Amy and Scotty went to St. Olaf together, so it was fitting that their first photoshoot as a family of five was at the Olaf prairie. We had a perfect early fall evening, just cool enough for baby Olive’s adorable knee-highs, but warm enough for her romper that I couldn’t get enough of! Big brother Wesley and puppy Esther had a lot to explore, but between our rock and dirt excavations, we got a ton of sweet moments capturing how much this family truly seems to enjoy each other.
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Kalyn + Andrew & Co at Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve
This adorably sweet crew brought the best photo session energy. It’s a lot to ask anyone, let alone those under six, to put on nice clothes and go to a strange place without a jungle gym on a hot night to do what an (almost) stranger tells you to do. But clearly these fine folks had been practicing their “cheeeeeeeeese!” They even (mostly) ignored the intense mountain bikers zooming by. Hot tip: Murphy-Hanrehan seems to be The Place for mountain biking.
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Summer Stroll with the Vosejpka Family
I met Jillian, Chad, Reese, Shep, Charlie, and Taco for the first time the evening of our Northfield family photo session, but they are one of those families that immediately welcomes you into the fold and make you feel as though you’ve known them for years. Which is great, because they’re practically neighbors and I can’t wait to run into them again on the river trail.
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A Winter Repreive: Wild Rice Retreat Center
As a child, I used my allowance to buy my first architecture book: Thomas Fisher’s profile of Duluth-based architect, David Salmela. I had forgotten about it until a few years ago when I went to a panel of women in real estate at The Coven in Minneapolis. There, one of the women talked about a new development she was working on near Bayfield, Wisconsin. A retreat called Wild Rice Retreat Center, perched on the shore of Lake Superior near the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. She was partnering with Salmela as the architect, who had designed the original restaurant on the site years ago. Since then, I’ve been biding my time, waiting to see what it is actually like inside one of his spaces.
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Whitetail Woods Camper Cabins for the NYE Win
We were lucky enough to snag one of Whitetail Woods’ new Prairie View camper cabins to ring in 2022. If you can get one, these camper cabins are one of my favorite winter camping options in Minnesota. They are the perfect distance from home, heated, cozy, well-designed, and peaceful.
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Arb with Katie, Dustin & Lena
‘Tis the season for arb walks with those you love! This is one of my favorite families, and photographing them in one of my favorite places was the best way to kick off fall.
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Lake Belle Taine
Thanks 100% to my sister-in-law — the only one in our family capable of planning more than 48 hours in advance — we took our second family vacation up to Lake Belle Taine in northern Minnesota. We immediately fell into the same routine as last year: beer and seltzers in the coolers on the porch, taking turns cooking for each other, sweet corn at nearly every meal, hours-long pontoon rides in the afternoon, bonfire, cards, bed.
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Big Pine Lake
In the midst of yet another sweltering summer, we took my good friend Melissa up on a generous offer to gather at her family’s cabin on Big Pine Lake. We mostly ate and talked, but we did cruise around and comment on the increasingly large homes replacing the hand-built cabins of ancestors. It was a much-needed retreat.
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Visitor center at Franconia Sculpture Park
Franconia Sculpture Park
Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota is a great spot for a COVID-friendly stroll if you, like me, desperately need to leave your home.
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The remaining geese in Lyman Lakes who, like the rest of us, thought winter wasn’t coming.
Christmas Blizzard
Just when we thought it was going to be both a lonely + brown Christmas, a blizzard came and made it seem logical we were sitting alone at home for the holidays.
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