I’ve known Madison and Tyler for many years through Janice at Big Dog Little Bed and have photographed Tyler a few times for his videographer work there. But this was my first time photographing Madison and Tyler not only has a couple, but as parents to their sweet little boy River. River is SO CUTE and also VERY COOPERATIVE AS A BABY MODEL and also LOVES TO SHOVE SWEET POTATOES IN HIS FACE. He’s fun. He smiles a ton. We taught him how to play a tambourine. He did some swing dancing. He hung out on a backyard hammock. River’s living his best baby life over there. And who can forget Margie the Dog? I painted a portrait of Margie once for my Familiar Dolls side business along with her brother Vernon, and while Vernon is unfortunately no longer with us, Margie is thrilled to have River around. She is an incredibly sweet pup who loves attention and cuddles and insisted that I take at least 5 minutes out of my working schedule to sit with her on the couch (I did). Really she insisted on more than 5 minutes but I had to work and she’s still not over it. We had such a good time together in their beaaaautiful home (that yard!). And now that Geoff’s joined Tyler’s baseball team, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make up for lost Margie time.

Krishna and Dan were one of our last weddings back in 2019 so it was wonderful to see them again!! It turns out that they live very close to us and we go to the same pool so I’m excited to have additional pool friends. I’m also excited because I turned Krishna on to the magnificent world of linen overalls and now I have successfully converted another person into a member of the Garden Witch Pants Club. Krishna and Dan are lovely humans who enjoy travel and hiking and good depressing tv shows. They have an adorable small child named Ari who is a JOY. He is very smiley and loves peekaboo books which make him giggle endlessly (and his entire body jumps up and down when he giggles, which is so fun). When you dress him up in traditional Indian clothes, he looks extremely professional and like he wants to talk to you about your retirement accounts. His favorite pastime involves smiling charmingly at Charlie, their precious terrier mutt, and Charlie’s favorite pastime is running away from Ari. Ari’s second favorite pastime involves eating watermelon in a kiddie pool, which I think is the perfect summertime activity. It’s all very cute and I’m thrilled to have been reunited with this crew!

Abbi and Olivia! It had been a little over 5 years since I saw these two last! I photographed their engagement session and then they got married and then there was a pandemic and then they had a magnificent child named Arlo! They also adopted Basil, a second German Shepherd to be friends with Maizee (but really Basil is Arlo’s bff and buddy. Also Maizee’s bff and buddy. Also your bff and buddy and everyone’s bff and buddy). Arlo loves smiling and watching his Mama and Mom act like dinosaurs, which they do frequently and with great gusto. It’s really incredible to watch. The roars are intense. Arlo loves it. Arlo loves building with blocks and watching Basil swim in the pool. Arlo also loves playing with video game controllers and with his (badass) toy staple gun. Yes, it makes staple gun noises. Yes, it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. And yes, I grabbed it and pretended to staple my clients because that’s what you do with a toy staple gun.

But what Arlo really, really loves is being turned upside down. I think he would’ve let us keep him upside down forever except that’s probably not safe so we made him take breaks but wow. He really loves being upside down when he’s not stapling things. He is heckin’ cute. He’s even more heckin’ cute when we goes swimming but we didn’t put him in a swim diaper so his diaper grew 3 sizes that day and he had a giant baby butt and we just love Arlo. Maizee, the black German Shepherd, is a polite lady who enjoys eating snacks and hanging around with all her friends. Basil is a high-energy ball of barking who is obsessed with tiny balls of reflected light that come from watches, rings, and cameras. She also enjoys swimming and fetching and protecting Arlo and responding to the word “squirrel” with lots of enthusiasm! I’m so happy for this family of 5. They’re so sweet and so kind and I’m glad to know them. I’m also glad that they introduced me to toy staple guns.