san jose family photography: brynn is almost one!

beautiful brynn has so much personality. it is hard to believe she is a few days shy of her first birthday! i have loved watching her grow her first year! from just an itty bitty newborn into an almost walking little princess! her happiness is contagious and her parents will do anything they need to get those beautiful smiles to come out, even singing her own special silly song (let's just say i was hungry for baby back ribs after hearing it a few times)!

 this next one may be one of my favorite father daughter pictures ever! 

thank you gibby's, for inviting me to capture your little one as she has grown this first year! i can't wait to watch her grow into a little lady! 

san jose family photography: brooklynn has arrived!

i was blessed to be in town the weekend that brooklynn was born. when i got the text, i couldn't wait to head over to the hospital and see her in all her newborn glory! 

after a full day of shooting other sessions, i wondered around the hospital, trying desperately to find where my dear friend was roomed. after asking the hospital staff THREE different times, and being sent to THREE different rooms (sorry to the other families who i walked in on! i should have handed them my cards!) i finally found them! 

a couple weeks later, i was back up, and ready to shoot the new family of four! 

we had to get creative to get peyton's attention this afternoon. nothing better than a ladder for the lil man to climb!  

welcome to the world brooklynn! your auntie kym loves you! 

san jose family photography: welcoming a new cousin

when sheri contacted me about taking newborn photos of her precious new little brooklynn,  she also told me her mom was hoping to get all her grandbabies together for a few photos as well. we decided to combine the sessions into one afternoon, to make it "easy". or so we thought! 

i have been photographing sheri since she was pregnant with her first son peyton, and have continued to do so throughout his first 18 months. now, he is a big brother (and that blog post is next!) 

i adore doing family sessions. especially extended families. getting all the cousins together for a few photos is always a great gift for the grandparents, plus a fun reason (if you need one!) to get the kids together. today, peyton was not in to the idea of sharing "auntie kym's" attention for photos. in fact, he screamed and cried for the first 20 minutes his cousins were there! so while mama tried to calm him down, i snapped some adorable pictures of the siblings. 

meet addison, eli and gemma

 what better way to keep kids entertained and in happy moods than to let them make silly faces for the camera! 

 we finally were able to get peyton to sit down with his cousins...

 but not for long! 

new baby brooklynn, with her oldest cousin eli

 finally! he sat (with the help of cotton candy jelly belly's, yum!) 

xoxo

san jose family photography: it doesn't matter how old your kids are...

family pictures are always important. 

it seems like most people think family portraits are for families with young kids, and then not again until those kids are grown with babies of their own. for some reason, we forget our parents still appreciate family pictures, because like it or not, we are still their children! 

i know my family was victim to this. our last family picture had been taken when i was 12. it wasn't until after my first son was born that we took family portraits again. meaning there had been 14 years without my parents getting their three beautiful daughters together, with the thought of capturing us as we were. don't get me wrong, we had taken snapshots together, but not portraits. in those 14 years, my oldest sister had given my parents 2 beautiful grandbabies, and we never documented it. we had graduated colleges, traveled to exciting locations, and changed our hairstyles. but never did we think to have someone else come and update the family portrait that had been hanging in the living room since 1993! 

that was why i was happy when michelle contacted me about wanting to take family portraits for her mom. michelle and her siblings are all working professionals now, without kids yet, but they still got together one afternoon (after many months of coordinating those busy schedules) to capture their family, and finally replace the portrait from 1997 hanging on the staircase. 

thank you Cassidy family, for inviting me in to your home!