Nancy + Jason's Engagement {sonoma county engagement photographer, sonoma county wedding photographer, vineyard engagement photos, red phone booth}

There are many things in this world that I love, engagement photos is definitely one of them! It's just so much fun to capture the love two people have with out the pressures of a timeline! Nancy and Jason are so adorable together! We had so much!

They just closed escrow on their first home a few weeks ago so when I picked them up for the shoot we snapped a couple photos with their sold sign! Then we went to the downtown area of their new hometown, Windsor and snapped a few photos of them hanging out as new Windsor residents!

We finished our shoot in the gorgeous vineyards just before sunset! I love love love love love Sonoma County at this time of year! It is absolutely GORGEOUS! and add a beautiful couple and it's photo magic waiting to happen!!

I give all my couples a little engagement session tip sheet before their session so they know what to expect, what to wear, and a few other tips to prepare. Nancy followed it to a T, she really came prepared for the shoot and the results showed!

blog world meet Jordan, Jordan meet the blog world! {birth photography, sonoma county birth photographer, sonoma county lifestyle photographer}

I think I've found my new favorite type of photography, birth photography. It's such an amazing thing to have a baby. For all people involved. It's such an amazing thing to have a child enter your world, everything that leads up to the moment that child enters the world becomes a blur the second that baby arrives. I remember going in to have my second child just 22 months after having my first and so many things about being there and the things I went through I had completely forgotten in 22 short months!

I've photographed a handful of births so far and each one is uniquely amazing and an incredible honor to be apart of. The machines, the monitors, the ice chips, the friends and family anxiously waiting, the first breath, the first time that child's parents lay eyes on their baby.... it is all so amazing and so quickly forgotten with the craziness of the first few months of being a parent to a newborn.

Marjorie has had quite a journey the last few years. You can't tell when you are around her though. She is such a positive person with such a presence. There was something about her and Mike that I felt really connected to when I first met them last year. I was so honored when Marjorie said she wanted me to photograph their first born as he came into this world! I finally got the text on the 29th so I headed down to the hospital. After 27 hours of labor the baby was finally tired and there wasn't much progress so the Doctor came in to tell them it was her recommendation to have a C section to get the baby out safely. Marjorie and Mike did what my Husband and I did.... they played hookie on "C section Day" in their birthing class. Who needs to show up that day if you don't PLAN to have a C section??? So like the amazing parents they are they swallowed their nerves and headed down to the OR. First Mike had to get into scrubs, a hair net, and a mask before he was able to head down there. I remember watching him as he put it all on and just seeing all the mixture of emotions and thoughts across his face as he prepared himself... his last 15 minutes as a soon to be Dad.

Since they only allow the Father of the baby into the OR I set my camera on Auto, removed my big ol' speed light and diffuser, and handed it to Mike. Gave him and the nurse a quick tutorial and sent them on their way. Once they were out of surgery and they had brought the baby back to the nursery I was able to grab my camera and snap a few shots of the family gazing in the nursery window and several of them giving him his first bath and of Mike just in awe of his new baby! Such an incredible night!

I later came to Mike and Marjorie's home a few days later to take Jordan's newborn photos.... I will post those later but for now please enjoy a look at Jordan Peterson's first day of life!

Marjorie was craving a big glass of fruit punch but they don't let you eat or drink much they really only give you ice chips but she was goin on 24 hours and after she found a nice nurse willing to break the rules she brought her a Popsicle!! I've never seen anyone enjoy something more!

here is the shot of Mike as he was putting on his mask just before heading down to the Operating room.... this is one of my favorite shots!

wow!


When you have a C section they take the baby over to the warmer and get him cleaned up and the nurses have their way with the baby for a few minutes while the Dad gets to "cut the cord" and sit there and watch. Meanwhile Mom is lying on the table trying not to freak out because you can hear your baby cry and hear everyone gushing over him but you can't see him yet. It's a terrible tortuous 5 minutes! I love that the nurse was able to capture the first glimpse Marjorie got of Jordan...

I love this too, Marjorie as she is looking at her baby for the first time and then her Brothers and other family and friends all gathered around the nursery window as they later see him for the first time!



