my christmas elves

I LOVE taking pictures of my kids... normally.  They last for about 3.5467 minutes and then they are over it.  While we were in San Diego for Thanksgiving we took pictures of all of the cousins in Christmas jammies for my mom's Christmas card.  They turned out really cute despite me breaking into a cold sweat and needing a bottle of Excedrin after corralling 10 kids and 2 dogs for about an hour (felt like 10!).  It was a good refresher on why I do NOT take pictures of families.  I'm not brave enough!  I so admire photographers who do, though!

P.S.  One of these kiddos had BRRRRIGHT purple hair for the picture and I changed it!  Can you guess who it was???

preslee pie

I can't believe that my youngest got baptized a few weeks ago.  Where has the time gone?  She has been such a fun kid.  She is stubborn and strong willed.  She is witty and super goofy.  She loves her daddy beyond words.  I can't even imagine our family without her!!  How boring!  Love you, sweet Preslee Pie!

kierlyn and ryden

This brother sister combo was awesome.  They got along but had that cute bother/sister feistiness.  While Mom didn't find it quite as funny as Tara and I did, those two kept us in stitches!  I absolutely LOVED my time with them AND, as we were finishing up the shoot I put together that her sister in law is one of my all time favorite co-workers from back in my teaching days!  What a small world!!

Thankful

I cannot properly express how thankful I am for these cuties and their amazing daddy.  My life would be a waste without them.  Thank you for making me whole.  I couldn't love you 4 more!  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! P.S.  Thank you Aspen for the not too shabby backdrop.

Dresses: Dilliards

Boots: Lillie Avenue

Little Jayla

This little cutie was so much fun to photograph.  I took pictures of her with the lovely and talented Brittney Kluse at the Chic Retreat in Seattle in May.  Don't you just adore her hair???

Preslee Pie

This little girl, our little caboose, has got THE most contagious personality.  She is so funny (on purpose!), silly, smart, a dancing-queen, a singing-princess, smart-alecky, compassionate, and such a great sister and our baby girl!  I just want to freeze her!!  I have to breathe into a brown paper bag every time I think about her leaving me for the big, bad world of kindergarten next year!!  (Insert me doing the ugly cry <here>.)  This child holds my heart. P.S.  Her last day of preschool is taking place as we speak!  :(

Snow Pictures! {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

I have been wanting to do snow pictures of my kids in the snow forever!  (That may be a slight exaggeration…)  Of course you want the weather to be perfect: Lots of snow, sun, and a current snow shower.  We headed up to Pikes Peak and played in the snow.  Addilyn was a trooper and let me snap away at her little toothless smile.

Top O' the Mornin' to Ya! {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

This little leprechaun is the cutest little red head around.  I posted about his two brothers and his sister over the past few weeks.   We are all curious as to whether or not he will keep his red hair.  All of his siblings are blond so who knows!

Little Sister {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

I will say that I love all of my nieces and nephews equally… that being said… *sigh"… I've got a crush on this one!  This little girl… oh boy.  She is going to be a little heart breaker.  Lucky for her, (at least I think…)  she's got three brothers to make sure the boys stay away.  AND, she's got THE cutest voice EVA!  I just wanna eat her up!!

Brothers! {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

We don't really live by any family.  We have Bryan's sister and her family that live about an hour away.  We don't see nearly enough of them but when we DO see them we live it up.  And I absolutely LOVE getting to take pictures of the kiddos.  These are the two oldest.  Their REALLY close in age.  Which one do you think is older?

Jaden {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

Jaden… oh Jaden.  This sweet boy had my heart from the moment I met him.  He was SOOO sweet and, obviously, quite cute.  I just totally dig this family.  They're so wonderful!  He's the perfect caboose for his two older sisters, Stacia and Gabby!  

Gabby {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

I loved photographing this girl.  She was so sweet and willing to do anything I asked her to.  She reminds me a lot of her beautiful older sister!

