While I was busy with the workshop this weekend, my kiddos were away having adventures at the ranch. When they finally made it home this morning, I just hugged them and stared at them and breathed them in. How do children grow and change so much in just a matter of a few days?

Earlier this week, I was blessed enough to get to spend a little time in the morning snuggling with each of my three in their beds. It's so funny how each experience was so wonderful, but so different. Amry smelled like warm milk, rosy cheeks, breathy voice, hair parted just enough so I could barely see her eyes. She likes to snuggle. Tristan was wiggly and squirmy and busy and so excited to talk about his day ahead. He still likes to snuggle, though, and it made me sad to realize he won't much longer. Logi Bear was still in hibernation, he is is own heater. He never woke up, but he let me cuddle up close...breathing deeply, resting so soundly. I fell back asleep next to him.

I cannot imagine my life any other way. These three keep me grounded and purposeful. They make me giggle each day. Their thoughtful Valentine's Day cards they made while they were away made me cry. I can't believe I turned into *that* mom. But I'm thankful for my sweet little Valentines and also of course my big, handsome Valentine who makes it possible for us to live this dream.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

I've used this location before, but on this day, we just kept finding gem after gem after gem. Little miss wasn't too keen on being there at first, but after she warmed up...just look at those grins. Little man, however, may very well be destined to be a model. He's so young, but he can totally turn on the charm for the camera. I so enjoy photographing this family.



I first met them when baby girl was still in mommy's tummy. I was so excited for them because they were having a girl. At the time, I was just a few months pregnant behind her and didn't know what I was having. (I think she did an excellent job of sending those pink vibes my way.) And then, I got to watch her grow up: newborn, 4 months,  7 months, and one year...and see my future a few months before my own little girl reached those milestones. I just love looking back on all of these images and I try to imagine what kinds of memories we preserved for this family.

["Sweet" tidbit of info: a few months ago I was contacted by the owner of Hey Cupcake! looking for a family to serve as the models for a new print ad campaign and THIS family was the one they chose! I can't wait to see how the ads turned out!!!]

My SIL sent me this dress a long time ago and it's been on my list to photograph. It wasn't until I started reading Water for Elephants that inspiration struck for these images. I wish had more vintagy circus things to add in here and I actually think I will revisit someday to carry that out. However, I was proud to experiment more with OCF and I really liked the feel it gave these images.

There were two other dresses on my list, but Amry was only willing to do one more that day:

Congratulations to his family on win! They will receive this image on an 11x14 canvas AND a $500 gift card good toward a Premium Session this year. 

But wait...there's more! We have two runners up who are each going to receive a $100 gift card:

Annnnnnd, the family of our grand prize winner selected THIS image as our 3rd Runner Up, also to receive a $100 gift card:

This family, near and dear to my heart, is no stranger to this blog. I have had the honor of photographing babies #2 and #3 as newborns with several wonderful family sessions woven throughout. This time, we wanted to do something different. Something more lifestyle. How are they when they're just hanging out together? What do they do as a family? It was such a fun afternoon, although I will admit that bouncing around on the trampoline made me the teensiest bit woosey ;-). This kind of love and connection cannot be forced. These kids could not be happier. Their mama could not be a better example of what a mommy/wife should be. Their dad could not be funnier.

Their holiday card proved to be quite a challenge for me, though. There were so many images we wanted to feature, but short of sending out a poster-sized card, we had to come up with some way to tell the story of their session. So, we ended up with this tri-fold:

I LOVED how it turned out. In fact, I decided to turn the JOY, HOPE, LOVE lines into a 12x12 storyboard AND it was used as the title page of their album: