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Last week I was super duper blessed to be witness to the birth of Keegan Andrew. Sure it was the middle of the night, but holy moly it was worth it. Whitney and I had been texting all day as she’d been induced that morning. After all day of laboring and progressing, I finally got the “Get on over here” text. Dustin had my bag all packed and ready to go, and with a kiss and a reminder that we can’t have a baby for a while, I was off to Kaiser Morse. I arrived a little after midnight, and all I can say about that is I got some great parking. As I was was pulling into my princess parking spot I got a text saying things were getting ready to start! I was so happy! Maybe I’d be to bed by 2am! Yeah, and then I remembered that this is Whitney and Phil’s first baby, and first baby’s are kind of known to be a pain to get out… literally.

Whitney was nothing short of amazing! She had some serious back labor early in the day, and had opted for an epidural. (Let’s me be honest when I tell you, I would have had an epidural in the parking lot when Lauren was born… I am a fan.) By the time it was really time to get the birthday party started it was after midnight, and poor Whit was tired, and not feeling very good but she was lucky to have her cute hubby Phil and her delightful sister, Wendy there to champion her on. She pushed for a long time… 3 hours and 45 minutes long. This was a new experience for me, as the other births I’ve photographed have been pretty quick, this was not. THIS was LABOR. But in the end, it was very, very worth it.

Whitney and Phil thank you again for inviting me to be a part of such a monumentous occasion. Keegan is BEAUTIFUL, and I can’t wait to photograph him even more. I am so very happy for you, and your lovely family. Check out the slideshow HERE or below for images from Keegan’s birth day.

Tags: birth portraits, California, Keegan, professional, Sacramento, sacramento birth photographer, sacramento portrait photographer, Sarah Maren Photography, Whitney and Phil

Sweet baby Hunter! What a cutie this little guy is. You may remember his mom and dad from their maternity session. I had the joy of photographing Hunter within the first few days of his life last month. He is seriously such a sweetheart. He did amazingly well with being photographed, and only cried a little when he REALLY needed his mom. Kelly and Mark are so blessed to have this cute little man join their family. He is a doll! We spent an afternoon just letting Hunter be Hunter. He was relaxed, and observant. It was so wonderful to be able to capture this new little family all together.

Can you believe Hunter was over 10 pounds at birth? I myself had a 10 pound baby surgically removed from my belly, and so I’m always amazed when woman who are much smaller than me do so the way God intended. I was super impressed with Kelly! She seemed to bounce right back and look amazing! Thank you to the beautiful Gurnee family for inviting me over for our photoshoot! I can’t wait to get your brag book to you! Check out their slideshow HERE or below for more pictures of handsome Hunter!

Tags: California, infant, newborn portraits, professional, Roseville, Sacramento Family Photographer, Sacramento Family Portrait Photographer, Sacramento Newborn Portraits, Sarah Maren Photography, slideshow

We had such a wonderful Christmas yesterday! It’s so fun now that Lauren knows that opening gifts is fun. Santa was very good to her, and brought her a Barbie Quad and a Little People Princess Castle. It was hard to get her excited about unwrapping gifts with such cool things just right there ready to play with. But luckily she overcame and was able to open all of her gifts. I wish there was a picture of the three of us, but let me be honest with you when I say that I’m still sick, and I look kind of like death microwaved for 40 seconds too long. The fact that there are not any pictures to stand as evidence of this is probably for the best. But of course, there are plenty of pictures of my cute girl.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and that Santa was as good to you as he was to Lauren. Now I need to attempt to clean up my house. We hosted our family dinner last night and as always there was too much food and too much fun. Sadly, that too much food part leads to way too many dishes. I am on my way to a serious case of dish pan hands. Wish me luck.

Tags: Lauren, My Life, personal

It never fails that pretty much every time Dustin and I have a shoot we end up taking pictures of each other being our totally awesome selves all in wacky photog mode. Usually this means a handful of images of us making faces at each other gets put into a file I’ve names “Shootout” That is where everything that is us gets dumped, and this year I’ve decided to share. I went about this whole year carefully keeping track of these images that really, are pretty silly when you think about it. But really, it’s human nature isn’t it? What else can you do when your job is to carry a camera all day? How could you not turn it on each other and even on yourself? The great thing about so many of these images is that I remember exactly what we were doing when we took it… if it was during dinner (who wants pictures of people eating?) or during a ceremony (hearing people promise forever to each other often prompts me to look for the person I promised forever to) I love being able to look back on the experience we shared as a family watching another family start.

The other great thing about this year is all the cool photographers I’ve had shoot for me. We’ve gotten some great images from people who are our really great friends, and who we both admire tremendously. So, thank you to Rachel Hadishar of Merge Weddings who shot my first two weddings of the year with me, and Desiree Hayes of Desiree Hayes Photography who shot a So Cal wedding with me, and Amanda Carson who assisted that shoot as well. Thanks to Zach Anderson of Zach Anderson Photography who came up from the Bay Area to shoot with me and a HUGE thank you to my beloved Beth Baugher of True Love Photo. Seriously! I am so blessed to know and love so many amazing photographers! Thanks for making 08 crazy awesome you guys!

But the person I need to thank the most for making this year more than I could even imagine is my best friend, my rock and the coolest geek I know – my sweet husband Dustin. I know I’ve said it before, but seriously, I will die saying it DUSTIN IS THE BEST! I would not be who I am without him. He took the time to see the things in my I couldn’t see in myself and for that there will never be enough way to say how thankful I am for him. He has grown so much as a photographer over this past year, and has helped our business become something so much greater than I ever imagined. I love that he is never afraid to think big! He thinks so big that I often tell him I can’t wrap my head around what he’s saying, but he just smiles and says, “Sarah, that’s why you have me. To get you what you need.” And he does that and so much more. Dustin, thank you for a wonderful life, a wonderful job and more happiness than I ever imagined!

Thanks also to our AMAZING clients! Where would we be without you guys bringing the radness at every turn. Thank you for letting us share in your lives! From weddings to maternity to birth and family portriats we have had a blast working with all of you. Thank you for letting us capture a vision of your family, of you at this particular place in your lives. It has been a joy to dance, sing, laugh and cry with you all. We can’t tell you how much you mean to us!

Please enjoy a slideshow of some of our shootout 08 pictures! We had a blast making them, and we hope you enjoy seeing us being… well… us! I’ve set this slideshow to my “Dance In My Office For Inspiration” song. I hope you all enjoy it! Happy Holidays to all of you! We wish you peace, joy and love wherever you are.

Just as an FYI we are closing up the office so we can get some holiday cheer going, and get some much needed rest as we’re going on week three of me being ridiculously sick. Print and album ordering will resume on January 5. I will continue blogging some sessions I have backlogged, but email and phone calls will be returned on a need basis. Thanks guys and happy holidays!

Tags: Around the Office, Dustin, Out of office, personal, professional, Sarah Maren Photography, slideshow