The P Family - Omaha Nebraska Family Photographer

When my Aunt K asked if I would be interested in taking some photos of her family and my adorable cousin K, I jumped at the chance. Not only would it give me an excuse to visit, but it would be my first official photo shoot since the move to Nebraska. I was so excited I could hardly stand it!

On the day of the shoot, my husband and I loaded up our daughter and our dog to go and spend the day with the P Family. The nice thing about spending a day (or half a day) with a family is that you get a huge variety of shots and great moments to photograph. I had a hard time narrowing down which ones I wanted to include in the blog, but here are a few of my favorites:

I Heart Faces - "People's Choice" - Best Face from March

March was a long month in our house. Between my husband, my daughter and I, we were sick for pretty much the entire month with a nasty cold that we just couldn't shake. As soon as my daughter finally started feeling better, she was back to her old self--eating, playing, climbing on the furniture, making messes and making silly faces. Our favorite face is her Gene Simmons Kiss face, taught to her by her Daddy. One night, as she was playing in the tub after a feast of pasta and blueberries, I was lucky enough to catch her doing her best Gene Simmons impersonation. This was, by far, our best face from March.

I Heart Faces Challenge - Slice of Life

Whatever you call it--candid, photojournalistic, lifestyle photography--I've always been drawn to it. I don't like fake-looking props or frozen say-cheese smiles. Maybe it's the writer in me, but I want a photo to tell a story. I want a photo to look like I pressed the PAUSE button on life, freezing a moment in time.

For this week's I Heart Faces Challenge, I chose a photo of my sweet daughter. It seems she might be taking after her writer Momma. There's just something about her intensity when she gets a pen or crayon in her hand that takes me back to those first days when my own obsession began to take shape. Perhaps, one day, I will have the pleasure of reading her stories.

I Heart Photos Challenge - Sun Flare

If there is one thing that there is plenty of in Arizona, it's sunlight, and while that can make for an absolutely unbearable summer, it can also be a photographer's dream. One day, while taking advantage of the late afternoon light and getting some shots of my daughter in the backyard, I managed to capture this image, and to this day, it is one of my favorite photos of her. 

Try to explain it rationally all you want--sun flare on the lens, a bird or airplane capturing her attention at just the right moment, a mere coincidence--it's photos like this that just have a way of rekindling our belief in guardian angels. And perhaps, that day, Cadence and I caught a glimpse of ours.

Bravi Tuscan Kitchen

During my recent visit to Arizona, Bravi Tuscan Kitchen in Glendale was on my list of restaurants to visit. Bravi Tuscan Kitchen is an example of the new fast-casul dining craze, which combines partial self-service (ordering at a counter and having your food delivered to your table) with delicious, homemade gourmet food at a fraction of the cost of most full-service restaurants. From the stone oven pizzas to the freshly made pasta dishes, Bravi has something to satisfy all your Italian cravings.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day: