Birthday Mama

We've known Aaron and Val a long time! Josh and Aaron went to college together, and Aaron was the best man in our wedding, and it was fun the first night we met Val because we could tell she was the one Aaron was going to marry! :) Then we had kids at the same time and have gotten to live near each other, and we've all gone gluten free and dairy free in the last few years... the friendship timeline goes on. :)

It was Val's birthday last week, and this session was one of her gifts from Aaron. Isn't that sweet?

I just had to start this post with these two shots of Lily! Cutie!

If you know Val... then you can hear this laugh! It's the best laugh! :)

And even though I do have the "straight-on-all-girls-smiling" shot of these three, I just thought these two lively shots were much more fun to post. :) Sisterhood.

Happy Birthday Val! 

My Girl

I love this time of year! The beautiful fall leaves, the crispness in the air, and the joy of holidays just around the corner! There's something fun to look forward to each month! Selah and I have been getting into the holiday spirit with a little baking, crafts... and Christmas music! (Yes, my fall Christmas music addiction continues! I even find myself singing Away in a Manger & O Holy Night to Benjamin as I rock him each night.)

Today Selah was just looking so cute that I had to take some photos of her! I love this girl's joy, sweetness, thoughtfulness, & the hilarious things that come out of her mouth. Age 4 1/2 is beyond precious! I love you Selah-girl!

Fall Wonderland

I'm so thankful for the recent fall weather we've been having! It's so nice to have bright leaves and sunshine again, after that long rainy spell!! Speaking of bright and sunny, Kelly & Jon's girls are SO adorable and fun! I could have photographed them much longer than our brief time! My camera ate them up. :) They were all feeling a little under the weather, but you'd sure never know it looking at these. They did great! 

I remember photographing Ella when she was just a baby, and look at her now, such a great big sister! Here are a few of my favorites from their session:

I love how the colors you chose really pop, Kelly!

Ducks & Cowboy Boots...

I have love, loved the new families I've met this year! Man, I'm blessed to get to photograph the sweetest people. Jess & Sarah have two precious kids, McLain & CeCe (short for Cecilia), and I had to start this post with this little series of CeCe, because she's so full of cute spunk and personality! I think I shot these of her in less than 2 minutes.

And this handsome cowboy was so natural and easy to capture too! Such a sweet guy. McLain has some striking eyes.

I love Sarah's style. Aren't they such a beautiful family?

Jess was a wrestler at U of O! They are big Duck fans, and I love that they brought along their Duck gear to get a few photos in! Yay for the Duck's win against USC last night, btw! :)

Thanks you Sarah & Jess for asking me to photograph your sweet family! 

Precious Family

I photographed Nicole & Brandon's family back when Peyton was a little guy! {I don't think Nicole or Brandon have aged a day since then! Btw, gorgeous Nicole has the most amazing hair ever! Not gonna lie, I totally tried to style my hair like hers today, and it was a fat fail. ;) } I digress... Peyton's grown into such a sweet boy, with a great personality! I loved listening to him tell me about things. And this was my first opportunity meeting little Olivia. She's about the same age as my Benjamin, so I totally knew the busy stage she was in! :) Sweet age. I had a great time with them and they've grown into such a beautiful family.

Booking for 2013

My calendar is officially all booked up for 2012, but I'm booking into 2013 now. It's been a great year, and I still have half a dozen portrait sessions and a wedding I get to shoot before 2012 is over. If you know anyone getting engaged this fall or winter, please pass my name along to them! I'd love to meet them for coffee and chat about wedding photography!

I'm already looking forward to the coming holidays with family! Are you? Canasta card games, great food, sitting around talking and making each other laugh... it's always fun! And I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I've been listening to Christmas music almost daily since the beginning of September, but I just love it! :) I took a week off and then turned it back on again. "Holiday Instrumental" is what my Pandora station is always playing.

Ever since starting our little family blog, I feel like I never post anything personal on here anymore! So tonight I thought I'd share this sweet shot I took of Benjamin over the weekend. Our little baby is going to be TWO in December! Does that even seem possible?! It has gone SO fast and I've actually had a handful of moments lately when I've been a little sad about the baby years in our family being over already. I love snuggling and kissing on our little guy! He's such a constant JOY and we're insanely blessed to have him in our lives! Here's our "Benji-boo".  ;)