Posted on by Krista Guenin · 4 Comments

Mimi & Papa’s Last Visit

Back when my nephew Tristan was sick, my Mom & Dad decided to come out to Boston for a few days to help my sister. By the time they got there, Tristan was feeling much better. They ended up spending most of their time here disinfecting every inch of the house. It was a fun surprise visit for the kids though – and for me too!

This is my Dad with baby Caeden. Caeden’s at that SUPER CUTE phase where he likes to make funny faces and watch everyone laugh. Here are 2 of his favorites…


My poor Mom was here less than 2 days before the plague hit her as well. We thought about calling the Center for Disease Control because this crazy bug infected everyone who came in the house (even just last week it got someone new who visited!) – but it was probably just the flu :)

[insert photo of my mom looking sick and miserable – but, um, she won’t like that so you’ll just have to pretend]

My sister wanted to start making some fun new memories for the kids while my parents were in town, to make up for the sad memories from the hospital. So, first we had a fun bath time blowing bubbles!

That’s me blowing bubbles for the babies! (photo courtesy of my wonderful sister, Kyla)


Do you think they liked it???




While Kyla & I were blowing bubbles at bath time, our Dad was making an enormous fort in the kids’ bedroom. Here they are, waiting for the big surprise…


The fort was huge, with mattresses on the floor for Tristan, Reilly & my Dad (well, he wasn’t about to sleep in the same room with his sick wife!) Dad even set up a little TV & DVD player. They laid on their mattresses, watched Stuart Little 3, and ate Lucky Charms until it was time to go to sleep. It was pretty cute!


Even with Mom getting sick, it was still a fun visit! Poor Dad got sick the day after they returned to Indianapolis. But, everyone’s better now – 2 straight weeks of fever & puke-free kids!!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

Tristan is HOME!

Yesterday my little nephew, Tristan looked like this…


But this morning he woke up feeling so much better that the doctors let him come HOME!! And now he looks like this!!! Do you see that? It’s a smile!!


It was so great to see him come home! His brother & sister were SO happy to see him – and my sister and I were practically in tears. It was great! He’s still getting better, he’s not back to normal quite yet – but he’s HOME. Thank you God!!! And thanks to all of you who prayed for him.

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

Update on Tristan

Here’s the latest update on my nephew, Tristan…

There was no improvement today in his condition. I think when I said in the last post that the Potassium made a “HUGE” difference, I overstated. It did seem to make a difference – I mean, the fact that he smiled and laughed for the first time in days was very encouraging. But, he woke up this morning pretty much the same as the day before. It didn’t help that he had to have another blood draw today, and they had to try twice to get it. It was a rather traumatic experience for everyone, and it left him pretty cranky and grumpy. This afternoon, around the same time as yesterday, he woke up and perked up a bit – laughed and smiled at his mommy’s drawings, walked and ate a little bit. The doctors & nurses say that the antibiotics may just take another day or so to kick in, and they plan to keep him at the hospital until they do and until he’s walking, eating, and acting relatively normal. So, we expect that he’ll be there until at least Wednesday.

Please continue to pray that he’d keep getting better, and that he wouldn’t be too miserable that he can’t come home yet. Pray for Kyla & Michael that they wouldn’t be too sad about that too. And pray for Reilly & Caeden who are definitely missing their big brother. And praise God that Tristan’s Mimi (my Mom) will be coming into town on Wednesday to help!

I probably won’t post an update tomorrow, unless there’s news. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support – Kyla & Michael (and I) are so grateful!

Posted on by Krista Guenin

Update on Tristan

Thank you to all who have been praying for Tristan and helping out our family today! It’s been a long couple of days, but things are starting to get better. Tristan had a CT scan today which showed nothing unusual, except a sinus infection (he also has 2 ear infections). Just to be safe, they also did a spinal tap which thankfully came back negative. They’ve now got him on antibiotics. Right before I came by the hospital tonight, they gave him a Potassium drip, which made a HUGE difference. He perked up a little bit, smiled for the first time in days, cracked a joke, and even laughed. It was such a blessing to see him getting a little better! So, we’re praying that he’ll wake up in the morning feeling better, and that maybe the doctor will let him go home tomorrow. Please pray that that would be the case.

Thank you again for your prayers, phone calls, messages, and love! You are all wonderful!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

Please pray for my family!

