southern california sessions available!

i will be taking session at the end of may, and the end of june in southern california. anyone who is interested, please contact me through the "contact me" tab on my website, and we'll get something set up! i am offering a discounted package, so email me as soon as possible as slots tend to fill up quickly!

birthday girl!

we celebrated tyler's birthday with a fun trip to the city this year! i had the living room decorated in the morning when she woke up. i was attempting to be a cute mom this year, and i have to say that i know now that my talents lie elsewhere!





we are trying to break the thumb habit - and the best part is most of the time she's got her thumb in her mouth and her finger resting in her nose! she doesn't pick it, so i don't know why its more comfortable that way, but it sure looks great in pictures doesn't it???











why do we use ribbon on presents? its always the most frustrating part for kids!





she got a princess dress and shoes so of course we had to put it on right away. i loved the little toes peeking out!








my two boys waiting patiently for their food at lunch :) this shot cracked me up!





the servers brought tyler a dessert and sang to her. she was talking to everyone before that, but as soon as she got all the attention - she wasn't a fan! but isn't this the coolest dessert ever? it was VERY messy!








we went to the national park near the city later in the day, and the kids loved hiking around and running through tunnels.











i saved the cake for the end of the day, and she was SO EXCITED about it! it turned out okay, but NOTHING like the picture, and had it not been for my patient husband who helped me put it together, i would have been tempted to dispense with the cake altogether. this was by far the hardest part of my "cute mom" idea! :)











the day was hard for us parents, but the kids had a blast, so it was all worth it!

updates are here!

i know i've been talking about updates forever, but i'm finally getting them up! i added some cute newborn and engagement shots, but my favorite section that i've updated so far is the family "together" section. i left a few of my favorites, and switched out the rest. what i've got now completely defines the type of family work i LOVE to do. the candid, imperfect, beautiful relationships are what i really strive to capture with each family shoot. here are a couple of my favorites, but make sure to check out all the new stuff on my website!

















as soon as i get my computer back, "little ones", "older ones", and "weddings" will be updated as well!

moving madness!

since the decision to move came about pretty quickly, things are complete madness at my house! we are packing non-stop during the day, and then at night i've been trying to get my last few photo sessions shot and edited. unfortunately, i haven't been able to take any additional sessions, so things on the blog have been a little slow!

here is one fun family from the other day...




















you might think i posed this one, but as i was switching lenses, i just told the kids to stand up against the wall and they all struck a pose!





and some alone pics for mom and dad. they were laughing about the sun catching mom's red hair, but i actually loved it!

the carr family

the carrs are such a great family! the kids organized this photo shoot for their mom's birthday which i thought was so thoughtful! what mom doesn't want portraits of their kids?

i wasn't going to use this location because the vines weren't in bloom, but i actually love the stark contrast between the white fence and vines and the colors of their clothes. it makes me think of winter :) which we don't have much of here!

best of 2007!

actually - these are only SOME of the best of 2007. i had so many amazing shoots, that as i'm going through to update my website, i am having a REALLY tough time deciding! these were some of my favs from the most recent night's work - but i love them all!

the clason family

the clasons are making a big move soon, so they wanted to get some family portraits before then. we had a rough start, but after a milkshake and some tractors, we got some great smiles and even had some fun!

i couldn't decide between these first two - both are so cute! i love the big wide smile!

the branch family

check out all these boys! they all kept me laughing the whole time :)

the larsons

i love love love these blue eyes! i don't know how i keep getting clients with beautiful eyes - i do not edit them, they actually look like that!

the balliet family

while down in california, i was able to meet up with heather of amorology weddings and take some portraits of her family with her new baby girl. here are a couple of my favs...

the hollingworth family

it was this little guy's first birthday when we did portraits!! i loved catching all the interaction between him and his parents, and he was such a happy smiley boy.

check out these tippy toes as they're walking!

marty and christopher

marty and christopher were also down visiting california for the holidays. their little boy was so good - he did not cry or make a peep even once, BUT he did not want to smile either :) he seemed to enjoy his first visit to the sand!

the olsen family

i went down to san diego for a couple shoots during my trip to california as well. here is my first family...

are these boys not SO ADORABLE?!?! the youngest was not super happy to be doing pictures, and his big brother kept trying to make him smile. it was really sweet!

the weaver family!

i was back in california for christmas, and had some photo sessions while i was there. now it may look like a beautiful day at the beach, and it was, BUT it was pretty chilly! the kids didn't want to take their shoes off in the sand because the sand was so cold!

christmas can be confusing!

why, you ask? i'll give you three examples...

