The Tranel Family

I don't even know where to start with these guys. April is Steve's sister, she and Matt were high school sweethearts. awwwww! Now they have 5 (yes you heard me FIVE) beautiful, amazing, sweet children! I could not love this family anymore than I do! Each one of these kids is unique and has their own amazing personality. They are so lucky to have Matt and April as parents. From the moment you meet these sweet, polite, helpful children you just know there are some pretty amazing parents behind it all. I am so glad I got to take their pictures (um because they are beautiful!!!) and so glad they are in my life! this shoot was so much fun! there were pumpkins, caramel apples, candy corn, taffy, reeses pieces, and birthday cake (for baby Ruth's first birthday!) needless to say everyone had a good time :)






















HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUTH!!! :)

Potato Dumpling Soup

It was my senior year of high school. I desperately needed a job. I started waitressing out at the golf course restaurant. That's where I met Kevin and fell in love.... with his soup.... seriously... you've seen Seinfeld right??? well the Soup Nazi... he doesn't have anything on Kevin... this guy takes soup to a whole new level. he's been making it since he was like 8 or something like that. I can't even describe the amazing deliciousness.. there was clam chowder every friday, french onion, cream of mushroom, PIZZA! he would just make stuff up too like beer cheese and they made some italian sausage with mushrooms and potatoes with a yummy creamy base. but my very favorite days were the days when Kevin made his potato dumpling soup... yup you heard me... it's like baked potato soup PLUS dumplings. well needless to say since I left Arrowhead I have been dreaming of and longing after this soup. Luckily I finally got the hookup. My friend Lexi went back to work at Arrowhead this summer and asked Kevin if he could write down the recipe for me. he basically just gave her a list of ingredients buuut it turned out better than expected. not exactly Kevin's but hey it was my first time!


start out by melting about 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pot and saute some chopped onions, carrots, and celery for a few minutes
add 8 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of chicken base
add 4 oven baked potatoes cut into bite size pieces
season with garlic salt, sea salt, celery salt, pepper, and lawrys
bring to a simmer and let cook while you make the dumplings

for the dumplings start out with 3 eggs, some chopped chives or green onions, salt, pepper, lawrys, and garlic salt, and about 2 tablespoons of milk
add in flour until it is a super thick batter but do not over stir or you will end up with super stiff, hard dumplings!
add the dumplings into soup by the spoonful and cook for about 20 more minutes
milk to soup until it's a creamy consistency (probably 1-2 cups)
melt in 4 slices of american cheese and some chopped bacon if you're into that sort of thing
and you are good to go!! serve with some yummy bread and you're in heaven



and here are some pictures of my little love buglet for a week or two ago that I have been slacking on putting up



I have some fun family shoots planned for this weekend so make sure to stop back and check them out!
Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Jamie and Andy

I had the pleasure of shooting Jamie and Andy and their two boys on friday as an engagement/family session. I absolutely love them! They are sweet and adorable and felt like old friends. it was sooo much fun to say the least! Even if it was raining at first and my car did get stuck in the mud TWICE! ugghhh how embarrassing!
Jamie and Andy- it was so nice getting to know you guys! I am so excited for your wedding next year!








These last two are my favorites from the day!

Hannah and Rob's Wedding + Eden-Baby

My big sister is now a wife... how weird is that?!?! it was such a beautiful day! hannah was just gorgeous i wish i had taken more pictures but the day was just so very busy that i didn't get very many.
i am so happy for hannah and rob! i can not imagine a more perfect couple. you guys are amazing! congrats! wish you many many years of happiness! now hurry up and make eden a cousin :]

we drank lots and lots of coffee!!!


my sister in law Jess of Little Dandelion Studios made this beautiful flower pin for hannah's hair


Eli looked so cute in his little suit! he even wanted to do his own hair. what a little man!


