Waiting for Baby

You know that I love kids. Well, I have a confession...I love baby bellies too!

I don't know if I can explain it correctly, but there is a certain twinkle that shines in eyes of women that are pregnant. I personally think that the light from the little soul illuminates the mother.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning once said, "You...are something to me between a dream and a miracle." I am so happy that Kristin and Jason's dream is coming true.

Little One- I will see you in August. I cannot wait to meet you!

Silly Sleeping Kid

I walked upstairs a few minutes ago to tell Noah (the youngest) to go to sleep because I could hear him playing in his room. To my surprise, I found Ethan sleeping in the hallway. He looked so cute all snuggled up in his favorite blankets and his pretty pillow. He calls the quilt blanket his "cold" blanket because it gets cold for some reason. He always gets worried that the cold air is going to get squished out when Jon and I give him good night hugs and kisses.




I know... I was a mean mom because I turned the lights on to take the photograph.

Happy Birthday Kaitlin!

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday dear Kaitlin,

Happy Birthday to You!

I think Kaitlin was just as excited to see me as I was to see her. The moment that she saw me her arms went out because she wanted to me to hold her. It didn't last long before she wanted back in her Daddy's arms, but my heart still melted.

Her mom told me that Kaitlin had only experienced grass a few times so it was natural for me to say, "let's sit her down in the grass" and sure enough...Kaitlin loved it. She also loved dirt that she got to play with too.

Happy Birthday again Sweetie! Thanks for letting me watch you grow throughout your first year!

Recent Portraits

Hi everybody! I know that it has been a few weeks since I last posted...my apologies. I have had quite a few shoots over the last 2 weeks so I have been busy processing the images and creating slideshows. Oh, I love slideshows. They are one of my favorite things to create for clients.

A few weeks ago and I was invited to hang out with the Moen family. I was really excited to meet Dawn because her and I had been exchanging emails for a few weeks so by the time I actually met her face-to-face, I felt like I already knew her.

Her daughter (Mal) was so much fun to play with. She kept showing me the flowers that she picked and she even gave me some to wear in my hair. Yup, she shared with me...I felt really special.

Mal's brother (Anders) was a hoot. He showed me how to throw rocks, play with his big red car, go down the slide, how he likes to clean things with wet wipes and he showed me how me mows the yard. He is one busy boy!

Here is the entire family. I love how Mal is leaning on her dad. And check out Anders' Elvis impression. How cute is that?!

I love this one of the kids. Anders was having fun being swung by his parents and Mal is patiently waiting her turn.

I also got to meet the Becker family. This was a world wind experience. Can you believe that there are 10 children?! I thought that I was busy with 2 kids- I was wrong.

It is a big deal when all of them can get together so I was really honored to have been there to photograph them. I asked the kids to line up by oldest to youngest for this pose, with mom leading the pack for this pose. They joked about how they usually have to dive in front of each other to fit into the picture so I thought it would be nice to do something a little bit different. Plus, they were dressed up for the occasion. I didn't want them to get dirty by diving onto the grass.

All of the kids were laughing and joking the whole time. It was great! I am not sure where the guys went on their walk, but here is an image of them joking with each other on the way back.

The ladies looking all pretty-pretty.

And the gentlemen looking proud with their mom.

I love meeting new families and getting to spend time with them. It is always a wonderful experience to see how people express their love for each other.

Moen and Becker Families- Thank you for sharing a piece of your life with me.

Jenny and Adam- Engagement

Last week I got an email from Jenny stating that her and Adam were in engaged. I completely freaked out because I had just photographed her family at the end of May (they are the ones on the John Deere tractors). She told me that they just got engaged and that they are getting married in August. You just gotta love a couple that knows that they want to be with each other forever and they want forever to start now.



For their engagement session we went to Adam's parent's house. They live in the rural area of Elk River on acres and acres and acres of land. My first hunch that I was out in the country was that I saw horses roaming the neighborhood. That was a sight to see!



Here are some of the images from their engagement session.

This one was taken in the "backyard", a.k.a. heaven.

Jessica and Peter

I first met Jessica and Peter over a year ago so I was totally jazzed for their wedding last weekend. I actually woke up at 3am and got frustrated with the thunderstorm that was going on. I didn't want anything to ruin their day. Luckily, the thunderstorm past and the sun came out. That gave us an opportunity to go outside and play...I mean take their portraits.

I cannot remember who came up with this idea, but when you put Peter and I together, we get a little creative. Somehow, we came up with the idea of making a sign that said, "Need Money, Getting Married, God Bless" He then stood on the street corner holding the sign. He made $3! Can you believe that?! All of the vehicles that were stopped at the light cracked up when they saw the sign and I guess that they couldn't resist helping Peter out.

The girls were just as fun to photograph as the guys. They were up for anything. Here are some of Jessica's portraits. Can you say, "Oh la la"?!

Jessica and Peter were married at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist. It was my first time being at this church and I totally fell in love with it. It is so beautiful. It was perfect place for this couple to get married at.

After the ceremony, we cruised over to Lorring Park.


The final destination.... the reception at Zuhrah Shrine Center. Jessica and Peter met at Karaoke so it was only natural that they had the same Karaoke DJ play at their wedding. Erikaraoke rocked the place the entire night.

They also had a photo booth, which was a huge hit!