Remember Bonnie? Just so happens that her husband's parents are divorce. I was happy to spend time with the other half of the family (not that I was happy for discord in their family years ago). It was fun to see familiar faces with some of the older children, and meet some new people too.

We met at Memory Grove, along with every other family, photographer, and their dog (literally, the dogs were there too). We jumped around for our spot among other families and here are the results!

I had to laugh at the similarities between mother and daughter. Check out the next two photos, tongues and all.

This last photo was my sweet surprise. Jessi is definitely a photogenic girl, that's not the surprising part. I almost discarded this photo. The original was not cropped like this. It was bigger, too much space around her, and it just felt awkward. I'm glad I played around with it a little more because it's now one of my favorites of the day.

Thanks again, Bonnie, for asking and trusting me to spend time with your family!

U.S. Presidents and Baby Nixon

We picked a great day for baby photos. Other baby photos I've done, the baby was less cooperative. Not Nixon. He slept most the time and let us move him around whichever way, right up until the end.

His mom and I laughed that we both ended up naming our babies with last names of U.S. Presidents. I think they're both pretty stellar and bound for great things!

 

 

(I remember that yellow stripe on the diaper. When it changed colors I was so quick to change his diaper. Now he goes awhile.)

 Jackson came with me, and he did pretty well with the baby too.

Finding a Lost Gem (Salt Lake Temple)

This September 16th, I remembered an unedited file I had. I remember being super excited about the original and I'm happy to say I'm more than pleased with how it turned out.

Enjoy. The End.

The Wedding Day/In it for the Long Run Continued

I was talking with Miquen's mom, Barb (my sister-in-law) after doing the pre-wedding wedding pictures. I told her I'd take my camera to the temple and take a few photos on the wedding day, in addition to whatever their photographer was going to do. She told me they didn't have a photographer and were just going to rely on the pictures that everyone took that day. I was flabbergasted (don't you love using that word?). How do you not have a photographer on your wedding day? I knew we had captured a lot of good images for them already, but the day is THE day, and you've got to document that too. I quickly volunteered to head it up.

I got to attend the temple ceremony at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and then went outside to wait for the couple to emerge.

 It was a super sunny, bright day, but the best place for large groups was on the stairs. (Find me in the first picture! I brought my tripod and used the timer figuring I could be in the picture too.)

The boys have a slight addiction. Now it's Miquen's problem too ;)

Both sets of parents thought they were so clever to stand in the background. Not exactly what I had planned, but a nice sentimental acknowledgement.

Last of all, here are some pictures of reception details, family members missed at the temple, and some of those main activities that go on at receptions.

Fun sparklers are lit so the couple could exit the building between two rows of them, but they took too long getting out and few were left by the time they exited.

 Their wedding favors. Honey. Extracted by Kip and Miquen themselves.

That's a wrap!

Miquen's Wedding or I'm in it for the Long Run

Remember how I took Miquen and Kipper's engagement photos? They spoke with me again and did some more sweet talking and before I knew it, I was arranging to do more pictures. Get ready for the long post!

Miquen needed bridals, of course, and she looked beautiful! You can't help but love her dress. All dresses are beautiful (as are the brides in them), but sometimes it seems like the dresses are pretty similar. I loved the small details of her dress that made it stand out!

We also did pictures of Miquen and Kip together so they didn't have to rush around for them on the wedding day. Old superstitions are out the door about seeing a bride before the big day in her gown, but Miquen still wanted to document a "first look."

Kip's expressions were definitely worth capturing!

And then we got to business taking photos of both of them.

Including their cute, matching shoes on which Miquen's mom hand-stitched their names onto the back.

 

And if that wasn't enough photos yet, I've got more to come of the actual wedding day!

The Unsworths and Murray Park

Every now and then I decide to take a walk down the street with Jackson, and I'm often lucky enough to see Bonnie outside. She's "adorbs" and happy and friendly and the list could go on and on. She's one of my new friends now that ward boundaries have been changed in our ward. She has the cutest little girl that's just younger than Jackson. If he weren't already "promised" to another sweet girl, I'd talk with them about arranging something.

I was excited when Bonnie approached me about shooting some family photos for her husband's family. We had to time it just right as one brother returned from serving a mission and another was about to go out. It gave us a small window, but it worked out just right.

The slowly setting sun was perfect for this July evening and we worked our way through Murray Park (and around several other photographers) to find just the right settings for our back drop. Of course, after seeing the energy and humor possessed by this group, I knew it didn't matter much about WHERE they were, just if I could capture it all with my camera. It was definitely fun.