The best kind of newborn photography {Gilbert AZ}

Does this story sound familiar?  The pregnancy which you thought would take forever, went by in a blink of an eye and all the sudden she's here.  And then all the sudden, she's three weeks old and the photos of her only exist on a cell phone, because hello?!  There's three other kiddos running around and their world has been rocked too!

That's where lifestyle newborn photography comes in.  A super nice photographer comes to your home.  She plays with your kids while Baby finishes her nap and eats her next meal.  Instead of growls from the three year old, you hear "Take my picture too!".  Everyone has fun for an hour and then she leaves, and you wonder "Was that really family pictures?  That was too easy." 

Even better.  Those are photographs that you wish you could take while you're busy living life.  You try to burn them in your brain:  how your son looks with his favorite Superman cape on, how your daughter looks twirling in the sunlight, how your oldest boy scrunches his eyebrows when he's playing Star Wars on the piano.  Those are the scenes that you feel slipping through your fingers as time marches on.

But now they're caught.  Now you have them forever and ever.  You know, teenage blackmail if needed.  But more likely, that wedding video when Superman is all grown up and wearing a much different kind of suit.

 

 

 

 This photo shoot was done as assignment for an awesome class I took through Chic Critique forum with the amazing Lindsay Silsby (Pied Piper Photography) and Summer Murdock Photography. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hartley Family Photographs

A not so long time ago, a beautiful maiden met her match in a faraway kingdom called Idaho. While her family long maintained that no one would be good enough for this fair maiden, the dashing knight somehow convinced them that he was worthy of her brains, her smiles, and even her love. Which, of course, brought us to this....

 

 

And you can only go for so long with all of that, and you end up with a little of this....

 

Enter grad school, finals, homework, internship interviews, and oh yeah, a brand new baby. Throw in some adjustment to life as a stay at home mom in the dead of winter, minus a husband who's just grinding away at that degree. Luckily summer time always comes in this kingdom. And with it, a completion of coursework and an easy summer waiting for that final internship to start.

 

A family has begun. They've passed trials already and are stronger and more resilient because of it. Soon, the fair maiden and her knight will look back and think "We were so young! We had no idea what we were doing!" Yet, they will be proud of all they've accomplished together and the incredible family they have created.

 

 

And so it begins; Their Story.

Baby B is here!!!

When the hubs and I were in college and moved into family student housing, we were told by numerous people "The friends you make here will be lifelong friends."  And it is so true.  When you live on top of each other (three stories of cinder block), scrimp to make rent every month, endure the torture of finals together again and again and again, pray for babies together, pray for strength together, those are people that will always, always be part of your life. 

Even though the Reynolds family lives hundreds of miles away, and has for years, I know we'll always be close.  I know they waited for years for the this miracle baby.  And I feel crazy blessed to be able to take his pictures.  What an amazing baby!  And what an awesome family.  Hope you like the pictures.  (an extra big sneak peek for you, since the disk has to be mailed a couple hundred miles.  :)

A sneak peek for Bear

Nine years ago, I had my first baby.  A mere seven weeks later, I had to return to work full time and the Hubs started his first year of grad school.  Luckily, one of his beautiful sisters was a student on campus as well and she became my baby's third parent.  She loved him, rocked him, fed him, and read to him from her textbooks (taking full credit today on why he's so smart). 

That first semester we had to pay her with dinner.  The second semester we were able to pay her enough so she could quit her other job.  By the end of that school year, I knew I couldn't do it again and we took out enough in student loans so I could stay home with my baby.  But I will never forget the person who was willing to be Mommy when I couldn't be. 

Today, she's the Mommy of her own two sweet boys.  And I'll take some credit this time for her amazing ability to love and educate and be incredible, right from the word Go.  And I am so honored to be able to capture these sweet moments for her.  Love you Bear.  Hope you like the pictures.

For the Winner...Tahnee Harris

What an incredible photo shoot. Tahnee won my Facebook contest from last month. She finally came to town and we were able to do an awesome family photo shoot. The first for their family in a long time. They were up at the crack of dawn and gave me some really amazing photographs. I'm so honored, excited, inspired to have done this photo shoot.

So many more to come, cute baby, cute grandparents, cute couple, it's all coming. But these were some of my favorites.