One of the greatest joys for me as a photographer is working with families in all of the different seasons of their lives. I first met the B family when Flora was an itty bitty newborn. A year and a half later, and she's about to be a big sister! Julia was so eager to capture this time in her family's life, caught somewhere in between three and four. And no wonder-- isn't she just glowing? Here's to the beautiful little miracle Julia is growing -- I can't wait to meet this new precious little girl in just a few weeks!

Last Friday, Luke graduated with the highest honors, and is heading off to Grove City College in the Fall where he'll be playing goalie for their men's soccer team while studying computer science. (For those of you keeping track at home, you can check off dashingly good looks, athleticism AND brains to boot...and one embarrassingly proud sister).

When faced with equally accumulating piles of dishes and books, maternity leave has seen me choose the latter. Regularly having only one arm at my disposal has made the choice rather straightforward, but I can't pretend it's been some sort of sacrifice. Books are one of my great solaces in life. It has been years since I've read at the pace I've been going over the past few weeks and despite barely leaving the house and always spouting a fresh coat of spit up on my clothing, it's felt like a breath of fresh air. 

I recently made it through Celeste Ng's "Little Fires Everywhere," (beautiful!) on a great recommendation, when a quote about parenthood struck me to my core:

Oh, this darling family! In this beautiful light! The Cook Family is new to the Pittsburgh area, and wanted to celebrate their perfect little family with a Fall Lifestyle Session. Somehow in between the cloudy gray drizzle of the last week, these rays of sunshine snuck through and we took full advantage. It was such a joy to be able to capture the love between this family, from the way daddy could ALWAYS make baby girl laugh, to the sweet snuggles in mama's arms, to the way all three of them fit so perfectly together.

17-year-old Rachel would tell you that this is exactly how I envisioned my own senior portrait session going...in the alternate reality where I lived on a farm and rode horses everyday and was a champion equestrian. Even now, more than a decade later, there is something about the beauty and strength of horses that takes my breath away! So when Susie contacted me and asked me if we could incorporate her love of riding into her session, I knew it was a match made in heaven.