Gone Fishin'! (sorta)

After a jam-packed week, I am now officially on vacation. In about 10 hours, I'll be on a plane bound for Paris. Well, actually I'll be on a plane bound for San Francisco, after which I'll haul my cookies to a connection to Washington, D.C., from where I'll board a plane to Paris. BUT STILL.

I'll be on vacation with my super awesome husband, celebrating the 10 years since our wedding day. And that's cause for a "woooooohoooooo!"

Since I'm leaving my three yahoos behind, I thought I'd disconnect from blogland with a few shots from a recent morning at the beach. I hope you are all enjoying your summer and soaking up everything that is good and fun... See you August 13th!











Au revior!

Coming Up for Air

The last week or so has been busy, busy, busy, and it looks like things are going to get even crazier as I gear up for an extra special vacation. With that in mind, I thought I'd come up for air and post a quick pic and a brief update.

I think I've finally slept off the effects of Sunday's triathlon. I swore that I wouldn't post another shot of me in this lovely outfit after sharing too much last year (I'm not even going to post the link; if you want to see that action you'll have to dig for it). But my pal Summer got her fanny to the pool veeeery early on Sunday morning to count my swimming laps, and she snapped this pic with her phone. Since it's not very high res, and since most of my body is hidden behind my husband's -- and since a post is no good without a photo of some sort, right? -- I'm sharing it with you. Voila:



That handsome man did the race in an hour and 33 minutes, by the way. What a stud!

I had also planned to post a few shots from last week's visit to our very dear friends in Camarillo, but since my friend Viv did such a fabulous job documenting and blogging our stay with her family, I'm going to cop out and simply link you to her blog. You won't be disappointed, especially if you're a fan of incredible photography and spend a few minutes surfing through her stuff. Her speciality is kids' and family portraiture, but her travel photos simply amaze me as well. If one day I am even half the photographer, mom and friend she is, I will be thrilled.

Speaking of travel photography, I will be trying my hand at it in the next couple of weeks, as Brian and I leave for Paris on Sunday. It's our tenth anniversary, and somehow we actually managed to pull off an international jaunt to mark the occasion. I'm ecstatic about the opportunity, but first I must make my way through three more sessions and get three other galleries online. Whew! Wish me luck!

Catching Up With Little Friends

You may remember when I photographed these two sweeties last winter. They were so darling, and they looked downright angelic when they slept. We pulled together a fun birth announcement following the session... here's a look a the front:



Well, L & L are six months old now and we got together on Sunday for a family session. I recommended taking advantage of the pretty evening light, and I was so glad I did; it was beautiful outside. A little warm, too, but these two and their parents hung in there like champs.







How yummy are these little people?









And I just loved when the little miss gave her brother some pats. He liked it, too, until she gave his hair a little tug. ;)



I guess this was another fairly large preview, but I couldn't help diving right into editing. I'm trying hard to stay on track and wrap up all outstanding editing and order fulfillment before heading on vacation August 1. So far, so good...

Turning a Page

Last night's session was another one of those that turned out to be a long time coming. Originally conceived of by her mom as a surprise Father's Day gift for S's dad, the idea was to document the transition from junior high school girl to high schooler as she graduated one school and geared up for the next.

Clearly, we didn't make the Father's Day deadline, but I am so glad that we were able to catch her during this summer of transition. And catching her isn't easy, by the way. This girl is a phenomenal athlete who jets from one practice or workout to the next. Not an abundance of downtime for this one. :)

Without further adieu, I present her sneak peek. It's another big one, as I couldn't resist sharing several images...























And this one might just might be my favorite of the session. Doesn't she look like a strong and vibrant young woman with so much ahead of her?



Thanks again to S and her mom for making this happen. I can't wait to put everything together for you.

A New Family

Sometimes, I get to capture images of a new family because a newborn arrives. This week's new family is coming together through an upcoming marriage, and I was grateful to help document this equally exciting time.

Little Miss K has been a friend of our family for a few years now, ever since she started preschool with my younger son. It is fun to see her growing up into such a cute -- and spunky -- little lady.

Congratulations, D & C. I look forward to sharing your full gallery before I head off for vacation at the end of the month!

Happy Birthday to My Big E :)

Yesterday marked the third Clausen kid birthday in about 60 days. Yes, this time of year is busy and celebratory in our house.

Big E finally made it to 8. He had a countdown posted in his room for quite awhile, and he marked off the days as they ticked by. On top of that, he was psyched to plan out his entire day, starting from the minute he woke up.

Actually, he started earlier. He requested that his whole family sleep in a tent in the backyard on the night before his birthday, so that he could wake up to kick off his celebrations with all of us there. We obliged him... some of us happily, others only because he's our kid. The thing is, the waking up part didn't quite go as planned. It turned out that we woke at 5:30 a.m. to rain -- yes, rain -- landing on our faces. (We'd left the top of the tent uncovered so that we could stargaze before bed. Who would've expected RAIN in July?)

Anyway, we hustled the kids, our bedding and ourselves inside, and we wished him a him a happy birthday before asking that no one disturb us for at least a couple of hours. Personally, I was thrilled to climb into a real bed, as I'd been sleeping horribly in that tent. A camper, I am not.

Eventually, we all got up, and the celebrating commenced. There was coffee (phew), there were presents, and there was a pancake the size of E's head. No, bigger. I got photos of all of that, but I forgot to prep them for the blog, so instead I present THE PARTY.

It was a good time at the pool, with several of his favorite friends on hand. There were contests to see who could pull off the best bellyflop...



and pencil jump...



and land with the craziest splash (those are Uncle Tito's legs there)...



There were group jumps...





and a pinata...



that proved a little tough to bust open...



until Uncle Tito got involved...





There was family on hand...



and an AMAZING cake, made by our friend Amy VanBrasch...



and special buddies...



and this little -- I mean BIG -- dude had an all-around great time.



I can't believe another year has flown by. Didn't he JUST turn seven?

Beautiful Soul

Last week, I had the pleasure of changing up my routine by photographing a sweet girl shortly before her 11th birthday. My sessions have revolved around babies and toddlers lately, and they've primarily been indoors. While I'm by no means complaining -- I adore that kind of work -- it felt good to get outside and enjoy a pretty evening with an even lovelier girl.

A is such a gentle, beautiful soul. She has a passion for sewing and horses, among other things, and it was fun to hear her tell me about both. She loves her American Girl dolls, tree climbing and berries, and she was excited about documenting all of these things during our session. I felt honored to help her capture the essence of HER during this special time in her life. As her mom and I talked about before the session, it's all too fleeting.

This preview is much bigger than my usual peeks, but I couldn't resist sharing a more comprehensive look at this session and this special girl.







She styled the berry basket just for the session. :)













Just noticed that everything I grabbed and edited for the preview is vertical... I promise, I did shoot horizontally as well!