The Pinkle Toes elves are back at it again, busy creating a warm, cozy, inviting set for our “Holiday Chalet.” The 13th Annual Kids-only Holiday Minis and Toy Drive will be held at a gorgeous, cabin-like retreat in Central Austin (make note of the earlier dates this year). As always, the only way to snag this FREE mini session for your child(ren) is by booking a session for 2025. If you’ve never experienced a Pinkle Toes session, this is a perfect way for us to get to know each other while also creating adorable holiday photos of your kid(s). Or, if you haven’t had a Pinkle Toes session in a while, this is a great opportunity to come back and see what’s changed. Everyone who brings an unwrapped toy to their mini for our annual toy drive will receive an additional free file! I say it every year, but these holiday minis are always a hit and a sure way to help everyone get into the holiday spirit! Please drop a line to learn about the 2025 session options and score this coveted mini session for your child(ren). Openings will fill up quickly!

Here are some images from last year’s sessions to give you an idea of the kind of images we get at the minis:

I can’t believe I have now known this beautiful mom since we were running buddies with Gilbert’s Gazelles starting back in 2018! We spent countless hours running together throughout downtown Austin (including the location of this particular family photo session), learning so much about one another and each other’s families. I’m so proud that our friendship has remained even after our marathon goal was completed and I am always honored that I get to photograph her boys as they dote on her.

I was super eager to get to use the boardwalk, located on the shores of Lady Bird Lake, as the backdrop for their family photos not only because it’s gorgeous (duh), but because we all have so many wonderful memories along this trail. During our pre-session consult, mom showed me her stunning yellow dress and I just knew we had chosen the perfect place to show her off!

In spite of the fact it was during the wee hours of the early morning (big fan of sunrise photo sessions, especially in the hot Texas months), the boys were eager to explore the boardwalk and play around. The boardwalk offers such an amazing variety of locations in which to shoot; from the sun sparkling on the water, to the majestic skyline, to the beautiful trees that line the shore, we made full use of all little vignettes and lovely light to create a diverse set of images to cherish.

One of the things I love most about working with families year after year like this is that I start to feel like part of the family…like an aunt with a fancy camera. The boys are super comfortable around me now and they have no problem being themselves. They don’t require many prompts at all and are thrilled to create their own unique poses and shot ideas. In fact, their candid shots are some of my favorite images from the session, as they capture their true personalities and emotions. In fact, we have our next session coming up very soon and I can’t wait to see what they create this time!

This family is certainly no stranger to the Pinkle Toes blog and when mom first contacted me about their upcoming session, she mentioned that they wanted to do something different and fun. Over the years, they have set the bar pretty high (exhibit A), so I was a little nervous that we would be to do yet another session that would highlight this dynamic crew properly. But when mom brought up the idea of using color powder, I knew it would be a huge hit with the kids and make for incredibly bold, colorful, and creative family photos for them.

On the evening of our session, before breaking out the color powder, we started with some traditional family portraits:

And then we had a costume change to serve as a blank canvas for the colorful splash we were about to make! We picked a place where the sun would shine through the trees and allow the vibrant colors to contrast beautifully against the natural Texas landscape. Mom had a great idea to put the powder into squeeze bottles and on the count of three, everyone squeezed their bottles into the air creating a burst of colors that looked simply magical. Kids and grown ups alike were screeching and giggling and having an amazing time, and I could tell that this was going to be an awesome session.

One of the things I loved most about this shoot was how unpredictable it was. You never knew exactly how the colors were going to mix, and every photo turned out differently. It was a welcome challenge as a photographer to capture these ever-changing and fleeting moments.

Even their wonderful nanny jumped into the action!

The leaf-blower was the icing on the cake for me :-).

