Just when you thought a family couldn't get any more beautiful.... they are about to :)

As I write this our dear friends Matt and Sam are probably holding their newborn baby girl in their arms who was born earlier this morning! I am so excited to meet baby Isabela in a couple days. It is hard to believe that these photos were taken 2 days ago... pregnancy is such a wonder. I am so truly blessed by all of the new additions coming to our family of friends this fall. Check out handsome big brother Lucas... what a big week for this little guy, a new preschool and a new baby sister all in one week! We love you guys and can't wait to meet your new little Brazilian (Pa dutch) beauty!

Baby girls, baby girls, baby girls ....

Colin and Rebecca are a beautiful couple from our church anticipating the birth of their first baby... another baby girl dues later this fall. The pastor's said that their are 12 of us who are pregnant at the moment, clearly we have gotten the memo to be fruitful and multiply ;) A few years ago it seemed like everyone at our church was having baby boys, and this fall is the season of girls! We met up with Colin and Rebecca after church on Sunday and I just happened to have my camera in hand so I snapped a few photos of the parents to be!

Waiting for baby Eden...

Last Thursday we rushed out to take some maternity photos of some of our closest friend's Kevin and Lisa, as Lisa was told rather enthusiastically by her doctor that baby Eden could arrive any day now! Dodging rain, wet ground, and a flash that wasn't working we still managed to get some really cute shots of their beautiful expanding family... but every day since then has been beautiful and sunny, and we are still waiting for  this wonderful baby girl to make her entrance. Check out soon to be big brother Timothy, ADORABLE!! Any day now ;)

Looking forward to baby Ruby... Our Maternity Photos by Pranee Loffer

The photos above are a sneak peek, but please follow this link to see Pranee's entire shoot!
Our Maternity Photos by Pranee Loffer
 Last week we had the chance to go camping for the weekend in VA with our great friends Pranee and Malachi and their kiddos. It was such a wonderful relaxing time, and so good to spend time. Pranee and her family are some of the people closest to my heart in the entire world! While we were there Pranee, who happens to be the best photographer I know, convinced me to have her shoot some maternity pics for us. I have been rather shy about my huge belly, but Pranee and her awesome talents have shed a whole new light on the beauty of this pregnancy with her photos. This is why I love photography, what a gift to capture the beauty of someone's life in a frozen moment they can cherish forever. Looking over these photos I am so thankful for my beautiful family, my amazing friend, and the precious baby girl growing within me.
After she took these photos for us it got me excited to go home and start photographing all of my other pregnant mamma friends... there are a whole bunch of babies heading our way these next few months :)

Lindsay...

This post officially makes me feel old, because it doesn't feel incredibly long ago that I was running around photographing an 8 year old Lindsay on our grandparents farm for my college photo class... and if I think back just a little further I remember going to my aunt Linda's house as a girl to check out her teddy bear nursery that was waiting for baby Lindsay to arrive, and now she is a senior!! My cousin Lindsay is one of the most beautiful women I know. She is radiant with love for life and people and God, and with brightest future ahead of her it was such an honor to try to capture some of her beauty in photos in this transition year of life. I am so excited to see what dreams she has ahead of her. Lindsay, I am so proud of you... you are beautiful from the inside out, confident, caring, creative, and wise... and as I now wait to meet my own baby girl, it is my prayer that she is a lot like you!!!

Double Rainbow....

Well, many of us will unfortunately remember the crazy double rainbow you tube video from this summer. I know I will, because my youtube crazy hubby must have watched it a bunch because my 2 year old can now act it out for you... "Double rainbow, all the way, across the sky! Oh my gosh (we make him say gosh) Oh my gosh.... looks like a tripple rainbow!" Anyway, I was not thrilled at this memorization, but it did make for a cute dialogue when we actually saw a beautiful rainbow at my grandparent's farm later in summer! Here are my boys enjoying their "double rainbow"!

The ABC;s of Ocean City...

This summer I was so blessed with the fulfillment of my childhood dream, which was to become a children's book author and illustrator. This photo was taken at a book signing for my book "The ABC's of Ocean City" at a local bookstore downtown. The book signings were a lot of fun as I got to meet families who love OC and got a lot of great feedback from them about my book. Some families had said that they had read it every night of their vacation, other grown adults commented on how the pages brought back moments of their family's 20 years of vacationing in this awesome sea side town... it was really an amazing feeling to know that I had contributed something small but good to such an awesome community! I felt like I was pretending as parent's brought their children up to "meet the author".  As I signed books for these wide eyed little vacationers I could remember being their age not so long ago and spending my days writing stories and drawing pictures. As they lined up to buy my newest story I felt beyond blessed. I am so grateful for the talents that God has given me, and a community that is willing to support me in them... and to have my smart little boy by my side as he sang the ABC's and pointed out the letters in the book :)

Star Fish....

With this summer being so busy, I was really quite lazy with the camera... this morning though we headed out to the beach for a breakfast picnic (which was partly stolen by some pirate seagulls!) and I came prepared with the "big camera". It was a good thing too because there happened to be a perfect little starfish planted on the beach for Noah to find (with no help from mommy and daddy of course ;) I love these shots of my little guy exploring his new found toy. He sang "twinkle twinkle little star" to it the entire ride home!

Engagement photos on a work break from Surf Mall :D

I took these photos of another work friend of mine, Elyce, and her fiance, on a 20 minute break she had taken from the stand. We are a pretty blessed group that we got to stare out at this beach all summer long... but it was great to finally get out there a couple minutes together and take some photos. Elyce, you are gorgeous! All the best to the two of you... and I can't wait to hear about your wedding plans next summer :)

Summer Lovin'... circa 1954?

This is my summer work buddy Danielle, and her longtime boyfriend Pete. It was fitting to me to photograph Danielle at a sunflower farm, because she was often the bright spot of my long work days at surf mall, just one of the most genuinely joyful and kind people could meet ! I loved spending this time with this couple and meeting the "Pete" that I had heard so much about. What an awesome pair! Stylish, classy, sweet, and cute in the best sense of each of these words... their love for each other beamed through in every shot! I miss you guys!

Garden State...

 

New Jersey gets a bad rep... these photos were taken at a picture perfect little sunflower farm right over the bridge from Ocean City. We met a friend there for some photos before work , it was a beautiful morning and Noah had a lot of fun on the old truck.  It's nearly impossible to get a candid photo of him now that he is two and half.... he is sporting his new "smile" in a number of these photos, and hamming it up as usual :) This was also the first pics we took of my baby Ruby belly, as Noah offered his baby sister a kiss in the sunflower field. He is going to be such a good big brother.