carolyn is finn's nurse practitioner... and at our appt this past friday she asked if i did family portrait sessions! yeah, i love em' i responded. "i'd like to get one done soon, because my husband is leaving for iraq for a year." mouth dropped to the floor. wow. a whole year away... that has to be soooo hard. but andy, her husband, is doing very rewarding work. he is a helicopter pilot & his mission is to bring back 90,000 troops during his stint. so. we came back from flagstaff early since sunday night was the only night we could do it.

carolyn, it was a privilege to meet your family! thank you.

andy, tera, carolyn, sean & how could you miss him... dakota!


isn't he magnificent!!


bring it in close.


dads. aren't they great?


i love the way tera's looking at him.


the boys.


that's a big kiss :) isn't sean's reaction hillarious?


piggy backs!!!!


too sweet.






just some arizona kids :)


i love this one.


the view from their house.


goodluck on your mission andy. fly safely & come home soon!

silver bay.

i'm a little nuts. i realize this. i took my 14 day old son on a plane across the country but, & this is a huge BUT... it was to my camp in upstate new york. i've talked about how special this place is on the blog several times... it's my favorite place in the world. so i had several reasons motivating me to make the trip:

:i had an amazing couple hoping i'd be there to document their day, they booked me pre-pregnancy. (and the wedding was fabulous! anna & rob were so awesome.)

:i wanted finn to be able to experience sba: breath that fresh air, sleep with windows open, hang out outside (instead of being stuck inside because it's 113 in phoenix!)

:i wanted this time as a family to chill out.

:& it was my birthday...

so bryan & i packed our bags for our 5 day adventure with our very new born child. we were in an airport or on a plane for 11 hours. (nice lil layover) my sister met us at the airport & we drove the 2 hours north to silver bay.

we had thursday & friday to chill out before the big wedding day. so that's just what we did.

my sister & finn snuggling.


finn loved being outside & feeling the breeze.


cool critter.




steph was kind enough to take some family photos for us.












finn & i will be making this long trip back for two more weddings this year. erin & tim & then chris & jessica :) & we can't wait!!!!

lil quote for u today.

I held out my hands & asked where I could help & somebody grabbed
me & pointed me towards the future & said, You've got your work cut out
for you & I said, isn't there anything easier? & he laughed & said you could
dig around in the past, but it's just busywork & that made perfect sense so
I shrugged & started right where I was, along with everyone else.
by brian andreas