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!

My friend, Christine, asked me to come take pictures of her family and their first home, since they were moving.  They wanted to record the memories of this time in their lives.  I was so excited for two reasons.  Christine and her husband Matt have an awesome casual, cool style in their dress, home decor and personality.  They are so laid back, I knew it was going to be a fun session.  Secondly, they described my favorite kind of session when they told me what they wanted: to just hang out at home doing some of their favorite activities as a family.  And I was not disappointed.  This was definitely an amazing session.  One of my favorite!

Christine and Matt’s little boy, Emerson is around the same age as my son, Elijah.  So I knew it was going to take some skills to get him excited about participating in the photo session.  When I got there, Emerson was “mowing the lawn” with his little toy mower.  And he didn’t really want to take family pictures.  So I told Christine and Matt to ignore him.  What?!  Did you know that’s the worst thing you can do to a toddler?

We took some great pictures of Matt and Christine…

All the while, Emerson was getting more and more interested in what we were doing.

And just like that, he wanted to join in the fun.  I’m so tricky.  :)

We went inside to do some fun things they enjoy as a family, like reading books.

They are a very musical family.  In fact, that was the theme of Emerson’s third birthday party.  Emerson showed off his guitar skills.

And then got to rock out with daddy.

We even went down to their basement and played drums.

Next we played with some of Emerson’s toy trains.

And then we got to jump on mommy and daddy’s bed.  This was definitely a favorite.

I loved this series of Emerson jumping on the bed.

And then they got to snuggle as a family.

Next we went outside and they showed me all the different fruits and vegetables in their garden.

Some more time playing as a family.

And then skateboarding.

Oh la la.

Finally, I wanted to share a special picture that Christine asked me to take for her and gave me permission to share.  About a year ago, Christine lost a pregnancy to miscarriage.  She was able to do it in the sanctity of her own home and these memories are precious to their family.  Christine asked that I take a photo to remind her of her special baby in heaven, Quinn.  I hope this captures the spirit of your emotions, Christine.

Thank you for asking me to capture this special time in your lives, Christine and Matt.  I love your family and I was honored to be a part of it for this day.

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.

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.