The boy who made me an aunt 10 years ago hit the double digits today!  I have so many memories of this guy.  The first time I ever felt him kick (in-utero, of course), my sister leaned over me while we were sharing a bed and he kicked me in the bum!  When he was born I went around telling all my friends in high school that I was an aunt.  I couldn't have been happier and he couldn't have been more perfect.  I even vividly remember taking care of him overnight when he was around 6 months old; I woke up frequently to make sure he was still sleeping on his back and breathing!

Cade, I can't believe you're growing up so fast.  You're the coolest 10-year-old I know (and the sweetest, best at sports, and most definitely the most handsome).  Happy Birthday!!!

I photographed my oldest sister's family back in October in Minnesota and not even the rest of my family ever saw these pics!  Here ya go, family.

We got this little stool for this shoot and I'm so glad we did!  Max thought he couldn't get off it since his feet didn't touch the ground, so it was the only way to get pictures of him by himself.

At the time, this Buzz Lightyear doll was his favorite thing in the world.

Swords are his other favorite thing (and don't even get him started on basketball).

Ty is getting so big.  I'm going to be in complete denial when he starts dating (which will hopefully be when he's 25 as he's totally oblivious to girls at the moment).  I wish I had pictures of him as a baby online, but that was back when I shot all film!

Doesn't Tessa look sweet?  Don't let her fool you .

Dang, the kids in my family have some blue eyes!!

I got to spend Christmas in Minnesota building snow tunnels and it looked a bit different than it did in October .  I officially love Minnesota and can't wait to go back!

I hope you all enjoy a very happy holiday and get to spend lots of time with family and loved ones!

I hope you have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm so grateful I get to spend the week with these little monkeys.

I'm working on a "Tips for shooting newborns" post with lots of pictures of this pretty little lady, but I couldn't hold off from posting at least a few any longer!  This is my newest niece, Lyla.

4 days new.

6 days.

9 days.

She looks perfect, right?  If only we had known that after about 5 days this little missy would get her nights and days all worked out and liked to stay awake during the day.  She was one of my hardest newborns ever.   I took the girl out at sunrise near the end of my trip (below) in hopes that she'd stay asleep for me.  Little did we know that this was her happy time!  When she started giving me these giant smiles I could hardly believe it.  She did this every five minutes like clockwork for about 30 minutes.

Lyla at 10 days.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my Gramma!  Hope you enjoyed these pictures of your 11th great-grandchild!

To the mom who carried twins to full term while raising three other crazy little kids and then continued to carry us both (I'm sure we both weighed more here than all the camera gear I carry at a wedding.  Moms just have arms of steel, you know).

To the mom who taught me a love of photography by taking me into a dark room at the tender age of 14.  Where would I be without you?

And to the mom who forced me to learn how to cook and become awesome at it (um, due to not cooking amidst college classes and raising 5 kids) and to always use real butter and make brownies from scratch.

I love you Mom!

Raise your hand if you can't believe it's already March!  Who's excited for Spring to get here?  Claire is!

Unamused.  Extremely so.

We got her!

I had a few minutes to visit my brothers family back in December, most of which were spent taking pictures of Halle.  I wish I remember now what we did to make her smile, but that first picture cracks me up.

If you  know Tessa, you know she is the epitome of sassy!  It took quite the effort to get her dressed in what her mom and I wanted her in (I've never met a child with such a strong obsession preference for clothes).  I think we were all a little relieved when Max turned out to be a boy since he'd have to be a very strong little girl to compete with a big sister like Tessa .  But wow, those blue eyes and that crazy curly hair of hers make for some darling pictures!

I love how red her lips look; I think it's from being chapped due to the winter air, but it sure looks cute!

Can't believe my little chica is already 4 years old!

Crazy to think that this little guy was the same one that I watched come into this world the day I graduated last year!  He was much more wrinkly and old-man-ish back then.  He is such a perfect baby; he'll eat anything, entertain himself for hours, and never gets frustrated when he's working on something (such as pulling out everything from the bottom shelf of the freezer while mom is putting away groceries). Not to mention those California-surfer-boy good looks.

We got these shots RIGHT after he woke up.  I wanted to capture that look, bedhead and pj's and all, and since he was still in that just-woke-up daze he sat still for quite some time .

I just love love love this face and that crazy bedhead.

He's started crawling, but a lot of the time it's this funny side-winding army crawl.  It's so adorable.

Click on this video if you really want to see him in action - Max

If I could photograph 6-9 month old babies everyday I would be so happy.  Love you Max!