The Bly Family | A photography adventure in Seattle!

Last weekend I traveled to Seattle for my niece Kaydriana's first birthday party. The only bummer was that Sunday was mother's day, meaning I had to be away from my own husband and son. However, we ended up having an amazing day. My brother-in-law took us out to a beautiful brunch at a fancy country club (I don't remember the name), I did a shoot for the awesome Bly family, and when we got home, he had a fantastic steak dinner waiting for my sister and I. I want to give a shout out to my sister for being an awesome assistant during our shoot. Or, should I say, professional dog handler? haha. I love the Seattle area - it's gorgeous, green, lush, and full of activity. What I don't love? The weather. I'm a California girl to the core and 50 degree highs in May just don't work for me. My niece's party was outside on Saturday and I wore my biggest winter coat, boots, a hat and a scarf. Stand out much?? Everyone made fun of me, but hey, at least I was warm!

Happy birthday to my beautiful niece!!

The proud parents with their girl (and Minnie!)

I have never seen a child enjoy cake as much as Kaydriana did!

The view from the country club on Mother's Day. That's downtown Seattle that you see.Views like this make me think that I MIGHT be able to handle the weather. Maybe. Probably not.

I bought these crazy red heels for Vegas but never got to wear them. This was my attempt at classing them up with a little black dress and black coat. I can't even tell you the last time I wore heels. I really need to get out more.

Meet the Bly family! Anita works with my sister and we arranged to do a shoot while I was in town. I don't consider large families to be my strong point, photography wise, but they were the easiest family to photograph - even the dogs were great! We were so worried that it would be raining that we initally arranged to do the photos in their home. However, the weather (you know how I feel about you, Seattle weather...) finally cleared up and we were able to get outside. Gorgeous!

Too much cuteness

Baby M is barely a baby anymore! | Sacramento & Inland Empire Photographer

This December marked the 4th time in 2010 that I had the pleasure of photographing little M and his family. They came to be as strangers in February when M was just a few days old. I have photographed him as newborn, as a 4 month old, a 7 month old, and now as a rambunctious, crawling 10 month old! I had made a trip back to Sacramento and on the day of our session, the weather was not so hot. Things cleared up, so we went and did a few photos at the park across the street from their home. Not 3 minutes after we got back inside, it started hailing. So, needless to say, the rest of the shoot was indoors. There is something I love about photographing children in their own home...they are in their element and everything feels so at ease and natural. I really love this family - they are good, kind people...and they like photography, so bonus!

Little Brother Cash! {Riverside Newborn and Family Photographer}

You might recognize this great family from when I did Brody's 1 year photos in September in downtown Riverside. As you might have noticed, Crystal was pregnant. I was shocked to get a text from them at 5am on a Wednesday morning in November- Cash was born early at just 32 weeks. Not 3 days earlier, I was at their house discussing the specifics of their birth photography. We were planning on me photographing their birth- Crystal and John (okay, mostly Crystal!) were so excited and so was I. None of us had any idea that little Cash would come so early! Obviously such an early birth does not suit birth photography and from what I was told, Cash was not going to wait for anything, even his personal paparrazi ;) I was just so thankful that Cash and Crystal were doing well.  After a few weeks in the hospital Cash got to come home, healthy and happy! His big brother, 14 month old Brody, was adorable as always and I am so happy that John and Crystal now get to love two beautiful sons!