We knew we were in for a treat when we first met the Lewis family.  Miss P was right around a year old, and this is such a fun age to capture!  Stacey had plenty of great ideas and brought the clothes to match!  For those of you wondering how to put clothing together for a family session, take notes!  They weren’t sure if they wanted to go light or dark, so they did both.  I LOVE the way both looks turned out so classic looking, yet in no way boring or without style.  We had such a great time with the Lewis family, and P was a trooper all the way!  We also learned some very exciting news the day of the session….they’re expecting baby #2!  Congrats to you guys!  On a personal note, James and I are very grateful to Stacey for being one of the people who told us about our new workout obsession, The Dailey Method.  Whenever I’m struggling during the class, I just think about Stacey and her now bigger pregnant belly doing the same things and just grin and bear it!

When we met the Garcia family we knew it would be a fun session because they were so excited about doing it.  Jennifer is a photo bug herself so collaborating on their family session was a treat for all of us.  They knew they wanted to be out in nature somewhere, so we headed over to one of our favorite spots in Roseville for their session.  Brothers G & G (G squared, maybe??) were super agreeable and didn’t seem to mind standing barefoot in the pokey dry weeds….kids are such troopers!  Something I will never forget is that they were leaving the next morning for a big vacation, and Jennifer was so organized with clothing for the session and didn’t seemed stressed at all; not sure I would have been, but glad they were!  Meet the Garcia family:

We started photographing the Pulley family when mom was expecting baby A, and now he’s over a year old.  We were thrilled to have been able to document for them from pregnancy and throughout his first year.  The images here were from his Bebe graduation, and we got the whole family in on this one!  The kids were great and we just loved the variety in clothing they brought along.  One of our very fav’s from the session (and of of their fav’s as well!) is the one here with A’s big sister’s walking away with him.  Sorry A, but your sisters tried to steal your show!

When Miss L’s grandma called and said she wanted to bring her sweet granddaughter for portraits, and that she already had purchased an outfit and had several other ideas, we knew it would be fun!  They drove an hour to get to us, so we knew they were as excited as we were for the photo session.  Of course, Miss L did not disappoint.  She was the most willing 5-year old I think we’ve ever photographed.  She went from one outfit to the next without a single complaint and just kept giving us these fantastic looks.  She was especially excited when her little stuffed friend and her shopping bag got to be props in her portrait.  Thanks to Miss L and her family for making such efforts to help create these darling images!

It’s been a couple of years since we photographed Miss P and Sir N, so we were thrilled when we received a last-minute request for a Mother’s Day surprise for their mom!  We started at the studio and then headed down to the historic district in old Roseville.  A change of scenery is always fun, but it was especially fun when we heard the gray building they were standing in the doorway of used to be original jail down there.  N and P actually seem to get along and {insert gasp here! } really love each other! 🙂  Thanks for sharing your darling kiddos with us, and we can’t wait for a fun and creative family session still to come!

When I first spoke with the Garrettson’s on the phone, I will be honest that I was a little nervous when they told me they wanted family portraits with their 17-month old; nervous only because that can be one of the most difficult ages to photograph a child.  It seems that between about 14 months and 2 1/2 years, kids realize that they can move at their own will and exercise their independence.  Most importantly, they are too young to be bribed at this age!  Well, once they came in for their design consultation and we met little C, my concerns started to wane dramatically.  He was the cutest, sweetest little boy ever!  The day of our session was no different; C was picture perfect in every way.  He did everything we wanted him to with no resistance (or complaints).  I love to be proven wrong, and this was one of those magical sessions where I was over and over.  Now, this isn’t meant to discourage anyone from having children this age photographed, but for those of you who have kids this age, you know that it can be a gamble, which is what makes those million-dollar moments being captured even more precious.  This is what I love so much about photographing families and kids!  Meet the lovely Garrettson family:

When Chris called and said she wanted us to photograph her grandchildren, we were so excited!  Chris is not only our financial planner, but she was also largely responsible for me (Stef) becoming a financial planner as well over ten years ago.  I met Chris before James and I were married and I was living in San Diego; she was my mom’s financial planner, helping her to plan wisely for her future.  I credit so much to her, even though I am no longer practicing in the field.  She still talks about how I was supposed to come to work with her when we moved back to Sacramento, but instead somehow started a photography business with James!  Sorry about that, Chris, but just think, you wouldn’t have these beautiful portraits of your adorable grandchildren! 🙂

Meet the Keane family, Josiah, Keri & miss O.  They decided to have their family session at one of their favorite parks in the area.  We started on the main side of the park but noticed some gorgeous light filtering through some trees across the street, so off we all went.  It was perfect.  Beautiful surroundings & light, and as you can see, the Keanes are a pretty good looking bunch.  Miss O was in top form that day and was a joy to photograph.  Here are some favorites.

The Beard’s have been visiting us since they were expecting Baby J (you might remember mom in hubby’s firefighting turnouts in her maternity images).  When they told us they wanted to do something a little different for their second Bebe session, we were all ears.  They mentioned their pea coats and wanting to go to historic Roseville; we were excited!  We just loved those shots, but were just as excited about photographing J in dad’s turnouts.  We photographed him in his helmet as a newborn and they want to continue the theme throughout each of his first year sessions.  Can’t wait to see him standing in the boots next time around!  Meet the Beard family (again):

We met the Burton family several years back when big brother was just a newborn.  Fast forward a couple of years, and here we are with little Miss R!  One of my favorite parts about what we do is having the privilege of getting to know families as they grow and mature.  R was as cute as can be, and big brother M was quite the ham.  Before we know it she’ll be back and walking (or running!) for her 1-year session….until then, meet “baby” R: