Every year I beg my kids to participate in a family photo session. Every year it’s harder than it should be. Every year there is some sort of outfit or hair drama. We usually load into the car with at least one or two people irritated and frazzled, but somehow we always leave the session smiling. Now that the kids […]
This spring/summer we had the privilege of hosting our niece Alexa for eight weeks. Alexa is thick into her second year of Physician Assistant (PA) school at a university in Minnesota. Since my husband Curt is a PA and works in PA education, he was able to secure two clinical rotations for her out here in the Pacific Northwest. It […]
We met Jeremy and Christy years ago when they were newly married and were instantly drawn to them. They are gregarious, fun, generous, and just easy to be around. We took them a meal when their first baby was born and have become more intertwined as our families have grown. When they owned a Christmas tree farm, we bought our […]
Our daughter Katie celebrated her sweet sixteen birthday this month. I’d been asking her for weeks what she wanted to do to celebrate, but she never formulated any specific or concrete plan. On the Saturday before her birthday, my husband and I looked at each other and asked, “Do you think we could pull off a surprise party in two […]
We moved to Newberg, Oregon, from the greater Chicago area the summer before my son Grant entered second grade. I signed our kids up for swimming lessons, hoping they would learn to swim and make some new friends. The local pool was old, but adequate, with giant record boards touting one water polo state championship after another. I had never […]
I have driven by Chehalem Ridge Bed & Breakfast many times and each time I think, “Wow! What a gorgeous setting!” I was excited to receive an email from the owners inviting me to be the photographer who updated their headshots and photographed their expanding staff. As you can see, the crew at Chehalem Ridge Bed & Breakfast is fun […]
The weather forecast the day of the Jacobs’ family portraits was perfect. Sun and and 70’s. And it was sun and 70’s all day… until just before their session time. An unexpected summer storm rolled in just as we got started. We found cover and waited out the rain. The post-storm lighting was magical as was the remnant of rain […]
The Wilmot’s have a hashtag for their Instagram posts that describes them perfectly: #thosewonderfulwilmots. I’m guessing it started as a joke because they are some of the most humble people I know, but it is the absolute best description of their family. Just ask anyone who knows them well…. Ryan and Mandee are some of the kindest, thoughtful, smart, creative, […]
The Buisman family won an Offering I donated to the Visible Grace auction. It was a blessing to meet them and photograph their darling family. Life with toddlers and babies is so moment to moment, hands on, snuggles, love, chasing, comforting, protecting, cajoling… It’s messy and lovely, exhausting and filled with big emotions. I’m removed enough from our Years in […]
My Hood to Coast teammate Larisa is a gem. She is WICKED fast, intense, funny, feisty, smart, beautiful and successful. We don’t live close to each other nor do we work similar schedules so unfortunately our face to face interactions are few and far between. Last summer, at our pre-race team meeting, Larisa and I stood outside talking intently – […]
