As a photographer, I am granted a unique perspective on your family.  And you know what?  You are beautiful.  Right now, you may be living in a world of diaper changes, sticky peanut butter hands, and crying fits over milk being poured into the “wrong cup”…  But you give me something special; something I will always value and appreciate.  You allow me to see everything that fills your heart to the brim.  The moments that are actually plentiful, but sometimes unfairly overshadowed by the difficult moments in parenthood.  I get to look through my lens and see love, literally frozen in time.  And I smile as I scroll through.  I smile and feel very grateful that you’ve allowed me to see something so special and intimate.

I smiled as I shot these.  I smiled even bigger when I uploaded these for editing.  We spent only about 40 minutes together, but in our short time, I learned that Princess Jasmine was a fav.  I learned that even with flights, long days spent traveling, messed up schedules, time zone changes and being up past bedtime, those girls adore their mama and daddy and these photos show that the sentiment is obviously mutual <3  Thank you to this beautiful family for spending one of your evenings with me while visiting from Alaska!

I easily could’ve posted their entire session here, but for those of you on slow connections, I’ll spare you:

You know what I love more than anything?  I love watching a kid be a kid.  I don’t know if it’s because it makes me feel like a kid again myself or because I’m now a mother and realize how incredible kids are?  I don’t think the why’s really matter though.  Seeing the world through a child’s eyes, even if it’s just for a minute, reminds me to take time to enjoy the small things.  The pride of catching sweet air while jumping on their bed, the explosion of giggles over silly knock-knock jokes, the way a little girl actually feels like a real ballerina with a few twirls across the living room floor…it’s all quite magical.  Lifestyle sessions are very special to me.  I’m invited in as a guest and get the opportunity to capture a little of that childhood magic through my lens.  I get to play, be silly and make new little friends.  I feel very blessed to have been a part of this family’s day.  These kiddos are full of energy and life and MANY giggles!  Their parents must be very proud of these three.

I love how tiny he looks on that bed.  What this sweet, little dude lacks in size right now, he definitely makes up for in personality.  If he stopped smiling and laughing, it wasn’t for very long!

I asked if he knew how to be serious.  He thought for about…3 seconds, then he broke out into giggles.  And really, when you have a smile that can light an entire room, why be serious?  It’s WAY overrated anyway.

Every once in awhile, big sis would go quiet and serious.  I really wondered what she was thinking about?  Each time though, the silence was abruptly ended with a burst of all-consuming, full-body laughter: you know, the kind where you have NO idea what the heck is so funny, but you’re too caught up in the moment to care why you’re laughing along!

Little sister.  She really is the perfect addition to this amazing little family.  She rolled with the craziness, she ignored the chaos, she fit right into the sweet moments, she ate up the affection her bigger siblings poured upon her… yes, the perfect addition, for sure.