When this sweet family contacted me about shooting their fall portraits, I was really excited!  You see, I often shoot people that I have met before...but I'd never met Meghan & Eric.  We had a few mutual acquaintances, but we were virtually strangers.  Through email, phone calls & texts, I could quickly see that Meghan was going to be one of those girls who would become a pal!  She is always, always full of encouraging words & excitement.  In fact, I really love the fact that she seems to see even the simplest things as wonderful blessings from God.  It's a contagious love for life & for her family that really made an impression on me.  I am so glad they ask me to do their portraits!! 

Meet Eric, Meghan, Savannah, & Somerlynn:

Now, I will have to say...it took a little bit for these two little girlies to warm up to me...but once they did, we were on a roll! 

Eric & Meghan:

(Does anyone else thing that Savannah looks like her daddy??) 

One of the best things about fall pictures: leaves! Beautiful Laurel Mill

Of course we had to get a few of Dad with the girls...

...and then Mom with the girls...

I just love, love, love this picture :) 
A few of Savannah ~

I love that her eyes almost disappear when she smiles! 

A few of Somerlynn ~

Cute as a button! 
Sisters Together ~

It was about this point in time that the girls really started wanting to climb on the rocks, so with camera in hand...we scurried our way up the hillside.  That's when it happened...the tree hugging, I mean.  I think it started with Savannah giving a skinny little tree a hug. I tried to take a picture of it so I told her to hug the tree again.  Then Somerlynn wanted to hug a tree...then Savannah wanted to hug another tree.  Within a few moments, we were all hugging trees.  I'm pretty sure that people driving by thought we were straight out of the loony bin.  I say, "Hey...this is what we do to get cute pictures!!"

So to my sweet, tree-huggin' friends - I'm so glad we got to do these portraits and that I got to meet your family.  I cannot wait until we get to do our 2013 sessions.  You guys are a true joy.  And to my new pal, Meghan - I love your attitude, girl!  I benefit from it every time we talk :)  

I would like to thank Facebook for these session!  Let me explain: 

It started out with some general comments from these momma's on my wall.  Both were interested in having family pictures done, so we started talking over the basics of getting them scheduled.  One offered her farm as a location that they could both use, so I decided to message them together.  From that initial message, came over two months of back & forth conversations between us all.  There were conversations that included all three of us, convos that were just between Sarah & Cathy, a few between me & Cathy or me & Sarah...it ran the gambit.  I must say, I rather enjoyed it though...it was like having our own little communication world, lol!  I was a little sad to see it end!! 

We ended up coming up with the game plan to shoot both families on the same day, in the same location.  We came up with a list of props (baskets & quilts & chairs, etc) and divided them between the families and then off we went.  Chad & Sarah helped with parts of Jesse & Cathy's session...and Cathy helped with parts of Chad & Sarah's session.  It was quite the adventure...kind of like one big happy family sharing the day together.  I had so much fun with these guys!!  The kids were just picture perfect & both families were easy to work with.  Here's what our afternoon looked like:

The Burnettes:

Meet Jesse, Cathy, little Charity, & big brother Jess. 

(I cannot lie...I had so much fun going through these images when I was done. Little Jess had the cutest smile...his mouth was open all the time!)

He even tried to beat up his dad...he's just not quite big enough yet ;) 

And then there's Miss Charity (and Dad):

Can you get much cuter?

Mom: 

Mom & Dad: 

Really, they're the sweetest family! 

Then we took a few of Miss Charity by herself because her first birthday was coming up.  Cathy had the cutest tutu EVER for her...add some balloons & a few props...we had ourselves a sweet little birthday set up! 

The b/w because I thought it was pretty:

The Birthday Girl!! 

The next part of the day was all about the Smiths! 

Introducing Chad, Sarah, Shayna, & Cody

Now, I know I said that Jess had the cutest smile...and it might be a close tie with both Charity & Cody, but Shayna most def. had the funniest faces.  She was Miss Personality...which makes my job all the more fun!! 

Seriously...can you get much better than that?  Keep on scrolling ;) 

Wait for it, wait for it...

Boom.  Oh yes she did!! I was rolling over this cheerleader pose!  She clearly gets her personality from her father, haha!! (Just kidding...I've known Chad since I was 8 & I have never seen him do a cheerleader pose)

Cheerful Cody! 

Seriously...I am so lucky! 

A few of Mom & Dad together that I thought were absolutely gorgeous! 

The kiddos:

(Told you she made the best faces ever!!)

What a cutie pie...

And a few more of the family together...

When we started planning this day, I had no idea how it would actually work out. I gotta say...it was one of the most fun sessions of my year!  To the Burnettes & the Smiths, you guys are wonderful.  What a treasure your families are!  So grateful you let me photograph you.  You blessed my heart!   

Fall of 2012...it's hard to believe that it's already gone by.  I think it was just yesterday that the leaves were changing in my yard &  the excitement of the holiday's was beginning to build.  I am having the hardest time wrapping my mind around the fact that it's 2013 already!

As I sit in my house (I'm home sick, boo!) and reflect on this past fall, I feel so honored.  I was looking back at all of the sessions that I needed to post to the blog & there were so, so many.  I had almost forgotten all the sessions I had done!  Before I give you the wrong idea, like I had too many sessions or didn't enjoy what I was doing, let me clarify that statement.  I completely over-booked myself this past fall.  I did it for several reasons: I love shooting, I wanted the business, and I feel like I get better with each session.  If you know me, then you know I'm the kind of person that will push myself until I've got something just the way I want it... and I still feel like I have so far yet to go with my skills in photography.  So for me, taking on all these sessions was something I felt like I both needed and wanted to do.  In the midst of that, because I was (and still am) working full-time at my alma mater, Southeastern, I was slammed.  Instead of having the time to linger over my images & really absorb them, I had to push them out.  And frankly, I forgot how many wonderful families allowed me to spend my time with them, snapping away to my heart's contentment!  What a blessing I had!!  

Over the next week, I hope to showcase these families and the photos they allowed me to capture.  There will be quite a few posts, so don't hate me if you get blog overload from me ;) 

To those who allowed me to take their pictures this past fall, you helped me make the end of 2012 the craziest it could have ever been, lol!  But seriously, you are each precious to me and I am so thankful I got to work with each of you.  Let's do it again in 2013!