I know what you are all thinking. How’d the lady in red get so lucky to have 3 handsome boys! ;p

The park had lots of fallen leaves; just enough natural elements to make this spot ;prettyGeeky (and baby Mattie) approved!

When he’s got that look on his face… you know little Jon has something up his sleeves!

Not to be outdone by his older brother, Mattie was ready to get naughty too.

After everyone had their fun, it was time for Kristy to showcase her beautiful red dress. She looked stunning!

While mom’s away, the boys will play.

… and this is how you know it’s time to wrap up the family session.

I must end this post with the fun photo below. Here’s something we adults need to do more of: just watch from a safe distance… but let kids be kids!

Click through for the photos, detours, a spat with Lady Luck, and muggy mid-western weather.

Our planned day turned out to be a very warm and muggy one. I felt really bad for the two kids. They held on as long as they could… luckily enough to get some nice shots. So what was there to do after the kids were tapped out? Well, make use of the time and shoot the hubby and the wifey of course! Thanks for being such good sports Pa! Even through the muggy weather, you guys were still willing to sit through it all. We enjoyed spending that time with your family. Here are some of our favorite photos from your shoot.

This little guy gave us THE LOOK and that’s when we realized we weren’t working on our time, we were working on his. Shortly after this he decided he didn’t want anything to do with us anymore. =)

BTS:

This location wasn’t the first choice (it was actually the 3rd), but with a little bit of quick thinking… it ended up being a great location. What happened to the 1st and 2nd options? Well, after scoping out the 1st location a few days earlier, we just didn’t “feel it” there. It was a very beautiful place, but felt too landscaped and artificial. We wanted a more natural vibe for the family. With that in mind, we found our 2nd option: a quaint little park tucked in a quiet neighborhood. It had an old fashioned water fountain and several hanging trees that provide plenty of shade and photographic texture; shade and texture, the perfect recipe for an outdoor shoot.

They say that if you’re kissed by Lady Luck, you will be fortune full. I don’t know what happened to us? We must’ve ran over a hundred baby kittens in our other lives or tried to cop a cheap feel on a first date with Lady Luck because she slapped our faces with a tornado watch hail storm… and then as if on cue: we arrived at the park to find hundreds of white chairs lined up.. yup a wedding taking place at the same time of our photoshoot! Lovely huh? ;p

So it was off to our eventual final destination. Luckily, Millie took us around town to scope out possible locations a few days earlier. That was when we found this quiet scenic nature trail. It was blanketed with wild flowers and knee high grass… definitely our kind of vibe =) Yays! Now, I need to send a box of chocolates to Lady Luck. Gentle woman, be kind to us going forward pleeeeeease! ;p

Sorry for the long wait, click through for more photos =)

Our original location was a nearby park but we couldn’t shoot there because of strict permit issues. We were lucky enough to have their Aunt allow us to use her backyard… and once we got there? wow we quickly forgot about the park. There was so much texture in her beautiful backyard. With plenty of shade, a natural creek, log chips and gravel… we had the perfect backdrop for our family portrait session. We certainly didn’t have these kinds of backyards back when we were still in Southern California.

Anyways, here are the photos below… MK if you are reading this, thanks for letting us share that afternoon with your family, you guys were such a joy to photograph. =)

The next day, we all went to Sea World, since my Sister and her Family had never been there. I strapped my cam like a tourist and snapped some action pics of Shamu. Here are a few pics…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, don’t forget to hug your family members and to be thankful that you still have each other.