My good friend, Nikki, and I met through a mutual friend, Susie. We were moving to the north shore around the same time, and as it turns out, we were only a few blocks apart in the old hood. Nikki didn't know me any better than a stranger from the street, but she was more than happy to connect me with the daycare that she has her older daughter registered at. The entire correspondence was online, until months later after we had settled into our home, I finally got a chance to meet her in person at the daycare. We were both pregnant at the time and a few weeks before our second babies were born, we made plans to hang out for our maternity leave. Our second daughters were born eight days apart and we had the same midwives; lots of stories to exchange about our birthing experience and commiserating about the early days of infancy and lack of sleep and challenges of nursing. And then the fun began! We signed up for boot camp classes, got back our fitness, and I'm very thankful for this - Nikki convinced me it was a good idea to do the grouse grind with a bunch of other mamas over the summer. Those were glorious days - we had one child at daycare and we were able to enjoy our days with our seconds, and find time to exercise, and enjoy the sunshine. Our families got a chance to know each other too, which was wonderful! That year flew by so fast, and then it was time for us to go back to work. Except I didn't.

As mothers, we are always filled with some amount of guilt, no matter what decisions we make. For Nikki, her work life is important to her and she's worked tremendously hard at it. But it didn't mean it was easy to go back to work. She pondered and planned long and hard on how to achieve balance and I think she's done it splendidly - work, family, and finding ways to fill her cup too. It takes such strength and clarity to be able to keep that balance - I'm so proud of you, Nikki. And even through all of that, she always finds time for her friends. And for that I am so grateful; whether it is playdates with our girls, or a quick catch up at kids' parties, or a nice chat at the end of our family session.

A saturday morning at the beach is not complete without overturning lots of rocks to find the scurrying little crabs. You can tell Nikki and Jeb have some seasoned beach-going girls. Ellie was trying to build a safe home for one of the crabbies she found and insisted that daddy carve a path back to the sea for it. Kate just wants to be in the water, the cold Pacific ocean didn't deter her one bit! I loved capturing their interactions, and while I was editing, I found myself a little teary looking at some of the ones of my dear friend and her eldest girl. The backlighting, hair caught in the wind, sharing little giggles and kisses and embraces. Jeb is happy as a clam, surrounded by his loves; carrying one, piggy backing the other.

While the girls are having a snack, we took this chance to capture some images of Nikki and Jeb. They've known each other a while, but when they decided it was time to be together, it didn't take long for that to turn into a lifetime commitment. They've been through so much together and it's beautiful to see that their love hasn't skipped a beat!

So here is a loooong string of images from our session together - I do apologize for the overshare but there are just so many gems that I love! Thank you, Nikki & Jeb, for letting me hang out and capture your life that morning. It truly means a lot that you asked me to do this for you <3!