Family Picture Day

This year I'm so happy I scheduled our family pictures early in the year. It's super stressful but it's so worth it in the end. There is plenty that I would change if I could go back. For example Noah's shirt was supposed to be rolled on the sleeves (little stinker unrolled them and I didn't notice til after we took pics), Callie and I had matching bracelets that got left in the bathroom when she took it off to wash her hands, Callie's necklace was off center for quite a few of her pics, and I really wanted Ron or Noah to wear a dark gray shirt... oh well. It's DONE and I don't have to think about it anymore. I used the same photographer that did my maternity pics and April's newborn pics, Trisha Shelley. She was amazing and found exactly what I wanted for our background/scenery. Our photo session was scheduled for early morning. We needed to be up early to get the sunrise and good lighting for our pictures. This really wasn't that big of a deal considering my kids are total early birds. I got up at 4:30am got myself ready first, then woke the kids up around 5:30am and we rushed out the door around 6:10am.

 

Callie refused to put on her under shorts that I set out. It cracks me up that you can see her navy blue/stars Pajama bottoms in a couple of these pics. LOL

Trisha has a blog and she posted all about our photo shoot. I just love her and it's fun to read her perspective on how things went:
I moved to Gilbert, Arizona soon after getting my first DSLR camera and having just decided I wanted to be a photographer. But when you move to a new place, and don't know anyone, where do you start?

Lucky for me, I had one friend here. One friend who let me photograph her beautiful family for free in exchange for posting the pictures to a yardsale group and saying I was offering a deal. I was offering killer deals back then! I said--Valentines Special $25 for a session. Two people jumped on that deal. And Shelly was one of them. I'm sure she knew I was a newbie. What photographer in their right mind would charge $25 for a session? But she gave me a shot--for which I am so grateful.

Well, she must have liked me, because a few months after her maternity session, she called me to take pictures of her new little one! And since then has sent a couple friends my way. She has been one of my greatest supporters and advocates! I'm so grateful for her and I love the friendship we've built through this medium. 

About a month ago, Shelly told me she really wanted a rustic barn for her photos. If you're from Mesa or Gilbert then you might get this. It's REALLY hard to find a rustic barn around here! It's the city for one, and two, everything is pretty new. I was a little nervous we weren't going to make it happen. Thank goodness for friends because google wasn't getting me anywhere! If you ask enough people, you're bound to find something! 

We found this old pink barn that happens to belong to a friend of mine in my church! And, it happens to be less than a mile from my apartment. It was well hidden! When I heard pink, I was a little nervous. But Shelly trusted me and we made it work! Needless to say, it went wonderfully. We even got ambushed by some cows towards the end. With the beautiful morning light (my favorite!) and this gorgeous location, it made for a pretty magical session.

Hope you felt a little of the magic too!
xoxo,

She talked about getting ambushed by cows and she wasn't joking. The cows seemed to appear out of nowhere. They made Trisha nervous and she asked that we move out of the area. I declined and said they were fine and just minding their own business. I did notice that they kept inching their way closer and closer towards us. Mason of course thought this was really cool and he kept making eye contact with one of the cows. This particular black cow (bull) did NOT like when Mason looked at him. He started charging Mason 2 or 3 different times. When Ron stepped in between to intervene he was surprised that the cow continued to challenge us. So we quickly left the pasture. 

I'm really pleased with how pictures went. Sadly I felt like April didn't smile as much as her normal self. SHOCKING I know. I needed to go nurse her halfway through our session which really made my shirt wrinkly. Oh well, life of a mother.

I love this face that she makes. It's kind of "her thing"