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I’ve wanted to do a photo shoot at the Point Pinos lighthouse for quite some time.  So when my sister and her cute family came out to Monterey for Thanksgiving (with a request for some family pictures!) I suggested we try out the new location.  It was just as beautiful as I thought it would be!  The weather was a little crazy that week… it had been quite rainy, so on Thanksgiving morning, when it was cloudy with no rain in the morning forecast, we headed up to the lighthouse.  I rarely do photo shoots in the morning, but we were worried we wouldn’t have good weather for the rest of their visit and we decided to take what we could get.  Of course, it ended up raining about half an hour into the shoot and then was totally gorgeous that evening (figures!!).  What can ya do, right?  We were still able to capture some great pictures!  Here are my faves… 

From the time that we moved back to the Monterey area, I’ve been dying to do a photo shoot at the Santa Cruz boardwalk.  So I was delighted when my good friends, Nate & Becky, came out to visit this week and told me they were hoping to have their family pictures taken in Santa Cruz.  Wahoo!  It turned out to be such a fun, colorful location!!  I can hardly wait to do another session there in the future.  And I would LOVE to have our own family pictures done there!!  Any photogs interested in trading next year? 

I was so excited when my friend, Folsom children’s photographer Sandy Runner, asked me if I was interested in trading family pictures this year.  I’m a huge fan of her work, so I happily said yes!  Luckily, the timing worked out and we were able to travel over to Sacramento this past week for the trade.  Her family is so sweet and we had a fun time together.  Sandy is awesome at finding fun, unique locations, so when she suggested this field and barn, I could hardly wait to see it in person.  Of course, it was absolutely perfect and the weather could not have been better (I’ve already gotten used to the cool weather here in Monterey, so I was dreading possible HOT weather in Sacramento… thankfully it was in the low 80s).  Here are some favorites from the session… Sandy, thanks again for trading with me!  You know I completely LOVE all the pictures you took of our family and I hope you enjoy these, too!!  (Oh, and if you’d like to see some of the pictures Sandy took of my family, go HERE!)

Remember this adorable newborn from last year?  I can hardly believe he is already ONE!  I was so excited that his family traveled all the way out to Monterey for a session!  We headed down to my favorite spot in Carmel and had a great time.  Here’s just a little sneak peek for now… 

I had such a great time taking Olivia’s first birthday pictures last year, so I was thrilled when her mom contacted me to take pictures for her upcoming second birthday!  Olivia is such a cutie pie, and we had tons of fun exploring Old Sacramento together.  Here are a few favorites from her session…

Last fall, I donated a session to the silent auction at our local elementary school.  I was so excited when K. contacted me to schedule the session that they won.  Her family is just the CUTEST ever!  When we arrived at the location, I almost panicked because the lovely field of tall grass that we were planning to use had been mowed, but luckily I was able to scout out a couple of new spots to use instead, and the session went great.  SO many favorites… I even added one of the pictures to the splash page of my website, since I loved it so much.  Thank, H. family, for a lovely evening!

I adore this little family! Big sister was in my daughter’s first grade class this past year and was one of her best friends at school.  And little sister is such a sweetie and has the prettiest big brown eyes I have ever seen!  I was so excited when her mom asked me about getting family pictures done and then she chose one of my favorite urban locations in the whole Sacramento area to do their session.  Yay!     

My sister threw the most FABULOUS tea party for her daughter yesterday… I just had to share! 

A “K” for Kylee… Made out of cupcake liners! 

Beautiful cake done by Cakes by Heather…

Adorable free printable food tags found at: Glorious Treats

Paper lanterns from Luna Bazaar…

And check out this super cute button art butterfly that she made!  I found the frame at a local antique store. 

She also made this little cake stand out of felt and ALL this felt food!  Each of the girls got to take home a couple of the felt cookies in little “doggie bags” for their dolls. 

She also made these darling silhouettes of Kylee and her American Girl doll…  AND sewed an outfit for each girl to take home for their own doll!The table was set with china found at Goodwill (we found a full set for less than $30!) and each girl had a mini tea cup for their doll…The birthday girl with her Samantha doll and her new Rebecca doll (that arrived at the party a little late – as a surprise!)…Cute craft the girls made… decorating their own flower pots and making flower pens…Last, but not least… Freeze dancing!  Always a party favorite! 

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