Continually Fascinated by Nature

I think God's creation is spectacular! This is just a snap shot of part of the cute little tree in our front yard, but I love how in the dead of winter there's still beauty to be found everywhere! There's actually a bunch of dormant foliage around this tree and not much color in our landscaping, but if you look closely you'll see pretty things.

It kind of makes me think of the chaos of the Christmas holiday... like for instance, I was crazy enough to grocery shop in Portland on a Friday at 1pm the weekend before Christmas. Ack! :) The 3 mile drive back to my house wasn't a quick one, but it was actually a peaceful one. In the midst of all the traffic and shopping and people heading out of town I was reminded of why it all was happening. Look closely and you'll see the beautiful ONE! Thank you Lord for the gift of your Son! Merry Christmas! :)

Happy Birthday Dutch!

Could he be any cuter?
Here are some of my favorite shots of Dutch from his recent one year photo shoot. We did the session here at my house, while it was pretty rainy/yucky outside.
Dutch is a very happy boy and has a beautiful smile. I also love the very "serious boy" shots we captured as well. Happy 1st Birthday Dutch!

Hannah's Senior Photos

Hannah has a beautiful smile and you'd think I'd pick all smiley photos to post, but it's so rare to come across a person who can pull off such a great serious face, that I was a little extra drawn to those. :) These were taken a couple weeks ago before the storms came through and took away all the pretty leaves. Hannah, these are going in the mail tomorrow! You look so beautiful in them all!

My Jude Bug

Jude had a fun day today. He got to play with his weekly "mom's group" friends this morning and then this evening his friend Ayla came over to play. I love the sound of laughter in the halls.

My baby is 20 months old and becoming such a little boy! I snapped these photos of him today while he was climbing on the couch and smiling at his mama. I love my Jude bug!

Rowen's 1 yr. Shoot

Rowen is such a handsome little man! I love photographing him! You may remember him from his 6 and 9 mo. shoots. Isn't he so cute?! What perfect little features.
He was reluctant to give up smiles for me at this photo session, though. :) I think he's on to me... the "camera lady". Here are a couple shots of his beautiful family, below too. They are dear friends of ours.

Good Friends, Cute Kids

Last week while we had a tiny bit of snow fall I did a photo shoot for our good friends and neighbors. We were quick, before noses turned red! :) Here are a few of my favorites.

Baby Break

My husband Josh snapped a belly shot of me tonight. I'm almost half way through this pregnancy! It's going by quickly. We're so excited for this addition to our family and get to find out if it's a boy or girl this coming week.

I thought I'd give a little update since I made reference to taking a "baby break" in my last post. This pregnancy is going great so far (Thank you Lord!) and I'm confident it will continue to do so, but Josh and I thought it would be best for me to just take it easy and spend Dec. and January resting more, due to past pregnancy complications I've had during these winter months. My last photo shoot for my little 2 month break is on Monday. I get bummed turning away so many sweet families for their Christmas card photos! I love doing Christmas card sessions! But I will begin photo sessions again in February. So please call me if you're wanting to do a photo shoot in the upcoming months. I've just begun setting up some appointments for Feb/March.

(And because I'm a bit addicted to the "click" noise on my camera, I'm sure I'll still have lots of posts in these next weeks. Probably more of Jude and close friends who stop by... who will have no clue that I will sucker them into little impromptu photo shoots.) :)

If you think of us, please pray we won't have any pregnancy complications over this Christmas season. Many thanks! :)

Brothers!

I think brothers that are close in age are such a fun thing! My good friend Annie has two boys 2 years apart and they are buddies. We did a mini-shoot today for their family Christmas cards. It was one of my last shoots of the season due to the "baby break" I'm taking for two months. Makes me kinda sad. :) I have so much fun doing this! But obviously we want to ensure a great pregnancy for this little one on the way!

Here are a couple cute shots of this family.