Tom + Cindy + 3 great kids

Last week I met up with a family that I've known for a long time. Tom and Cindy have known me since my awkward teen years. And bless them for still wanting to hire me for their photographer.

Tom and Cindy...

plus their three awesome kids...

equals one great family.

Cindy fell in love with the green door she saw in some of my other photos so we headed there for the second part of our shoot.

There were so many great shots from this shoot it was hard to choose.

Sometimes people shy away from some of my locations in less desirable parts of town. But you gotta trust me. That's where all the great doors are!
love these of Katie and Tom...

Thanks guys! It was a pleasure.

red boots

Sleep is a rare thing around here lately. If you have kids then you know that these little phases of sleeplessness are just part of the deal. I know its just another phase so I'm trying not to let it get me down. I am getting pretty worn out though folks.

Luckily Marlie is such a character that just when I want to loose it she does something hilarious that makes us laugh instead of cry. One night this weekend Marlie finally discovered that being in a big girl bed means that she can get out and walk around whenever she wants to. After about 5 trips upstairs to put her back in we hadn't heard her in a while and assumed she had finally fallen asleep. But then about midnight we heard her tinkering around up there. When Shane went up he found her at the top of the stairs in the dark wearing her red cowboy boots over her footie pajamas smiling at him "Help me dad. Its thtuck (stuck)." she said while holding one boot out.Oh man. That kid.

When you have a few nights of these sort of antics plus a few of her having a bad cold then you get one tired family. It was my turn to check on her last night and I ended up just crawling in bed with her. Its pretty hard to resist her you know. Every night she wakes up calling for us. When you go in she puts her little arms around your neck draws you in nose to nose with her and says "come on, you sleep in my bed me please?" Most nights I don't give in but she was coughing so much I couldn't resist.

Neither of us slept much with all of the coughing and kicking. I laid there wide awake at about 3:00 and felt like crying again and then Marlie put her nose to mine and said "snack me please mom? Halloween book me?" So I laughed instead.

Today we are being lazy and playing playdough, watching cartoons, and of course wearing boots over jammies. I love being a mom. Sleepless nights and all.

Miss Mabry

I met up with little Mabry and her parents in Lafayette Park for our session. Oh my word. This girl is adorable.From the moment they got out of the car she was smiling at me and I thought "Alright, this is going to be a good shoot."

Plus I just love the name Mabry. Might have to remember that for the next kiddo we have.

Then we headed over to my favorite alley... Love these...

Thanks Mabry!

Cookie Break

Last weekend my friend Susie came over for a little photo shoot. Only not of her (I snuck a few in anyway), but of her fabulous cookies.

Susie is a friend of ours from Kirksville, MO where she is starting an incredible endeavor. She has been known for her baking for a long time and now she is turning her passion in to a business. And you know I love that!

Cookie Break will deliver fresh cookies right to your door. If you happen to live in Kirksville that is. However, if you drove your butt up there and stayed in a hotel room waiting for Susie to arrive with your box of cookies, it would be worth the trip. Seriously.

Don't even get my started on the snickerdoodles. The last time we went up to K-ville for a visit we stayed at Susie's house and drove home on a snickerdoodle high. Only to be followed by some brutal snickerdoodle withdraw once we got home.

chocolate doozies....
chocolate chip of course...
and a ton of other choices...
She does cakes and cupcakes too. These are the best cupcakes I have ever had. No lie. Its something about the icing. What is in there Susie?!

So call her up and order some or send some to someone you know in K-Ville.

Cookie Break....everybody needs one!

Kristy + Ryan + one adorable dog

Last week on a misty, chilly, fall day met up with Kristy and Ryan in the loft district for their engagement shoot.
Talk about a cute couple. They were so fun to work with, so in love with each other, and to top it all off really photogenic.


As we were walking around Kristy asked me "Are you a dog person?" I guess I could have lied through my teeth and pretended to be a big dog lover but I shrugged and said "Not really". Cuz well... I'm not. Please don't email me about how horrible I am. I like dogs, I've just never owned one. Then I felt pretty bad when she explained that they wanted a few shots of their dog. Woops. I started rethinking my stance on getting a dog when I saw this face...

Meet Guiness... the cutest bulldog alive.

Oh my word.

O.K., back to the couple.

love this one...

And this one might be my fav..

Thanks guys! Can't wait for your wedding!

Keegan 9 mos

When I first met Keegan he was just a tiny peanut....



He is growing so fast! He still has that handsome little face and an awesome little colic swirl that I love.

We hung out in the studio for a bit.
And then we headed outside with mom and dad.Thanks again Keegan! I love watching you grow.

Jon + Heather + Jane

I met up with my friends Jon and Heather and cute little Jane in their neighborhood for a shoot. I love this little family.


The live in a great neighborhood with lots of colors and textures and secret alleys. I love that.
fav...Love this one too....
Thanks guys!

the Honerkamps

Last weekend I met up with the cutest family. The Honerkamps have been married for 30 years and the whole fam got together to celebrate their anniversary with a photo shoot.

Such a sweet couple...

with a really cute family..

That cute blonde on the right is my good friend Maggie. I love photographing friend's families.



Thanks guys! And happy 30th!

fall girls weekend

Remember in this post how I said I had set aside some time for fun in my schedule? Way back in the summer some of my best girlfriends and I marked this weekend down for fun on our calendars. Beth, Amy and I are trying to get together for some girl time a few times a year. Fall is our favorite season so we were all pretty excited to spend some time together this month. We usually head to Columbia, MO where Amy lives, but this time we decided to spend some time in St. Louis doing things that we love doing or have always wanted to do but haven't.We started out on Friday night with dinner at Crepes in the City. Yum. Then headed to the Gelateria Tavolini across the way where it just so happens that Beth's hubby Kurt was playing that night. Sweet. Also they were having what they called "chai party" in which they gave out free samples. We all know that chai is near and dear to me so that worked out well. It was Chad's Chai and I highly recommend it.

Saturday morning we went to Soulard Market which is one of our favorite spots and took in all that the market had to offer. Then we took home a bushel of apples and some pumpkins and gourds.

Next we headed over to the cherokee street antique district and saw a lot of cool things.


And then we headed home to make all kinds of yummy things out of our bushel of apples. We like to cook....and eat.Thanks girls. I needed that.

And now my bed is calling. Tomorrow is going to be a doozy. Here we go!