It’s safe to say that their color powder family photo session was a huge success, even if it took quite a while to clean the powder out of our hair and teeth. We were all thrilled with the photos, but I think the memories created will have an even deeper impact. I can’t help but to imagine these kiddos all grown up, flipping through an album of these images and talking to their own children about this awesome day where their parents willingly let them make a gigantic mess! I can’t wait to see what other creative ideas my clients will come up with for their own family photos.

P.S. As promised, a behind-the-scenes look of the aftermath:

Honestly, I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that I have photographed ALL four of these precious children as newborns. Each of their sessions have been memorable, joyful, beautiful, and unique. I can recall little moments from every single one. I really should take the time to dig up the blog posts on each of them, but I worry that my heart couldn’t take the bittersweet sting of nostalgia.

Baby Scarlett’s session was no exception to the rule of gorgeous newborn photos. But there was plenty of *spice* here, too. I will give you one guess as to who kept us all laughing non-stop :-). I love it all. I love the amazing red hair (always a sucker for red hair). I love the breathtaking love and tenderness shown to this sweet baby girl. I love her chubby cheeks and perfectly pouty lips. I love the gangly folded knees and elbows. I love the upside downs and right side ups. I love the special bond that is visible between the sisters and between the brothers and among the individual siblings. Each person in the family is a crucial puzzle piece. Each person has something to contribute and something to gain from one another. It is and always has been a wonderful dynamic to watch blossom each time I see them.

In case you missed it on Instagram, be sure to check out the image we worked SO hard to recreate from a past newborn photo session :-).

This photo session is filled with all the things that make my heart sing: beautiful sunlight, hair play, and smiles that radiate from within.

Warning: you are about to be inundated with photos that are full of preciousness and Pinkle Toes!

The light, the richness of the colors, the peace and beauty of the entire family, the EXTREMELY cooperative children all made for a morning where I actually did not want this newborn photo session to end!

This one right up here. Can you even believe how perfect this moment was????

The second I saw this rug, I knew I wanted to incorporate it somehow. See what I’m saying about the richness in the colors?

And, for nostalgia’s sake, let’s see mom and dad celebrating the upcoming birth of their second son during their maternity photo session on a warm, breezy day in downtown Austin:

Somewhat unrelated to maternity and newborn photos, if you are wanting holiday family photos, believe it or not, NOW is the time to book those! This month is already full, September and October are almost full as well. With all of this wonderful rain in Austin, I am hoping for gorgeous greenery throughout Austin to last us through the fall. Let’s take advantage of that! Contact me to get session information soon!

He has accomplished a LOT in all of his “21 years” on Earth and it was worth celebrating in a BIG way with this beautifully imagined photo session gifted from his “main squeeze.” I always know I’m going to be treated to something inspiring and creative each time I work with this family, but the true wildcard (in a good way) is their daughter. She has a light inside that simply shines through. She constantly has us laughing at the clever things she says and somehow, she finds a way to make each and every “pose” we try dynamic and uniquely her own. austin family lifestyle photographer

These dresses made my heart skip a beat!

This is exactly what I mean about her creativity! I asked her to dance around and twirl in her dress and she did, but then all of a sudden, she pulls out the PERFECT imitation of the “lady in the red dress dancing” emoji and we all just fell out laughing!

Based on years and years of experience, I know how challenging it can be to put together one set of outfits for a family photo session, but somehow, this mama manages to expertly create two distinct visions:

And finally, when we were inside the school bus at Sekrit Theater, I told them this looked like it could be their family album cover…from the 70’s. Loving the retro feel here!

One more image for the road:

austin family lifestyle photographer

Things I fondly recall about this family photo session on a gorgeous Austin day: 1. I was struck by their beauty…all of them. 2. The smiles and giggles were 100% authentic. 3. Little man had us running all around after him, but he was so joyful, we gladly participated. 4. There is a LOT of love among the siblings. 5. I wish I could photograph in this kind of weather and light every single day.

