I love when I meet a future bride and groom in a fun unique way. I met one of my 2012 couples [Jammie + Pat] while sitting with them at a reception of their friends wedding whom I was shooting and then a year later, I shot theirs. Of course there is the fair share of high school acuatences, friends of friends, but something just makes me soooo happy when I get a bridesmaid from a wedding I shot in the past. Kailen was the maid of honor at another 2012 couple’s June wedding I shot, Tori + Kyle. A very hot, but lovely day and I actually had the honor of getting to know Kailen through the whole process with Tori. You see … she’s one of those amazing friends who comes along to all those meetings and helps you plan your day. I met Kailen the first time I met Tori and the three of us kicked off a new friendship that I am soooo pumped about.

Lukas and Kailen met in college. The whole … he liked her but was way too shy so she eventually asked him out kind of a thing. Sorry Luke … but its true. Don’t worry, I feel as though most girls now-a-days are the ones asking guys out. What can we say … a girl knows what she wants. And Kailen knew she needed to ask him out on a date. So here they are super in love, and living in California! I was soooo excited when Kailen emailed me and said she was engaged and wanted me to be a part of their special day and this time go through the process with her wedding. The couple lives in California where they both work as radiation therapists in the same office, but they do work in different departments so they don’t see eachother all day long. Even though I’m pretty sure they are one of those couples that could work together everyday all day.

Let me just say, I’m pretty sure I had snot frozen to my face like Harry and Loyd on dumb and dumber but it was totally worth it. Being a lover of snow … I was of course craving to get a couple outside that was willing to freeze with me and just be in love and cuddle up. So funny, the wind would pick up and snow would seriously take your breath away. Love those shots.

Oh and the WHITE BIRCH TREE … where do I start. This is my favoritest-est-est tree ever. I found it while driving back to my friend Rhiannon’s house and we ended up taking some photos there of a bouquet she designed and I knew I had to come back to use some more of the tree’s goodness so this was the perfect time. Rhi laughs at me of how I found it but I swear I turned the corner and it was like singing to me and I’m pretty sure there was a sun beam shining directly down, maybe some angles singing … harp playing … that kind of thing. This couple is the ‘outdoorsy’ type too so it was right up their alley!

All snowflakes are authentic and non were removed.

Happy Tuesday!

I’m out of the office for the rest of the week, so enjoy starring at these two love birds and until next week!

Happy Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, HAPPY WEEKEND!

xoxo

Leah

My new niece Isla Gene was born on February 16, 2013 at 7:00pm and I may have introduced her a few times already here on the blog but why not ‘meet’ her again. Its so crazy how my sister’s family seems so complete now with this third little baby. As anyone would be, we were nervous how the other two kids were going to handle a little baby being brought home and stealing their mother’s attention from them … but surprisingly … the kids are doing amazing with having a little sister in the house. So thankful for that. We knew Morgan would be such a helper, he always has been. Seriously … I asked if I could take him home the other day just so he can help me with things around the house. I have him to thank that all the kids were alive when Tara and Lucas came home from the hospital [I was babysitting 3 small children! Scary!] He tells me where everything is and how everything is done and trust me, if I do something different than the way Tara does it … he lets me know.

Our whole family was positive Tara was having a boy, so when we walked in and saw a little ‘I’m a girl’ sign in her bassinet at the hospital … we were so surprised. Morgan was determined that he was getting a little brother. So I was nervous how he was going to react when he found out God gave him another little sister. Throughout the pregnancy we would warn him and try to prep him just in case, telling him that no matter what God gives us … we’ll love it, boy or girl. But then he would assure you that yes, he knows … but God was giving him a boy. So once he met Isla, he was totally fine with having another sister because she looks exactly like him and he thinks that’s pretty cool. We keep saying that she is going to look JUST LIKE YOU MORGAN but with long blonde hair. He thinks that’s pretty cool.

Irelyn is doing amazing with baby Isla too. She currently is breastfeeding all her baby dolls and changing lots of diapers. Tara said going from 0 to 1 kid was an adjustment but fine. 1 to 2 was really hard for her and so far 2 to 3 is a breeze. Knock on wood. So she has a 4 year old, 2, and newborn at home. Sounds nuts to me.

Tara and I had so much fun taking some lifestyle portraits of these three, especially big brother Morgan and big sister Irelyn with baby Isla and they really are just so in love with her its so cute! I love watching Morgan talk to her in his high pitch little voice coo-ing and ca-ing at her like mommy does. I’m so thankful that they are so welcoming to their little sister. She is so loved already.

