faith and alli

For my friend Katie and I, the morning started out with Tinkerbell costumes.


Our recent birthday gift to Faith was some special time together, just the gals, so we took them to town on a Saturday morning to get doughnuts. It was a dress-up affair.
For the girls.
Katie and I didn't wear our Tinkerbell costumes.
Just so we're clear.




The ditches here are full of wild sunflowers right now, so we stopped on the way into town to snap a few shots of the girls. Faith brought an umbrella, and it turned out to be just the right accessory.

Of course, there's only one handle.

And it's possible a certain individual may have taken issue with that.

(She got over it.)

After doughnuts, the girls did a little bit of window shopping.

And just by walking downtown, we found a great mural on an outdoor stage between two buildings. Loved the colors.

The rest of the morning was filled with toy store browsing and a sneak peek into a kids' specialty hair salon.

Sometimes you don't need to do much when you're with a girlfriend. It's just fun being together.

wyatt. one year. front porch. cuteness overload.

It could be because I babysit him part-time.

It could be because he has his mama's curly hair.

It could be.  But I think he was just born irresistable. 

paxton and sylas

My friend Jenny moved with her husband and two sweet-faced boys to Nebraska, but she came back for a visit, and we met up at Oakdale park to try and some shots of the boys. We intended to get some of them together, but they're boys, and boys don't sit still for very long.
Unless they're eating bugs.
Or collecting rocks.
Or sitting in a puddle of mud.
....perhaps I'm going about this all wrong....


Well, anyway, here's a smattering of what we got.


This is Sylas. I love when babies do that "suction cup to the roof of the mouth" thing with their tongues.

This is Paxton. He's kinda cute, too. :)

Jenny, it was worth the 100-and-stupid degree heat and a few mosquito bites. Your boys were troopers, and I was happy to get to spend the morning with you. I love what you did with the photos, and I'm glad I could be of help in adding a little flavor to your new walls. Next time, we should go for the mud puddles!

the Henrys at Sunset Park

This past week I got to do a session for Pastor Dave and the family. I knew it was going to be fun, just because of who they are. And the fact that I like them. Alot.


They're a fun, goofy, down-to-earth family, Meg and Dylan are awesome kids, and Michelle is quite the photographer herself, so her kids are quite used to the camera. In fact, I wonder if perhaps it should have been me paying them to take their pictures. Anyway, we had a PERFECT fall day. The sun was behind a thin layer of clouds much of the time, and when it wasn't, the sky was perfectly bright blue.

Now, don't let me fool you. It was comfortable since we already knew each other, but because Michelle knows photography, I really, really wanted to do a good job! This pose has been a great one for fall, and I hope I'm not overdoing it, but it turns out well every single time. It's such a natural way to get everyone close together, and I can get the color from the ground and the trees at the same time.

I've been getting alot of great responses from this one. We tried "romantic" poses of them, but it just wasn't "them," so I asked them, "What's normal for you guys?" THIS was normal, and it shows. That's what I'm trying to capture.

Here's what else we got:

So sorry, Michelle. I didn't mean to make your daughter look 25, I promise.

And this last one might just be my personal favorites, just because it's "them."

(Well, at least it's the Carter side, right Michelle?)

I love it. And I love you guys, thanks for having a fun time with me and being willing to lay in the leaves and sit on the train tracks!

the Bina kids

My cousin Terri has five kids. I guess she felt the need to one-up me.
Anyhoo, I went to their house last week to do family photos of their crazy bunch. They live in the old church parsonage, so they just walk next door to church.

(I'd still be late.)

First, we went across the street to an old playground. Terri wanted some shots of Quinten on the teeter-totter. So fun! The aged look made for some fun editing:

I think this one ended up being one of my all-time favorite photos that I have ever done. It also marks the first time I accomplished something in Photoshop! I took out the light pole in the bottom left corner. I felt so accomplished to have mastered anything in Photoshop. Like I did when I had my first child.

Really, the feeling was quite similar.

So, what you can't really see in this group picture is Kaity holding a make-up brush because she's two and we were out of brilliant ideas that would keep her posed long enough for a fly to land on her. Another thing that I failed to capture was the moment Dad came home, which resulted in soulful, tormented expressions on the older boys' faces.

"Please, have mercy on us, we are victims of painful, photographic torture. Don't the cattle need branding or something?"

Okay, I might be exaggerating a little. They were pretty cooperative.

Especially on this one. They held hands the entire walk down to the cemetery. Which might sound strange, I know, but this is the view from the side of their house. It's beautiful, we thought, and part of their daily lives, so why not?

Five kids. If they're not careful, they're gonna need more trees.

he he

But then, if you have kids this cute, wouldn't it just encourage you to make more?

Terri wanted text on this one, and I gave her a copy without text so she can pick another verse if she wants to, but I love the subtlety of the cross in the background.

I promised Kaity that if she sat still for me just a few more times, I would let her go get her bike out of the shed.

If the wind hadn't been blowing a little, this shot just wouldn't have the same energy to it. Gotta thank that Kansas wind once in a while. Like the one day out of the year that it works in my favor.

Heaven, help me, they have cute kids.