Emma Nicole... LOVE HER.

My brother, David, and his wife, Lesley, live in Yakima with my adorable niece, Emma - notice I didn't say 'their adorable daughter'? I really enjoy being an Aunt to such an incredible little girl so I say 'niece' WHENEVER I can! Isn't she lovely?! Les, Emma, my Mom and I got to hang out in Eastern WA just recently and how could I not pull out the camera? I even left it in the car thinking that 'no... not right now... I'll focus on other stuff...' only to run sweating in the sweltering heat back to the car to retrieve it.

And I will bet that I will never learn -- even when least expected, a moment will be worth photographing.

Without further ado, here's Emma...

I love you, little lady. I cannot wait for the ocean this year... we will find sand where we least expect it. Actually, to be quite honest, 'where we most expect it' - we've weathered many of these ocean trips to know better than that. And little iBar, oh can you imagine the fun?!

Scouting out a site.

I had the opportunity to visit a local farm. I plan to do a fundraiser/photoshoot there at the end of the summer and cannot wait to finalize the details... what fun this will be!

Day with the Koetjes.

It was a good day. Thank you Katya for having us. JJ and Sasha are absolutely beautiful; your time of prayer and words of encouragement were poignant and equally encouraging; and your grace in dealing with my not-feeling-good-once-again-little-man was much appreciated.

And though the hail and rain kept us indoors, I think we made the most of it.

Hannah-Banana, the Greek Goddess

This most recent weekend I spent time over on the East side of the state -- more specifically, Kennewick, Washington. My youngest sibling, Hannah, was having her Jr/Sr Prom on Saturday night and asked if I would consider doing a photo shoot with she and her date, Joey. Without knowing for sure if the timing would work into my schedule, I didn't allow myself to get too excited... but once I realized that I'd have the opportunity to travel BY MYSELF (sans children) to the Tri-Cities and have intentional time even aside from the photo shoot, I could hardly sleep! It was a wonderful time and she was absolutely stunning. Here are some of the images I have started editing -- enjoy.

Its SUMMER again.

A good ending.

Arriving at the C's home last Saturday, we had a list of things that his Mom and Dad hoped to capture.  One of the unpredictable images was getting a shot of him sucking his thumb -- this is one of the last images I shot that morning.

He was so done with the photo shoot.

What a perfect ending.

You were a champ, little man. Well done.

A wonderful morning.