Pink Play Doh In Your Tummy

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Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life-Brian Andreas I am in cold hard love with ordinary life.

What's ordinary life you ask?

Well it's ice cream sandwiches for breakfast and learning to flip while your mom holds your sister.

It's jumping on the bed while your mom tries to make it.

It's pumpkin carving and muffins with icing on top.

It's watching your husband sing made up songs only your family knows as your children dance in circles around him.

It's laughter and crying and dirty diapers. Crumbs on the floor that you pick up all day long.  It's the same books you read over and over. Walks on a chilly fall night.

It's what makes you, you. And your family, yours.

And when love is sprinkled in with it, it can be quite spectacular.

Here's NickSarahMirahandbabyWilla

Get Busy

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So I am just going to start out saying I can only dream of being as funny as these folks are. Like we are talking leaning over, holding your belly, slapping your knee funny.  It has been several weeks and I can still think of something and start laughing.

This family also knows love. They scoop you up and make you one of theirs. I walked in the door and it was like "let's party."

And all that love and funny stuff comes pouring out in a beautiful little human being named Harper. The kid is a rockstar.

She has won the jackpot in the families department.

While getting a dog treat Rebecca casually said, "I don't know. I try not to sweat all the crazy stuff life throws at you because basically if Harp wakes up healthy and happy I don't have much I can complain about. All the rest of the stuff will work itself out. I'm just going to give her lots of love."

Because love really is all we need isn't it?

Here's ChrisRebeccaHarperLolaandElla

 

tom maria joey and baby katie

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I adore this family. They are kind, genuine folks.

They love their babies and you can feel it.

There was a lot of giggling. A lot of smiling.

We talked a lot and played a lot.

They made pancakes and laughed about how gross they turned out.

And how Joey still ate them. And Maria too.

At one point during the session Maria turned to me and said this isn't awkward at all. It's like we are just hanging out.

I adore this family.

 

Corn Rows For Days

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I am a city girl. But I do love to visit the country side. The openness is freeing. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get to Jeanna and her family. There was a lot of corn. Like a lot. I kept driving and it just kept following me.

It was quiet. And it was beautiful. I think I had a smile on my face the entire session.

Every time I'm invited into someone's home to take photos I am humbled. Humbled by their kindness and generosity.

When I was editing this session my husband said, "I like that family."

Yep me too.

friday night

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I have a good friend who, when her kids do something crazy, like spray paint the kitchen, she says "you can't make this stuff up."

It makes me laugh every time she says it. As I was editing this session her saying popped into my head.

I can't make this stuff up. I can't make up the joy and love that is there. You can't fake love. Or happiness. It's within you.
I have slowly but surely been learning to let go of control. Holding with a death grip the vision I think is the family.
And when I do, it all unfolds into something really, really beautiful.
Where you invest your love, you invest your life- Mumford and Sons

Glen Arbor, Michigan

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I still smell like camp fire. The laundry isn't caught up. And the tent is still lying in a heap on my deck. When my kids were born I promised I wouldn't take them to the same place every summer. I want them to see the world. But when memories are made somewhere, really good memories, you want to go back and relive them. So every August, I find myself closing out summer in this magical place.

So my very good friend and I packed up our kids and set out to go camping.

We fed bugs cheez-its. Had fires on the beach. Found an uncountable amount of ladybugs.We washed our hair in coffee shops and we learned to pee in the woods. We rode our bikes before breakfast, we colored rocks and jumped waves. Flew kites and climbed dunes.  We watched the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen. We discovered the true meaning of dirty and tired. We took our baths in the lake and felt the cold Lake Michigan water take our breath away as we dunked each other. We watched daddy long legs crawl on the outside of our tent at dawn. Tantrums were thrown as well as sand. Belly laughs were had.

Memories were made. Stories that will be told next year.

2 Sweet Girls and Frankie the Cat

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Most of the time after a shoot I feel like I have made friends. We laugh a lot and we share our stories. Then after I edit their photos I fall in love with them and want to invite them over for dinner. I seek the joy. The joy that makes them a family.

The more I grow as a photographer the more I feel. The more I look for moments that I, as a mother, would want to remember. How buttoning your daughter's sweater is just about the sweetest thing you ever did see. How when you look at the photos a long time from now, you remember how that sweater smelled. About how looking at these photos reminds you of how you felt, not what you looked like. How life really was. Sometimes old memories can feel like a dream. All warm and fuzzy. And when you look at these photos, you are there, but you aren't.

Always remember there was nothing worth sharing, like the love that let us share our name- Avett Brothers