My Sweet Boy ~ Grapevine Texas Child Photographer

Well the weather FINALLY cooled down so we headed out on Labor Day to take Beckett's one year old pictures. He's at such a fun age and I feel like I really captured "him" in these pictures. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? I just love those chubby cheeks, big lips, and toothy grin :)

Holiday Mini Sessions ~ Coppell Texas Child & Family Photographer

Holiday Mini Sessions are back and better than ever! These are perfect for an updated picture for your Christmas card and I have LOTS of Holiday cards to choose from this year. I'm so excited for them all. I'll be posting some next week. So check back :)

This year there are two package options to choose from so there's something for everyone. Check out the details below, choose your date and your package and call or email me to schedule your appointment today.

If a mini session isn't what you're looking for I would love to discuss a full session with you. I've revamped my sessions and I'm so excited to now offer Session Premiers to my clients! The Session Premiers are amazing. One to two weeks after your session I'll come to your home with the dessert of your choice and together we'll view a custom slideshow of images from your session. I'm very excited to offer this new feature for my clients!

I'm moving at the beginning of December so make sure you schedule your session soon so you can get your images and order before I leave. Call of email me for session availability.

Memories ~ Dallas Fort Worth Child and Family Photographer

This post was actually supposed to go up on Friday, but with both boys and I waking up with colds I had a really hard time getting anything done. So I'm sorry for not posting last week.

I hate to admit this, but I'm really bad at taking pictures of my own kids. Not like the yearly birthday pictures or anything, but just the day to day pictures of stuff we do. Part of my problem is that I have the hardest time taking my big bulky camera anywhere when I have a huge diaper bag and my one year old to carry plus trying to keep track of my three year old. It just never sounds that appealing to carry my camera bag too. Luckily Matt's parents gave us a small point and shoot at the beginning of the year. It has been SO nice to be able to keep it in the little side pocket of the diaper bag and have it with me where ever I go. I'm still not the best at remembering to pull it out all the time but I'm working on getting better. And although they may not be the same quality pictures as my big camera takes, at least I have those memories. Because the memories are priceless. So pull your camera out and capture those little everyday memories. They may not seem like much now but you won't regret having them.

These are just a few pictures I took of my Grandma's house when we went to Idaho for her funeral in February. Her house is one of my favorite places in the world and I have so many wonderful memories there. I wanted to remember it exactly as it was. I know these pictures don't mean anything to most of you, but I am so glad I have them.

It's That Time of Year Again! ~ Dallas Fort Worth Child and Family Photographer

Yep, that's right! It's time to start thinking about family pictures once again :) I know it's hard to think about scheduling family pictures when it doesn't feel like fall will EVER get here (seriously, can't we please at least dip down into the 90's sometime soon?) but if you're anything like me the holidays always come WAY too fast and then I'm scrambling to get my Christmas cards out in addition to all the other stuff I have to do.

So book now and save yourself from the headache of last minute family pictures and Christmas cards. I promise you'll thank me when December comes and you don't have to worry about family pictures or Christmas cards because you had your session early!

As an added incentive, if you book a full session during the month of September, you'll receive a set of 15 custom designed folded press printed gift tags with your Christmas card order!

The Great Cookie Experiment ~ Coppell Texas Child and Family Photographer

With all this heat I've been spending a lot of time inside avoiding some sessions that I need to do, like taking one year old pictures of my 14 month old! So since I'm avoiding my motherly/photographer related duties and don't have much exciting to post about I thought I would do a fun little experiment. I decided to try baking cookies on the dash of my car.

I had my husband get some refrigerated cookie dough at the grocery store when he went grocery shopping for me last week. I didn't want to do too much work in case they didn't turn out ;)

Here they are straight from the fridge ready to be put in the car. I waited until late afternoon since that's the hottest part of the day. It was 105 outside at 4:30 when I put them in the car. And really, who wants to turn the oven on and heat up the house just to bake cookies when it's 105 outside? Not me, that's for sure.

I checked them about an hour later. You can't really tell from the picture, but they're just barely to the melty stage and definitely NOT ready.

Three hours later, at 7:30, I took them out and brought them inside to put on the cooling rack. They look a little flat and weird, but other than that they seemed normal. They were a little soft in the middle still, but these cookies have a caramel center, so I think that was a big part of the reason.

People kept asking me if I was actually going to eat them...OF COURSE! They may look a little different, but they still taste great. Add a little bit of Blue Bell ice cream and they're perfect. Although I don't know what isn't perfect with Blue Bell.

Mmm, I think Blue Bell ice cream is one of the main things I'm going to miss about living in Texas!

And now I can say I baked cookies on the dash of my car. Am I the only one who does things just so I can later say that I've done it?

Although, I think next time I want cookies I'll just stick to the oven. Three hours is kind of a long wait for me :)

Things I Love Utah Edition ~ Dallas Fort Worth Child and Family Photographer

Since I did a post a couple months ago all about the things I love about Texas, I figured it's only fair to do a post with all the things I love about Utah. And this record breaking heat wave has definitely made me remember the things I love about Utah. So here it goes:

• The fact that they're NOT going through a record breaking heat wave right now ;)

• 4 Seasons - Although I'm not the biggest fan of a super long, super cold winter I really have missed fall. It seems to just last a week here in Texas!

• The mountains - I have such an easier time knowing which direction I'm going when I just have to look and see where the mountains are.

• Only 3 freeways - If I lived in Texas for the rest of my life I would NEVER be able to keep all the freeways straight. Seriously, I-635, I-35, 161, 121, 114, 183, US 75, Dallas North Tollway and, I kid you not, 20 more. I don't know how anyone can keep them straight. Give me I-15, I-215 and Legacy Highway any day. That I can handle!

• Family - This is definitely the best thing about Utah. I especially love being able to see my boys playing with their Grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles. I just wish all of my family lived there :)

Sneak Peek ~ Northern Utah Portrait Photographer

I took a break from editing wedding pictures to give my gorgeous sister a little sneak peek. Usually I edit my sessions in the same order that I shoot them, but Stephanie was nice enough to let me work on Jonathan & Holli's wedding before I edited hers.

So here's one for Stephanie. I love taking pictures of her. She is the BEST model! She poses herself, takes direction well and we always have such a fun time :)