andrea and rich

i also shot a wedding for andrea and rich this weekend in san diego. they had their wedding at mission village and it was beautiful! their reception was in a room that overlooked all the boats in the marina. at the reception, andrea surprised rich with a song she had written and recorded (she is an amazing singer!) and his expression was SO SWEET! you can hear some of her songs by clicking here.

here are some of my favorites - and of course, there's a slideshow too! Click here to see the slideshow!

brittny and steve

i had two weddings in southern california last weekend, and brittny and steve were my first. they were married in the san diego temple on a perfect day in sunny la jolla! here are some of my favorites...

we met the night before to do most of the bride and groom portraits. their videographer, perry, was also there. this was our second wedding together, and he is such a pleasure to work with.

steve and brittny claimed they were awkward in front of the camera, but we got TONS of great shots, and i think they were really sweet together! i think steve even got into taking pictures by the end of our first night of shooting!
















































click here to check out the slideshow of the rest of the day...

southern california sessions available!

i will be taking session at the end of may, and the end of june in southern california. anyone who is interested, please contact me through the "contact me" tab on my website, and we'll get something set up! i am offering a discounted package, so email me as soon as possible as slots tend to fill up quickly!

jess and nik

now this was a marathon engagement shoot! but it had to be because this is my first sister to get married!!! i'm so excited! jess and nik came up for their engagement shoot, and we definitely made the most of the time they had. they really have fun together, which is obvious in their portraits!

the first day, it was SO WINDY and absolutely FREEZING, so it was pretty miserable for all of us. we got some great shots, but we were definitely limited because of the weather!



































the second day, we went to a different location and the weather was much nicer! it was still a little chilly, but jess just pretended she was a swimsuit model shooting a catalog during the winter ;)























of course, i will be shooting wedding portraits for them too, so look for those in the future!

birthday girl!

we celebrated tyler's birthday with a fun trip to the city this year! i had the living room decorated in the morning when she woke up. i was attempting to be a cute mom this year, and i have to say that i know now that my talents lie elsewhere!





we are trying to break the thumb habit - and the best part is most of the time she's got her thumb in her mouth and her finger resting in her nose! she doesn't pick it, so i don't know why its more comfortable that way, but it sure looks great in pictures doesn't it???











why do we use ribbon on presents? its always the most frustrating part for kids!





she got a princess dress and shoes so of course we had to put it on right away. i loved the little toes peeking out!








my two boys waiting patiently for their food at lunch :) this shot cracked me up!





the servers brought tyler a dessert and sang to her. she was talking to everyone before that, but as soon as she got all the attention - she wasn't a fan! but isn't this the coolest dessert ever? it was VERY messy!








we went to the national park near the city later in the day, and the kids loved hiking around and running through tunnels.











i saved the cake for the end of the day, and she was SO EXCITED about it! it turned out okay, but NOTHING like the picture, and had it not been for my patient husband who helped me put it together, i would have been tempted to dispense with the cake altogether. this was by far the hardest part of my "cute mom" idea! :)











the day was hard for us parents, but the kids had a blast, so it was all worth it!

jenn and abel's slideshow

okay, its up! here is the slideshow from jenn and abel's wedding!

jenn and abel

here it is! this is the wedding i did last weekend with heather from amorology weddings. like i said before, it was a dream day - beautiful weather, small intimate ceremony, super-sweet bride and groom, gorgeous decor.... i could go on and on! jenn and abel really wanted to capture the candid moments of their family and friends, and the day was so relaxing that everyone really enjoyed their time together!








this is abel and his daughter - you can tell they have a very special relationship!




















i loved all the detail - from the gorgeous plates and goblets to the beautiful tent.























unfortunately, my main computer is still broken, so i'm not able to post the slideshow until after i get it back, but i wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from the day. i will add the slideshow soon (cross your fingers for me - they say tomorrow, although they also said today!)

morgan and dallin

morgan and dallin got married last weekend in southern california. it was a little stormy, and i think we were all watching the clouds and the weather reports all day long! it was gorgeous for the ceremony, then it rained, then it was on and off sunny during the couple's portraits, then it rained, then it finally stopped for the reception - but not before they had already moved the tables and everything inside!

morgan looked absolutely gorgeous! it was also a really fun wedding for me because my sister was one of the bridesmaids along with morgan's two sisters, so it was fun to hang out with them all!

































































they had hot dogs and hamburgers for the reception, and it was set up like a 50s style diner - complete with a movie set designed especially for them! i posted so many pictures, that i wasn't going to put any from the reception, but i wanted to post this one of the sign on their movie set.





click here to see the rest of the slideshow from the day!

jessica and eric

jessica and eric got married in california. the weather report called for "substantial rain" so i was really nervous about the day! amazingly, it didn't rain at all any of the time we were doing portraits outside!

here are some of my favorites from the day!

















here are some detail shots from the reception - i just LOVED the peacock feathers!











check out the slideshow!

the severson family

this was my last california shoot over christmas break. we met at the oceanside pier, and were worried about the rain, but fortunately, it held out and gave us some amazing clouds! i love the blue eyes!

