the hope of families is to raise up successful families… the sad part in today’s world is this usually means separation by distances as school and jobs relocate our children. the following is documentation of the Wardlow family ~ 4 generations represented. it is the first time they have all been in the one place at the same time for many years. in my work, a story needs to be told… what is living and going on between the people. the beauty to me is that it isn’t perfect and little ones do make funny faces and cry… but it is representational of what is perfect for this family ~ hence, the sign “together”. that wasn’t exactly their vision for the shoot, but i am happy they allowed it for some of the images… that point to me was the most defining of what was occurring. there is a lot of love here and a lot of happy. i can still hear the robust laughter when they all got silly and the incessant chatter – i hear music!! i am less than formal and love it when my clients can embrace something outside the box of ‘usual’ photo stuff. thanks for going with me on this gayla, and for those of the family that drove the hundreds of miles to make this happen (i think greg and sandy)! teenagers, you were really special to me. your love showed for each other and your embracing and helping with the little ones helped me immeasureably ~ and i will remember you all. my husband got in on this evening as it took 2 cars to haul all the props to our location… he now understands why my legs ache a little after a big busy event 😉

all because of these faithful two!!

(if you have ever watched ‘romancing the stone’… in the beginning where the author, joan wilder, is crying at the end of her own book ~ that is me today. families do happen because of love and two people. i toast this completion with a hershey’s kiss.)