The Teen, the Tween, and the Puppy {Colorado Springs Teen Photographer}

I had a lot of fun shooting these guys.  Their mom is amazing.  She's one of my sweet, sweet friends.  She'll never be able to get rid of me, the poor thing!  She was Carter's Kindergarten teacher when he was diagnosed with Leukemia.  She was one of the very first people who knew he was sick.  She noticed things that maybe a normal teacher wouldn't have.

She has taught my middle child as well and we can't wait until it's Preslee's turn!  Her kids were so sweet and put up with my turning, shifting, adjusting during the entire shoot!

The Big FOUR! {Colorado Springs Children Photographer}

I'm sure I'm not the first mom out there that has nearly gone gray looking at what should be a toddling, drooling baby and realizing that said baby is now  running, talking up a storm, has opinions  (more than you care to hear), and is turning 4 years old.  My baby just turned 4.  And, yes, I know that I'll blink and she will be getting married.   So, I've chosen not to blink.  :)

Munchkins!~ Colorado Springs Children Photography

This shoot was SOOO much fun!  It was rained out once and on the day we actually ended up going we went back and forth all day long over the weather.  Mama and I both were THRILLED with how the weather turned out for us. It.  Was.  Perfect.

The kids were fabulous.  Grandma (who, for the record, did NOT look like a grandma!) came along to help.  Drool from teething didn't matter because we played in the water.  Sunlight was beautiful.  Honestly, we couldn't have asked for a better day!!

To make it even better, the awesome Mom that goes along with these two darlings works for me.  She does all of my ordering sessions with my clients.  (And she gets glowing reviews from them all!!)

S'mores: Capturing Everyday Moments~ Colorado Springs Children Photographer

 

A few weeks ago we decided to break in the backyard fireplace and make some gooey  S'mores.  The kids absolutely loved them!  Who doesn't love a throw back to your childhood, am I right?  I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures with my "real" camera since I all too often just pull my iPhone out of my pocket and use that.  (I blame Instagram!)

I want to make sure that I remember to capture these little moments.  The details of these day to day activities WILL eventually go away.  My kids will grow up.  The cute little dimples are their knuckles will someday get wrinkles.  Comforting the bad dreams in the middle of the night will turn to them rolling over and falling back to sleep on their own.

Because of this, my New Year's Resolution was to pull out the big guns and try to take more pictures of my sweet family; no matter the background; no matter the light.

Nature Walk~ Denver Children Photographer

On a fairly warm Sunday afternoon our little family went on a beautiful nature walk at Cherry Creek State Park in Denver.  It was just beautiful.  We saw all kinda of things like a "beach" (a lake), fish bones, deer tracks, rolie polies, and lots of other things that would entertain kiddos for hours.  With our favorite family past time being exploring beautiful Colorado, it was great to see a completely new park we haven't been able to enjoy yet.

This picture of my sweet three year old just makes me giggle. She has such a skip in her step. It's just so her... she has such a big, fun personality.

LDS Baptism~ Denver Mormon Temple Photography

Carter got baptized on Saturday!  In our church we wait until the ripe old age of 8 to get baptized.  The reasoning is that by 8 we recognize the difference between right and wrong and are ready to make those choices on our own.  I remember when he was diagnosed when he was just past 5 1/2.  We were trying to explain to him how long his treatment would be.  We told him when he was baptized he would almost be done.  Turns out we were off by a year but that's ok.  :)  The important thing is that the baptism is here which at that time, sitting on the hospital bed with my very sick son, it felt like this day would NEVER come!

An Image I Love~ Colorado Springs Children Photography

I love this image.  I love her clothes.  I love her hair (especially since she won't ever let me do ANYTHING to it aside from a pony tail).  I love the light.  It's just a favorite I had to share.

My Twin Nieces~ Provo Canyon Children Photographer

My identical twin nieces are just darling.  They have more energy than a pack of wild animals and I am fairly certain can, in fact, bounce off the walls.  They were the first born grandchildren on my side which makes them all the more special.  Last summer, while we were on vacation in Utah at Aspen Grove (love that place!) we went out for a few minutes up Provo Canyon and took some pictures of them in their baptism dresses.  It was so much fun to see them all dressed up and ready to pose for me!