It was a humid early fall Saturday morning in Chicago with thunderstorms approaching and a To-Do list with several non-critical items that I planned to procrastinate on by watching whatever TV series I was currently addicted to on Netflix Instant.  My dear friend Molly had recently moved to Texas with her family and we were both wishing that we could spend our Saturday together like we used to do when we didn’t live so many states apart. I can’t recall who suggested it first but within 3 hours I was headed to the airport having found a killer last-minute deal on a flight to Austin. And so commenced my 48 hour, spur-of-the-moment weekend trip to Texas. Yeehaw!

Having recently moved, their house was still being unpacked with furniture to arrange and tear the plastic off of. Before they found the perfect place for their new sofa, we decided to have a mini-shoot on the front lawn as the sun went down.

Suffice to say I love this family AND their spontaneous hospitality.

I love this family.

The End.

It almost didn’t happen.  Between a newborn’s erratic schedule, sleep-deprived parents, rain, rain and more rain, and, well, more rain, these photos almost failed to exist.  On my last afternoon in Portland we headed back to the charming gelato shop to document my sister and her new family of four. I love these guys.

All of the munchkins I have the opportunity to photograph are sweet and adorable but those I am related to are somehow a tad sweeter and more adorable than the rest of the world’s population.  But c’mon, doesn’t this little face just melt your heart?

Kellen’s big sister could not possibly love him any more.

In one of the rare two or so hour breaks in rain while I was in Portland in May, I spent some time playing with this family outside in their uh-mazing backyard that borders a stream and has all sorts of tall grass to hide in.  I could have photographed them there all day.