I was so excited to return to Alisha and Shawn’s home in Valencia for Braylen’s one year old portraits!  When Alisha contacted me, I couldn’t believe that it’s had already been a year since their maternity and newborn photography sessions.  Braylen had just had his first birthday party the day before I came, so Alisha wanted to commemorate his first birthday with a cake smashing at the end of the session.  Instead of a plain background, I suggested using their beautiful wild hills behind their home.  I’m so glad Alisha took me up on that idea – I think this was one of my most favorite first year sessions and totally represents their family and personality.  First, we started with a few at home on mom and dad’s bed.

Braylen and Chancy were so cute together.  Love it!

Braylen is a sweet pea – so accurate.  :)

We stopped by the park, on our way to the hills behind their home.

I wanted to do a variation on one of my favorite maternity photos I took of Chancy in between Shawn and Alisha.  I’m so glad we did!  I think I have a new favorite with Braylen’s adorable reaction to his parents’ kiss.  So cute!

A great father, son moment.

And one with mama.

The light was beautiful!  Definitely one of my favorite locations ever!

Shawn and Alisha brought these nice colorful balloons left over from the party, so we decided to use them in their cake shots.

Braylen is simply adorable!

I think this is my favorite shot form the session.  Great lighting, great location and LOVE Braylen with all the cake on his face.

Since baby Jeffrey is already almost 4 months old, I need to share his newborn photos!!  I’ll go ahead and combine this post with a few of his mama–Becca’s–maternity photos.  First is a picture of the sweet family with their first baby, Credit.  He was such a gentle giant and is so good with baby Jeffrey.

I love this shot of Becca and I’m glad she was totally up for my crazy idea.  I passed by their cute kitchen and asked if she had any cravings.  I suggested she eat some ice cream – what a nice break.  :)

Becca, you are a stunning pregnant mama.

At the end of the session, we took Credit for a short walk around the neighborhood.

One last shot of Becca’s cute baby bump.

And here is cute baby Jeffrey.  He was a few weeks early, so he was so small and petite, but he sure is adorable!  I love the faint smile on his lips, looking at mommy and daddy.

Ahhh – so protected in daddy’s arms.

Love his big eyes!

Credit is so protective and gentle with baby Jeffrey.

Thank you so much for asking me to be a part of this special time in your lives.  I hope you love the pictures of baby Jeffrey – he is adorable!

I’m pretty behind on my blog posts (like always).  That’s what happens when you have two active little boys who need constant attention.  Combine that with editing pictures for clients and training for the Avon Walk and not much else gets done around here.  I should show you pictures of the disaster zone that is my house.  And somehow I thought it would be a good idea to raise chickens (more on that to come later)…  hehe

So I’m going to combine some things, like Sarah’s maternity session and their newborn session into one blog post.  First, here is Sarah and Rick and their cutie little doggy, Tudy.  Tudy is their first baby and she knew it too!  She wanted to be the star of the show, and we were happy to oblige because, well… she’s so darn cute!

Sarah had to deal with high blood pressure during her pregnancy.  So she had to spend much of the time on bed rest.

…and taking her blood pressure.  Rick wasn’t too happy about how her blood pressure was doing during the photo shoot.

We went outside for a few last shots, before Sarah needed to get back to bed.

Their adorable little baby girl, Abigail, was born a few weeks later.  I was able to come over shortly thereafter to take pictures of Abby and her family.

I love Rick’s expression as he holds his baby daughter.

And Sarah, so proud and relieved, I’m sure, after having such a tough pregnancy.

I loved the light in their bedroom.  It was perfect!

Tudy felt a little left out, so we made sure to include her too.

And lastly, a few closeups of adorable little Abby.

I’ve been experimenting with some new lighting techniques.  So what better way to practice blow out, background lighting than with my angelic baby Levi.  He really is just perfect, especially that cute baby bottom.

I needed to pull out these pictures and share.  It’s been a tough day.  This afternoon, big brother Elijah threw a rock.  A BIG rock about the size of a baseball.  It bounced and hit Levi in the face.  Levi got a bloody nose and fat lip.  When he calmed down enough for me to look and see what the damage was, I realized he had a pretty deep gash inside his mouth.  His top teeth severed the little tendon that attaches the gums to the lips.  The doctor says they won’t fix it.  Apparently it’s just cosmetic.  But it just kills me that my perfect baby boy will always have this scar.  His first blemish from this world.

I am grateful to know that it is merely a physical blemish that will fade.  More important than that is the relationship between these two brothers.  They love each other so much.  Elijah always wants to help get the baby new toys or books and is very quick to share.  He sits in front of him making faces, while they both giggle together.  And most of all, he worries about him when Levi cries and is hurt.  I can tell that Elijah felt very sorry for what he did.  I’m sure they will be back playing together tomorrow.  And I hope they will always be close throughout their lives.

A few months ago, I was happy to be asked to take family pictures for my friend, Dare.  I’ve taken several child headshots of her son Mason (check them out HERE and HERE), but hadn’t had a chance to take family portraits for her.  Her adorable baby boy, Bryce also needed some updated pictures now that he is getting a few months older (check out his previous sessions HERE and HERE).

Bryce getting some love from mama and daddy.  He is adorable.  I love all that hair.

Big brother, Mason, was so cooperative and helpful.

Even when he was making faces.

I loved these cattails in front of their house.  The lighting was beautiful.  It was perfect for this family portrait.

This one makes me laugh.

Meanwhile, Mason was busying himself with picking flowers for his mom.  He is a little love bug.

Then we went in the back yard to have some fun.

At the end, I wanted to take a sweet photo of mom and dad.  I think it’s important to have these memories as well as the nice family ones all together.