I knew it was going to be a fun senior session when Stef and I first met Michelina. She wanted the edge of a fashion shoot, but also a “soft flowy” look in a grass field. We were able to do both and Michelina just nailed the look in both environments. She did so well, the second image here won Best in Show last month at our Professional Photographers of Sacramento Valley group. Quite the natural, Michelina did great even when standing knee deep in weeds (with heels!) and surrounded by big lights. It was a great time!

In an effort to get the preschoolers accustomed to writing their names, Mrs. Ralston has the kiddos trace a template every morning. All the kids do the job faithfully and simply, but for the last few months, one student has been giving a little “extra” to the signature.

I’ll give you one guess which kid that is…

We met the lovely Sechler family through our friends at Dr. Valdez’s pediatrics office in Roseville. Their boys are so, so cute, and the baby in particular gave us so much fun stuff! I especially loved this family image, as it just seems to ooze love and affection, and that was definitely apparent throughout their session. These are two very loved little boys, and it shows. We have been once again enriched by another wonderful family–thank you!

Photographing the Zander’s as they awaited the arrival of their first baby was especially fun for us because he happens to be our dentist. They made the decision to have these portraits made fairly last minute–their sweet baby girl arrived barely a week after these were taken! Heather was amazing to photograph and looked unbelievably awesome for how far along she was. Can’t wait to share the adorable images of sweet baby Bella…stay tuned!

The temperatures soared today and so did the girls on our super swanky Slip N Slide. Who knew $14.95 could buy so much entertainment? Word got out fast, and soon there were a couple of neighborhood kids wanting a ride. I never saw our girls so proud of a piece of plastic.

p.s. they are not in jail, I had to shoot through the fence to keep the exuberant splashing off the camera.

A few weeks ago we held an event at the Silver Spoon Children’s Boutique to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. We were absolutely thrilled with the turnout and raised nearly $1000 for the cause! Thank you to all that participated, it was a wonderful time. Here are a few examples!

Meet the Milnes family, including their dog Lucky, who you can see making an exit from the frame in the top image. Lucky wasn’t so keen on the whole family portrait idea, but at least we all knew the effort was there to include her! We were out with the Milnes on a beautiful spring evening (okay, it was hot, let’s face it!) and had the best time. We especially enjoyed letting the boys toss around the football and witness their close relationship. We couldn’t get over how handsome their boys are…and either could mom when she saw the images! For those of you Friday Night Lights fans, does young R look like a mini Tim Riggins or what?! James and I couldn’t get over it! Yet again we are reminded of the awesome gift we have been given when were are asked to document people’s beautiful families. Thank you Milnes family for letting us be a part of yours!

Little Mr. Karavlan was here for his 2nd Bebe session, and you might remember big sis Sophia as our cutest kid contest winner. Obviously good looks run in the family! J is seriously one of the happiest babies ever, but I’m sure that’s because he has such a great family. We’ve grown so fond of the Karavlans and feel lucky to call them friends now. I’ll say it again…we have the best job ever!

Some photos from Teagan’s birthday party at Wacky Tacky. If you haven’t been, think McDonald’s playground on steroids. The girls (and boys) went crazy for about an hour then replenished the spent calories with some pizza and cupcakes. Miss T loved being the star and the center of attention. Hmmm….reminds me of someone…

Stef agrees.

First, I will apologize for our lame-ness and lack of blogging this past week. It was a super busy week with several major projects going on, including but not limited to my (Stef) sister’s surprise 40th birthday party and our Mommy & Me Portraits for the Cure event on Saturday at the Silver Spoon (stay tuned for more on that–it was great!). So, we promise to blog more this week (and if we don’t, blame it on James! :-).

Now on to the real point of this post…showing off the lovely Yow family! We met Miss A almost a year ago now and have since had the pleasure of watching her grow over the course of her first year and four sessions (and they came from San Jose every time!). I’m sad to say that A has graduated from her first year sessions so we won’t see her as often, so I’m hoping for another baby Yow to keep that trend going! We just loved spending this past year with you guys, and thanks so much for always making it so fun…you’re good peeps!