Madison Claire Foundation

Last Wednesday night, we had the honor of being involved in an extraordinary evening. The Millington's, a family we have gotten to know over the past year, organized an American Idol Finale Bash at Prestwick Golf Course in Woodbury. Their foundation was created in the memory of their daughter, Madison Claire Millington, and dedicated to helping children and families diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and other life threatening illnesses & disabilities. All proceeds from the evening went toward the building of a barrier free playground
in Woodbury. The event was a tremendous success with over 50 families attending and

$15 000 raised for the playground! Whoohoo!! And to top it off, everyone there had a blast!! There was a kids' buffet, an adult buffet, kids' raffle, kids (and adult) karaoke, a silent auction and TWO HUGE SCREENS showing the American Idol finale! We even had the pleasure of two Minnesota Vikings cheerleaders who posed for photos and signed autographs.

Whether you were cheering for David Cook or David Archuleta, everyone went home a winner! Thanks to everyone there who made the evening such a success!!
If you are interested in making a donation to the Madison Claire Foundation, please check out their website at: http://www.madisonclairefoundation.org/

Honestly, we do have the best jobs in the world!! Capturing images of three siblings ages 6 months, 2 years and 7 years old can be somewhat challenging....however, this family made it a breeze! And just take a look at some of the results! It will be so exciting for them to see the finished images this week at their ordering appointment.

This family came very well prepared. Joe, 7 years old, arrived at the studio with his superman suitcase filled with various options to include in the photo shoot. He was also a very good sport when he danced with his sister to the High School Musical CD which happens to be a family favorite (not to mention one of Melissa and Robin's favorite's at the studio!) Madelyn, 2 years old, was very much ALL girl which is good since she is the middle sibling to two brothers! And Brady, the baby, was super smiley the whole time! Such a pleasure! Can't you see why we have the best jobs around????

A Litter of Puppies!

I have the best job EVER! I cannot imagine doing anything else. Last week I had the pleasure to make portraits of the cutest litter of Irish Setter puppies - all 9 of them. They were adorable, and it was a HUGE challenge not to just fall in love and bring one (or three) home. Our kids would have been excited, but the cats would have been offended, our dog would probably not be overjoyed, and the husband ... well. So I thought the least I could do is share the good fortune of the happiness of the experience with you. Enjoy!

Sweet sisters

These sweet sisters came in last week for their session and we couldn't wait to post them here on the blog. They are both darling. It wasn't long before they were totally comfortable in the studio and having fun. We feel like we captured their energy and sweetness! We even got the opportunity to try out our new wings (thanks!). We are excited that they are having a baby sibling this summer and can't wait to create images of all three someday soon!

Vote now! 2 new polls!

Vote for your favorites! I am thinking summer, and thought everyone else might like to too. Must be the sun and temperature. Things are feeling warmer. Yeah!

Quick Trip, Fun Visit

For those of you who don't know, I have a brother and sister-in-law living in the crazy world of Los Angeles. Last week I took the opportunity to take my oldest daughter for a visit, grandma was along for the ride too. We had an incredible time filled with many firsts. She had her first plane ride, first view of the ocean, first time in the ocean, first jelly fish, first ferris wheel! As always I wondered why we live here, where it was cold and rainy, when there are sunny and warm places to be. It is wonderful to be able to step out of the everyday routine of life for a moment and see the world through the eyes of my daughter. (On a side note - my younger daughter still sees the world and everything in it as "mine"). Enjoy!

Singing in the rain!

Even on one of our yucky rainy spring days, we made it outside for part of this session! Doesn't Frankie make you want to sing in the rain? She was not bothered by the less than ideal conditions and this top image has become a favourite of ours. She and her mom and her grandma had a lovely session with us. We will post more on this generational session soon...it has inspired us to develop a special event! More to come.... Thank heaven for little girls indeed!

when the studio went to the dogs...

A little over a month ago, we had a day of dogs! This is just a sample of the wonderful four-legged friends we made that day. In total, we had 9 dogs in the studio that day (check back soon for more images!) They were all extremely well-behaved and a pleasure to capture on film! They really made themselves at home in the studio and were not shy with their new surroundings. (I think the treats we had in our pockets helped!) Our biggest "model" was a beautiful great dane named Basin and our smallest was McMurphy, the sweet yorkie poo. And as you can see, we had many in between these two. So fun! We can't wait for our next "day of dogs" soon!

Spring in the City

Yes, spring is here...although it doesn't quite feel like it yet! These siblings came in a couple of weeks ago to the studio for a photo session and we were lucky enough to head outside for some images in downtown Saint Paul's Mears Park. Aren't they are best looking siblings around? These images really captured their fun and loving relationships with each other. They are very sweet with one another! We can't wait for their parents to come back to their viewing appointment soon and see everything....they are going to be thrilled!
(We had to add this image of their feet...we loved it! Check out those heels!!)