: Blyth Family : Sneak Peek : Bend, OR :

No complaints here, but I have A LOT of catch-up to do with my last few photoshoots (fingers crossed, this will be happening this weekend), but I just had to share a couple of photos from one of the shoots I did with Grout, Galen, Ava and Miles this past weekend. Honestly, I know I've told a couple of you this, but I felt like I was in the middle of a banana republic shoot with a couple of Gap kids running around. I realize I'm a bit biased, but the four of them make a pretty darn cute family. Check back for more photos from this shoot and others over at head over heels...soon!

:: Takin' off for Bend, OR ::

Tonight I'm flying down to Bend to hang out with these two -

And to celebrate this adorable little girls 3rd birthday! I can.not.believe that Miss Ava is turning 3 years old - honestly where has the time gone? I remember, like yesterday, the day that Galen called to tell me that Ava had been born. Steve and I were out on Lake Washington with Jamie having a relaxing dinner, I cried a bit and Jamie and I toasted Ava's arrival with a bottle of champagne.

Happy Birthday Ava - can't wait to kiss your cute little face and eat cake with you - love you!

Stacie's 30th Birthday Party :: Kirkland, WA

Thursday night, Kevin and Stacie few out to Seattle from Boston to celebrate Stacie's 30th Birthday. Friday I was lucky enough to enjoy lunch at the beach with Stacie and Michelle and then hang out again at her surprise party. Kevin truly pulled off the perfect surprise party. He completely shocked Stacie by having her friends all meet up at Hectors at 7:30pm on Friday while they were having drinks at Cactus. He even arranged for a private room, appetizers AND he created a slideshow of Stacie's life. As seen in the {blog appropriate} photos below, the night was a huge success!

Happy 30th Birthday Stace! I hope your journey back west was worth every second of it! Love you!

:: Cougar Football Saturday ::

Saturday morning we packed up our things and headed down to the Cougar tailgate at Qwest. Definitely not a memorable game for any Coug fan, but still a lot of fun to hang out with friends. Unfortunately, until the Cougs improve their game, I think we'll have to look at the Cougar viewing parties as a time to get together with good friends and socialize. The almost 90 degree temps definitely helped all of us enjoy the day just a bit more. Steve and I also attended the Hawks game on Sunday, which was much more enjoyable - thankfully we them as our winning team this season.

Coug girls at the tailgate

Lauren and Shawn

Baby Jacob the Lil' Cougar

Rauh and Spry

The Giess'

Steve and me

Jeremy and Marge aka the cheer coach

Wade and his adorable baby girl, Amelia

Jake and Amelia - debating on whether or not to go on a second date

The Burrell's

Lynne and Fitz

I think the Cougs lost our attention at 35 - 0

{ 4 Day } Weekend Recap

Thursday night after work I drove straight to East Wenatchee to meet this beautiful baby girl.


view additional photos here

Delane gave birth early which made it very convenient for me to take a day off from work and head over for a visit and a photoshoot. We spent half of the day in our pj's hanging out around the house figuring out new shot locations, etc. I prefer natural light (no flash) newborn photos and their house was ideal with beautiful sunlight coming in through all of the windows. As I've mentioned before, Delane and Kevin's home is so incredibly comfortable and beautiful that I always feel like I'm staying in a luxury hotel when visiting.

I headed out late Friday afternoon, leaving behind beautiful blue, Eastern WA sunny skies for dreary weather on the westside of the state. Friday night we packed up the trailer and preparied for our first Whidbey Island weekend getaway with friends that have made this an annual Labor Weekend festivity. Saturday morning, we caught the 1pm Mukilteo ferry and headed over to Lynne's family cabin in Greenbank. The theme of the weekend was "80s attire only." With that said, Steve and I found some last minute gems at the Value Village in Kent. I had debated about not posting photos of myself as I'm pretty embarassed of both mine and Steve's attire, but figured it had to be shared. As unattractive as the "mom jeans" were they were actually quite comfortable - ha! The two days at Whidbey were a blast and to top it off, my partner Devin and I took home the trophies for going undefeated in the weekend sporting activities.











Sunday morning we caught an early ferry with the rest of the group, hurried home, and left again for Maddy's 1st birthday party. I haven't attended many first birthday parties, but it's always so cute to see how the kids react to their cake and all of the guests. Per usual, Jenny prepared some excellent food and she and Nick threw a great party with friends and family that had traveled as far away as Bozeman to celebrate with Maddy.

Tutu and onesie were both made by Jenny - she taught herself how by watching a video on YouTube - she is quite the crafty lady these days

Maddy was more concerned about how messy she was getting from the frosting than actually enjoying the cake

Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!

{ FOF 12 }

For the past twelve years my cousins, Matt and Mike, have thrown a huge summer camping trip called Friends of Fitch aka FOF. Despite the fact that Matt lives in DC and Mike in Vegas, they continue to make the trip out west each summer for this so perfectly planned camping trip. The first few years were held somewhere in the Palouse, followed by a few years at Kitsap Lake and then Cle Elum. This year it was a held at a huge field in Port Gamble, which is about 10 minutes north of the Kingston Ferry. Steve and I drove over Friday afternoon, set up our "Cougar" camp and then caught up with friends and relatives we hadn't seen in a while.

On Saturday, Steve and I were bad FOF'ers and left the camp spot (and huge sloshball game) and went out exploring. First stop, Port Gamble where there was a car show going on, which of course made Steve very happy. Next, we continued north over the Hood Canal bridge and walked about Port Townsend - I've been there before, but I think it's probably been 20 years. After some ice cream and a few antique shops, we continued on to Fort Worden. This stop was quite nostalgic for both of us as we used to camp/rent cabins with our families at Fort Worden when we were kids. After this fun day of touring around a part of the state that we rarely visit, we headed back to camp in time for dinner and the flip-cup tournament. The weekend was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to FOF 13.

Main street - Port Gamble

Fort Worden


Looking north from Fort Worden towards Whidbey Island

Emily, Cousin Shannon and me

On our drive back home on Sunday, we stopped by my aunt and uncles house in Indianola, went to the little country store, got lunch and ate out on the Indianola dock. I used to spend my entire summers in Indianola and now with how busy we are, we only get back a couple of times a year, but I still enjoy showing Steve my grandparents old house and walkng around on the beach.

This photo shows just one of the many reasons why my weekend was so fabulous...

My wonderful/handy husband purchased a propane shower and outdoor camping shower tent, knowing how pleased I would be with a warm shower on a weekend camp trip. Seriously worth every dime!