Anyone who knows me, knows that the most important thing in the world to me, outside of my relationship with Christ, is my sister and her family. Kyla, Michael and their 3 kids, Tristan (4), Reilly (3) & Caeden (17 months) are a big part of why I think God brought me out to Boston. And I’m so thankful that I’m here with them, especially today…

Basically since Christmas, someone in that house has been sick. Pink eye, colds, ear infections, and then this week ALL of us got a horrible stomach bug. Their oldest son, Tristan was the only one who really hasn’t bounced back. He’s been sleeping all day for 2 days, complaining of being dizzy, won’t barely drink anything, let alone eat. So, last night Kyla took him to the doctor, who promptly told her to take him to the ER for fluids and more tests.

This morning, after getting completely rehydrated, he’s not showing signs of improvement. He’s going to have to have a CT scan, and who knows what other tests. This is really very hard on my family, especially my sister. So would you please pray for him and for us? We know that God is in control, and that He knows exactly what’s wrong with our Tristan. But would you pray that He would lead the doctors in treating him. That Tristan wouldn’t be scared or in pain. That the rest of us would remain calm and TRUST that God knows what is best and that He loves Tristan even more than we do. And please pray that T would be back up and playing again soon – back to his crazy old self…

Thank you for your prayers and support! I’ll try to update the blog when I know more…

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 3 Comments

Sarah & Allie

Right after Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to photograph Sarah & Allie. Sarah & Allie are sisters, and their Dad leads worship and is an elder at my church. His wife thought it would be a great surprise to have photos of the girls taken for him for Christmas. So, they came over to my place on “Black Friday” and we had some fun! Since it was a surprise, I couldn’t share them with you until after Christmas, but now that the cat’s out of the bag – check ’em out!!

Sarah & Allie laughing it up in the warm glow of the sunset. The sunlight was warm, but the air outside was COLD – they were such good sports!!

A slighty more vintage version of the same scene

and cross-processed…

Allie in the sun

And Sarah

Eventually, we had to put jackets back on to keep them from freezing. Here’s a couple shots against the back of my house.



Sarah joked about climbing the tree in my back yard, and I wasn’t about to let her get away without actually doing it! Allie got up there too, and the shots ended up being some of my favorites from the day! (don’t you just love that barn next door in the background?!)



Finally, their noses were getting all red and my fingers were getting numb, so we headed inside. I don’t have a studio in my apartment, but I do have some awesome wallpaper in the hallway – so that’s where we shot :)



And for the last shots of the day, we headed to the kitchen. See, Allie & Sarah are AMAZING cooks – or bakers, rather. So, my original idea was to get them cooking in their kitchen. Since it was a surprise for Dad, and he was at the house, we made do with looking at cookbooks in my kitchen instead. My kitchen is small, but right at sunset, it has the most beautiful light!


All in all, it was a really fun shoot! Thanks Sarah & Allie for being such good sports and for making my job so easy :) I hope your Dad loved his Christmas present!!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 2 Comments

A Day at the Fells

A few weeks ago, I photographed a family from my church. This family is awesome and so unique! Doug & Neilani have an amazing capacity to love. They recently had a baby, Ezekiel who they call Zeke (isn’t that a great name?). But, they also have 3 teenage boys who they adopted from Haiti! This is one of the most diverse families I’ve ever photographed, or known for that matter. It’s just so awesome to see how they have opened their homes and hearts in obedience to God and have built a wonderful family in the process.

So, Neilani & Doug had me come along as they took the boys for a walk in the Fells near their home. It was a great Fall day – sunny & warm – and the woods were a great backdrop for our shoot. Check it out…

Here’s baby Zeke laughing as we tromp through the woods.

Here are the older boys, heading through the trees…

…and coming out at the pond where we planned to shoot.

And posing for the camera
It was really cool to see these 3 big teenage boys hanging out and playing with their little brother. They’re totally sweet with him – and don’t they make a handsome bunch?

Neilani & Zeke hanging out by the pond

Doug & Zeke back at the house

This is Sheku. He was totally camera shy and did not want his picture taken! But he loosened up after a while :)


This is Paul. Totally cute and very comfortable smiling for the camera!

And then there’s Ephesien. This guy was like a professional model – he just kept posing for me. It was great!

