This year, Anna wanted to get family photos for her mom for mother’s day.  So I went back to their absolutely gorgeous home and we spent an hour or so getting some sweet family photos using the many beautiful backdrops around their home.   This first photo is probably my favorite – mom and dad holding hands, their three kids by their side and their fabulous backyard vista behind them!!  Perfect!!!!!

It was such a pleasure to work with this family again!  Thank you all SO much!!!!!

First my husband went out of town for a few days.  I hate when he is gone.  It is really hard being on your own with 3 little kids, one of which is very special needs.  I get very little time to myself. Luckily, as my kids get a bit older, it also gets a bit easier.  But we are all very happy to have him home again.

Second, I got sick.  Not flu bug/cold/infection sick, but weird, scary, “something is NOT right” sick.  Luckily I followed my gut and went to the ER.  And I was right, my iron was scarily low.  So [after a blood transfusion or two] I am popping iron pills, eating anything and everything that contains iron, and I am feeling better.  It will be a while before I am back to normal, but I am just THRILLED to be feeling close to normal.  I do have to say, when a mom gets really sick, it can really mess up the family.  And everyone is extremely happy that mom is on the mend.

Isn’t it funny how a health scare can really make you appreciate what you have?  

So onto the “C” family!

The “C” family has been a  friend of my husband’s for years.  Both guys swam on his swim team and now the older one is helping him coach.  They are a really fun group and I was so excited when they asked me to take family photos this winter. 

Yes, this WINTER.  These photos, as you can see, are a bit late in coming….

It was a snowy day, and we weren’t sure if the shoot would even take place, but the snow was light and oh-so-pretty so we went ahead.  I love snowy portraits.  As I have said before, the colors of the clothes just pop out of the white snowy backdrop.

Anyway, the “C” family are hilarious and so much fun to work with.   I really had a blast!  And I think the photos turned out pretty nice too!

And the eldest Mr. “C” with his gorgeous bride-to-be.  Yes, their family will be getting a bit bigger this year! 

Thank you all so much!!!!!! 

The ‘S’ family may look familiar to some because this was our second shoot. I originally took photos for the ‘S’ family Christmas card  a little over a year or so ago, when their little munchkin had just turned one.

Well now little miss munchkin is 2, and they wanted to get some more family photos. Our first session was bitterly cold and snowy. The second session was just a bit nicer – an absolutely gorgeous fall evening! The only “little” problem to this otherwise perfect session was that we met at a local park with a playground and, as expected, little miss munchkin had absolutely NO patience for us adults and was way more interested in the “play” portion of the evening. And, hey, I don’t blame her one tiny bit!

Luckily, with a fast camera and a faster shutter speed, I was still able to get some nice shots. I personally love these types of shoots. It is challenging, but capturing those perfect moments between a family and seeing those unique personalities are worth ALL the work.   And these genuine toddler smiles and giggles?  Absolutely priceless!!!!

Thank you all so much!  It was really fun working with you all again!

I met the “D” family on a very cold Sunday morning at a local park.  It snowed quite a bit the day before and the temps were in the teens, but the scene was oh-so- beautiful!

The ‘D’ family wanted photos of their little one and his two older cousins.  They were such a nice family and, for being so cold that morning, I was amazed at how sweet and accomodating the kids were! 

The only problem that morning was my camera started acting goofy!  It seemed to “freeze up” (no pun intended!).  I think it was the cold though, since it has been fine since then.  But I felt SO bad making the kids wait while my camera ”caught up” and was ready for the next shot!

So – on to the photos!

Thank you all so much!!!!

But all three happily trounced through the park allowing me to capture some of my favorite pictures to date.  The love and the sweetness in this family is so apparent, I was so happy to be chosen to capture it! 

 The smiles, laughs and kisses were so genuine and so sweet!  And those are always my absolute favorite types of photos!

Thank you all so much!!!

I know black and white is loved by some, and, well, not loved by others (like my husband). I personally think BW can look amazing, especially with the right photo. Carrie Sandoval (an amazing baby photographer) once stated:

“If you’re photographing in colour you show the colour of their clothes – if you use black and white, you will show the colour of their soul.”

Well, if that is true, you can see some pretty sweet souls here!

And I also wanted to share one of the family pictures we quickly captured at the end of the session. I love how mom and dad are looking so nicely at the camera, and sister and brother are just eyeing at each other. Too sweet!!!!!

And this is one of my favorite shots. Dad and little brother were also in the photo, but they were moving and were blurry. Mom and big sister however were sharing a sweet moment that I was so happy to be able to salvage!!

Again, thank you all so much!!!!

Unfortunately, when you take a 4 year old and his puppy out to a playground on a very cold afternoon, things don’t always work out as planned. We weren’t able to take much time for their little boy to get to know me since everyone was eager to just get the photos done and get back into their warm cars!

But, at first, he was fairly cooperative in letting me, this very strange photographer lady, take some photos of him. He had the absolutely cutest little look on his face. And you just know he doesn’t completely trust me. But I tried to quickly warm up to him and I was able to capture some very nice shots.

Look at those blue eyes!! Wow!!

And I got a few nice shots of him and his mom:

Unfortunately, Mom’s plan to capture her boy with his new puppy fell flat. And this is pretty much the only shot I got – BIG puppy getting just a bit too rough.

Well, maybe we can get another opportunity on a warmer day!! Thanks you all so much for this opportunity!!!

I was happy that I was able to capture such natural shots of this family interacting with each other. After only a short time with them, it was obvious that they are genuinely nice people who love their boys very much.

Just look at these boys! They are adorable!

And mom and dad are obviously pretty smitten with each other as well.

Thank you all so much for this opportunity!! I had a great time and hope we can do this again sometime!!