It's a Wrap!

This post marks my last LiLo blog for the year (stayed tuned for personal blogs).  The Lucas Family is my last photo shoot of 2012!  It has been amazing fall season for my business and I am so thankful!  However, I am pretty excited to unchain myself from the computer (and I am sure my kids are excited to have their mom back)!  Now it is time to chain myself to the sewing machine (sorry kids).

The Lucas' were my first "official" client back in May of 2011 when I took baby pictures of little Braylon.  It is hard to believe that he (and LiLo Photography) is now 18 months old.  I can't believe it.  It has been so fun to watch this little guy grow! 

We met last weekend up in the mountains to get some "snow pictures".  Of course the snow waited until later that night, so we didn't get very much snow in the pictures, but they still looked so cute and festive that I think they look pretty Christmasy!  Braylon was a little chilly and didn't want to be followed by the paparazzi, but I still managed to sneak in a few pictures.

Note the snow

I have one like this from when he was crawling at age one!

Gerber Baby?

Maybe he is thinking "my parents are silly".

Merry Christmas LiLo clients!  What a gift you have been this year.  For more pictures visit my website or my Facebook page.

Sneak Peek: The Ferrin Family

When Kristina asked me to do family pictures for her little family, I was thrilled.  She always looks so cute (even in sweats-I'm jealous)!  I knew these pictures were going to be fun and turn out great.  It was a quick shoot to get them done before the sun went down, the museum closed and we froze to death.  But you would never know any of that from the pictures. 

Thanks guys!  It was amazing working with you guys!  For more pictures visit my website or my Facebook page.

All You Need Is Love?

I recently saw something on Pinterest that piqued my interest.  Let me rephrase that.  I see about a hundred things on Pinterest that pique my interest, but this one made me think.  It was a beautiful handmade sign that said "all you need is love".  I almost repinned it (let's be honest....out of habit).  It was pretty and I thought, what a lovely sentiment. 

And then I thought.  What a bunch of crap!  Really?  All I need is Love?  Nope (what about a never ending supply of fountain Coke?).

Don't judge.  I am not a harsh person (okay maybe a little), but I am definitely not a sappy romantic.  I do love a great love story, sappy movie and cry at almost every episode of the biggest loser.  But when it comes to real life, what I really want to say is "SUCK IT UP PEOPLE"!

I wonder if this is why our divorce rate is so high.  Because people have signs that say "All you need is love" in their house.  Clearly that person has not been married (or in a real relationship before) very long.  It is a lovely sentiment, but I think it is just that....sentiment.  When love fades from a relationship it is easy to think "this isn't worth it" and give up.

I am very happily married.  But not every day all the time.  Divorce has never been an option for me, but I must confess that once or twice I wished it were.  LIFE IS HARD.  MARRIAGE IS HARD.  RELATIONSHIPS ARE HARD. 

A few years back, my husband and I went through a really rough patch.  It was hard, and there were days when I thought "is this worth it?".  But guess what.  With prayer and dedication (and some good old fashioned hard work) we got through it.  And. I. Am. So. Glad. We. Did.  It was worth it.  I love living with my best friend.  We laugh together and process life together.  It isn't all about love.  In fact, most days it is about friendship and having someone their to say good night to when you go to bed.  Love simmers into a deep friendship that gets better with time.   And guess what.  I am pretty sure that we are going to go through rough times again, but the good times outweigh the bad.  And that is what people have to keep in mind.  We went to a wedding recently and the pastor gave some REALLY good advise.  One of the most important things you can give each other, in your relationship, is grace.  We are human and we need to give each other some room to make mistakes and to say and do stupid things.  That will go a long way towards a lasting marriage.  Marriage (and life for that matter) is a marathon.  Sometimes it is smooth sailing, but there are times when it is really hard and there is a big hill you have to try to run.

Let's put "all you need is love" to test with children.  Again, let me stress how much I love my children.  However, they don't just need love.  They need boundaries, rules, help with homework and a never ending supply of food and socks (seriously, does anyone else out there go through socks like water?  I feel like I am always throwing away socks with holes in them and then having to buy new ones at the store).  They need someone to tell them that the F word is totally inappropriate at school (or anywhere for that matter).  Just saying. 

