My sweet little niece, Olivia, was born on election day. Amid all the excitement and hope and push for change in this country, she entered the world, tiny and perfect. My SIL went through labor like a champ and nearly as quickly as it began, it was over. I was lucky enough to be in the hospital shortly after Olivia was born, but we scheduled another session for a few days later, when things had quieted down.
Without further ado, I present Olivia Morgan and her very, very happy family. 
A couple days after visiting the Vega Family, I headed down to Portland, Oregon area to hang out with more family and friends. It was a whirlwind trip – only about 24 hours – but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
While there, I met up with my good friend, Carla. Several years ago, I interviewed for a job working in a courier office as an admin assistant. While the office was busy, everyone seemed nice and I looked forward to getting to know my potential coworkers. Suddenly, a small girl-shaped tornado flew into the office where I was being interviewed. This woman had more energy in her pinky than I had possessed in my whole lifetime. After I was hired, I was a bit overwhelmed by this force of energy… until we started working side by side in the small office space. And I found out she is one of the funniest people I will ever know. She can make me double over laughing like no one else. And she has one of the biggest hearts a human being can possess. Yessir, I love my Carla Ann.
Eventually, as we all seem to do, we moved on. I left the company after a few years and she later moved to Oregon. We kept in touch and when she told me she was pregnant, I was ecstatic for her. And when I found out I would be visiting only a few months after, I was excited to meet her new son, Michael, as well.
While Carla is still a force, motherhood has softened her. The joy she feels as she holds him in her arms and looks at him is apparent to all who sees her. I’m so, so happy for my friend.
Congratulations, Carla! It was so good to see you!
My day started, as many other Americans’ day started, with this:
But by that afternoon, I headed to the hospital for the newest change in the family…
Congratulations to my brother, sister-in-law and their family. And welcome to the world, Little Olivia!
While it did not rain even ONCE while I was in Seattle for a whole week, it is only appropriate that when I start the first of my Seattle posts, it is pouring down rain here in SoCal. (The timing of this downpour is uncanny as it NEVER rains in San Diego. Seriously. Weird.)
As soon as I knew I was headed to Seattle, I pretty much made it my goal to meet as many fabulous Seattle photographers as I could. I also made it my goal to rekindle friendships with Seattle people I had fallen out of touch with over the years. So it was pretty much assured that I was going to hang out with the Vega family because they fall into both of these categories.
I’ve known Adam since high school. We hung out in the same group, shared a similar sense of humor, and even shared some of the same classes. Or dated people who were in the same classes. Anyway… I do know that Adam was a lot of fun back then and shows up in a lot of my photographs from around that time. After high school, as often happens, the old group drifted apart. Some got married… some moved to different states… some started families. But it wasn’t until social networking sites like MySpace came around that we got reacquainted. We messaged back and forth, caught up on things that had happened over the years and eventually I was following their family blog, written by Adam’s wife, Erin, a photographer herself. It was reading her blog and seeing her gorgeous pictures that helped fuel my own photography bug. When they heard I was coming up to Seattle, they booked a session with me. (Which made me both excited to see an old friend and nervous about photographing a photographer’s family!)
But I shouldn’t have worried. They were gracious and fun and awesome hosts as they took me around the city. We spent the day riding the ferry, walking around Seattle, wearing out the kids, eating good food and drinking great beer.  The day couldn’t have been more perfect if we tried. Thank you so much, Adam, Erin, Ashlyn and Ben! You guys are the best!!Â
We started out on the ferry coming over to Seattle from the island where they live. It was so windy!
Once we got got off the ferry, we headed to Alki Beach. After getting something to eat from a little cafe, we went over to the beach, much to Ashlyn and Ben’s delight. While the kids were busy chasing seagulls and looking for starfish in the cold water, I spent a little time with Adam and Erin.
This family adores each other….
Initially we drove past this cool spot across the street from the beach where the trees were aflame. I thought we might be able to find another spot like it but eventually Erin and I agreed that it was too perfect to pass up. Even though Adam was driving a gigantic SUV, he navigated us back like a champ.
As the day was winding down, we found ourselves in the Pike Place Market and had to visit the original Starbucks for sustenance.Â
And even though it wasn’t raining at the time, Erin wanted to pay homage to Seattle…
Thank you! I had such a great time… I can’t wait to come back!Â