On April 22, 2020, we were fortunate enough to celebrate TWENTY years of marriage! I had been planning our 20 year anniversary celebration for a long time with lots of events and sweet surprises. But of course, like pretty much everyone on the planet right now, life shut down all of those plans with one swift blow. I knew I was going to have to let go of everything I had originally had in mind and figured we’d just pick up some take out and maybe a bottle of champagne.

Yay.

I was admittedly disappointed, but I think we’ve all gotten used to that over the last few months. And truly, I am still grateful for the health and well-being of my family and I do not take our marriage for granted. A  romantic vacation or a big bash isn’t required to appreciate our relationship or the family we’ve created together.

But then, about 7 days out from our anniversary, I had the idea to move forward with a different, more intimate, and ultimately more meaningful ceremony in our own house…just the five of us (well, seven, including the dog and the cat). With just a week of planning and creating, I think we managed to pull off quite a magical little DIY 20 year celebration and it turned out to be *just* as special to me and all of us as our initial wedding day!

We had pretty much everything needed for a 20 year wedding celebration/vow renewal, including a happy couple, twinkling lights, rose petals from the yard, and even “professional” photography!

My bouquet, courtesy of Whole Foods.

Baby girl did my makeup 🙂

I had originally thought I would wear my wedding dress, but the Quarantine 15 (or more) had other ideas (ooof). Snagged this gorgeous number on sale from Joyfolie instead. It. Has. Pockets.

The morning of the “party,” I got up extra early to transform our dining room into a reception hall:

We may or may not have spray painted some plasticware to look extra fancy. Also, check out the hand- monogramed “fine linens” by my daughter!

A word on our dining room window: this was left from a project by my nieces a while back. We loved it so much, we decided to keep it up.  Honestly, I may never wash it off! (Check out how it looks at night outside at the bottom of this post).

The train from my original wedding dress was used as a table cloth.

The day before the celebration, the five of us made our own miniature wedding cakes. That was quite the task, let me tell you, as we let everyone decide on their own flavors and decorations for each individual cake. It will be a long time before I bake another cake again, but this was one of my most favorite parts of the whole event…I LOVE how they all turned out! After dinner that night, we each got to have a tiny taste of every little cake :-).

Since I never had professional pics from my own wedding, I thought I’d squeeze in a ring shot. Oh, and check out our super handsome ring bearer:

The kids each played integral roles in the ceremony. Our daughter was my Maid of Honor…

The eldest was our “Officiant.” He did a fantastic job! I dug up the original copy of our wedding vows and he read part of that for us at the ceremony.  Then Virgil and I wrote new vows to one another.

Our middle son was the Best Man AND videographer at the same time. His Best Man toast made me giggle and cry. Sigh…my handsome boys…

Oh yes! During quarantine, our daughter decided to learn how to play piano. She worked SO hard to learn the Wedding March and she absolutely nailed it as I walked down the aisle!

My hubby was in charge of “catering” and he did not disappoint. The take out from Gusto Italian Kitchen was absolutely incredible and we are very much looking forward to going back to dine in there very soon!

A little behind-the-scenes from cake making the night before.

That night, we showed the kids our wedding slideshow…on a VCR! The kids had never seen it before and the most common comments were, “You guys look like babies!” and “I can’t believe how much life you lived together before us!” The kids also made up their own version of The Newlywed Game and we laughed until we cried while playing.

I honestly could not stop smiling the whole evening, I swear you could probably see little hearts beaming out of my eyes. I told my husband in our vows that I am not only in love with him, but I am in love with our family. Quarantine has been trying for sure, but also a precious bonus gift of time together under one roof.  It made me appreciate not only the fact that we were even able to have a wedding all those years ago, but that we *still* have each other. We aren’t perfect people and we don’t have the perfect life or the perfect marriage, but we do have and we do love and we do keep choosing to move forward together and we will keep moving forward together as long as the universe allows.

