At about 7am I drive down a long country road to a strangers house. I park the car, get my gear out and take inventory of my surroundings. Of course I must stop for just a second to snap an iPhone picture. I add it quickly to my little addiction of Instagram.  I put my phone in my camera bag and I’m immediately greeted by a young boy yelling through the front door that I am a “monster with many arms.” Two very sweet doggies that would trample my Gilbert in one step sniff me up and down, no doubt smelling yorkie on my shoes. They rule the house and of course they do…they weigh almost as much as I do.

One sweet girl in a pretty dress says hi through her dazzling blue eyes and goldilocks hair and I know right away that she will be my sidekick. The kids show me their rooms, their dogs and their baby brother. They also show me outside and school me on what poison oak looks like. I definitely show I’m a city girl in that instant! I don’t waste any time though, my camera is already out of my bag. I could stay there for hours, just photographing this family and their home, but the sun is starting to beat down on us and I know the kids are ready to get onto their day of a movie and ice cream promised by their way cool parents. I think to myself a session like that would be a lot of fun…ice cream and a movie. I give and get hugs goodbye and I drive away not as a stranger anymore but as someone who feels privileged to be a part of a few hours of this wonderful family’s day.

Can you believe this is just right next to their home?! I declared that if I lived close by I would have sessions there non-stop.

Just a family being a family…that’s my kind of family photograph :)

…he’s the doted on…loved very much…tiny baby brother.

This is one of my most favorite families! I’ve photographed them a few times and I’m finally here to blog this session that happened in 2012 (actually…I have quite a few sessions to blog from 2012!)

We had our family session in Old Roseville, which is one of my favorite places to photograph. I like that Old Roseville is such a cute little small town area, then go down a few streets and you’ve got the huge mall. It’s like a little hidden place in the midst of so much chaos and busyness. There isn’t much there, and I like that. No distractions, just walk around, take some pictures and just…be a family.