ham, anyone?

Let me tell you this photo shoot was just hilarious. I photographed a family with 4 boys and 1 princess. I was just quickly looking over the pictures tonight since I took them this morning and came upon this one. I think I've been laughing out loud for about 10 minutes now. I LOVE it! This little boy is such a ham. I told all the boys they had one picture to make the silliest, most goofiest pose and face they could. (That way, they would hopefully get the goofiness out of their systems!) When this little one did this pose, it totally reminded me of my husband. And when my hubby saw it tonight, he said it reminded him of the goofy things he used to do when he was a kid! How funny is that? So here is the picture that describes my photo shoot better than any words I could write. Go on, have a good laugh!

booties

I had forgotten about these adorable little booties. My great aunt made them for Kai when he was born and I just love them. She has diabetes and can barely see, but she still knit them because she wanted to give my baby a gift. They mean a lot to me. I've neglected her, so I'm on a mission to go see her and spend some time with her. So I put the shoesies on Diego today and had to snap some pictures.

in tribute

This session was honestly such a blast. I know I say that about most of my photo shoots, but these little girls were just sooo darn cute. I kept on wanting to hug & kiss them the whole time! (After all, I am a very touchy feely kind of girl!) But I just wanted to post these pictures as an excuse and tribute to the Colonel who is off to war in about a week. Thank you, sir, for your service to our nation. I salute you and all the other men who give up so much to protect our liberty and the small things we take for granted everyday. May you and your family be protected during the following year.
So now for the pictures. These girlies were just so full of giddiness, which I loved. The last two pictures were typical of the photo shoot!
And I just love the love in this family. It was so tangible.

mother & daughter

When I have the opportunity to photograph family relationships, I just feel so lucky and blessed. I especially love capturing the emotion between a mother and a daughter. Taking these pictures reminded me of the bond between my mom and I and it also made me want to have a daughter of my own. (Let's not let Matt read this since he's already wanting to have another baby-yikes!)

beautiful fall colors

I just love the beautiful fall colors in Utah. The canyons just burn with amazing colors-yellow, red, orange and even fushia. Matt's side of the family had a picnic in Provo canyon and I thought it would be a great location for family pictures. We found several great locations, including a charming little river. It was so much fun seeing everyone again and seeing Kai play with his cousins (although it did take him a while before he warmed up to everyone).

I've been trying to work on these pictures between photo shoots and editing. So here are a few of the many I took. I know some of these candid ones aren't the best as far as composition, sharpness, etc do, but when it comes to family pictures, the main thing that matters to me is sentimental value.

missing in action

I can't believe how fast time goes by. It's been almost three weeks since my last post. The kids and I went to Utah for a week a half while Matt was in Florida. It was a great trip. I meant for it to be relaxing, but didn't even come close. It was my own fault since I wanted to do some photo shoots to justify my trip to Matt. (I don't know why I felt like I needed an excuse since I'm sure he wouldn't have had a problem with our trip anyway!) But once I was there, I wanted to do family shoots of both sides of our families since I feel like every time I go to Utah, I don't have time to do so. So by the time I did all 6 families (4 on Matt's side and 2 on mine) and all 16 kids, I was exhausted and didn't want to do any paid shoots. I did end up doing one which was so much fun. Overall it was a great experience to get out of my comfort zone and do on-location photo shoots. Photographing families in their homes was by far my favorite. I love the personal, intimate feeling of capturing people in their element. I love observing them in the place where they feel most comfortable.

So, I took over 1,000 photos and will be proofing them over the next 5 years! Well, hopefully I'll get them done before Christmas. I'll have plenty of photos to post the next few days, but I'll start with some of my sister's family and two of my little Diego (who will be 6 months next week!). We spent most of the time at my sister's house and it was so nice. She's an incredible woman, full of love and very giving. I feel bad that her photo shoots are always so rushed. Hmmm, could it be that she never seems to get ready in time? I wonder. ;)

My sweet little niece cut her eye with a trio a gave my sister of her and her 2 daughters. This little sweetie LOVES to see herself in pictures and loved the trio. She was running with it in her hand and bumped up against something and cut her eye with it. It was so sad. She had to wear this patch on her eye for a day, but in three days her eye was healed.