Baby Zachary :: Newborn Session

A few months back I had the pleasure of taking Patrick & Noel's maternity pictures. We had a great time and I couldn't wait to meet their little man and capture him in his newborn glory. Fast forward a few months and here we are documenting a day in the first few weeks of this little guy's life. 

Zachary was a total doll, sleeping through prop adjustments, being handed back and forth from me to mom and back, and letting dad set him up on his drums. (In case you didn't know, Patrick is the drummer for a local band in San Diego, 321Stereo. That reminds me I still need to post pictures from the band shoot!) 

appropriate shirt for a daddy who's in a band! 

Anyway, back to Zach. He slept for most of the shoot but woke up in the middle of it to eat of course, but to also see what all the fuss was about! 

 

 hey there buddy...

 puppy loves Zach too!

And just for fun:

I had a great time documenting such a special time in this sweet family's life. Noel & Patrick, thank you again for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such wonderful memories. Enjoy this time together with your new little family! One of these days we'll finally do dinner!! 

♥

mandi

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Ellis Family :: A Sweet Homecoming

It's hard for me to write this post without getting a tad bit emotional so bear with me. I was honored to be asked to take some "homecoming" pictures of the Ellis family this last week. Rosa is a friend of mine from Mary Kay and John is her husband who has been on deployment with the USMC. When she floated the idea of taking these pictures I readily agreed, not really thinking deeply about it. I knew he was coming back from being gone for over 6 months and that she and their daughter were VERY excited to have him home! I thought, sure that will be fun, a new experience for me. I never really stopped to think how emotional the day would be...for them...and for me apparently. The daughter of a Navy mom, I've been through a few deployments in my day...but always as a child. Now that I'm a mom and wife it's a different experience. At least that's what I came to find out while waiting with Rosa and Eva and their family for John's return.

As I observed other families, wives, and parents welcoming their loved ones home, I fought back tears imagining what it would be like if B was still enlisted and we were the ones anxiously waiting his arrival. It was a completely new perspective and I couldn't help but feel honored to be a part of something so special in their lives. 

seeing John walking up...

 

John, thank you for serving our country selflessly and for helping to protect our freedom. Rosa, I am truly blessed to have been a part of this special day and I am so thankful that you trusted me with such a task. I'm so happy that you all are together again. 

 

 One of my faves from the day.

♥

mandi

Father's Day :: Mini Sessions

So one of my friends from church had asked me to do some pictures of her little man for Father's Day...you might remember him from his previous photo shoot! Anyway, we got to talking and she mentioned possibly getting a few other moms together who might want to get some pictures done as well. Duh, I totally should have thought about offering mini sessions earlier than the week before the holiday, but oh well! Nothing like last minute...sometimes we work best under pressure right?! Ha. Ok, back to my story. So I said, sure, I'd love to shoot the kiddos for daddy day presents! It was bound to be a good time! We set it up for the Tuesday before Father's Day. I had no idea who was coming or how many but I knew we would have a good time, regardless. 

 These girls were cracking me up with their "gang" signs! Haha!

 You're killing me girl...

 Love their laughs!!

I asked her mom if she was shy and she laughed...I'd say that was a NO! :)

 Hey there cutie!

 

   

 Gorgeous!

LOVE.

 Too cool for school...

 

 So fun...

I ended up having three different families to shoot, and we had a blast! Everyone was so excited and all the kiddos did a fabulous job! I will definitely have to do something like this again...perhaps 4th of July?! Haha. Thank you McKensie, Angela, & Tifiny for letting me capture such fun memories for you and your families. I hope you all had a blast!!

♥

mandi