Brynlee {2 weeks old}

Precious Brynlee was amazing during her photo shoot.  She was incredibly tolerant of of her clothes being changed and being moved from prop to prop.  Throughout it all she was cuddly and adorable.  It's easy to see why her parents and cousins are head over heel in love with this wonderful little one.

Congratulations Chelsea and Jeff!

Andrea {Senior 2013}

My cousin Andrea is a senior.  I can't believe it!  I was so excited when I found out I got to take pictures for her.  As a dancer she was able to take my suggestions and pour grace into the poses.  It was amazing to watch.    

Andrea was a great sport when the sky opened up and rain came pouring down..... literally sideways at times.  But she kept a beautiful smile on her face through it all.  And after the rain, we had the most amazing sunset.

    

Jen + Paul {Love}

Teacher weddings rock!  Jen and Paul got married on a absolutely spectacular Wisconsin day at Tyrol Basin Ski Hill. 

There were so many personal touches to their special day.  Jen surprised Paul with a basketball ring bearer's pillow and a basketball groom's cake. Lace from Jen's mom's wedding dress was used in the other ring bearer's pillow.  The veil Jen wore was her sister Jill's favorite thing from her own wedding.  And there was many, many more thoughtful details.  Also, the colors for their wedding were amazing.... seriously so beautiful! 

It was clear in watching these families interact that they love each other deeply.  There were lots of smiles, laughs and a few moments of tears as they got ready together.  Paul's kids were the maid of honor and best man and Jen's nieces and nephews made up the rest of the wedding party.  Their day was a beautiful celebration of faith, love, and family!

Congratulations Jen & Paul!

Jen's hair was done by Avicia (Design's by the Bay in Madison)

Their beautiful flowers were picked up from the Dane County Farmer's Market.

The Heat {Guest Blogger: Joan}

My friend and former co-worker, Joan and her family won the award for photo shoot on the warmest day last summer.  With the heat this summer, I asked her to share how the experience was for them.

     It was the warmest day of the summer. Michelle’s thermometer read 100 degrees when she arrived to do the shoot. 

     I really didn’t know how the shoot would go. There are six people in our family, and our four children range in age from 15 to 22. As you might guess, children that are in this age range tend to share their opinions, frequently and often. On the way to the park for the shoot, I heard over and over how this was a crazy idea and why did we have to do this. Who wants family pictures anyway? (The answer seemed obvious to me, so I just kept staring straight ahead in the car, and thinking that perhaps by some miracle these pictures would turn out. Who would ever think that pictures could be harder when the kids are 15 to 22 than they were when they were 1 to 8?) 

     Michelle was all smiles, and before my eyes my children became nice people! They said hello to Michelle and were all smiling back. Michelle would put together a pose and start shooting. As the kids smiled, someone would say, “I can feel the sweat dripping down my face.” Michelle would respond, “Oh, don’t worry, I can get rid of that when I do the pictures.” My daughter replied, “Good!” and the entire family laughed.

     The wind was also blowing, and it was a really warm breeze. I’m not sure if that helped or not, but it helped us laugh more because our hair kept blowing in our faces.  The kids were teasing each other through the whole thing, and we still laugh about it. At one point, Michelle had the girls kneeling and one of the girls said as she smiled that her leg was killing her. Our son responded in some way about how she was a wimp, and he thought Michelle should take longer. The comments flowed through the entire hour.

     Michelle smiled and was amazing through the entire shoot. We had fun. We really had lots of fun. When we were done, Michelle took our oldest son for the next hour for his senior pictures, and I must admit that we all razzed him as we left. 

     
     The pictures are our favorite family pictures. They look great, but they also remind us of how much fun we had that afternoon. Only our family would pick the hottest day of the summer to have family pictures taken outside!

     
     How much did we like it? We liked it so much that we are going to do it again this summer. Which day will be the warmest? 

Drea, Rick, and Hailey

Hailey spent their family photo shoot exploring all of the fun things at Olin Park. Her sense of adventure and awe warmed my heart.  She had fun chasing the ducks, playing on the jungle gym, 'picking' rocks, watching a bunny, and more.  She'll be a great big sister when their new baby arrives later this fall.

Kim {Senior 2013}

Kim chose to have her senior pictures taken at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Picture me smiling and doing a little happy dance because I LOVE Olbrich!  Before going to Olbrich we took a couple of pictures with her family pets ~ one has been around for most of her life and the other is a new addition to their family.  Family pet pictures make me smile too.  During the shoot I got to know Kim and found that she is wonderfully sweet, thoughtful and kind.  I left her thinking how much I love my job because I get to meet incredible people.  Smile again.

Chelsea & Jeff {Expecting}

Thanks to a little peer pressure from her sister (Jodi), Chelsea contacted me for maternity pictures.  We were lucky to get Chelsea and Jeff's shoot in between large storms. It rained on my way to their house and started up again almost as soon as we were done. Thankfully we got a window of clear weather because their little girl arrived less than a week after this shoot. (Stay tuned for pictures of her coming soon!)