A Sunday Kind of Love....

I'm so in-love with these beautiful people. Saprina and Scott are so genuine. She found this delicious place for their engagement pictures where we enjoyed a warm Sunday afternoon and a bit of a hike!
This first picture is one of my favorites. You can see how sincere Scott is. Aren't they lovely together!















If you look closely, you can see the shape of a heart on this huge tree. Perfect!

Scott and Saprina, thank you so much for a wonderful time. Your happiness is contagious and uplifting. I can't wait for your wedding!!!!

bun in the oven...

Last week I was invited to Jim and Emily's fabulous and cozy home for a belly session. Emily is a beautiful glowing mommy-to-be if I've ever seen one.







This home had some amazing places for shooting, and I think we took advantage of most of them. The rest, we'll save for when baby Ben is actually here.


These last two pictures are my favorite from the day. This first one reminds me a little of the picture at the end of "The Family Stone."

And although we planned this picture, I got the feeling that this could easily be a scene from their everyday life. (that's Molly in the corner. She's beautiful!)

Thanks so much Jim and Emily. I can't wait to meet your wonderful baby!

birthday boy

We've been a little busy lately. Sometimes I feel like I'm becoming a cliche of the "busy soccer mom", but that's okay with me most days. This past weekend we celebrated Nathan's birthday with another busy day including a visit to meet our new nephew, a soccer game, a baby shower, and finally games in the Man-loft at his sister's house. He was a little over dramatic with blowing out all ONE candle that I had for his cake.



Seth...enjoying the birthday bash.

Sunday morning, Jacob said, "Can today just not be a big day, and we can just stay home and play outside or something?"
We thought that was a good idea. Nathan hung a hammock up for us and we had a very 'not-big' day. Jacob was too busy collecting rocks to be in any pictures, but soon, it will be his turn to shine.

school of love....

Last week I met Matt and Sara at UofA for their engagement shoot. They were a lot of fun, but I realized how out-of-shape I really am when my legs hurt the next day from all of our walking. Aren't they adorable?









Thanks Matt and Sara for a great day. You're so cute, and I can't wait for your wedding!

a crazy night.

On Thursday night, our little family packed up our gear to go to Jacob's first soccer game of the new season. We headed away from the storm near our house to the beautiful weather at the soccer park. We weren't there very long when all the talking and whistles and noise from the games stopped to hear the tornado sirens. One of the officials ran through the fields yelling for the parents to get out of the park because of lightning and a possible tornado. That really wasn't that scary. What was eerie though, was seeing hundreds and hundreds of parents grabbing their kids and running off the fields to their cars. It was like a scary movie. We had to wait in our truck for a long time before we could get out of our spot. When we did finally drive back to town, our truck was hit with hail so loud that we couldn't even hear each other talking. Here's what we found when everything calmed down. The kids were sure school would be cancelled because of all the ice.=)

another year older.....

This year's birthday was a little special because it was on Easter Sunday. It has never and will never be on Easter again as long as I live. To celebrate, Nathan and I went on a little date to a great Mexican restaurant in Harrison and then headed to a little get-together with some new friends. We had so much fun and at the stroke of midnight, I was serenaded with "Happy Birthday". On Sunday, my mom cooked a big meal complete with my favorite fried okra and a yummy chocolate cake.
Then, today my favorite UPS man delivered my birthday present from Nathan. Meet my new shootsac . I love her. She's my new best friend and will accompany me to many weddings.

I had to do some self-portraits with me and my new friend.

I also got a birthday haircut from Kristy. I love it!

Despite a few of Nathan's 'over-the-hill' jokes and the Subway lady truly mistaking Nathan for my SON, I still feel young.....for another year at-least.

Baby Cole

I recently spent a lovely Saturday morning with this wonderful baby boy. He's too cute for words!











Thank you Rhonald and Jenny for sharing your incredibly adorable baby with me!

Princess for a day...or everyday.

Saturday Emma had a little princess party. There were lots of tiara's and fluffy dresses, screaming and running around, a few tears, and only three broken potted plants. Really a good day all around.

We had many lovely princesses.



Out of all the cute princess cakes with princess stuff doused all over them, Emma chose a Hannah Montana cupcake-cake in the shape of a guitar. We still have cupcakes in the fridge if anyone wants to come over for dessert.

Happy Birthday to my favorite princess!

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!

It seems like just yesterday that Rachel was on the phone with 911 while Nathan was delivering this 10lb baby girl on the bathroom floor of our tiny apartment! With Emma's birthday this week, she has asked to hear that story over and over. It's been all about her for a few days now and I'm not sure if she's ready for that to end. Her birthday morning started with pancakes complete with candles, and after school we had a little photo shoot. These "poses" were all Emma's idea. She's such a ham.





After gymnastics, we came home to a very neighborly birthday party where 'Mrs. Lori' cooked Emma's favorite meal, and Anna made some cute signs. We had cake and opened presents. Can a girl have too much attention?

Anna covering Emma's eyes so we could surprise her with her gift.

This is a fake reaction, but I think it's cute. (Emma's idea of course.)

Countdown....

We have had a few countdowns going on in our house this week. One for Jacob's school play, one for Emma who was starting gymnastics, one for Emma's birthday next week, and one for her birthday party at the end of next week. Emma will give you an update whenever she sees you whether you want one or not.
Emma loved going to gym last week. She's been wearing her leo and dancing around ever since.


And Jacob did a great job singing in his school musical "BuGz". Well, I think he did. We never did see him during the actual performance. His class had to sit on the floor out of site.

Here was our view.