RYAN & JAMIE || PARTY OF NINE

Many of you know that my sister-in-law Jennifer passed away in May of 2017. As you can imagine, being a single dad to 4 little kids has been REALLY, REALLY hard for my brother Ryan. In July of 2017, he met an amazing woman, Jamie, and they started dating. In October, I went home for Skylar's homecoming, and they were just starting to talk about getting married, but hadn't picked a date and Jamie hadn't even met our family yet. We invited her to spend the weekend with our wild crazy family, we figured she would either survive being with ALL of us for a few days, or it might scare her away from our crazy crew!! {we are a lot when we are all together!}

I guess she decided she could handle us, because I had only been home to Chicago for a week or two when Ryan called and asked me if I would be willing to come back and take their engagement photos. {uhm, sure, why didn't we just do it while I was there? Kidding, Sort of!!} We made arrangements for me to come the first weekend of December, and I was only going to be in Utah for a little over 24 hours. I PRAYED for good weather and a good day to take photos. I also prayed that I could keep control of 7 children under 11, that none of them would end of in the stream, {in hindsight, that might not have been our brightest idea}, and that we would get ONE good photo for the announcement!!

When we pulled up to the park, there were protesters EVERYWHERE, apparently we had just missed a rally at the capital building and we were stuck in the middle of everyone leaving. Luckily we found some parking and went to some stairs far away from the water and the protesters...and because prayers are answered the weather was beautiful and somehow we managed to get ONE almost perfect shot!! Oh man, they are CUTE together!!

Personally I think this one is my very favorite, maybe my favorite from all of last year. This is real life, especially with 7 kids!!

And because somehow everyone was cooperating {mostly} for a couple seconds, I was able to grab some individual shots of each of them. While I was trying to get a few shots of Ryan and Jamie {and while trying to make sure the kids weren't in the water} we had a few little helpers who wanted to be a part of the action, I'm pretty sure this is going to be their new normal. {They better plan lots of getaways because there isn't going to be any relaxing at home!} But man, these two have some CUTE kids!!!

Happy engagement, I know it's totally anti-climatic now that you're already married, but hey, I didn't pick my busiest time for you to get engaged and married!! :) I love you both and can't wait to watch you raise these little munchkins!! 

CALLEIGH'S BAPTISM || 8 IS REALLY GREAT

There is something so precious and special about an 8 year old child who is ready to make covenants, choose the right and be baptized. There is something special about being able to have your very own photo shoot, especially if you're like me and you grew up in a big family and you rarely got to do anything alone!! There is something beautiful about being dressed all in your Sunday best and getting to have all the attention on you for a whole day. And, if you've ever been to a baptism, you know that the spirit is SO strong and you can feel the love that our Father in Heaven has for each one of us.

I was so excited that we had a beautiful, mostly warm day in November, to take these pictures of Calleigh. Her mom had so many cute ideas that she wanted to incorporate into her photo shoot, and I'm so happy with how they turned out. Calleigh and I both love sparkles - especially sparkly shoes, twirly dresses and taking pictures. She would have stayed with me all day and let me take her pictures for hours and hours.

Calleigh, I am so proud of you and the choice you made to be baptized. Your Heavenly Father loves you so much and wants you to always remember how you felt on your special day. Always remember you are special, you can be anything you want to be and you get to choose to be happy!! I hope you always remember how beautiful you are and never let anyone tell you any different! Congratulations!

LULAROE, SMALL BUSINESS & NEW FRIENDS

If you haven't heard of LuLaRoe, I'm not sure where you've been living for the last two years. :)  I found them a little over 2 years ago and have made SO many friends through LuLaRoe and their community. Also, BONUS, I love their clothes. I had so much fun with Lindsay capturing the joy and hard work she puts into her LLR business. She is a mamma to two adorable little girls {who I get to photograph later this month} and she is so blessed to get to stay home with them, work her own business and be present in their lives. They are only little for a few short moments - or so it seems - and they grow up way too fast. {believe me, I know!}

It's a blessing for me to support my friends and their small businesses, while at the same time they support my dreams and passions, in my own small business. I am fortunate to have a large community of friends who support me and cheer me on.  Running a small business - while working a full time job - is a LOT of work. Don't let anyone tell you that running your own business is easy. I assure you, it's a lot of work. My dad has run his own construction business since I was a baby. I grew up without vacations or sick days, especially in the summer when the weather was good. We didn't ever know what time he was coming home, because running your own business has no hours. But we for sure knew how to work, and how to work hard. Thanks Dad!

So the next time you have a chance to support your friend in their small business, remember that you are helping them live their dream. And if you've never heard of LuLaRoe and want to find Lindsay, HERE is her site!

THE KORELLA FAMILY

I was so excited when they asked me to take their family pictures this year.....mostly because I knew their family would be SO easy and so fun. These girls are the cutest little hams around. They were all into the posing and doing exactly what I told them to do....they really needed very little direction because they were such naturals....and their parents, uhm, I can see where they get it from. I had such a great time at their shoot and I LOVE how they turned out. Once again, this squishy one is my favorite, but in all honesty, I really love them all!!

MOTHER DAUGHTER FUN

We had such a great time last weekend at this mother-daughter shoot. They were so nervous that they looked good and that they matched and that we were losing the light....I kept assuring them that everything looked beautiful and as you can see....they turned out great!!!

I loved watching their relationship together, I could tell they really loved each other and had such a great bond.

The light was PERFECT and they were such a joy to work with, I didn't even have to 

Each of the daughters had milestones this year, one of them graduated from college and the other got married. They did a few shots with their proud mamma, and a couple of fun ones for them.

They are all so beautiful!!!!!