boulder, co newborn session: such a handsom little man

my best friend has been a mother for exactly 38 days. this past weekend, i was able to fly out to CO and meet my new little godson, and capture their first family portraits. i've said it before, and i'll say it again: there is nothing i love more than newborns. zachary was born july 12, and while i couldn't be there for his actual birth, i was there on his 1 month birthday!

congrats b and ben! i can't wait to raise our boys together, take family vacations, and be there to support each other in all of life's excitement. 

the glow of pregnancy

this time last year, i was in my 9th month of pregnancy. i've said it before, and i'll say it again, i don't know if there is anything more beautiful than a pregnant woman. even when she is feeling the size of a semi, has swollen cankles, and is just over being pregnant, i still see her as gorgeous. kelli hasn't reached that point in her pregancy. she has about 5 weeks left, and when we were doing her maternity shoot last weekend, she was graceful, showing no signs of slowing down, able to get up, lay down, move over here, hike, yes HIKE up the mountain, just so we could get the best lighting and beautiful scenery of chitakwa state park in boulder, co.

her husband was off on his dadchelor party with my best friend's husband, so the three of us ladies had a great time going out to dinner, and walking through boulder's pearl st. mall, and me preparing them for how their lives would be changing in the next few months! 

as we were walking through pearl st, a street performer thought it would be funny to make kelli crack the whip, to show her hubs who was in control! 

                                                      

erin, evan, and the girls

have you ever had one person who seems to be your life's biggest cheerleader? or someone who pushes you to be a better person, whether it be physically, emotionally, creatively, or just all round better? i have a few of them in my life. the obvious ones, my hubs, the parental's, and my sisters. my best friends and inlaw's.  but then i have one who i wouldn't have expected. erin.

she and i met back in high school, and as fate (and facebook) would have it, we reconnected. from the day i started my photography fan page, and actually, even before that, when i was just taking classes and posting my work on my personal page, erin was there commenting on how fabulous she thinks my work is. i have been truly thankful for all her kind words, because on the days when i feel least creative, i can look at them and see that someone out there has been touched by my photos.

erin herself is now breaking into the photog business in denver, and she is doing amazing things already! she has a goal to have an amazing website up for tutorials for other photogs, which i will be a contributing author on (again, thank you erin for including me!) It hasn't launched yet, but as soon as it does, i will be posting the link here for all to see.

erin and her husband have been married for 6 years, and have no professional photos together. so when she heard i would be in denver, she immediately asked if she could schedule a session. i was excited to see parts of CO that i probably wouldn't have, and even drove past, and stopped to say a prayer at Columbine high school on my way to our session.

she and evan picked a beautiful, albeit windy, park over looking a valley called daniels park. the air was chilly to this Cali girl, but apparently it was warm for them! i had to keep wiping my drippy nose i was so cold, so it was a good thing i was on the back side of the camera! their goal was for not only pictures of the whole family, but of the two of them as well. we had a blast climbing around, and i even did some rock climbing to get to a few awesome angles. I'm an adventurer on occasion! it was a fun session, which we ended back at their house with a picnic for the girls.

like i mentioned, erin has an amazing eye for detail. when i told her my idea of a vintage picnic for the girls, she ran with it and had a whole little scene set up for us.

another little CO teaser

this time for kelli! she was just glowing!

check out those beautiful blue skies! amazing!!

the brannan family

i just wanted to get a quick sneak peek in for the brannan family. i'll get to blog about them when i get home and get all the photos edited, but i know erin is sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how the day turned out! so for you my dear: 

holy wow i saw buffalo!