John and Lindsey + Caroline

One of the things I really love about my job is watching the lives of my clients unfold. A few years ago John contacted me about coming along with him and secretly documenting his proposal to Lindsey. It was so fun watching her reaction when he got down on one knee and capturing such an important moment for them in photos. A year or so later I had the pleasure of being their wedding photographer.



I was excited to hear from John and Lindsey this year that they were expecting their first child and honored that I would get to do their maternity and newborn photos.



Caroline surprised everyone by making her entrance a few weeks early. Good thing we that maternity session in when we did! What a beautiful family...





Congratulations you guys! She is beautiful!

Jen & Steve + their three cute kids

Last week I got to spend some time with my friends Jen and Steve and their three cute kids. They booked this shoot with me a looong time ago and the day had finally come.



Their youngest, Nathan, is the cutest little butter bean you ever saw. He had the whole family cracking up.





I love these two moments I was fortunate enough to catch...





Such sweet little faces...





Jen suggested I get some balloons for the kids. So...I did. I got 36" ones. They were so fun! We started with 4 and ended up with two. That's the thing about balloons, you can't do somersaults with them :).







Thanks for a fun afternoon guys!

Amy & Mark

One of my closest friends Amy is getting married next month to her love, Mark. I met up with them in Columbia last weekend for an engagement shoot.



Are they cute or what? This is what happens when you ask fun people to harness their inner model for a "sultry look". Love it.



Mark has an awesome truck that was his Grandpa's. We took it out for a little spin.




Love this one...



And then we enjoyed the last few minutes of the sun and played in a field for a bit.





Can't wait for your wedding guys!

Tate Boy - 6 mos 6 days

Tate Boy, I can't believe you are six months old already. Its all going a little too fast for me. I thought sure you would have lots of dark hair and hazel eyes and here you are with those baby blues and peach fuzz. I love it. You got your first tooth last week. You are so sweet and gentle. You have been trying out your voice a lot lately and so far you sound just like Prince when you scream. Its hard to remember what life was like before you were around. We love having you in our family.

I'm back...with Beth and family

Its October already. The weather is beautiful, the leaves are changing, and I am back shooting after taking 6 months maternity leave. Who better to start back up with than my friend Beth and her always adorable fam?



Lily is always on the run. She kept running up to me and holding her arms out so I would pick her up. Its hard to resist that little face...






Oh Westie, you always make my heart melt. I remember when you were a wee nugget.







I snapped a few of Beth and Kurt at the end of our shoot. Look at those smiles, you would never know that both kids were screeching in the stroller.



Love you guys.

I am all booked up with shoots through November, but if you want to brave the winter weather for a shoot (sledding pics?!) or want to book ahead for spring then shoot me an email... info@erinduggin.com

beach withdrawals

We spent last week at the beach. Just the four of us. The long drive there was rough, but once we got there it was wonderful. Marlie loved the beach. She was the perfect age for playing in the ocean and the sand.



Tate boy was a little dream boat. He took long naps (I did too), and let us cart him around wherever we went with a smile.





We read books. We put the kids to bed early and ate dinner together on the balcony. We played scrabble. On our last night we went out to the beach for our own little photo shoot. Which is kind of funny because it pretty much means we got dressed up and hoped someone nice would walk by and take our picture. And a nice man did.



And then I took some of my favorite people.





My heart skipped a beat when I snapped this one...



Such a nice vaca. And Now I'm having beach withdrawals. Thank you Terry and Mary for another amazing week at your place!

shopping with Beth

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, then you've heard me talk about my friend Beth. Well, a few months ago Beth and her sweet family moved about 30 minutes away. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is. We've lived no more than 10 minutes from each other for the last 6 years. We've raised our kids together, we work together, our lives are intertwined. They still are, but we talk on the phone more than see each other these days. We are praying that it is temporary and making time to hang out whenever we can.

Each Thursday night Beth heads east, I head west, and we meet at a "mom and pop" little grocery store to do our weekly shopping together. We shop in peace with no squirmy kiddos, we get $10 off our $50 purchase, we get our groceries for the week, we get to see each other. Its a win win.



The store is quaint and quirky and I love it. We started shopping here when we both wanted to try and shop for food that was grown or made locally. They have all kinds of things that you can't get at other stores. Like this butter that makes anything I bake taste little better...



And the cheese, don't even get me started...



They also have some funny props around like this guy...



Is it me or does it seem like he might be about to squeeze the crap out of that kitten rather than pet it?

Beth is really good at getting her grocery bill right at $50, I am not so good at it. Although this particular day she was a little bit under and had to buy two huge bags of tortilla chips :). I think she might have a fiesta this week.



We get our shopping done as quickly as we can and then we meet down the road at the Quick Trip gas station where we get ourselves slurpees.



We sit in one of our minivans, drink our slurpees, and catch up on each other's lives. I'm pretty sure that the people who work at QT think that we are secret lovers, who also love slurpees, who rendezvous on Thursday nights. But we're just friends that like to take some time out to talk. Cuz that's what good friends do.

A few years ago I never would have thought that one day, a fun night out would consist of grocery shopping or minivan sittin. But it does, and I love it.