like i said i wish i had gotten more pictures.. it really is a shame the whole thing was just beautiful! my mother did an amazing job. she seriously should be a wedding planner/decorator/coordinator! hannah's photographer is wonderful though and i'm sure she captured the day just wonderfully i will make sure to post a link once she puts pictures up on her blog.

today was an awesome overcast kind of day... my favorite for shooting! so i made eden put on a cute outfit and head outside with me she is such a ham!


knee high socks are the best!



this is typical eden- yelling in her crazy baby language that resembles japanese.. she's so silly


my little flower child :] love her



i have to end with these two... they are not "artistic" or "creative" or "technically great" but this is eden... running around, barely holding still for a picture, being completely adorable
i could not love her more! i am so lucky to be her mother!

Fall Food!

yesss! fall is in full swing! which means lots of yummy food! I'm gonna share with you one of my all time favorite recipes! I got this recipe my freshman year from my foods teacher. we had a unit on chili and while I have never been a huge fan of chili she had me try this stuff and it is honestly UH-mazing! go make it right away!

what you need-
4 chicken breasts (cut into bite size pieces) cooked with a little bit of butter, cayenne pepper, and black pepper
1 diced onion sauteed for a few minutes until it starts to brown (go ahead and cook it in the pan you cooked the chicken in!)
2 tablespoons garlic
5 cups chicken broth
1 can green chilies
2 small cans northern beans drained and rinsed
1 pint whipping cream
1 cup sour cream
cayenne pepper
chili powder
salt
black pepper
cumin

what you do-
bring chicken broth to boil reduce to simmer throw all the ingredients in (spices to taste) and let simmer for 15 minutes. then serve! yum yum yum! we like to serve ours with shredded pepper jack cheese and sliced black olives. it's pretty much amazing.


and because I love ya I'm gonna go ahead and give you another recipe right away
stephen brought me home some lovely pears from his coworkers farm

now while I find pears delicious I knew the fam wasn't going to want to eat a thousand plain pears so I found a recipe for pear tarts tweeked it a little bit and they turned out delicious!

what you need-
2 pears peeled cored and sliced into 8 sections each
1 sheet frozen puff pastry thawed over night in the fridge
cinnamon sugar
almond paste
sour cream
brown sugar
melted butter

what you do-
preheat oven to 425
cut the puff pastry into four equal sections
roll about 1 tablespoon of the almond paste into a ball then flatten and place in the center of one of the squares of the pastry put a little more than 1 tablespoon of sour cream on top of the paste then sprinkle a tablespoon of cinnamon sugar on top of that. arrange 3 or 4 slices of pear in the center of the pastry sprinkle about a tablespoon of brown sugar over pears fold corners in to center over the pears use tooth picks to hold in place. brush a little melted butter on top of tart then sprinkle some more cinnamon sugar on top of the tart. repeat with remaining ingredients. bake until golden brown (15-20 min)


I think I like this recipe because it's sooo easy. you really don't have to measure anything which is very rare in baking. and it was pretty darn tasty too!

The State Fair...

the food, the animals, the rides... what could be better? stephen, eden, and i hit up the fair this past weekend and it was super fun! i absolutely L.O.V.E. the fair!

we got to gorge ourselves on some deep fried mushrooms, cheese curds, and fries... not to mention the giant gyros we devoured... and no i don't have any pictures because i was way too busy inhaling my food like it was my first meal in weeks...
we also got to see (about a million) cows, pigs, llamas, goats, and sheep. eden really enjoyed looking at the animals but wasn't too sure about actually touching them... we did get her to pet a few of them..





i love this time year! and i love my little family! eden was being such a daddy's girl last weekend so that's why there is one picture of me and her and about a hundred of her and stephen. but i guess i can't blame her :)

The Keyes Family

here are some more pictures from the awesome family shoot i did last weekend. this family is so sweet and photogenic. i can not wait to see them all again for Amy and Sean's wedding in April. it should be a blast! i honestly feel right at home with them. thanks so much for being so easy going, fun, creative, and all around amazing in front of the camera you guys!


this next one is too cute!


grandmas are the best!