The Eaquinto Family | Fall Photos + a Missionary Farewell
about the session
I am so excited to introduce you to the Eaquinto family. Jen and Sam have six incredible kids who are all kind, ambitious, and diverse. They are championship athletes, bakers, and scouts. How they’ve been able to raise so many impressive people is beyond me. This family amazes me!
I met Jen at church when we moved into our Orem fixer upper. She offered to hold my, then 6-month-old, who at the time was obsessed with jumping. Church could be particularly tiresome for us because, after an hour of church with our baby jumping in our arms, we thought they were going to fall off. So when Jen offered to hold him for me, and held him through the meeting, letting him jump his little heart out, I knew she was a kind soul. Afterward, she told me how busy he was and that was so validating for me because if someone with six kids could testify that I had my hands full, it made me feel a little better about being so tired all the time!
Many years later, Jen was my son’s first teacher when he joined her pre-K class. She taught him how to read and encouraged his love of learning. All of my kids have loved and adored Ms. Jen, as do I! She’s always been an incredible mom and woman. She’s run multiple businesses, preschools, and coached gymnastics. She’s a powerhouse and photographing her family was such a privilege!
Jen and I have talked about doing her family photos for years now, but could just never get our schedules to sync up. We were finally able to find a time that worked for both of us and had planned to go in the canyons for them. Sadly, there were fires in the canyon, which called for a last-minute location change. But I knew right where we had to go, to one of my favorite locations ever, Lambert Park in Alpine, Utah. I love it because it is easy to find, has lots of parking, is a hidden gem. It is pretty any time of year because it’s lower in the mountains, so the fall leaves last longer so you get more color for longer than you do up the peaks.
I don’t usually work with families with older kids, so Jen and I worked together while she filled out my client questionnaire to ensure that her older kids didn’t feel uncomfortable with any poses. I love when clients fill out the questionnaire because I was totally prepared to help her and her family look comfortable and flattered. Her son Gabe was leaving for his mission but was having his MTC training at home, which worked out great for us so we could finally get photos done while all her kids were at home again and give them beautiful family memories before he left.
What I loved most about this session was seeing how much these boys love their mom. They know she’s amazing and they are her little pack. Being a boy mom myself, it really warmed my heart to see how much fun is waiting for me when my boys become young men.
fast facts
A last-minute photo change due to fires took us from the canyons to one of my favorite locations.
One of their six children was a current missionary during the photo shoot, which is not something you see every day!
It was really fun to photograph a family with older kids I learned a lot as a photographer and loved being able to grow my portfolio.
