52 Weeks of 2013 - Week 34

Enjoying the last few days of summer, before school starts later this week. This was a day with friends, an afternoon spent cooling down, getting soaked, then laying in the sun to dry off, sharing secrets all the while. It's a simple, happy life being a child in the summer.

Family

These two sisters have eight children between them, all aged 6 1/2 and under, (the youngest is only a couple of weeks old) and they still managed to look this good! Seems a little unfair to me :P

All of these children were stunning. In my family, I am surrounded by blue eyes, so I find brown eyes absolutely mesmerizing.

Sometimes I like what might be considered outtakes the best. True personalities shine through.

 So much love from the old baby to the new one.

And even if it's only a few moments, got to get a couple of Mom and Dad together. Life is crazy and hectic with kids and especially a newborn, but that relationship is so important and beautiful.

Thank you for the chance to work with your beautiful family Christine.

If you are interested in family photographs, email me at juanita@juanitacannanphotgraphy.com to find out more or schedule a session.

52 Weeks of 2013 - Week 33

When my wonderful husband moved me to America, 15 years ago this October, I knew nobody other than he. That first weekend we met an engaged couple at church, who invited us over for lunch and thus began a lifelong friendship. We would spend weekends together, roaming San Francisco for parking and some new place to eat, driving aimlessly for hours on our little adventures. We helped to decorate at their wedding, years later we bought houses walking distance from each other, we went through pregnancies and had children together...and that is the fun part because now our children are best friends too.

We aren't neighbors anymore and they have accepted a new position at a new church so things will undoubtedly change, but they will always be people we can count on in our lives. We will just have to be more intentional with our plans. I know from experience that true friends can always pick up where they left off, no matter the distance or time between them. Here's to friendships that last forever, for us AND our kids.

(My sweet boy is missing from these pictures, as he has been hobbling around on crutches, but he is very much a part of the gang too).

52 Weeks of 2013 - Week 32

We had a terrible week of sickness in our house and then we got to go away for a long weekend. It was a little rough, none of us were one hundred percent, but it was good to be away from our usual routine and space and slow down. You see things differently when you slow down instead of racing to the next...whatever it is.

Hubby fought the sickness and I was the last to get it, so everybody else was a little ahead of me in terms of energy and motivation, if not appetite. As the kids and James fished, or played in the water and in kayaks, I mainly sat around or read or slowly meandered, seeing what I could find through my lens. Of course that's something I always love to do.

And we have a lot of changes coming up. Children going back to school, one starting school for the first time, I have a big birthday approaching and a husband getting closer to graduating from Seminary. By the end of the year we will move, somewhere, we do not yet know where, we will be starting anew. Right now I do not have the energy to either wish, or plan, so I will take photographs and live in denial for the time being. When we know more, if you follow the blog, you'll be amongst the first to know!

52 Weeks of 2013 - Week 31

Ah my boy, growing up so quickly. Not yet a man, but certainly not the little boy he once was. He still has an innocence about him, things he has not been exposed to and a simple view of the world. He still knows how to play games full of imagination and pretense, how to build Lego for hours and get lost in a book. He is kind and compassionate and cares deeply about right and wrong. He likes to help and LOVES to cook. He takes great delight in making others laugh.

His foundations are good and I know that he will be a wonderful man and an amazing father some day. It boggles my mind to think of all the changes there have been since he was born, yet alone the changes to come in the years ahead.