Isla is a great baby too, other than she needs to be held 24-7 [so Tara isn't getting much sleep but I'm doing great]. She had some difficulties with jaundice and getting her temperature up in the hospital when she was first born but everything is perfect now and so thankful for that. Praise the Lord for this little gift. Babies are truly a miracle and I think people often times forget that because its the ‘norm’ to have them … all you need to do to remember this is stare at their little faces and pay attention to the details. The little finger nails, 10 fingers and 10 toes, their little lips!!! Every little detail. OH! NOW I WANT TO DRIVE OVER THERE AND KISS HER ALL UP.

I absolutely love the simplicity of these photos. Next thing you know she’ll be one and so we’re cherishing how little she is right now. So fun to have a teeny tiny baby in the family again.

xoxo

Leah

FAVE.

It is a known thing that most despise Mondays. I’ve seen several posts on social media today about hating Mondays. Hence the photo above of crying Isla. That is how we all feel on Mondays right?! But I’m starting to learn to think more positively about these ‘dreaded first day of the week.’ I mean, why spend one-seventh of your life dreading something and planning on having a bad day. We need to look at it more as a gift, a GIFT from GOD. I’m thankful I’m alive this Monday how about you?! Over the next five years, you will be blessed with the gift of 260 different Mondays. Each one can be fresh and full of promises. So together lets start welcoming Mondays with the same excitement and anticipation as we do Fridays! I believe a lot of this has to do with our careers and how we spend our days. I noticed after quitting my past job and starting my own business, Mondays were so exciting because I WANTED to get things done and was excited to work! What an amazing feeling to be excited about working! Makes your life so much happier. Of course that isn’t always the case, so this will be our little reminder to savor those Mondays. If you are dreading Mondays to the extreme, ask yourself why and how you can fix this?? Is it time to take the leap of faith and quit that job that you absolutely hate? I mean we only have one life, only one. So stop wasting time and do what you love. I’m always challenging myself to grow and become the best version of myself. So lets do it together.

I’m challenging you today and this week to think of Monday’s possibilities. As the day is coming to an end, lets brainstorm how we can change next Monday. How can we put every Monday on a pedestal? Here is how I plan to make my Mondays a bit more exciting …

TGIM

-Call me crazy, but I love cleaning. I love the feeling of accomplishment after a room is spick and span so after a crazy busy weekend with the hubby … I look forward to getting my house back in order and ready to tackle the week. I also think this breaks up my week and lets me SLOWLY jump in. I realize that I do not like to be pushed or rushed so this helps me take a step back and say, HERE WE GO week.

-I love making a schedule/to do list/meal plan on Sunday night. Also helps me ease into Monday and look forward to getting things done!

-So Mondays will be my cleaning, laundry, organizing, catch up on phone calls, emails, scheduling, preparing meals if I didn’t have time Sunday, clean out my car and purse, all those little things that will help prepare and set me up for an amazing productive, easy going week!

-I have been posting my monthly goals on here for a few years now. Depending on where the 1st falls, I sometimes will post the first Monday of the month. Because lets face it … if the 1st falls on a Friday, not much is going to get crossed off my to do list over the weekend anyway. So I decided why not add to this day as the day that I organize and FILE all my paperwork/receipts. Super excited to do this and plan more ‘set’ days/schedules to MAINTAIN my organization of my home. If you’ve ever been to my house, you know I’m a freak about organizing. [I past co-worker I knew used to have Friday's an hour before closing be his cleaning/organizing time in his office so when he came in Monday morning he already had a to do list and everything was in its place ready to start again. Such a great idea if you don't work for yourself and have a weekend off and maybe after killing a few brain cells over the weekend ... with I dunno, lets say a beer or two ... this will make it a breeze to jump in again and start your Monday off happy and productive!]

Just typing those things gets me PUMPED. So I know its a good list. Everyone’s list is going to be different so please, I would love for you to share a few things you could do on Mondays that would make your day amazing! Maybe you’re diving in too fast and that’s no fun. Maybe you need more time on Sunday to prepare? If you do not work for yourself and have to work on Mondays … maybe you do need more prep time Sunday night so you wake up refreshed and READY to tackle the week. If you hate your job … quit. Trust me, from someone who up and quit her job to pursue her dream … you’ll figure it out. It may be hard, but work hard and it will definitely work out.

