Every year we pack up the kids and head down to the place my husband proposed to make some beach memories.  The Outer Banks hold thousands of memories for us.  When Will was born we snuck away for a long weekend as a new family of four.  Two younger versions of ourselves celebrated our first wedding anniversary over a cold November weekend.  My family swept me away this past March to wish me a Happy 35th Birthday.  And we’ve celebrated the end of almost every summer down here.

A lot has changed for us since that first trip down here in 2004, but one thing has remained, our love for this place.  The wide open sky, the quiet beaches, the glorious sunrises (which we see more of these days) and the breathtaking sunsets, the salty air and sandy feet are all things we cherish about this home away from home.

I hope that as my kids grow up, this place becomes a special spot for them.  A spot where they know we all slow down, savor each other a little bit more, laugh a little bit louder, play a little bit harder and leave refreshed, renewed and sun kissed.

As a photographer, I spend a lot of time helping other families hold tight to their memories and remember the details of their family at one moment in time.  Yet, I rarely take the time to do the same for our family.  This year I was determined to capture some cherished family portraits at our favorite place on this beautiful Earth.  So I showered my sandy boys, and ushered us all to the beach during the last moments of daylight.

I had all the same reservations I hear from so many of you – I wish I was a little thinner, I wish my kids were a little calmer, I wish they would look at the camera and not drive us up the wall, I wish I had spent some more time putting together the perfect outfits, I wish my hair didn’t frizz so easily in the windy sea air.  But I did what I told my clients to do and remembered that all of the imperfect is what makes us so us.  And years from now, we will all sit around flipping through these pictures and smile at how perfect it all really was.

Now to figure out which ones I want to hang!