Today I’ve compiled my favorites from every family, baby, child, maternity or senior session this year into a fun little slideshow.  I love shooting families!  This year I was privileged to shoot lots of families, and I think my favorite parts of this slideshow are the parts where you see a maternity session and then the newborn baby, or a newborn baby and then that new family’s family session.  I love getting to be a part of the stages of your lives, thank you so much to everyone who allowed me to freeze their special moments in time this year.  It truly is an honor.

Here are my top favorites of all the favorites from families this year.  Scroll down and vote for your favorite and then watch the slideshow!

Dorrie

Chapmans

Dorrie & Mia

Gage

Esther & Cody

Brenna

Griffins

Adelaide

And here is the happy little slideshow of all my family favorites!

Today’s post features the lovely and charming Dana Smith.  You might remember her from her family session in November with her husband and sweet little girl Libby.  Dana is expecting baby number two (a boy!) before too long, and doesn’t she look fabulous?  I think she is so photogenic and has such a beautiful smile!  These photos were taken two days before Christmas at my parent’s house in my mom’s fabulous living room.  I’ve always wanted to do a shoot in their house and never have until now!  The house has huge windows everywhere and wonderful natural light, which is perfect for an in-home shoot.  I know what you’re thinking, no you can’t have that zebra chaise.  My brother and I regularly fight over who is going to get it when my parents die.  Morbid but true…

Scroll down to the bottom to see Dana’s slideshow, set to a nice mellow song for a nice snowy day!

I think this may be my new favorite maternity image.  I love her relaxed pose, the colors of the leaves and how they contrast with the colors of her clothes!  Click the image to see a full sized version.

Click the image below to see Dana’s maternity slideshow -

This session spanned about three and a half hours and I think we were all wiped out when we were done!  There was poop, pee, crying, nursing, sleeping, screaming two year olds, waking, and all kinds of mayhem.  But as with all things related to babies, it was totally worth it!

Here is mommy Tara a few months ago glowingly pregnant -

Presenting Miss Tatum -

And the slideshow.  Grab the tissue cause I’m not going to lie, I cried!  Can’t wait till it’s my turn again =)

I can’t help it, he’s just so cute!  I have to show you Shep yet again, I can’t wait to have TWO cute boys to photograph all the time!

If you would like to give the gift of photography to someone you love, let me know!  You can buy gift certificates towards portrait sessions, prints or weddings with Beth Dreyer Photography.

Meet the Keller family!  This family is very special to me for lots and lots of reasons.  This is the third year I have photographed them!  You can see last year’s photos here and here.  The year before I wasn’t blogging yet I guess!  I go to the Keller’s house every Monday night for girls Bible study which has been such a hugely important part of my life for quite a while now.  It’s pretty much the best Bible study every because Ronna cooks fabulous food for us each week and doesn’t make us feel bad if we don’t finish our homework – basically a win-win if you ask me!  Last year the whole family couldn’t be together all at the same time for pictures but this year it worked out to get everyone together for Thanksgiving.  We had perfect weather and even pretty impressive cooperation from three year-old Max (once there were cookies involved =)

LOVE these two of Ronna and Wayne -

How cute are Devin and April?

I have always thought that Max was such a handsome boy.  Some kids are cute, Max is handsome -

To see more of the Kellers, click below to see their slideshow!

When I told Jake I was going to feature his work on my blog, he wanted me to quote him as saying that if you hire me you’re going to have to get extra now because he’s included.  Then he scratched that and informed me that he was just going to open his own business and that we were now competing photographers.  I’d be worried if he knew how to use Photoshop.  I went ahead and branded them with my logo since he was still a apart of Beth Dreyer Photography when these were taken

Didn’t he do a good job?  He shot these photos of me during a break in the Portraits at the Preserve marathon a few weeks ago.  Great job Babe!

Daniel is my cousin and the third of five boys in his family.  He and Kristen have been dating for several years and with her easy going personality she fits right in with all the boys and our whole crazy family.  Daniel, you did good!  They were so good in front of the camera, I barely had to encourage them to be cute and interact – they were just themselves.  It was great!  I’m glad we finally had this gorgeous day for shooting too because if I remember correctly, we had to reschedule twice because of wind and rain!  I can’t wait to shoot their wedding next summer!

First we started out over here at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano.

Then we drove over to Las Colinas to the canals.  Aren’t they cute?

Looove this one -

Although this might be my favorite -

And then I love this one too!

Click below to see Kristen & Daniel’s slideshow

I love the Boyd family!  Not only do they produce gorgeous daughters and have the ultimate backyard for a summer party =) but Brenna’s older sister Jessica is one of my best friends.  You may remember her from her fabulous bridal portraits and engagement pictures.  Well Brenna is the youngest of three Boyd daughters and she’s all grown up and graduating this spring!  She was seriously the easiest person I have ever photographed.  It was so bizarre!  She wasn’t freaked out to be in front of the camera, she wasn’t trying to run away from me, she didn’t have a dress that constantly had to be fluffed or a bouquet to adjust, she didn’t cry or ask for candy, she didn’t freeze up and look cheesey.  She just did what I asked her to do and looked fabulous the whole time.  I don’t know if I’ve ever come home with more ‘keeper’ shots from a session!  We were seriously done with this session in less than an hour and a half with four different outfits!  Those Boyd girls are fun to photograph!

I really love this last one.  I feel like she’s so channeling her inner Anthropologie woman -

Click below to see Brenna’s slideshow -

I have been dying to finish editing and share these photos!  These two little girls are both so incredibly beautiful and photogenic, I was absolutely beside myself editing their photos.  Every time I would go through the photos, they got cuter and cuter!  Dorrie and Mia’s mommies are the nurse and ultra-sound tech at my OB’s office, and we were all pregnant at the same time back two years ago!  We did this shoot on a Saturday morning after a rainy few days and the ground was muddy everywhere!  So between two 2-year-olds, pretty dresses, shoes, stockings and an older brother their moms had their hands full.  It was so funny, photographing two year olds is such a chaotic venture every time.  You’ve got me sweet talking and handing out gummies, moms doing silly dances and singing songs, big brother getting yelled at for walking into the shot and two little girls who don’t understand what’s going on.  I love it!  I think it’s hilarious and wonderful, which is why I love photographing small children.

This is Mia.  Look at her gorgeous eyes!!

I don’t have words for Dorrie’s curls.

Stop it.  SO cute!!

Gorgeous girls.

Can’t get enough?  Me either.  Click below to watch their slideshow -