But here is the bottom line, and what I want my cute little sign to say.  "All you need is to give and receive grace".  You need to be able to make mistakes and for someone to come alongside you and give you something you don't deserve.  Grace.  If you don't have it in your life....you need to find it.  It's all you need.

Sneak Peek: McKelvey Family

Sorry if the blog has been silent.  I ran out of storage space on my free account and had to decide what to do about it.  I went ahead and bit the bullet and upgraded my storage (thanks LiLo business expense account!).

I have been so busy this fall.  Last year I really slowed down by the end of October.  This year.....it is December and still going strong!  I Love It (even if it does totally stress me out that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away and I have SOOOOOOOOOOOO much to do)!

I have had quite a few clients lately that have wanted to keep their sessions a secret so that they can give them as presents or use them for Christmas cards.  I totally get it, but it is really hard.  I have had some really good sessions lately and it is killing me that I can't share them!  Be warned: after Christmas you will be inundated with cute family pictures.  But....these guys don't mind me sharing.  And good thing.  I am not sure I could have kept these under wraps. 

They are the cutest family.  I have been following this family since May when little Aidan was born.  I have had a few sessions with them and I LOVE them all.  They are so photogenic and their love for their son is all over their faces!  It has been so fun to watch Aidan grow and become such a cute and smiley fellow!

We headed to downtown Littleton to get some "urban" shots and hopefully have a few lights in the background.  Don't they look so cute and Christmasy?

Love his face in this one.  And the little foot raise. Pure joy!

Don't you just love Becky's face?

Peek a boo

Checking out the lights

Can you feel the love?

Thanks for letting me capture your life's story McKelvey Family!  For more pictures, visit my website or my Facebook page.

Sneak Peek: The Stocking Family

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I had a lovely time celebrating with family and relaxing.  I am so thankful for the LiLo family and how my business has grown so much this year.  My goal was to double my amount of photoshoots from last year and I DID IT (plus some)!  What a blessing it has been this year.  I am so thankful to be able to have a job that I love and that I am passionate about.  Not everyone can say that!

Now, to the Stocking family.  I met this family through the Bradford Auction.  Shelly was collecting donations for the auction and I gave away a photo session.  She saw my work and immediately wanted to book a session (their first family pictures!!!).  I am so glad that she did.  Her little boy is SOOOOO cute and she and her husband are no slouches in the looks department!  Even their dog is super cute and photogenic.

They really wanted pine trees and woodsy looking pictures so I scouted out a new spot and I LOVE the way it looks.  I love that they wore their coats for most of the pictures.  I just love wintery looking pictures!

And the dog.  Buck.  So.  Amazing.  I guess it helps that Shelly has a background in animal training, but this dog was the most well behaved dog I have ever seen (especially for a lab puppy).  I love that we got so many good ones with Buck in them (note: most of time it is REALLY hard to get a good picture where everyone, including the animals are looking at the camera).

Thanks for choosing me Shelly and I loved spending time with your family.  For more pictures of this amazing family, visit my Facebook page or my website.

Sneak Peek: The Barnes Family

Raise your hand if you love to see pictures of yourself pregnant.  No hands.  Don't blame you.  I didn't really want pictures of myself when I was pregnant.  You feel fat and ugly and tired, and frankly it is hard to make the effort.  However, I can speak from experience, I wish I would have had some maternity pictures taken. I think I can count on 2 hands how many pictures I have from when I was pregnant (which is saying something because between 3 babies I was pregnant for 27 months!).

Julie contacted me a few months ago and was really struggling because she wanted family pictures, but was thinking of waiting until after the baby came (her 3rd baby).  I convinced her to go ahead and get them done beforehand so she would have some of herself pregnant.  I don't think she will regret it.  It was so fun to spend some time with her little family and hang out with them.

Julie, I hope you enjoy your sneak peek and that even if you feel like you are big and tired (which you DO NOT look) you will look back on these pictures with love.  And that 4 years from now, you will be so glad that you captured that brief time in your life (like I wish I would have done instead of wondering what I looked like when I was pregnant).

Don't those pictures put you in a Christmasy mood?  Me too!  Time to start decking the halls!