Marj Merges Beautiful. Honest. You. {and me}
Children
FollowAnsel: One year
Dear little Ansel. My last baby. My sweet baby. All of a sudden you are one. When did that happen? How did that happen? Truly I know. It just did. Time passes. I live the day-to-day with you. The laughs. The kisses. The hugs. The first rolls. The first attempts at crawling. The first hesitant […]
River and Ansel: September 2016
I just love these photos of my daughter. Most of the time these days that I pull out my camera (or my phone camera) I’m getting her posed smile. But on this day in these pictures I got lucky. I captured the spirit inside.
Bruce Family: Welcome Baby Reid
Kristy and I went to graduate school together what seems like a lifetime ago. We re-met when our eldest kids were about 1.5 years old and we found we were living in the same town. Since then we’ve experienced the joy of parenthood together and helped each other enjoy it a bit more. When River […]
MacFarland Family
Milo and River met at the playground when River was about 18 months old. River had a dump truck and Milo helped her load it with pinecones. Throughout the years they’ve remained friends and it’s been fun to see how Milo along with his sister, Althea, have grown. When we first met Althea she was […]
River: Twenty-one Months
Dearest River, You are getting to be such a big (little) girl! I’m serious. While it’s exciting it’s also sort of bittersweet as we learn to accept you truly are growing up. We look at you when you’re sleeping and try to remember what you used to look like and how you used to fit […]
River: Eighteen Months
Dearest River, My how much you have grown! Well, not size wise really, with that you are just slowly inching along. But in every other way. You talk and run and spin. And you bring joy to every day with your beautiful smile and lightheartedness. Recently you learned how to spin and the first time […]
River: Fourteen Months
Dearest River, It’s amazing how much you’ve changed since I last wrote. Back when you turned a year you were just starting to take steps. You’d managed to piece together several steps but only did so inside and so we didn’t consider you a walker. Now you run. It’s the cutest run with a little […]
River: Twelve Months
Dearest, River Moon, You’re one!!! Happy birthday to our little baby! We are ever so proud of you and ever so grateful to be your parents. Leading up to your birthday we couldn’t help but think back on a year ago and the weeks leading up to your birth. As opposed to most parents who […]
Auggie: Six Months
Auggie and River have known each other since birth. Well really before that as Auggie kicked River at Thanksgiving last year when he was still in Amy’s tummy. And now they’re growing up so very fast. Auggie has a wonderful joyful personality and the sweetest laugh (and one little tooth but that’s changed since these […]
River: Eleven Months
Dearest River, Eleven months! That means you’re almost one. Craziness! This month you’ve continued to work on your standing skills and can now stand unassisted for many minutes. The other night we were out at dinner and one table was convinced you would take your first steps right there as they cheered you on. Sadly […]
River: Ten Months
Dearest little River, My goodness are you growing up! It’s incredible to think of how much you’ve grown and changed over these last ten months and even more recently these last few weeks. Gone are the days of the toothless grin and the contentedly sitting baby. At the moment I could probably best describe you […]
River: Nine Months
This month was huge. In the way that suddenly everything has changed and yet it’s so very wonderful. You’re officially a crawler! And now we better start baby-proofing. 🙂 At the start of the month you figured out how to go from being on your belly to sitting up and that seems to have opened […]
River: Eight months
This month your biggest accomplishment was moving to really truly eating. At six months you started eating solid foods but it wasn’t until recently that you really truly started to enjoy them and reliably doing more than bang your spoon or sippy cup during meals. Mealtimes are really fun now and you get very very […]
Pierce: Seven Months
Pierce was born three weeks before my River and his momma was pregnant with him last summer at Jess and Gabe’s wedding. Because of these two things I was excited to get a chance to meet him and see what he was like. He’s a true joy and probably the mellowest baby I’ve met. Seriously. […]
River: Seven Months
Dear River, This past month has been a blur. You’ve changed so much so quickly that we can hardly keep up.* Right after you turned six months we started introducing you to solid foods. At first you had a few favorites and weren’t so sure of the rest. The first food to make it to […]
River: Three Months
Dear River, You are truly an amazing little baby. Your daddy and I still look at each other when you’re sleeping peacefully between us and ask; how did we get soo soo lucky? We get to keep you, this insanely beautiful and awesome little being, forever. Thank you for trusting us. You’ve taught us so […]
River: Two Months
Dear River, You continued to grow like a weed this month. At your two month appointment you weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz and we can hardly believe how tiny you used to be. Sadly at that appointment you also got your first shots and you did not like that very much at all […]
The Family Photographer
For a year now I’ve been the trusted family photographer for my friends Mary, Phil, and their daughter Hazel. From the beginning back when I didn’t totally know what I was doing they’ve trusted me. That means back when I was applying to the internship I did last Winter I convinced them to let me […]
Inspiration
The story of this shoot is anything but straightforward. It’s a story that goes back several years. To the winter of 2010 when Eric and I were planning our wedding. To a wedding show where we met Elizabeth and Matthew. When we went to that show I didn’t expect anything to come out of it […]
The silliest family
You’ll recognize some key players in this shoot from here, here, and here. This family is beyond silly. I know this of Phil but put him together with the rest of his family and the real silly comes out. It was a joy to hang out with all nine of them. Thank you! Now I’m […]
Gingerbread Failures
I love Carmen and Andy (see their engagement shoot here). No, seriously. And now that I’ve met all the kids I’m even more commited to my love of them. Christmas is a time for family. For lots and lots of hugs. For raucous laughter. For baking together no matter the outcome (even “bloody” broken gingerbread […]