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 =)

Sunday evening I had the privilege of hosting Portraits at the Preserve which was a marathon mini-session event.  I was honored to photograph four sweet families and they were gracious enough to brave the heat and stand with their backs to the sun for me!

First up was the Griffin family.  I know you can’t tell at all from this first picture, but Tara is about 7 or 8 months along with their second child!  She looked fabulous and I was really impressed with her for coming out in the heat and doing all the things I asked her to do with a big smile on her face.  Sometimes it’s not easy to smile when you’ve got that much baby inside of you but Tara was a champ!

Shep and Adelaide are in the same Sunday school class at church and he was on my lap while I was editing these of Adelaide and her Mamma.  I told him, “That’s Adelaide’s Mommy!”  and he kept pointing to the screen going, “A-lal Mommy!”

I just love real family moments like this!

Tara, you look fantastic!

Taking pictures of little girls is the best because they know they are beautiful.  Everyone is always telling them they are so they believe it!  They aren’t trying to get their best angle or fix make sure their hair is perfect.  They just smile and pose.

The Haun family was next and since they Hauns and the Griffins are very close friends they asked to have a big family picture together.  I just love that!

Click below for a slideshow of the Griffin family!

“Jamie looks amazing!!  The only part of her that looks pregnant is her tummy!  Her arms and legs and neck and face look thin and normal and she doesn’t look eight months pregnant at all!”  This is what I told Jake with a bit of jealousy when I got home from Colorado this past weekend.

Jake calmly replied, “That’s because she throws up every day.”

He got me there.  I suppose if I had been throwing up every day when I was eight months pregnant I wouldn’t have had balloon arms and legs…

Jamie has had two extremely difficult pregnancies.  When she was pregnant with Mackenzie, her daughter, she hardly left home for nine months because she was so sick all the time.  Both pregnancies she’s been in and out of the hospital for dehydration and has had to take meds just to be able to keep food down.  Let’s just say that not being able to keep food down was definitely not my problem when I was pregnant (pass the buffalo wings!)  This pregnancy has been pretty much as rough (she had to fly home three weeks early from an outreach she and her husband were leading in Southeast Asia in her first trimester).  However, since she’s survived it before, she’s decided not to let her constant naseua get her down!  She’s such a trooper!

Here are some maternity portraits I took of her in my hotel room at the looooovely Westin Westminster -

For this shot, she actually had to push her tummy out so I could even see it!  Eight months preg!

Stay tuned next week for pictures of Jamie’s sweet little daughter Mackenzie!

I just got back from a fantastic weekend in Colorado!  I stayed at the lovely Westin Westminster, which was an absolutely delightful experience.  Their branding was all about relaxing and unwinding and had very zen and spa-esque touches everywhere!  Balm to a mother’s soul….

I haven’t gone on a trip anywhere all by myself since…..I honestly can’t remember!  It was fun and relaxing not to tote a car seat around (can I get an amen?!) and to be able to do whatever I wanted (another amen!).  On top of that I got to spend time with family and good friends, and photograph a beautiful wedding.  Here are some sneak peeks of what I’ll be sharing with you this week on my blog -