First of all, reality check here in realizing I’ve been working with this sweet girl since she was a baby. And in seeing her again during this photo session, I got to bathe in her vibrant, exuberant, loving, cheerful, sassy personality…and she reminded me SOOOOOO much of my own daughter. Strength and confidence and the unapologetic beauty that comes with them.

I know we (I) tend to get hung up on trying to figure out the perfect photo session location, but the truth is, as long as you’re with the people you love and you’re being your authentic selves, any location can be the perfect location. We were actually planning to meet elsewhere for this photo session, but I happened to take a wrong turn during one of my runs in downtown Austin and this alleyway took my breath away. Who would have ever thought?? But honestly, we could have done all of our photos next to dumpsters and the light and love of this family would still shine through. In fact, here’s my favorite image from the session…photographed in a literal mud puddle.

Reeling from tragedy after tragedy in recent months and days, it is sometimes difficult to find reasons to smile. I am so grateful that I get to be surrounded by and photograph the simplest and purest joys–my clients and of course, my family, help remind me that wonderful things do still exist in this world. There is still beauty. There is still LOVE.

These sweet girls are sure lucky to get to grow up in this historic, magical house with these incredible gardens and structures all around! What a childhood to have! And I adore their halo of curls that crown their busy little bodies. It was a fantastic morning with their family for sure. One of my favs in the bamboo and a close crop of THIS one.

Is this thing on? Hmmmmm…think I’m going to try to dust off the old blog and come back to the joy and vibrance of life…especially demonstrated by this sweet family at their annual family photo session. I love that we got to revisit their home and play and have fun in their backyard again. It basically worked as a way to perfectly compare just how much the boys had changed since last year. Loving the farmer’s tan and the mischievous smiles flashed to me as they ran from place to place, so eager to show me their new tricks on the playscape and in the pool. These boys have an amazing life and amazing parents who love them with their whole hearts. Favity fav.

Stepping into this hidden gem really is like stepping in to Wonderland. You never know what you’re going to find around each corner and everything seems disjointed and incongruous, but that’s the beauty of the place. The girls kept going from one little nook to the next, excitedly telling us about what they had discovered. It was *just* enough to distract us from the humidity that day ;-), though you can still literally see the haze in the images…that’s how humid it was!!! I absolutely loved that rainbow dress, too! It stood out so beautifully to punctuate the images in this misty, mystical little Wonderland. Fav mom + daughter pic HERE.

I’m so excited that this gorgeous family blessed with two children with charming, exuberant personalities will soon have THREE children with charming, exuberant personalities! I know mama is doing her best to keep up with these two cuties in the heat and it’s going to be so beautiful to watch big brother and big sister with the new baby. Favity fav HERE.

It won’t be long before we get the good news that baby #3 has arrived. And it is still hard to fathom that this little Maverick has risen from some of the most difficult times this family has ever faced. However, it was nothing but smiles and joy on this evening as we celebrated this incredible blessing (well, except for the part when we had to duck into a building to hide when the tornado sirens went off ;-)…false alarm).  I know his big brother and sister and mom and dad and all the rest of us are very, very, very eager to meet him. One of my many favs HERE, as well as HERE and HERE.

Ironically enough, I first met Mom and their eldest about 5 years ago…the first time I did my Back to School mini sessions…which reminds me…I should dig those pics up because I know he was absolutely adorable during that photo session. I was sad to hear they were moving to Washington state, though maybe a tad jealous of their cooler summers ;-). Earlier this summer, they embarked on an EPIC road trip across the country and I was honored that a family photo session with Pinkle Toes Photography was one of their included stops. We got to do the first part of their photo shoot in lovely park during a gorgeous sunrise. I know we were nice and toasty at the time (and not in a wonderful way), but in going through the images, honestly it didn’t even look like we were even in Austin. My absolute FAVORITE image from that series is HERE. And then, we got to stroll over to get a bit more of the colorful, urban side of Austin to round it out.

Okay, okay. I know this one is super photo heavy, but #sorrynotsorry. I love it when good things happen to good people and I love getting to document those good things for good people. Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane, shall we? It all started when dad wanted to surprise his then girlfriend with an engagement session with me. And then we celebrated the good news that they were expecting their first baby. And then he was born. I will remember each and every photo session I’ve done with this beautiful family for the past several years (even if I haven’t blogged them all yet…ooops). Somehow, they’ve each remained true to this bright, clean, modern aesthetic even with all of the changes over time.

And now they’ve built their dream home with lovely clean lines and subtle pops of color and INCREDIBLE light (mom is a photographer, so that makes sense) and they have settled into their new home beautifully. And we got to do all of little man’s favorite things like reading stories, playing with construction vehicles, stacking blocks, snuggling, airplane, and making coy model faces at me. He even learned to “toast” and thought that was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. It was just the most glorious morning hanging out. Favity fav HERE. So happy for you guys and the life you have created for each other and that sweet boy!

This is a busy, busy family and it was no easy task to try and find a date that would work for all of us for their annual family photo session. So when the day of their session arrived and there was the small threat of rain in the area, we chose to pretend that didn’t exist and met up at this incredible location anyway. Of course, I was keeping the radar in the back of my mind and we had to work super fast…I know the kids were grateful for that as it was crazy humid that day, but of course, Mom and I were just dying to explore every nook and cranny in this place. And just as we had gotten everything that we needed, the skies opened up on us. We were trapped in the greenhouse which seemed like that would be a good plan…at first. But then the water started pouring in from the windows above! Of course, I had to take a few shots to commemorate the laughs, but then we made a mad dash to our cars. I don’t know why I bothered to run…I was soaking wet the second I stepped out of the greenhouse. All in all, it was a very memorable session and I absolutely LOVE the images we were able to get before and even during the rain!!! This one, too!