Wakayama Wedding Anniversary | San Diego Wedding Photographer

The Wakayama's have been dear friends of ours for years and years. My husband and Yoichi met in grade school and Tira and I met when we started dating our husbands. Yoichi and Tira's children are the same ages as our children and they all play together often.

We love celebrating life's milestones with the Wakayama's and decided to celebrate Yoichi and Tira's anniversary by recreating their wedding day "look" for some precious portraits.




















We love you Wakayamas! We're so glad you got married, hehe :)

Schellenberg Family | San Diego Family Photographer

Allison is great. If you know her...you know what I mean. I had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful gal in a special Mommy bookclub that I attended (scarcely) this summer. I'm so glad that I endured the chaos and went the couple of times that I was able to pack both kids in the car and drive to whatever destination by 10:00am. It was there that I first laid eyes on her...cloth diapers. Ha! No really, she totally got me started on cloth diapering Asher by telling me everything from what types to buy, how to wash them, how to store them, how to bargain on craigslist...etc. I am so grateful! I absolutely love it. Through her giving and kind spirit, our friendship sparked!

I am so blessed to have the opportunity to kick start my family portrait sessions this year with this wonderfully spectacular and beautiful family! Allow me to introduce the Schellenberg crew:





























Thank you so much Allison for allowing me to capture your precious family this year!

Asher Jude Burmeister | San Diego New Born Photographer

Aaron and I are proud to announce (to the blog-o-sphere) the birth of our son, Asher Jude Burmeister! Asher was born May 10th, 2010 (our 7th wedding anniversary!) at the Best Start Birth Center, weighing 8lbs 9oz and measuring 22.5".

Asher was born eight days after his due date and a part of me thought he would never come out! When I started to feel that the time was coming close, I resisted my desire to rush to the birth center, knowing that the birthing process usually takes longer than hoped. And so, Aaron and I took our time getting our gear in the car and dropping Abbey off at her Grandma's, etc. By the time we got to the Birth Center I was feeling ready to get 'er done (or get 'im done, I guess?), but our midwife had not arrived yet! We helped ourselves to a room, which was equipped with the water bath that we planned to have Asher in, but we were there alone -- contracting and all that jazz! Yikes! Aaron was mentally preparing himself to deliver the baby solo when the midwife finally walked in. Phew. Water birth was wonderful and we were all done with the whole birthing thing in three hours!

Abbey still likes to think that she is the baby of the family (as evidenced by the picture below), but she also loves her little brother and wouldn't trade him for all the attention in the world. Maybe. In all honesty, she is very proud to be a "big sister" and loves to tell anyone who will listen all about her baby brother.

Motherhood is so precious. Thanks for all your well-wishes and support!

Love,

The New & Improved Burmeister Family

Krysta's Maternity Shoot | San Diego Family Photographer

As many of you know, I come from a big, goofy, affectionate family. On the Powell side alone, I am 1 of 12 cousins (18 if you count the ones that have married in) and we are thick as thieves!

Some of you have been blessed to meet my good-natured and selfless cousin-in-law, Krysta. Krysta and my cousin, Adam, dated for 4 or 5 years before they were engaged and our family became so fond of Krysta during this time that we told Adam, "if you don't marry Krysta, we'll keep her and ditch you!" Adam is a smart man, so he took the ultimatum to heart and decided to wed this darling girl -- winning a bride and keeping his family!

So, first came love, (then came wise and somewhat threatening council), then came marriage, and then came baby Mikayla!








I have had the great pleasure of taking Adam and Krysta's engagement, wedding, maternity, and newborn photos and I am so honored they have chosen me to chronicle their family's growth!

Now, if you read the paragraph before this one carefully, you may have realized that Mikayla has already been born and photographed! Oops! But remember, I admitted that I'm blogging retrospectively, so you'll just have to wait for more from this pleasant and prolific pair (they are already pregnant with their second baby!).


Love you Krysta & Adam.

Abbey's first haircut

I realize that it has been almost a year since my last post and that my perpetual enthusiasm to 'catch up' has proven not to be sufficient to propel me through the last few months. In other words, we have been busy!!! However, with the help of an amazing Amber Dawn Photography fan (my wonderful sister-in-law), my hopes and dreams of sharing the many images from 2009 and 2010, of fantastic people in beautiful places might actually become reality! Thanks Tammy for 'joining' the team!

So, where do you start when you are so far behind? Well, no better place than the present, right? While I fully intend to retrace my every move and reminisce every moment of the past year...I will start with what's new at the Burmeister household as of today:

Abbey is three and a half...and she just had her first haircut.
The BEFORE:



After 3-4 inches cut and some long layers...



She's ready for the next Pantene commercial!





So big...she is getting so big.