the balliet family

while down in california, i was able to meet up with heather of amorology weddings and take some portraits of her family with her new baby girl. here are a couple of my favs...

the hollingworth family

it was this little guy's first birthday when we did portraits!! i loved catching all the interaction between him and his parents, and he was such a happy smiley boy.

check out these tippy toes as they're walking!

marty and christopher

marty and christopher were also down visiting california for the holidays. their little boy was so good - he did not cry or make a peep even once, BUT he did not want to smile either :) he seemed to enjoy his first visit to the sand!

the olsen family

i went down to san diego for a couple shoots during my trip to california as well. here is my first family...

are these boys not SO ADORABLE?!?! the youngest was not super happy to be doing pictures, and his big brother kept trying to make him smile. it was really sweet!

morgan and dallin

morgan and dallin are getting married in california in march. i've known morgan for a long time, so it was fun to shoot her engagement session! we went down to the beach - they were so great to let me experiment with different spots!

the weaver family!

i was back in california for christmas, and had some photo sessions while i was there. now it may look like a beautiful day at the beach, and it was, BUT it was pretty chilly! the kids didn't want to take their shoes off in the sand because the sand was so cold!

the toolsons

such a good looking family! and they all had a lot of fun together, which was great for me to watch and capture!

the nixon family

along with nate and linley's wedding, i was able to do two family portrait shoots in san diego. the nixons have two adorable kids! their grandpa showed up for part of the shoot, and it was so sweet to see how much they love him!

nate and linley

i went back to california this weekend for nate and linley's wedding. of course, nate looked great, but linley was absolutely gorgeous! i also loved their color choices - very unique!









heather and robin of amorology did another amazing job with the decor!




click here to view the slideshow!

kindsay and erik

this weekend i got to shoot another AMAZING wedding done by heather and robin of Amorology Weddings. They are so talented, and each wedding ends up looking incredible!

it was such a beautiful day, and kindsay and erik were so sweet together!


the boys were walking up carrying all the parasols for the girls, and they seem quite comfortable with them! :)


kindsay and erik had an asian theme throughout the wedding and reception, and we did some pictures by these cool buddha statues








of course there are LOTS more photos in the slideshow, so click here to check it out!

the eliasons

okay, this is it! the last one from this california trip.

aren't these kids cute?





LOVE these huge smiles!



some fun swing pictures




thanks to the great families i was able to work with this trip!

the lindsays

i had two other family portrait shoots in california before my wedding that i'll be posting soon.

the first is the lindsay family. the girls had fun running around and coming up with poses for me :) and don't let the skirts fool you - these girls were climbing trees!


i told the girls to just relax next to their parents and not be too posed - they all decided to lay down!

the thompsons

i also got to meet the thompson family today! we met at a huge park, and the kids had a great time exploring. you could tell the boys have lots of fun together!





i was shooting like crazy in this spot because i thought the tippy toes were so cute! then i decided to zoom in on just her feet!



this one cracked me up!

back in california

i'm back in california this week for a wedding, and got the opportunity to squeeze in a few portrait shoots. the first was with the provost family. we had a lot of fun, and i really liked the relationships between all the kids!



don't you love sisters!?


the kids tried to climb just about every tree in the park, but if i came over, they instantly posed :)

taylor and craig

i had so much fun this weekend shooting taylor and craig's wedding in carlsbad, ca. the weather was gorgeous, the decor was amazing, and the couple wasn't too bad either :) i knew from the engagement shoot that they were naturals around the camera, so i knew i would love the wedding shots!

heather balliet, of amorology weddings, did an AMAZING job with the flowers and reception site. it was absolutely beautiful! i will be working with her on two other weddings this fall, and am really looking forward to it!












i didn't post as many pictures as i normally do because i'm trying to get you to check out the SLIDESHOW! click here to see it.

last night on the beach...

the last night we were in california, we all headed down for a barbeque on the beach. i got a couple last surfing shots before i left to do some portraits. after i got back, we all roasted marshmellows!

okay, this was just a random shot from the day before, but i thought it was so cute i had to put it up!

matthew LOVES to body surf. the way the tide was made it get really deep really fast. all you could see was his head, and he almost got run over by more than one surfer!

i liked this one because my dad and jess are on the same wave together!


we were hoping to get a fire pit, but they were all full so we improvised :)

blake didn't want any brown on his marshmellow.

california was so much fun! thanks to all of you who met me for photo shoots, and to my family for the fun times!

the rutters

people often ask me during my busy seasons how i do so much work, and if i'm ever tired of it. the truth of it is, i do not ever get tired of shooting. its what i love to do - capturing those beautiful relationships between family members. more than a gorgeous background, or perfect clothing, its when i catch those little moments that i am most excited about what i do. i have been feeling really lucky with this lately, and the rutters gave me such great examples of the sweetness that i see with my work!

i went to change my memory card, and when i turned around, this is what i saw. LOVE IT! you can tell they love each other and their kids. very sweet :)


and then when a family clearly enjoys being together...