first - i sat down at the piano to play some christmas songs for my kids. when i asked blake what his favorite christmas song was, he said "jesus had a little lamb"

second - when looking for the angel piece of the little people nativity set, he asked "where is the fairy godmother?" "you mean the angel?" "no, the fairy godmother with the wings"

third - blake also asked me "so mom, is it jesus who is watching us all the time, or santa?" (guess i'd better revise my threats!)

the pugh family

what do you do with a little one who only wants to be in her stroller? put on the long lens and take pictures in the stroller! :)

the pugh family was one of my shoots that had to be rescheduled because of the rain. luckily, it was a beautiful day for us the second time around!

the chamberlain family

the chamberlains received a gift certificate from some family members that i did a shoot for up in utah. i always love to meet other parts of all these wonderful families!











apparently this tongue thing was something new for her. there were lots of fun smiling ones, but i just loved this one!

the hansen family

the campbell family

the campbell's wanted something other than a park, so we used some more unique backgrounds! their mom even brought big suckers for the kids which were so cute!

i love when he stole the sucker from his sister and ran :)

the guymon kids

these kids were so great! we did portraits at their home in cave creek. their mom even made cookie dough to do some christmas cookie pictures at the end! i think my favorite was the santa cactus that their dad decorated :)

my inspiration

today i decided that i wanted to update my family wall of photos. the last full shoot i did for my own kids was back in april!!! i love when i get to experiment without feeling any pressure to get certain shots. i went not knowing specifics, but with a couple thoughts of what i would do. my kids are normally great with pictures, and my husband puts up with me and all of my ideas and does whatever he can to help me :) i am SO happy with how they turned out!

thanksgiving weekend!

yes, i do know that it is december already, but i'm a little behind on my personal blogging :)

we had a great thanksgiving! it was our first year by ourselves! no other family!! we usually go somewhere for the holidays, but i had a couple portrait shoots, so we decided to stay home. it was actually kinda nice to just relax quietly!
we started out the day with a little turkey bowl where i dressed the kids and myself in all usc clothing in honor of the big game. needless to say, in the middle of all the asu fans, we were not very popular!





our thanksgiving table... very fancy :) we even used real plates!





after eating, we went with the kids to see the bee movie. they thought that was cool. everything we did, blake asked "do we do this on thanksgiving?" one of those things was gamecube. i guess he got tired!





i LOVE CHRISTMAS and have been dying to decorate, but owen made me wait until after we ate so that thanksgiving was kind of over. the kids each have their own tree in their rooms so that they can decorate them however they want. i do a different color theme each year - sometimes for a reason, sometimes just because i feel like certain colors. for each kid's first christmas, i decorated the tree in blue (for blake) and pink (for tyler). this year the kids used the ornaments from each of their first christmas' on their own trees! i thought it was really cute!











this year's color theme is silver and gold. its one of those "just feel like it" years for the theme.





i also broke my mom's heart and a three generation tradition by purchasing stockings instead of making them myself. i do feel bad, but after three years of glue-gunning felt at midnight on christmas eve to create a makeshift stocking, only to have it fall apart christmas morning (you would think once would be enough!), i felt it was time to break down and buy some!





(by the way, yes, my stockings are stuck in the cover of the piano because i have nowhere else to put them!)





this is as close as i get to decorating. i basically have my piano - the only flat surface in my living room to put some decorations on. i got all sorts of christmas-y stuff and put it in jars. i thought it turned out cute, but for all you out there who are really talented at decorating, you're probably cringing right now!











another exciting thing this year... our grandma gave us another piece of our nativity set! we now have the shepard and stable animals!! only a couple more pieces left and we'll have it all!

the day after thanksgiving, we did our gingerbread house. both last year and this year, grandma gave them the kit to make the houses, and they have been DYING to make it.





that about covers our weekend! we definitely missed our family, but managed to enjoy ourselves :)

the bates kids

this roly poly was a part of the entire family shoot!

she drew this herself and stood right in the middle of it :) i thought it was so cute!

the kanenwisher family

tanya is a lifesaver. she does organizing for a living, and is SO GOOD at it! she helped me organize my whole house, and my life is still crazy, but at least its organized in the middle of the madness! if you're interested in having her come to your house let me know - closets, bedrooms, kitchens, garages - she does it all!!

here is her adorable family!

the wallace family

for the first part of the session, this little guy didn't want to hold still...

THEN... mom and dad brought out the CARS :)



with his aunt...

the murphy family

i've gotten to know the murphys and they are such a great family! i was excited to do some family portraits for them!