Beautiful New Life

This evening, after I forced some squash and peppers in the kids.... after Olivia pulled the cat in the bathtub while simultaneously beheading her favorite Ariel mermaid bath toy.... and after a one hour snuggle due to monsters under the bed, I sat down to edit these images. These images were taken this morning in Olympia. Going through some of these images was the perfect way to end my night. Meet Toby.
Toby is the son of a friend on mine.... someone I have known for nearly 20 years........He married a beautiful woman that we went to college with. They are a great couple and nearly 12 weeks ago, they were blessed with their first child.Life has changed for them. It was fun to visit with them and to watch them with their new son. Even though my girls are only 4 and 6 years old, they seem light years away from this newborn stage of life. We exchanged some "lack of sleep" horror stories and played with Toby all morning.I was so excited to get these great shots of all of Toby's tiny features....like his little piggies....And his sweet hands....And of course his bum....Toby's parents are totally in love with him... it is easy to see why... This next image is what we worked all morning for.... this amazing smile! What an absolutely handsome little guy they have on their hands. Thank you Scott and Kim for inviting me into your home, I had a great time meeting Toby and catching up!

Watch Her Grow, Brooke Is Six Months Old!

Summer is almost over. It has flown by! Before I had a kiddo in school...spring, summer and fall would all sort of over lap and some how it seemed to last longer. We are off on our last summer camping trip this weekend, but before we go, I wanted to share images from little Brooke and her family at her 6 month session. We had such a great morning doing this shoot. They could not have selected a better location for the session. I can not wait for you to see the images.We got some beautiful shots of Brooke and her parents. I am a third child just like Brooke, and I am really proud of these guys for getting out there and taking all of these images of this little cutie.
Beautiful family.... I do not need to say anything else...

This family is just amazing, and I am all ready looking forward to seeing them again at Brooke's one year session!!! Thank you again for allowing me to share this time with your family, and I hope you enjoy the slide show!!! If you would like to hear music during the slide show, click on the speaker!

Watching A Family Grow Through The First Year

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to a beautiful place for a photo shoot. Have you been to the Tumwater Falls? I have been to Olympia COUNTLESS times, and I was shocked to find this amazing place just seconds off of the freeway. I am going to have some serious talks with my family (since many of them live there) as to why I had never been there before!

I was there for a 6 month session for beautiful baby Brooke. Brooke's parents selected the Watch Me Grow package . The Watch Me Grow package is quite possibly my favorite thing to do with photography. I have the opportunity to meet a family with a newborn and come back two more times during the first year to document all of the "firsts" and amazing changes that occur during those precious 12 months. I love being able to spend all of this time with the same family and the same children. With three sessions in one year, I feel like I really get the chance to bond with these families and I consider them friends of mine. What an honor it is for me to do this! I am a lucky gal!

So.... the teaser photo for the 6 month session is behind my blog title.... it is one of my favorites. I will tell you the story about that image in the next post. I could NOT post any other photos of this 6 month session before I shared images from little Brooke and her gorgeous family when she was a newborn.
This family is just amazing, and we had a great spring day for this first session...
We started indoors in the master bedroom... the light was beautiful in their bedroom, and I just loved watching Brooke all snuggled up on that big bed!This image is one of my favorites.... I just love how new she looks. I feel like she still could be inside her mama's tummy.... not a care in the world.... totally relaxed..... totally safe.

No one could get enough of this new little addition to the family. She is so tiny, so perfect, what a blessing.... I wonder what Brooke's big brother and sister are thinking?
How amazing is it that these kiddos watched little Brooke grow inside their mama's tummy and them wham!... there she was in their home.... they could touch her, hold her, hug and kiss her. They were so accepting and loving towards her, you would have thought Brooke had always been a part of their lives....Thank you to Brooke's family for allowing me into your life and your home! It has been a lot of fun. I can not wait to share the new images from the six month session in the next week!

Do you remember Miss Zoey?

Miss Zoey is two now.... do you remember Miss Zoey?
Who can forget those cheeks and those big brown eyes. I have been fortunate enough to take photos of her all the way back to the day she was born. I was at the hospital to document her birth, and I have taken her photo on numerous occasions since then. It has been so much fun to watch her grow. *** Click Here *** to see photos of Zoey when she was just a few months old.One of Zoey's favorite things to do is to pick strawberries. I love these images of her picking out her favorite strawberry. This is exactly what I was talking about in my previous post about trying to capture those things that happen daily that we sometimes take for granted. Her parents will always want to remember her squatting down to pick out the best berry.Hopefully they will be able to look back on these images and remember the smile on her face as those strawberries dripped down her chin and squished between her fingers.

