Michelle {quinceanera}

This last weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot a Quinceanera for the first time. My cousin was in once last year, so I knew these were huge productions. A lot of money goes into these (outdated?) traditional events. Here are some shots:

And she's off, walking!

This morning, Kendall surprised us by standing on her own, and then braving a couple steps on her own. We've been working on it for quite some time now, but something about this morning just clicked for her. Here are just a couple pictures - many more to follow!

Project 52: Week Twenty-One {dream}

Earlier this week, we went on a long bike ride. On the ride, we went through a really nice neighborhood down the road from ours. There was a house still under construction, and I found a way into the house (shhhhhh) to take a look around. The floor plan was awesome. We walked around that house for probably 30 minutes, talking about the design, where things would go, who would get which bedroom (there were 5 upstairs, including a huge soaker tub in the master), etc. I dreamed of using one as my craft room. And the den/office downstairs could have been my photography room, or a play room for the kids. It had a brick, wood-burning fireplace and a three car garage (one of the bays was two deep). All in all, it was the PERFECT house. When we got home, we checked out the price. NOT perfect. Not even close to what we could afford. But, it was nice to dream there for a little bit.

The {R} Family

I met up with this family last weekend for some photos. I previously did some newborn shots of the baby, and the entire family was involved for this shoot. I wasn't able to get very many good shots because the big brother was.......grumpy. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Project 52: Week Twenty {motherhood}

I have a couple from this week....I made Eric get behind the camera and I was quite pleased with what he got!

Project 52: Week Nineteen {weather}

I'm late with this one.....sorry!

There are a few pics I have snapped over the last week that represent the turn in weather we have had in the valley.

The "C" {Family}

I met up with this fun family last weekend at Kathryn Albertson Park. It's that time of year where EVERYONE wants to do their shoots at this location. I have three more booked here this month. Oy!

Project 52: Week Eighteen {happy}

 The Four Musketeers

And the dad and mom-to be

A Mountain Aventure

My dad recently told me about a hidden waterfall up in the mountains between Crouch and Boiling Springs. That whole area up there is full of memories from my childhood......my grandparents on my dad's side built a cabin up above Crouch. I remember plenty of summers up there, watching them build this cabin with their own hands. I also spent a lot of my childhood back in Boiling Springs, camping with my family at the Forest Service cabin that sat right between the hot springs and the river. I could spend the next 14 paragraphs reliving those memories for you all, but I did that today with my brother on the ride up and back. He's moving to Montana for a job and words cannot describe how much I'm going to miss him. Today was such a great experience, to ride along with him to not only get pictures of this waterfall, but to revisit a place I know holds many, many fond memories for us both.

After we turned off at Banks, we came to The Staircase....a portion of the Payette river that is sought out by many rafters and kayakers (is that right?). We just happened to pull over right as three kayakers were making their way towards The Staircase. I wish I had time to put on the big lens, but I grabbed my camera and ran for the bank of the river just in time. The pictures aren't the great simply because I didn't have time to stop and adjust my settings, but still pretty cool to watch these guys in such a brave moment.

The waterfall......I feel like my pictures don't even do this thing justice. We were clear at the top of a summit, so I bet this water fell for a couple hundred feet, and the roar was just deafening. The pictures make it look like a little stream, but that's far from accurate. This water was just pounding down the mountain.

The cabin, back in at Boiling Springs. It's a Forest Service cabin - I checked out the pricing last night and I'm pretty sure we will be taking the kids here for many vacations. It's dirt cheap to rent these cabins, and with it being so close to Boise, it's a win-win. There were people up in the hot springs, so we didn't get to go over and check those out. But we did scout out the cabin. It's furnished now, has propane for a fridge and stove/oven, and has a brand new fence around a big chunk of the property.  They also moved the fire pit away from the river and closer to the cabin.

 With my brother moving to Montana in a matter of days, it was so nice to take this little day trip with him. We had great conversation the entire time, with lots of laughs and old stories.

The Sanchez {Family Maternity}

I met up with this family at Kathryn Albertson Park last weekend......what an incredibly FUN family. I was very taken with them and look forward to future shoots with the newest addition to their family!  Here are some samples from our shoot: