When Kristina let me know that she had bid on and won our portrait session at the Junior League auction, I was thrilled. I had been working with Kristina on a volunteer project and knew she would be great to photograph. After talking with her, I was even more excited to meet her family. They did not disappoint. Her parents are warm and engaging. Her brothers are full of energy. And her fiance is a total sweetheart. Plus this crew really, truly enjoys spending time together.

We chose the beach for the backdrop of the family portrait. This crew basically lives on the beach- hanging out, sailing, relaxing. We started off our session with the more formal portraits by the cabana.

When I talked with Kathy, Kristina’s mom, about how the family spent their time on the beach, the first word out of her mouth was "Kubb." I was a little confused as I had never heard that word before. As it turns out, kubb or koob is a favorite game in Sweden. It’s a combination of chess and bowling or croquet. I have to admit, I still don’t fully understand, but honestly, it was such fun to watch. Everyone was definitely into the game and it illicited shouts of triumph and joy, as well as truly genuine smiles.

The twins fooling around. There was a lot of that.

The "kids" celebrating a game well-played.

Then we got back to the business at hand. Loving the crew on the cliff wall. Seriously humorous.

Dave put together this triple panorama of the crew.

We were losing our beach to high tide so we popped on down for a bit of sand and sea.

Sometimes we get a little silly. Which is fun.

But more importantly, everyone relaxes again, and the smiles become completely natural.

One of my absolute favorites from the session.

Thank you to Kathy, Peter, Kristina, Matt, Christian and Pierson. We had such a great time with you on this beautiful afternoon.

Definitely check out the slideshow for more from this portrait session at the beach.