorable outfits in her closet that she refuses to wear. Have I mentioned that Izzy is a bit, oh..maybe some would say..strong willed. Luckily she is soo. stinking adorable, she can get away with it.

Next..we went outside to ride bikes in dress number 2. Grandma made her this dress in hopes that she would love it as much as dress number 1.  All those years and I had no idea that grandma could sew ; ). Izzy looked like a little goddess in the adorable dress.

We then moved on to the swing which almost knocked me over. Grandpa installed the swing with some very LONG ropes and it went much further than I was expecting.

While outside I got a few photos of Izzy with her more beautiful than ever mom. I may have said this before on here, but I just LOVE photos of mamas and their kids. Erin was always a beautiful woman, but motherhood has made her even more so.

We then went in the house to warm up and finish off the cookies, but took a little time for Izzy to make some very important phone calls. Adrienne was chatting away on the phone with Izzy and she just loved it.

Before nap time, it was back to the kitchen to make a mess decorate the cookies. I love that when grandma walked in and saw the mess it did not phase her at all. The things that grandchildren can get away with. I have to admit, the cookies did not actually get baked, but that was some of the best cookie dough I have ever had..Thanks Erin & Izzy!

Here is a slideshow I made of our time together.

I started this post quite a while ago, just have not had a chance to finish it up. Even though many people saw these and commented on facebook, I still wanted to eventually do a blog post. I had the best time photographing some beautiful young ladies a week before 4 of them graduated from high school back in June. Now they are off to college and the perfect time to share them with you. I have wanted to photograph high school seniors for quite a while and have to say, it was even better than I thought it would be. I thought seniors would be easy. I mean, after all, I could probably relate to them, it is not like I am THAT much older than them, right?! It did not occur to me until the night before the shoot that they were born the year I started my Senior Year of high school. They did tell me though, that with the right clothes, I could possibly still pass for a high school student..thanks girls!

These girls seemed so much more mature than my friends and I were at that age. It was actually quite fun getting a glimpse into their lives for a few hours. I did not want to sound like a typical mom by offering the same words of wisdom that I know I would never have listened to at the age. So instead, I offered them this..to know that 15 years from now, they could look up that cute boy on facebook who was not so nice to them and find that women age much better than men!

What struck me most about each of these young women, is how different they were. Yet, despite their differences in music, clothing and personalities, they were still great friends.  In the almost three hours I spent with them all I was able to really get such a sense of who they are and think that the photos really reflect that.

Maureen, Sam, Brittney & Lindsey…Good luck with the next phase of your life. Stephanie, I can’t wait to take more photos of you. And don’t worry, your senior year will be over before you know it!