Hope this little pep-talk helped someone. I love doing posts like this and challenging myself and others! I might have to do this every week. My day was amazing and I have to thank this positive outlook for that. CHEERS to Mondays and THANK THE LORD we had a Monday to cheers to!

xoxo

Leah

xoxo

Leah

Favorite Mother + Baby Photo :: Might have to do this someday with my babes. LOVE THIS photo.

Favorite Reminder :: 

Favorite Cake Toppers :: Did something like this for my niece Irelyn’s first birthday party. You do not need to spend a bunch of money to make a statement with your cake at a party. Just add these homemade toppers or like what I did, I found a fake bird’s nest at hobby lobby [craft store] and some fake robin eggs and set it on top of a inexpensive round cake like below on a cute cake stand. TA DAA! Done!

Favorite Vacay outfit ::

Favorite Hair :: SOMETIMES … I get tempted to have short hair and rock a ‘DO’ like this

Favorite Entryway ::

Favorite Laugh ::

Favorite hair color :: love the red! different!

Favorite winter warddrobe ::

 via 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9

Truth, I did NOT hit the ground running in January [after reading Nancy's goals and how she conquered January]. I want to stay positive but to be honest, looking back at that last month I know I was not as productive as I should have been and may have been a little ‘ambitious’ with my goals. BUT I am looking forward and being optimistic, I am recognizing it and addressing the changes that need to be made for this month. Nothing bad happened, in fact … good things happened! I had a beautiful niece born and ended up helping a lot with the other two kids. Which I knew I wanted to do, so I should have planned a little better for that. In my defense, Isla came two weeks early.

So looking forward to February, I’m excited. I’m ready to tackle this month! [completed January goals crossed out]

February Goals

Get passport
All Album designs done and ordered*huge accomplishment
Help my sister prepare for her #3 baby coming around January 31
Finish all December edits
Go through my closet and purge
Knock atleast 3 items off the ‘house to do list’
Wake up at 7am Sunday-Thursday
Finish reading ‘The Lucky One’ and watch movie with Jenny
Read a business/self-help book [in the morning, fun book in evening]
Meal-plan every week
Workout regularly + eat healthy
work on business + personal taxes
organize all paperwork + receipts

I love how Nancy calls it ‘business reset’, that is exactly what I’ll be working on in February and the off season as well. Taxes, cleaning out computer, backing up images, updating blog and website, equipment maintenance, new business routines and changes. Along with the personal life reset.

So very happy these days with all this snow! I absolutely love watching snow flakes fall outside my window all day. Makes working in the office on my computer for hours on end a bit more enjoyable. Hope everyone has a lovely week and makes a goal list! Share your link in the comment section or list them there. We can hold eachother accountable.

via 1/2

Happy Weekend!

xoxo

Leah

My ALL TIME FAVORITE COMMERCIAL … I still can’t tell you what the kid says. And this really does happen to my brain when I see stains.

I of course am going to take some lifestyle newborn photos of baby Isla this week but had to share some amazing shots my friend Allie got of the babes. Allie is a vintage inspired newborn & children photographer and boy does she know what she is doing with the babies! I’ve never seen someone catch poop so fast, and cup it in her bare hands. Gross … I know. But her reflexes are out of this world. I however, stood there with a ‘OMG’ face of disgust. We laughed until we cried and really just had such a fun and amazing day.

As a wedding and lifestyle photographer, I know my strengths and weaknesses. And the biggest thing … I APPRECIATE other people’s work and photography. Every single person has their own unique style and ‘eye’ and Tara and I have always loved Allie’s work with babies. So when she emailed me shortly after Isla was born in need of a little baby girl model, we were totally in! Allie also makes these adorableeee pieces for other newborn photographers [Timeless Heirloom] that she just started selling online and you really need to check them out. Or for everyday use … I’ve always been a sucker for bonnets! Ever since the little house on the prairie.

It was great catching up with Allie and watching her do her thang with the baby. She just has such a gift with them. And even though Isla gave her a run for her money … she did eventually get her to sleep. I absolutely LOVED being on the other end of the experience of a newborn session and without a doubt will hire Allie to photograph my own babes in these perfect little poses. Make sure to check out her website and blog, she focuses mainly on children and newborn photography along with making all the goodies for them! My sister is so excited to get some adorable pants that Allie makes from old sweaters! Oh and FYI, the last image is my ultimate FAVORITE! I was totally being like that ‘annoying aunt at weddings’ and ow-ing and aw-ing over allie’s head trying to take a pic with my phone lol. But they are just perfect. Aren’t they? So blessed to have these three little nuggets in my life. And a big WELL DONE to Tara and Lucas for creating these beauties.

