Sophie Grace Welcome to this World!

I met little Sophie Grace today and she was adorable.  She actually stayed awake for the entire photo session!  Currently, Sophie has her nights and days mixed up, so her parents and I were hoping that the busy afternoon photo shoot might help her sleep a little bit during the dark hours of the day ;)  Sean and Naomi, thank you for letting me photograph your beautiful little girl!

When did Syndey grow up?!

Wow, I was shocked to see how big my cousin Sydney was at Thanksgiving!  She's a cute 4 year old who will actually look at the camera AND smile (she wasn't doing this last time I saw her)!  It has been way too long since I have seen her and her sister Olivia, who is in the 2nd grade.  Sydney will start kindergarten next year.  It was so easy to get a picture of her smiling, I love it!

Rhea and Jonathan Engagement

I love this couple!  They are so in love and they were very laid back in front of the camera.  I don't remember what they were laughing about so much, but it's so sweet that they are so happy together!

 

Jessica Claire is a photographer that I like to follow on facebook.  She recently posted that "Props only work when they are authentic to the couple.  They're just another tool to tell a story."  When Jonathan told me he wanted to pull out his table saw and nail gun, I asked him if Rhea could sit on the table saw (yeah, I'm not familiar with woodworking tools).  This works for these pictures.  This is Jonathan's life right now while he is building his own kitchen cabinets in their home.  And Rhea has to put up with sawdust for a little while longer but in the very near future the house will be complete and ready for their new family of two!
 

Here they are laughing again : )

And we're ending on a sweet note, a kiss!

Hardy Family Take 2

I want to share more pictures of the Hardy Family Shoot.  It was a fun morning filled with playgrounds, dancing, and bubbles.  I know I mentioned the cold weather in my last post, but seriously, that Sunday was the coldest day of the week!  The rest of the week was sunshine and upper 60's, beautiful fall weather!  I'm so glad they were open to a non-typical family picture.  How cute are they all going down the slide?

Kids love bubbles, and it's fun watching them blow bubbles and make a mess.  By the end of the photoshoot, Thane had spilled a whole cup of bubbles on the front of his shirt.

I think you can see this family knows how to play!

This was funny, Mia and Thane didn't want to sit on the ground.  They thought Mom and Dad looked like a better place to sit.

This is one of my favorites.  It's another one of those shots where the mom's love for her child is so evident to me.

And the last picture of the day, they ended with blowing a kiss (timing was a little off on blowing the kiss, but it makes me smile and hopefully it will bring happy memories to the Hardy family, and that's the important thing).

Big Sneak Peek

I had two photography sessions today.  The sessions were complete opposites, except for the fact that there was a lot of love involved.  And I happen to be in love with results from both sessions!  I promise to give each session their own blog post, but for now, Hardy Family and Rhea and Jonathan your sneak peeks are together.

First up is a very cute, energetic, spontaneous, beautiful family!  This was a wonderful morning session.  The family braved the cold weather with great fashion!  Their children didn't complain once about it being cold outside, and they looked great in their colorful vests, scarfs, and mittens!  It was so nice to work with a family full of smiles and they were also laid back which is a bonus when you're working with 3 year olds.  

Meet the parents, Jane and Joe.

Meet their children, Mia and Thane...A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

One of Mia and Thane's favorite modes of transportation....their Dad.

I can't wait to show you pictures from the rest of their family session!  

Now onto the next session, Rhea and Jonathan's engagement session.  I photographed Rhea's family this summer, and her and Jonathan are now engaged!!  Congratulations!  I can't wait to see you two get married in Puerto Rico!

Rhea and Jonathan's good friends know that Jonathan bought a house about a year ago, tore it down to its studs and planned on fixing it up as soon as possible (yes Jonathan is quite the handy man, and he is doing all of the work himself).  But then Rhea came along and slowed down the construction process.  The house still isn't finished, but that's probably a good thing, because Rhea will get to put her amazing design skills to good use!  It only made sense to take their engagement pictures at this house!

One more quick story about Rhea and Jonathan...Rhea loves jumping pictures (I guess Jonathan does too, either that or he loves them because Rhea loves them).  I started figuring out the Jonathan was "the one" for Rhea right around the time The Bachelorette came on this past summer.  From the beginning I was pulling for Roberto, and Jonathan reminds me of Roberto.  If you're a fan of The Bachelorette then you know that Ali loves jumping pictures as well.  So there are a lot of reasons as to why I love this picture (I know super cheesy to be relating my good friend's love life to The Bachelorette, but I really think Ali and Roberto will last!).  Meet Rhea and Jonathan soon to be married!

Jonathan was dying to pull out his tools.  Isn't this every man's dream, a woman with a nail gun? : )

And we ended the session relaxing in their front yard, and of course Penny had to join in for a few pictures!

What a difference a week makes!

Do you remember this picture?

1 week later.....the leaves are gone, but still beautiful (at least it is against a blue sky).  Winter is coming at a faster rate in Asheville than it is in Charlotte!

Naomi and Sean...waiting for Sophie

Naomi and Sean are the sweetest couple!  They are expecting their first child, Sophie Grace towards the end of November.  Sean was really great at making Naomi relax in front of the camera.  In his words, "it was her day."  He was constantly making her smile and laugh, and the great thing about it was Sean was just being himself.  

This picture of Naomi, I love, she is very relaxed and beautiful in this picture.

I love the light in this picture, and see how sweet Sean is being!

We went to a local ice cream store, because every pregnant woman loves ice cream, right?  I just love, love ice cream and I'm not pregnant, so it seemed like a fun idea.  Naomi and Sean, I can't wait for you guys to welcome little miss Sophie to the world, I'm sure she'll be sweet just like her parents.