maddie and the twins

a set of adorable twins and their equally beautiful big sister...another great friend, suzie, from home is the mommy of these three children - i photographed these children when her twins were born and was happy to see them again and to see how much they've grown --the eyes on these little ones will knock you down!

2 old friends, 3 beautiful daughters.

I photographed a family of two childhood friends that married - the girl, Joni, I've known since we were probably 4 and 5 from our grade school days, and the boy, Aaron, well he was that first boyfriend in first grade that every girl always remembers - During our shoot, I reminded him of me being sent to the principal for putting Elmer's glue all over his arm -- Wasn't that just a harmless way of flirting? Apparently not. These two have known each other equally as long as they were neighbors and went to the same grade school too -- how neat to marry a childhood friend, neighbor, and best friend all wrapped up in one! Anway, these two married, (ten years already - congratulations you two!) and created three beautiful little girls - and while I've been thinking back to the early 80's of our childhood, I can't help but reminded of my cherished Holly Hobby dolls when looking at these three dolls themselves.

The Beauty of the "Old" in my Hometown

The Midwest....Oh, how I truly miss "home." Never before have I noticed so much of my hometown than I did during this trip - throughout the trip I searched, and easily found, old buildings, crumbling brick walls, barns with chipped paint and boarded up windows, old brick roads, alleyways with colored doors, vacant train tracks - how I love and miss the "old" in this town. To accomodate 8 appointments, I searched from the day I arrived until the day we drove out of town to the airport - regretting that I didn't see a few spots on the way in instead of on the way out...I'll always be back there howerver so I'll keep those places in mind for the next round. Anyway, with 8 appointments, came various adorable faces! I will add some pictures over the next few days of the different families.

The Fun of a Family Picture

Our dear friends moved back from Illinois to California earlier this fall and we spent an afternoon on Coronado Island together -- a trip to Starbucks to refuel ourselves led to some memorable photographs - It all started with Nickelle getting her coffee labeled "Mikal," and her little one feeding herself a brownie -- then the decision to take some pictures to send home to the fam back in Illinois -- all is well in California mom and dad! (and notice my little one in the background helping to add to the beauty of the picture!-What are those faces she is making???) It was definitely a "had to be there moment" but this is pretty much reality for any mom who has tried to capture the perfect family photograph --these are not so perfect - just true, realistic, and the ones to cherish the most.

She "Growed Up"

Mia loves to convince me that she should be allowed to do anything and everything by informing me that, at age 3, she is "all growed up" now. Well, such is the case with the mom, Amber, featured above, who I met when she was 9 or 10. Crazy how time flies and even crazier to see her as a mom now. Although she and I have kept in contact over the years and I usually run in to her on my visits home, this was the first time meeting her children - two beautiful boys! She is truly blessed. I didn't have to pull out any special tricks to get the oldest one to perform for the camera!