After changing my website to reflect that I’m now a Dayton family photographer, I received an email from Cassie. She loved my portfolio and was so bummed to hear that I had moved. She was hoping I might have a recommendation for another photographer. You can imagine my excitement when I got to share that I hadn’t actually moved just yet! And, I wanted to book one more downtown session before we hit the road, which made this Jefferson Memorial birthday session the perfect capstone to my chapter as a DC family photographer!

Cake Smash at the Jefferson Memorial

After rescheduling twice because of my back injury and then rain, I finally met Cassie, Justin and Judah downtown on a muggy July morning. So muggy that my lens fogged up immediately as I took the cap off. (Don’t worry, I show up early when I know there’s potential for that!) I would not have blamed Judah one bit if he was fussy about the heat. Seriously, it was HOT!

Thankfully, Judah didn’t mind one bit! As we made our way around the Jefferson Memorial, he crawled around on his hands and knees, snuggled with his mom, and bounced with his dad. He was happiest when they sang to him and quickly gave smiles when silly noises were involved. I could have captured this sweet family around the memorial all day, but something exciting was waiting for us at the end… CAKE!

To commemorate Judah’s first birthday, he got to play with a smash cake behind the memorial. He wasn’t super interested in eating it, but squishing the frosting with his fingers and kicking the side of the cake was pretty fun. That and listening to his parents sing the Winnie the Pooh song. That was the secret behind his biggest smiles!

While it was bittersweet to meet such a wonderful family right before I move, I was grateful to be around long enough to capture this season for the Goffs. Here’s to hoping the military works its magic and brings us back to the same city another time soon! 🤍

I have officially reached the end of my time in DC, but please reach out to me if you’re interested in a cake smash session in Dayton! I would love to document these memories for your family too!

• Jefferson Memorial Photo Session | Meredith + Oliver
• Washington DC Cake Smash | Jefferson Memorial | The Taylor Family
• Jefferson Memorial Family Photos | The Andrew Family