Thanksgiving

This past Thursday, Thanksgiving, is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Most importantly, I get the spend the day with my family and friends, but I also love the 'mood' that is set that day: festivities, tradition, and preparing for the Christmas season.

The day started as it has for as long as I can remember; a true family tradition. We wake up early and eat a yummy breakfast, while we make a circle on the family room floor and pass around the ad's that come in the newspaper. It's so fun because we just sit in our pajamas, laugh, and get into the holiday spirit.

After our morning AD run, my mom and I went over to my sister's house where the entire family was going for Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, I brought my camera and took tons of pictures throughout the day. Here are a few of my favorites!

I'll start with my nephew, Cameron. He has the walker which we call the BMW, and he loves cruising around on this thing. He can't walk on his own yet, but he can in this toy and he feels so cool when he hobbles around. Well, I decided to sit on the ground in front of him and take a few pictures; he was making a lot of funny faces at me and I couldn't stop laughing. Here are a few: (ps- the top one is my favorite. It reminds me of the Blue Steel look from Zoolander, one of my all time favorite movies!)



We had a huge combination of delicious food. Since we had a pretty good sized crowd, we had some 'semi-homemade food' (Sandra Lee from the Food Network style!) dishes. Oh, and yes, those are potatoes in the sink. 15 pounds worth of potatoes (my sister and I peeled all of them. Uh huh.)



My sister set up an awesome table for us. It was gorgeous! And we topped off our delicious meal with one of my favorites: Sparkling Apple & Cherry Cider.



And this was one of the coolest things from the day- my sister used to be a 2nd grade teacher, and since she is taking a break this year to be with Cameron- she decided to have a fun activity for the family. She made a turkey on the back of Cameron's high chair, and we were all to take a 'feather', write what we were thankful for, and tape the feather on the turkey. It was such a good idea!



And, if this day couldn't get any better, we had beautiful weather! It was cloudy and a little rainy- sooo cozy, definitely my favorite! We also got a pretty cool thunderstorm at the end of the night. It was amazing!



I love my life, and am most thankful for the family that I have. I am very blessed to have such and amazing family, and cannot thank them enough for all they do!

Many posts are coming this week- I have tons of photo sessions to blog about!

Another Christmas Card!

Yes, I have another Christmas Card option!

I love this card- it's simple, yet is very modern and cute.

This is a flat 5x7 card. It features one large image on the front, and customizable text on the back.

Front:



Back:



Of course, you're printed card won't have the big 'SAMPLE' on the front! Pictured in the card is the adorable Hayden. Stay tuned in the near future for more pictures of this cutie that I took this weekend.

Price:

$25 per 25 cards, including white envelopes.


If you are planning on purchasing any Christmas Cards, Prints, or Products that you would like before Christmas, please order no later than December 6th!

Thanks! :)

Storyboards & Print Mounting

As many of you know, I offer storyboards and print mounting on any photograph. These are really fun ways to display your photographs creatively throughout your house, while keeping within your budget. 

Storyboards are a board (vertical or horizontal) that display multiple photographs from your session. Boards usually contain 3-5 images, and are custom designed with your favorite images and design taste. These boards are 100% customizable; we will choose colors, patterns, text, borders, and design elements based on your needs, and your design is submitted for approval before printing. Based on how you choose to create your board, it can be clean and simple for the office, wacky and fun for the kids' room, or formal and elegant for the living room. That's the beauty of these boards!

All storyboards are mounted on a thick and sturdy styrene board. These durable plastic boards have the strength to stand up by themselves when leaning on shelves or surfaces against walls, making them easy and fun to interchange and be creative with. No frames necessary!

Print Mounting

You have the option to mount any photograph on the same thick, durable styrene board used with storyboards. This is another great, affordable option to spicing up your photographic decor around the home.

Storyboards and mounted prints are thick and sturdy. This equals durability and creativity.

If you'd like to start discussing the design for you storyboard, or mount any print, please contact me! Also, feel free to ask any questions. Both are on-hand for personal viewing at any time.

Desirea Sneak Peak

Here is a little 'sneak peak' from Desirea's awesome senior session this weekend in Anthem! It was a blast! And, there were about 5 other photographers there taking family pictures, so it was a bit of a challenge to land a spot with good lightning and avoid getting families all dressed in red out of the background. But we ended up landing great spots, and I love the results!

I love these shoes :)





I LOVE the light in this one. Mmmm hmmm





They brought their dog along and he got to sneak in a few! So cute.



Here is a collage of a few of my favorites. I loved the light in this location. Did you notice the new collage in the last two posts? It's one of my favorite new things to make.







