Tatyana came to us from our friends at Olympus Pointe Orthodontics (one of the coolest looking orthodontists offices I might add).  She recently had her braces removed and was ready to show off her new look.  When we met with Tatyana for her consultation, we were surprised to hear she had never had professional portraits taken, so you can imagine her excitement.  The day of the session, she arrived with fabulous hair & makeup and was ready to go…almost.

She said she was very nervous and was afraid she might not know what to do.  I told her not to worry, we would take all the time we need to make her comfortable.  20 minutes later, she was acting like a seasoned pro in front of the lens and just lit things up with that new smile.  Here are a few of my faves.  Thanks Tatyana!

Little C is the second McVey baby we’ve been lucky to photograph in the past few years.  We love working with this family and look forward to each time we see them (both boys were part of our Bebe collection).  It’s so funny because big brother barely had any hair, even up to his first birthday, and little C, as you can tell, is not lacking in that department!  Before long he’ll be back for his one-year session….they grow up so fast!

The Learn family brought their energetic, adorable boys to us for some fun, “real” family portraits, and that’s just what they got.  We basically just followed their lead and let them have fun and show us their personalities.  It was easy to capture the love and affection in this family, as it was bursting everywhere!  Meet the lovely Learn’s:

The Rieta family came just in time to display their beautiful new portraits for their little man’s 1st birthday party.  It was a gorgeous day and everyone had a great time; well, almost everyone.  The family’s dog wasn’t super excited about the session, but we managed to sneak a few in with their furry friend anyway.  Little E. was definitely one of the happiest, most content kiddos I’ve ever seen, which is a testament to his great parents, I’m sure.  It was just a great session from top to bottom; thanks to the Rieta family for such a great time!

Meet Haley, Granite Bay High 2010.  I’ll never forget Haley’s senior portrait consultation.  As I recall, she and her mom showed up well, empty handed.   We always ask for a variety of clothes for this consultation and we have seen everything from duffle bags, to clothing racks, even grocery bags full of clothing…but nothing?  So we spent the time chatting about different looks, and what Haley had in mind for her senior portraits…and laughed a lot.

p.s.  Haley is a hoot.

So is her mom.

Put them in a room together and the place cracks up.

We got the details nailed down and off they went.  About an hour later Haley’s mom called just to say she was all over it and was totally going shopping for some new duds. “We’re excited and we will definitely be ready!”

The day of the session, Haley arrived with all kinds of cool stuff as promised, and those red shoes…  We had a great time out and about and Haley looked wonderful.  Here are some of my faves.

Little Mr. G and his parents came to visit us for his final Bebe session, and it’s always bittersweet for us.  In this case, we met the Cameto’s and started photographing them for their maternity session, and then continued on capturing baby G’s first year.  We come to know and love these families that we are fortunate enough to spend so much time with, and then it’s well, sad, when the baby turns one and we know we probably won’t be seeing them quite as often anymore.  G was one of the easiest baby’s to photograph in my recent memory, and we could have continued shooting forever the day of his last session.  He was so darned cute in his “little professor” outfit as his dad called it, and I still just want to squeeze his cheeks every time I look back at these images.  Thanks for a great year, Cameto family!

Meet the Patock family….their session was one of those where all of the stars just seemed to be aligned–perfect weather, great clothing, and kids that were awesome (okay, the parents weren’t too bad either…:-)).  We had so much fun getting to know them, and as has happened on so many occasions, it turns out we had some mutual acquaintances that we discovered just chatting during the session.  Way to go on the great hat and scarf–we loved it!

These happy newlyweds came to us for some “family portraits” with their baby, Chopper.  Chopper is the cutest bulldog I’ve ever met, and the first one we’ve photographed.  It was so sweet to capture the glow still apparent in the Weygandt’s first year of marriage, but Mr. Chopper definitely competed for their spotlight.  It was an extra treat for us to photograph Scott & Braeden, as they are part of one of our favorite families!

Last Sunday we took the girls over to our friends at the Silver Spoon children’s boutique to photograph some of their brand-new spring arrivals.  We all agreed that some of the outfits definitely needed live models; enter Reilly & Teagan.  While the ladies pulled outfits, I styled the girls in and out of clothes as fast as Superwoman changed into her digs.  The girls had so much fun trying on all of the super adorable clothing, and even insisted on choosing a new hair accessory from the store’s vast assortment for each outfit.  Enjoy a peek at some of the Silver Spoon’s gorgeous new selection!

The Anast’s are just those kind of people who you can’t help but have a great time around.  We met them a few years ago when little brother was just a baby, so it was fun getting to see them again and this time, at their gorgeous property in Loomis.  When we first talked about the possibility of doing their session at their home and I asked N about what the property was like, she said it really didn’t have much on it but this falling down old tree.  We were super excited when we heard that, and of course she thought we were nuts but took our advice anyway and went forward with having their family portraits made at their place.  As you can see, the falling down old tree was awesome!  We had so much fun just following the kids around the property, letting them run free and explore.  We did sneak a few of mom & dad in, and the one shown here was our absolute favorite of them!  This lovely family is a constant reminder of how lucky we are to be doing what we love; they invited us back as a family a few weeks later for dinner…what a blessing to become friends and be invited into the homes of those we are so fortunate to photograph.  Thank you Anast’s for everything!