On this cold, rainy day in January, I am inspired to tell the story of another rainy day that nearly ruined an incredible trip to Colorado one summer. My whole family had driven up to Denver and then to Crested Butte to visit with loooooooooongtime friends (and clients). To give you a clear picture, there were SIXTEEN of us total…staying in the same house. 7 adults and EIGHT children and one ADORABLE baby. Oh, wait: this doesn’t include the two doggos :-). The adults were definitely outnumbered, but somehow, we managed to spend the first several days enjoying the cooler temps, hiking through the mountains (ALL 16 of us!!!), swimming in mountaintop lakes, exploring the charming town that is Crested Butte, and feasting…there was a LOT of feasting…and a lot of great laughs. I cannot even begin to describe how many memories were made on that trip. My eldest son christened the two other dads in the house with us were the “cool dads,” while his own father was just “dad.” It truly was something spectacular that we all managed to share that space together and have such a lovely time, working together as a team to manage meals and clean up (sister wives aren’t such a bad idea).

We had plans for all of us to drive up to this one particular spot way up in the mountains to do family photos. While it was indeed a bit of a drive from our home base, I had heard so many wonderful things about that place, I couldn’t wait to see it with my own eyes. Spoiler alert…the images above are NOT from this specific place. “Why?” you ask? Well, we had ALL piled into three cars (my mini van, included) and began our trip up the winding roads. It was cloudy, but not terrible as we started out. Rain was predicted to start later that evening, but we thought we could squeeze in the sessions before it got bad.  Everyone was already dressed and made up (a Herculean effort in itself!)…there was no turning back now.

I honestly don’t know how long the trip took us, but it felt like forever, especially when we got to the part where we tried to get my van up through the mud-covered roads. The van briefly got stuck in the mud and at that point, we decided it wouldn’t make it any further. My family would make the rest of the trip on foot while I hitched a ride to the top with the others. I should mention that by then, I was very, very car sick and growing very concerned about the storm clouds that were rolling in. “This better be worth it,” I thought.

We *finally* made it to this mystical meadow between the mountains and my word, yes, it was every bit as breathtaking as they told me it would be. I could see the storm clouds building up and I knew we wouldn’t have much time, but I thought if we hurried, maybe we could make something happen. I think I was able to get like 5 photos taken and then it started raining. And raining. And raining. And it just wouldn’t let up. I kept refreshing the radar and it kept telling us that it was going to clear, so TWELVE humans and the TWO doggos all piled into ONE vehicle to wait out the storm (I’m SO glad we attempted THIS us-ie).

We waited. And we waited. And the rain just wouldn’t stop. And now, there was virtually no daylight left and everyone was tired, and cranky, and hangry and defeated. I don’t know about you other photographers out there, but I have this recurring nightmare where I’m in a BEAUTIFUL place with BEAUTIFUL subjects and I’m so overwhelmed, I am physically not able to take any photos. I’m frozen in my dream as I watch the sunlight disappear and I’ve missed out on the perfect opportunity. *This* was my nightmare actually coming true :-(. Through tears, we called it a night and decided to go on with our dinner plans and figure out another day/place for family photos.

At dinner (and I was *still* crying), we worked out a new game plan which would involve us getting up *very* early to catch sunrise the next morning. This was not an easy sell as we were all exhausted from our travels and the rain that evening, but it was our only shot. We were “do or die.”

After a few hours of sleep that night, these guys somehow rallied and managed to look just as beautiful and put together as the day before! We stumbled upon this gorgeous little flowered meadow practically in our backyard and we. made. magic. HAPPEN! I was so thankful for the sunshine that peeked out through the mountains! I was so AMAZED that the kiddos were able to give us their all in spite of the rough evening and very little sleep! I’m so grateful that we were able to let go of our previous vision for the session and embrace this new one. I’m so glad we persevered in spite of it all!

Most of all, I absolutely treasure the memories we made through our struggles the night before. The photos we took had so much more meaning because of that experience. And oh, how we laugh and laugh re-telling the story! Very, very grateful for all of it…the good and even the not-so-fun parts.