Let me be honest and say that when the season for Christmas pictures comes I go into a cave!  An editing cave that is and it starts in October and I just now am starting to see the light once again!!  :)  I have been so blessed by this business and the full schedule that it brings this time of year.  The funny thing is that in my mind every year I say I am really going to limit my sessions this season and believe it or not I did, but it didn’t change too much of the busyness!  Between four little ones, a husband with a crazy schedule (now a new schedule that we are getting used to), a business of my own and the busyness of the season my poor BLOG has suffered!!  Hmmm…two months MIA, I know that’s horrible!!  Sometimes this time of year I also hesitate to post too many family photos in fear that they will be using it for their Christmas card and I don’t want to spoil it!!  Well, since some of the Christmas cards are already in the mail I thought I might give you some of the highlights of the last few months and the wonderful families I have had the privilege of working with!!  So, here a few of them in no particular order…

Now back to editing because there are still lots more to finish before I can say the year is over!!  I’ll have to do one more highlight before the end of the year with some more amazing families!!

Blessings!

Janelle

Well, we were hoping for a little cooler day on Ali & Mike’s wedding day, but instead we got a record breaker of 107 at the end of September.  However, it didn’t change a thing for this amazing couple and everyone didn’t seem to mind the heat at all in lieu of this beautiful couple.  Ali was a cool & calm bride which made her day run so smoothly.  It’s amazing when a bride can just enjoy her day and roll with it how everyone around her takes on that same persona.  Makes my job pretty fun!!  As always…my day just wouldn’t be the same without my partner in crime, Erin shooting with me!!  Love you friend, thank you!

Here are some of the other people that made this day absolutely amazing…

Wedding Event Planner for the Farm at South Mountain - Nikki DeHerrera

Florist - Wild Child Floral Design

DJ - Matt Davis with MT Sounds

Make-up - Jacqueline Fancher

Hair - Makayla Gaspar

Officiant - Gretchen Steffenson

Now…to the best part, some of my favorite photos of the day.

First looks are my favorite!!

Ali & Mike…Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your wedding day!!

Blessings!

Janelle

So, I realize that I have been MIA for a month as far as my blog goes.  Ugh, I am so bad at blogging!!  Oh well…there it is I’m just bad at it!! I have a few sessions that I need to post, but this one couldn’t wait!!

This was different than a typical senior session because it was a “stylized” session.  What does that mean you ask??  Well…for this particular senior session it meant working with my sister-in-law, Michelle Zeller.  We chose the location and from there she made the clothing choices and had some of her girls from DollyRockers do the hair & make-up.  Ok, so Danielle is one of the front desk girls at DollyRockers so, she had a little bit of an “in”!  Michelle came with me to the shoot and we picked out all our spots prior to Danielle arriving and which outfits she would be wearing at each as well.  So…ALL that to say, what is a “Stylized Shoot”?  Well, it’s your chance to look like you belong on the cover of a magazine!!  Senior sessions are already a love of mine, a stylized one just took it to the next level!!!  LOVE!!!  If you are interested in this type of session I would love to hear from you.

Danielle, thank you so much for allowing me to capture this amazing time for you!!!  Love you, sweetie!!!

Danielle & her beautiful Mama, Vicki.

After a few Bohemian style pictures we went straight to Bright, Bold & Crazy Fun!!

One of my favorites

It’s actually hard to get Danielle to not smile…she is just genuinely a happy go lucky kind of girl & love that about her!!

She really wanted a pink wall and just LOVE it when you find what you are looking for!

We were walking to our last location and the sun was giving some amazing light as it was setting, so I said STOP!  Turn around and look at me…so happy we got this!

Another favorite…

Danielle, you are beautiful girl!!!  Enjoy this amazing year!!  xoxo

Special thanks to my sister-in-law, Michelle Zeller for her amazing talent and stylizing this shoot, Drea Stern for Danielle’s amazing make-up, & Chelsea VanWynsberghe for Danielle’s fabulous hair!

Blessings!

Janelle

When we were on our summer road trip I sneaked (is that a word?) in a couple of impromptu pictures of my four little blessings.  These were taken right around the corner from my best friend’s house in Oregon.  Yes, I am jealous of the Northwest and their gorgeous scenery, so I was happy to take advantage while I was there.

I love me some yummy warm light.

This last one just makes me laugh…so classic of my four kiddos!!  It’s one of my favorites!!

I am super excited about a BIG revamp coming at the end of the month!!  Can’t wait to show you!!  Have a GREAT weekend!

Blessings,

Janelle

Brody was one of Jason’s top picks had Sadie been a little boy (she was the only one we didn’t know boy/girl until she was here!).  I just love that name!!  Well, Mr. Brody was welcomed to the world by two amazing parents and one excited big brother.  I have had the chance to get to know Brody’s mom & dad over the last few years because his Mama, Danielle is one of the Dollies over at Dollyrockers.  Can I just say I love them?  Danielle has a huge heart and just loves everyone she is around.  I love being around her because you know that she genuinely cares for you and that she just loves without strings.  She is surrounded by boys in her house (yes, Jeremy I included you in “boys”) and I can tell you that her sons are going to love people genuinely too…it just rubs off from both of these two.  Brody (& Austin) oh how you have been blessed.

Here are a few of my faves from Brody’s session

Squeeze that little guy for me, Mama!!  XOXO

Blessings!