Marjorie and Mike are the best parents! I am so happy for them and so excited to be there to capture them through out this journey! I will post Jordan's newborn photos next week! But for now here's a tiny teaser...

Lucas turns 2 !!! {children photographer, sonoma county children's photographer, 2 year photos}

I've been taking photos of Lucas since he was born! He is the cutest little boy!!! Such a doll! I photograph him almost every 6 months or so and even in that short amount of time he always manages to change in some way! We had to reschedule the shoot and of course it was sprinkling the day we rescheduled it to. But we made the best of it and had such a great time! We started out at the Town Green in Windsor and ended at Lucas' house.



this kid has a serious passion for bikes, trucks, and big lawn mowers! He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw someone riding a bike in the street next to us! SOOOO cute!!



Watch out Baby Gap!


My friend Meghan Wiesman from Meghan Wiesman Photography took the most adorable pictures of this 1 year old eating cake for his 1 year pictures. So I thought we'd try the same thing with Lucas! Well, we didn't think about the fact that Lucas isn't a big fan of having dirty hands! But, give the kid a fork and it was GAME ON! Oh and Coco didn't mind coming to Lucas' rescue when he was yelling for his Mom to clean his hands !!

Jack and Hailey

Not so long ago... ;) my Husband went to Homecoming with a super cute girl named Kelly! (that reminds me, I need to see if my Mother in Law has their dance photo) fast forward a couple ;) years later and she has a 1 and 3 year old and so do we! and we live down the block from each other! Kelly, Rick and their kids are such a cute family! I just love them! I've had so much fun photographing Jack and Hailey! They are such well behaved children.... on second thought maybe I don't like them so much, their children behave!!! just kidding... well sort of! But no really, they are such genuinely sweet children. I really enjoy what I do, I love when people bring their kids to me for all their milestone photoshoots. I get to watch them grow up in a way. It's crazy to see them change so much in one short year!





who can resist a 3 year old in a pair of true religion jeans??? His Aunt spoils him!! I'd really like it if she adopted me! I bet I'd look super cute in a pair of true religions... if they have them in extra long mom size!

I am a big fan of capturing kids being kids. I don't know about everyone else's 3 year olds but mine doesn't just sit and smile he yells and runs around acting like a crazy person on 6 gallons of caffeine! So I enjoy capturing kids acting themselves so that when they are 18 we have something to show them that reflects who they were as kids! I love these shots of Jack just being silly little Jack!


Hailey was so curious, she wanted to examine each of the flowers! Soooo cute!


I wish I invented goldfish! ...did someone invent them? or maybe I wish I baked them first? are they even baked? oh blahhhh! I don't know how to say it but you know what I mean! I wish I was Jennifer Goldfish! LOL! It's like the most exciting part of any kids day, eating goldfish! They act like adults do at happy hour!!

Lauren + Shay {Petaluma Golf and Country Club Wedding, Sonoma County Wedding Photographer}

Just as I mentioned in the previous post, I photographed Lauren and Shay's wedding with Jihan Cerda of Jihan Cerda Photography. I'm so fortunate to get to work with such an amazingly talented photographer who allows me to showcase some of my favorite images!

I LOVED photographing Lauren and Shay! They are so in love and it is infectious! Shay couldn't stop looking at Lauren and when she'd finally look back and catch him just gazing at her, he would smile from ear to ear! It was so wonderful to watch! They made for amazingly easy people to photograph! They were so laid back and wonderful to work with, when you have a couple like this that is so in love and just laid back you can really photograph them all day! They were so great about it, letting Jihan and I take them here and take them there and move them into this pose and that pose and oh wait lets use this lens ok no now let's do this! They just really didn't pay much attention to us and our excitement and they just kept canoodleing (sp? is that even a real word?) anyways...a huge thanks to Lauren and Shay for being who they are and inspiring me that day. And a very big thank you to Jihan Cerda!!


I love a girl that can rock flip flops even on her wedding day!

ok please look close! Lauren had a BEE land on her hand during the ring exchange!!!!!! She didn't even flinch!!!! If it was me I would have totally made a spectical and totally ended up on You Tube!!