I’ll be blogging lots more of Isla and share the lifestyle newborn session I am shooting this week, so stay tuned to see the same baby … from a different eye.

xoxo

Leah

Abby and I have been friends since kindergarten and we couldn’t be anymore different. We’re totally opposites. Often times, our shopping trips sound like this,

“Hey Leah, do you like this”

“Abby that is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen”

“Perfect, I’m buying it”

But we still have a blast and love spending time with eachother and appreciate eachother’s style and difference-ness. [just made that word up] And wait until you see more of her set up in the field. Slaps you with Abigail-ness ness ness.

And her HAIR … love her hair.

xoxo

Leah

Tara’s due date was January 31. I hoped and figured she wouldn’t go full term because this poor girl was huge! Her belly that is. [Later found out she had so much water, the doctor said he's never seen anything like it]. She was so uncomfortable, which seems to be the thing at end of everyone’s pregnancies, but this was far worse than her other two. Her poor little feetsies were the size of an elephants. Maybe with having two small children at home, she just couldn’t slow down or rest as much as she should have so Isla Gene came a little early. I was already looking forward to Wednesday, Tara and I had planned a much needed Spa Day and were so excited for our pedicures and massages! Wednesday morning I was waken up by my phone ringing at 6am. I was super confused and then all of a sudden it hit me and I answered, “You’re in labor aren’t you!??” Yup, my water broke she said. Figures, on the one day we had a ‘fun spa day’ planned. So I threw some stuff in a bag and flew out the door with no idea how my day was going to go. I had already committed to watching my other niece, Mila from 8-1pm so I was driving into a storm. Me … three small children. YIKES!

Tara was feeling pretty good still once I arrived. Her water had never broke at home so she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The other two kids had taken her 28+ hours of labor and the same happened to Brit. So Lucas and Tara left and I had no idea how the rest of my week was going to go. Being a planner … yeah, that didn’t bother me at allllllll. So I just did my best to keep all three children alive until Brittany arrived from School. After lots of questions from Morgan about mom wearing Irelyn’s pull ups when she left … we played games and talked about what we thought the baby would be!! Girl, boy … they were so excited.

In the afternoon I attempted to clean and do some laundry for Tara. Funniest thing, I cleaned the living room floor of toys and Morgan says,

“There, now my mom can vacuum tonight”

“Well Morgan, mommy isn’t coming home tonight”

His look on his face was like WTH.

“Why?”

“Well mommy has to stay at the hospital because she had a baby”

“Soooo … she’s not coming home tonight?!?!!!”

I seriously don’t know what was more difficult. Cleaning, caring and feeding the children, or answering all Morgan’s questions.

7:30pm we finally got the call. I made sure to tell Lucas that Brittany and I did not want to know the sex of the baby until we got to the hospital. So we turned off our cell phones [so no one would slip and tell us the sex], threw the three kids in Brit’s small SUV and we were off, driving as fast as we could … safely with 3 children … oh and of course honoring the speed limits.

I seriously walked in the room like WHERE IS HE? LET ME HOLD HIM! And Brit goes OMG, ITS A GIRL! Soooo surprised and so fun!

The next few days was spent snuggling with our new little family member and helping take care of the other kids. Oh and trying to sneak in some work. Isla did have some troubles with her temperature the first two days so she spent some time in an incubator. Thankfully she is home and all good now, they just think she was ‘stunned’ being out and on her own. And technically she is a preemie. I managed to sneak a few photos of Isla of course. Lets get real here … newborns are sometimes scary looking. But as woman … of COURRRSE they are adorable. No matter what we think they’re cute. I honestly think Tara has some pretty darn cute babies … I mean look at the other two. And Isla looks EXACTLY like Morgan and Irelyn did when they were born, so we know she is safe. But there was a mini cone head and some old lady lips. Love those old lady lips. Irelyn had them too. And tons of black hair! Which will soon turn super blonde. Guaranteed. Toe-head.

Back in the office today! Should probably facetime Isla soon … its been 2 hours.

xoxo

Leah

Love their new family of 5. Crazy how their family really seems ‘complete’ now. Oh and Morgan’s dorky smile. So cute.