Janelle

Meet the cutest little four week old little man, Tyler.  For four weeks he was a champ at his session.  Typically at his age there is a little bit of difficulty getting baby to stay asleep because they are starting to become more alert.  Well, Tyler was definitely alert at different points during his shoot, but he did give into some sweet sleep too.  It was so fun to meet his parents too because it turns out we have ALOT of friends in common, not to mention my dad did their premarital counseling before they got married (half way through the shoot I mentioned something about my dad and R says, “Wait, your dad’s Bob?”.)  That is not uncommon by the way…have you heard of the 7 degrees to Kevin Bacon?  We have one of those too it’s called the 7 degrees to a Lehman.  Pretty much the same thing. 

So, here is Mr. Tyler…who the first time he fell asleep gave us the perfect little grin.

Ok, R…I have to say it…EVERY new mom would die to have this woman’s body after having a baby, like she never even had a belly, crazy.  She looked AMAZING!!!

We got so lucky and had some nice cloud cover for a few shots outside…definitely some of my favorites

R & T thank you again for inviting me to photograph Tyler.  He is such a beautiful blessings from God.

Blessings!

Janelle

Remember I said I was behind?  Well, Miss Harper will be getting her four month pictures taken next month already!!  She was the sweetest little thing ever.  I can’t wait to see how big she has gotten!!  Here she is in all her newness…

Her Mama already had some super cute hats that Harper was happy to model for us

Thanks for letting me photograph Harper when she was brand new to the world.  See you in a month!!

Blessings!

Janelle

Meet Baby Levi…just the sweetest little man.  To tattle on myself on how bad I am at blogging this summer, Levi is headed for four months now!!  Yeesh!!  Ok, so when you have little ones at home in the summer they tend to take precedence…add on top of that my crazy May weddings and a month long road trip!!

So, Levi’s mama is one of my oldest friends, let me clarify she isn’t old but our friendship is.  It is such a sweet blessing to reconnect with old friends (and no we didn’t reconnect on facebook, it was an ancient thing called a telephone!).  Well, this mama is blessed beyond measure, her husband is one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met with a huge heart and they are raising three amazing boys.  I just love this family!!  So, honored that they had me photograph there pumpkin!!

I have five more newborns to blog after this including the most darling twin girls, so if you are needing a baby fix, you’ll definitely be getting it!!

Exhausted from our shoot, no doubt.

I love shots with Daddy kisses…

How amazing does C look after having baby number 3?!  Lucky girl.

Family of five…love family bed pictures!

Thanks for being so patient with me C & K!!  Can’t wait to see how big Levi is now!!

Blessings!

Janelle

Honestly, I don’t feel that my camera can capture the beauty and breathtaking wonder of this remarkable creation.  The Coastal Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world.  When you look up at them it is almost dizzying as they seem to touch the clouds.  The canopy from these trees allows little light to pass through them and even when the sun is shining it is this soft beautiful light that filters down.  We spent the first several days with clouds and a few sprinkles, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying our surroundings.  The kids enjoyed the fabulous junior ranger program that is available at a lot of the California State Parks.  They did nature walks, campfires and fun projects like making animal tracks.

The Eel River runs along the opposite side of the Avenue of the Giants from our camp and we were able to drive down to the river and have some fun the last day we were there.  The water was a little chilly for me, but didn’t stop the kids (or hubby).  The weather that day was absolutely perfect.  We enjoyed our week in the Redwoods immensely…really hoping we can convince our extended family to join us one of these summers!!

One little side note…after we left Santa Cruz we decided to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  The only problem is when you are vacation you forget days of the week…who goes through San Francisco with an Excursion & trailer on a Friday, well we do.  Tack on two hours to our drive…it’s all about the adventure!!

Cool view, but not sure we’ll go back through on a Friday - Ha!

Daddy got right to work with a fort!

Gage was out collecting a stick for the fort…gives you an idea of the greatness of these monstrous trees.

I have very few pictures of me and my kiddos, so this was sweet of my hubby to capture.  {love}

I have a picture from three years ago of Gage & Sadie on this same bridge…

Yea…for a tire swing under the bridge…score for kids!!!

Avenue of the Giants…AMAZING!!  Our camp was just around the next bend.

The Eel River

Love the Bob the Builder towel…#1 Daddy!!

One more post tomorrow as we made our way to our sweet friends in Oregon!!

Blessings!

Janelle

I can’t believe that summer is already starting to wind down.  I am happy to say that we had an AMAZING three week road trip with our family and are back in the hot (& muggy) Southwest.  Ugh.

Every time we are up in the Northwest we try and figure out how we could live there…it wouldn’t work out now, maybe one day.  So, for now we will just keep visiting!!

So, here was the itinerary for our family fun…LEAVE the HEAT!!

Our first camping spot was in Santa Cruz, California at New Brighton State Beach.  It really is amazing how you can be up in the pines (right off of the freeway mind you) and walk down to the ocean.  The temperature was a little chillier than we expected (I guess I just couldn’t wrap my mind around anything cool with all the heat at home…I only packed one sweatshirt).  The kids didn’t mind the chill in the air…as they ventured out into the water.  I however, stayed put on the beach!!  We spent some time at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk as well, which was a great time.  It was especially fun for me to remember being a kid at this same place!!  Here are a few pictures of our Santa Cruz fun (and no these aren’t edited…most of them are with our handy dandy point & shoot - Ha!)!

This was the campground over looking the ocean…

The beach right below us…(on a side note, this is a very steep hill and I forgot there were 100+ stairs at the bottom that my poor husband had to go up & down with the double jogger stroller!  Oops!)

Goofy kiddos

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

My husband looks really intense about his fire…

There were lots of amazing climbing trees at our camp

Sweet Gunnar… :)  He couldn’t help, but stick anything and everything in his mouth when he was put down…I think on the beach he ate several handfuls of sand…yum!

Tomorrow…The AMAZING Redwoods!!  Seriously, the camera can’t even capture what we saw, just breathtaking!!

Blessings!

Janelle