It was so fun to photograph her and her two big sisters … I love working with all kids, but you know that little girls are a very nice change of pace for me! 

Thank you, so much girls for hanging out with me! 

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Let me tell you … last minute planning is super unusual for me.  I like to plan things well in advance.  I’m currently working on my August calendar, in fact.  But pretty much on Sundays, when it is Matt’s only day off in the week, I’ll do whatever it is that he wants to do.

So we packed up and headed south.

I’ve told you before, we live a pretty chilled lifestyle.  But still, getting away as a family to do something different from our normal routine, is so good for the soul.  The soul of our family.

{Let’s take a moment to just observe these 4 shots from my husband … at 40 yards, one right after the other …. }

We were only able to shoot for about an hour and a half and still had lots of day left, so he went a bit further south to the Metolius Fish Hatchery at Wizard Falls.  G&C had been there before with Matt and were beyond excited to show me and Kaden how we can feed the fish …

I love it when experiences happen and whenever you remember your good time, it literally warms you up and relaxes you.  That’s how I feel about this trip.  We’re definitely embracing the notion of ‘quality not quantity’ with our fun family adventures … eh, who am I kidding.

Everyday is an adventure with my guys.

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No doubt, lots of my posts will be from our evening walks.   It is the happiest time of the day for all of us …

Gosh, okay … they don’t look too thrilled, but really, they are …

{That’s what it looks like when your mouth gets smacked with the edge of a wooden swing … poor Tado … }

{No worries … nothing is really harmed by the boys shooting into the pond.  If there was, there’d be newts floating on the top}

This is us, making the most of our time with Dad and with nice weather.   I’ll try not to complain, but I will say that it’d sure be nice to have a lot more of both …

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Then I said, “Hey Coop!  Come take a picture with Doot!”.

He came too …

“Sweet, boys!  Okay, now one that’s serious … ”

Then Doot says, “Hey Kadey Kade!  Come take a picture with brothers!  Come give Hum a hug!”

{FYI … Doot = Gage, Kadey Kade = Kaden, and Hum = Cooper}

Later when they’d gone to bed, I scrolled through these images in Lightroom and shook my head, saying “Why can I never just get one good one of them  together?”  Matt came over to the computer to see and as he looked at them, his face lit up, he laughed at each one and thoroughly enjoyed seeing his boys in these images.

He said, “Those are all good!  They’re hilarious!”

When I showed the boys these photos the next day they got quite a kick out of themselves, too.

I’m so glad that I get to see my images … and life … through not only my eyes but theirs’ and Matt’s, too.   Their perspective is often uplifting and humbling at the same time. 

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I do believe these ‘sacred mundane‘ activities as Kari refers to them, are, well… truly sacred and beg to be documented in photos.  I’m over-the-moon excited to offer this type of session to my clients!  In preparation for our day, Kari and I chatted about some activities that are routine for them and she named study time, the kids playing, preparing a meal or a snack, housework, reading together, blogging, and putting her daughter down for a nap.  Realistically, these take place over the course of an entire day … so for the sake of our session {which was about 2.5 hours} we condensed their day!  I scoped out the lighting in their home, planned out where and in what order we’d roll through these activities, and off we went.

With a bit of forethought and planning, we had a relaxing, blessed experience, and I do believe we captured images that will remind Kari and her family of “A Day in the Life”…

{enjoy}

{such a sweet moment when her son stopped reading, to whisper his love to his mama …}

Time and again, I am humbled by the opportunity to document life for my family and for my clients … whether it is brand new life, or lives lived well.  This session truly touched me as it was an opportunity to observe the sweet, genuine moments this family shared as they simply did life. We didn’t have to go to a fantastically original location … the comfort of home was all we needed!

Thank you, Kari and Jeff, for welcoming this session!

And I have encouraged you to before, and will again and again, but please do visit Kari’s blog, Sacred Mundane.  You will surely be enlightened and uplifted! 

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Not long after I began feeling pulled in this direction, it became very clear to me that my friend Kari Patterson and her family would be the perfect subjects for this type of session.

In addition to devoting her life to the Lord and caring for her family, Kari is passionate about finding the sacred in the mundane.  The beauty in the everyday.  The gift in the chores of motherhood.  She blogs faithfully about this and is currently writing a book as well!  And I wanted to celebrate that with a photo session. 

I’m sharing in two parts … first, our 15 minutes in the sprinkling, windy outdoors…

Aren’t they a beautiful family??  I just love them, and really look forward to sharing the ‘Lifestyle’ portion of their session tomorrow!

See you then!  XOXO

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I photographed this family’s maternity session and then their little guy as a newborn, and recently had the pleasure of photographing them as a complete unit, and with a little extra focus on the baby’s 6 month birthday!

I’m warning you, there is a lot of photos … and a lot of cuteness!

Once we finished up outside, in-doors we went for a little nap, and studio time. 

Thank you to this wonderful family for coming back for more!

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And, these really are the Days.  That’s their last name.    I had the pleasure of photographing them last weekend and the Lord definitely blessed our session … it started to rain about 20 minutes after we finished!

Ever since we had our own family photos taken, I feel like I’m becoming an advocate for family photos!  They are so important – to capture your family together, in a beautiful setting, is a wonderful gift to give yourself!

Thank you, again, Alicia and Reg for the opportunity to photograph you guys!

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I had this image in my mind to try because they have a photo in this same spot, just like this on their wedding day.  Minus their 3 precious little blessings of course. 

I insisted … kiddos need photos of their mamas!

Thank you for the experience … we’ll do these sessions for years to come, okay? 

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