He even took me over to the soccer field by their house for some shots of him in his element…


It was a great afternoon hanging out with you guys! Thanks so much for trusting me with your memories!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 2 Comments

Demian, Elizabeth & Esalina

While I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I was able to spend some time with my friends Elizabeth & Demian, and their adorable little girl, Esalina. Elizabeth was a bride at the studio I used to work for in Chicago, Real Life Weddings, and then she joined us as an employee for about a year. After working with her as a bride and then as a co-worker in the studio, we also worked together on my website. (don’t blame her for the Coming Soon pages though – those are waiting on me to choose my favorites :) Elizabeth is an all-around great person, and her family is just adorable.

Check out these shots from our portrait session last year…



So, anyway, we figured that while I was in town we should get together for photo shoot!

We started the morning at their apartment on the North side of Chicago. I hadn’t seen Esalina in about a year, so we spent a bit of time at the beginning helping her warm up to me. Mom & Dad did a great job keeping her entertained and happy.



After we played at the house, we went for a walk down to the beach. It was a beautiful day at the Lakeshore and Esalina loves the beach!



Lina loves throwing sand into the water!




Despite our best efforts, Lina still fell into the water :) Luckily, Elizabeth was prepared with another cute outfit.


Isn’t she a doll?!


Thanks for a fun shoot you guys! It was great to see you all again – let’s do it again next year!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

The big 3-Oh!

Yesterday was my birthday – my 30th to be precise! I’m still freaking out a little bit about turning 30, but I am definitely excited about the year ahead. I feel like this is going to be a big year for me, and I can’t wait to see what God does in my life this year!!

I had a pretty low-key day, but the highlight was definitely my birthday lunch…

Here are my niece & nephews in the back of the Suburban on our way to the best birthday lunch spot in the land.

(Tristan-4, Caeden-15 mos, Reilly-3)

That’s right, we went to McDonald’s! 2 plain cheeseburgers, fries & a coke please!



It was a fun lunch, and the kids colored me tons of pictures and gave me lots of hugs and kisses – so it was a great birthday!

Thanks to all of my friends and family to sent emails, e-cards, facebook messages, real cards, and who called to sing to me. I love you and am blessed to have you in my life!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

Life

Wow! I have been so delinquent! Life has just been CRAZY and I just haven’t been able to keep up! But no worries, I’m back :)

The good thing is that I got to spend a little time on vacation with my parents, sister & her family. I flew home to Indianapolis and spent about a little over a week hanging out with the fam. We were supposed to go with whole Guenin family up to Wisconsin for a big family weekend, but we didn’t get to go. My poor brother-in-law, Michael (pastor of an amazing ministry I’m involved in, Genesis) was incredibly sick even before he flew to Indy. And when he got to Indy, it just got worse. He ended up in the hospital with viral pneumonia and all sorts of pain radiating from his lung. So, we all decided to stay behind and take care of the kids while my sister stayed with Michael at the hospital. The poor guy spent his entire vacation in bed, in pain. Please pray for him and Kyla as he’s still experiencing a LOT of pain and now all 3 of the kids are sick too!

In spite of all the drama, we still managed to have LOTS of FUN! My oldest nephew, Tristan, turned 4 years old while we were home, so there was plenty of celebrating!

Here’s Tristan blowing out the breakfast candles (not in cake so much as in a donut, but he loved it :)

One of Tristan’s favorite parts of the trip was his first (of many) ride on the Sea-Doo with Papa Pat!

We also spent a lot of time taking the boat to “the swimmin’ hole”

This is Mimi (my mom) with baby Caeden, looking oh so comfy in his life vest…


Here’s my niece, Reilly Nichole, playing on the beach. She’s so fun!

And here are a couple pics courtesy of my sister, Kyla. The first is baby Caeden looking as cute as possible. And the 2nd is me and Caeden playing peek-a-boo on the boat :)

Mom & Dad also took us to this great new water park by their house. I’m so bummed it wasn’t around when I was a kid! It was a blast! Tristan LOVED it!!!!


Just a couple more cute pics of my sweet little babies…




And here’s my sister w/ Caeden :)


So, it wasn’t the best vacation we’ve ever had – that would require my brother-in-law being able to stay out of bed for more than an hour :) And, it wasn’t the most restful or relaxing, but it definitely was FUN!!!! Thanks Mom & Dad for a great trip!! I Love You!!!!