Zoey has a great yard with soft blue flowers that cover a little walkway where she runs and plays.
There was a tiny rock wall where she sat and pondered all of the things that are most important to a two year old. Don't you wonder what they are thinking about? Oh... wait, that deep thought was fleeting, soon she was smiling up a storm again...Happy birthday Miss Zoey!

A Bucket Of Memories

Wow... July is gone. Just like that, we are in the second half of the year. It is amazing how time flies. Sometimes, when I feel like time is passing me by, I purposefully pull out my camera. I do something with the girls that is totally normal. An activity that we do every day, something that I often take for granted and I try to capture it on my camera. This past weekend, we pulled out the chalk. Coloring with sidewalk chalk has been a favorite activity at our home since the kids could hold on to it.We now have an entire bucket that holds our chalk. We have to have every shade available. Olivia really felt like doing some sidewalk art this day, and I LOVE the memories that I captured of her.I love that I can tell she picked out her outfit. She has been doing this every day. I can not even be in the room when she is selecting her attire. She selects everything, from her undies to her hair clips. It is always a surprise when she comes out. Some days her fashion sense is better than others. Luckily, this was one of her better days.

I love that her hair is falling out of her ponytail and that she has her trusty elephant with her...I love that she is barefoot. I will always remember the sound of her little feet slapping the pavement and the print she leaves once she has covered them in chalk.I love that she accidentally dumped the entire bucket of chalk and instead of tipping it back up to see her color options, she would lean as far over as possible to select her next color.I know these are simple things, but these are the simple things as a mom that I want to remember about her.

If you are thinking about taking some photos, try not to get worked up too much about the setting, the clothing or the smiles. Think about the memories you want to save forever, the moments in time you would like to freeze. No matter if it is those pudgy fingers holding a crayon, messy hair, a time out chair.... keep your camera handy. Don't let the moment pass you by!

And One More Makes Three !

When I was driving to my most recent shoot, I was thinking to myself, hummmm maybe I should have another baby. My youngest is almost four and I always thought I would have three kids... hummmm..... OK, I brought myself back to reality before I got there and realized that two is a great number for me. We are healthy and happy and life is good.

Then... I arrived and met Layton. The third boy to enter his family.
All right, maybe I do need another baby!!! Seeing this little guy made me really miss when my girls were this age. Now, do not get me wrong, I am completely enjoying sleeping uninterrupted through the night (for the most part)... but ahhhh look at this little cutie....
I had so much fun watching Layton and his family interact. They were all so enamored by him. They could hardly look away from him for me to take a photo. I love that. This little guy is the center of their world.I did this newborn shoot a bit different than I usually do. Typically most of the images of a newborn session are of the newborn alone, but this family inspired me to try something new. I could already see that in his first two weeks of life, Layton has had a huge impact on each member of his family. In this session, almost all of the images are of Layton, but in almost all of them, he is being held by a different member of the family. I think that this is my favorite family shot that I took. I love how they are soaking each other up. I feel like I can almost read each of their minds as they look at their new baby and each other and think about how their lives have changed and about the exciting times to come.Of course, this is fun too. What handsome little guys...
I loved to see each family member and watch them bond with this new little guy. Of course Mom was wonderful. Lisa was so calm and content. It seemed as though this little babe had always been a member of her family. Big brothers.... Jackson already has experience at being a big brother, and the comfort he felt with this new and fragile little baby was adorable. He was so sweet with Layton. Always wanting to hold him, touch his soft hair and kiss his sweet head. Layton is lucky to have a big brother like this.And now Kyle.... he was the baby of the family up until two weeks ago. He suddenly seems so grown up. He will thrive on the experience of being a big brother. I loved watching how proud he was when he held his brother. He is growing up and I think he knows it. And Last for Layton's daddy... we got some really great shots of the two of them. I loved seeing Ruben hold his newest son. He could not disguise the love he has for this new child.What a great family! Thank you guys for letting me come and spend the morning with you. I loved meeting Layton and seeing the changes in your family since God blessed you with him. Your home is going to be filled with noise, toys, light savers, wrestling and love. I can not wait to see these boys grow up!