I love this shot. The water looks so calm and sturdy- as if you could walk on it! Desirea was daring enough to get onto that rock. It required jumping, as seen in the second picture below!





And, this is a first for me on a photoshoot, Desirea got a giant cactus stuck in her foot! It even left puncture marks. I felt bad taking a picture, but hey, who would seriously believe you if you said, "Yeah, I got this giant piece of cactus stuck in my foot?"



You are a trooper, Desirea! Thanks so much for letting me do your senior portraits, I had so much fun and love how they turned out. You and your family are AWESOME! Thanks!

PS: Yes, my third post of the day! Scroll down to check out my other two! I'm on a roll.

Cameron is 7 Months!

Meet my adorable nephew, Cameron who is now 7 months old! I can't believe how fast he has grown- I take his pictures once a month, and it seriously is the coolest thing you can do with a baby. It's amazing to look at their pictures month after month and see the small changes they have made each month. We started them when he was two weeks old, and will continue until he is one year old and will make a coffee table book out of our favorites taken throughout the year. Amazing! I'm thinking of making a package that covers your maternity pictures, newborn session, 4 additional baby sessions throughout the year, and a credit for a coffee table book. If you're interested, let me know! 

And yes, this is my second post of the day. There will be a third later on! 

Enough rambling, and onto the cuteness!

Check out that strawberry-blonde hair; totally resembles his mom, Ali. In these pictures, you can really see the red in his hair! In others, not so much. But I love when it shows- adorable! And you have to love those big, blue eyes that also resemble his mom, and his dad, Danny. Danny was making Cameron laugh in this picture, and as you can see by Ali's arm, was trying to stop him from rolling over from laughing so hard.



And then, I found this awesome bucket in my backyard that I never knew I had. I was so happy Ali was willing to sit Cameron in this little plastic thing, because they are my favorite pictures I've ever taken of him! So cute and Gap model-ish. I made this collage with a few of my favorites.



And a one bigger one to show off those bright eyes.



Thanks Ali, Danny, and Cameron! Can't wait for next month's set!

And readers: stay tuned yet again for a third post! They will be a 'sneak peak' of Desirea's senior session from Anthem this weekend.

Kirsten Maternity

First of all, I would love to comment on how I haven't posted a blog post for almost two weeks! Crazy! Sorry folks! School + tons of client emails, meetings, and sessions = busy Lizzie! (wow, I just referred to myself in 3rd person).

Anyway, today is going to be a good blog post day, possibly a triple whammy. I'll start with Kirsten's Maternity pictures from last weekend. I absolutely love them!



Isn't she gorgeous!



I love her facial expression in this picture. You can tell she is genuinely laughing- one of my absolute favorite things to capture!



Mmm. Love the light here.



And something about this pot just stuck out to me! I really liked it and decided to experiment to see if I would like it- and it ended up being my favorite series of pictures!



And these next two are so cute. This is Kirsten and her mom, grandmother, and mother-in-law. It was their idea to create the heart on her stomach, and it was such a good idea! I love how it came out, and I absolutely love when my clients present me with their own ideas during their session! It makes it so fun and personal.





These a just a few we took during the session! There are so many but I decided to post a few of my favorites here and share them with everyone :)

Thank you so much Kirsten and family! You are so beautiful and did an awesome job. I'm so excited to have captured this important time in your life. Baby Carson is going to have an awesome mom!

Blog readers: stay tuned- more posts to come in the next few hours! :D

Workshop Pictures

This past weekend, I was very blessed to have the opportunity to attend an amazing workshop hosted by the amazing Jennifer Bowen and Kimberly Jarman. Both are very talented local photographs that greatly inspire me!

During the workshop, we had a live shoot where a toddler, family, and engaged couple posed for us as we learned a lot about the shooting process and creating amazing photographs! 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from each group. I'm sorry for the long post with almost 30 images, but this is the only place you will see them so I will just go all-out!

The Toddler:

He was such a cutie and far more interested on what as on the other side of the fence...



The Family





I loved this sweet moment between the mother and son





And the little girl was so cute. She had no problem running by a few times for us! I love the genuine smile on her face.



The Couple











I loved this old mustang and especially loved how it looked with the colors toned down a bit.



Sunlight!!!! It makes me happy :)



















And I love this last one. The cuteness and closeness of his hand in her pocket is just so sweet!



Thank you so much Jen and Kim for putting on this amazing workshop! And thanks to everyone who came out to let us take pictures of you :) it was so very helpful and I'm so thankful that I was able to go! :)