This chunky monkey has the best baby rolls! She was super fun to photograph and for just 5 months old she was sure down for anything. I love the first shot here – it looks like she’s saying ‘holy cow guys I’m never going to be able to spell that!’. Thanks for a great shoot. Enjoy your teasers…

of mice and men often go awry…

So I had this plan to shoot some fun pics of Lael and me while testing out a new contraption for one of my lights. I did my make-up all fun and smokey, put on some heels and cute jeans, I set up the tripod, camera and lights, ran the trigger button up my pant leg to hide it and fired a couple shots of Lael playing with ‘her camera’. I checked the shots (there was backdrop and lights showing in the test shots so I was sure I had plenty of wiggle room). So it was go time, right?!  

So we get ready for the first shot I wanted…a fun shot of me in my jeans & heels with Lael peeking through my legs – I got it – sort of…

On to the next fun series…Since I spend so much time in the studio working in my chair with my little munchkin climbing all over me I thought I’d throw in the chair and get some fun shots to catch us the way we are most days…(minus the heels)

Well I’m not sure if there are little mice living in my house that know how to operate the camera and tripod, but that seems to be the only explanation for the shots we ended up with…They are so not what I was going for, but funny nonetheless. Look how fun these tie shots could have been! 

Little Lily was a little rock star during her shoot – she didn’t want to miss anything so she wouldn’t sleep no matter what we tried. Her mama had a vision for Lillian to be surrounded by lily’s so she ordered flowers for the shoot and they weren’t the right ones so she gave up on the concept. When she arrived and told me what happened she was thrilled to hear I had star gazers from my sweet hubby on my counter. We patiently waited for little Lily to close her eyes and after three wide awake hours she finally conceded and closed her eyes for the shot of the day. Adorable!  

With every visit with my Dad I am reminded of all the little things that often go unnoticed all around us. For instance as we were watching this amazing sunrise he noticed the way the edges of the clouds were being blown smooth on the edges because of the nearly 100 mph gusts of wind happening 1000 feet above our heads. Or how he showed me how to distinguish wolverine tracks by watching for the marks its long hair leaves in the snow. Because of him I notice the sound of the birds when I walk through the woods and know to listen closely to hear the grouse beating their wings on the ground in the distance at the cabin. Life is full of so many little moments that make each day special and my Dad has done an incredible job of teaching us to enjoy them as they pass through our lives. He is down in Juneau and just knowing it will be months before we will see him again is heart breaking. Our family isn’t whole when one of the pieces is missing and it’s those little things we miss out on each day that makes the distance unbearable. 

As I shot the photos of the sunset I looked up and Lael had her head on his shoulder and he was pointing out at the sunrise and though I didn’t get that shot I had to capture them.  In watching him hold and talk to her I was brought back to a thousand memories of him showing me the little things all around us and I knew at that very moment he was sharing one of those little things with her.