Oh, you want another one? Ok…

There. That will do until I get a maternity post up for them. And, again, I apologize for being backwards. I’m only packing to move, chasing a 2 year old and growing a 23 week baby in my belly . No big deal or anything, hehe. I’ll get there.

In the meantime, I know this new Mama and Daddy are eagerly awaiting peaks of their new little guy, Bennett.

Don’t you just love this nursery??? So many cute touches and Jessica made that mobile all by herself!
Adorable. Bennett sure didn’t want to sleep for quite a while while I was there. But, I still love how everything turned out. I always tell my clients that my style for newborns is “just the way you are…with a little extra set ups here or there.” Real life. Even the crying stuff. If it takes us 4 hours, so be it! And, if clients want JUST the fancy set ups, I have a fantastic photographer friend that excels in that stuff that I will direct them to. It’s all about what you are wanting and both are good.

Little man wasn’t sure where he wanted to eat, he just wanted to eat. And I’m in love with Jess and Jeff’s living room decor. Come decorate my new house anytime, Jess (well, when I find it and move in that is…).
Daddy’s turn. I love this of these two boys. Color. Love. And…..he’s finally out. Tuckered out. You think this little guy is loved or what? You three make such a gorgeous family!
Love, love, love how tangled in love these three are. I’m also pretty sure that if I would’ve tiptoed out of the room, they all would’ve been napping on that comfy bed!!! 

Sweet, sweet beautiful boy. This quilt was made by his Grandma! I LOVE it!!!!! Perfect little boy. 

Thanks Mangieri family!!!! I adored spending the morning with you. I pray you get spoiled with sleep and a happy baby!

xoxo, Jenny

Shar & Thomas loved some of the looks of Old Town Scottsdale, so we headed there first. It’s been a long time since I’ve shot there! I always feel like I see 30 other photographers doing there thing, but it was just us that day. We then finished up at a lovely little spot overlooking Phoenix.

Stunning.

Every time I see this little shack/building/place I can’t believe it’s still standing! But I’m glad, because it provided us with beautiful photos.

As always, the laughing ones are my favorite .

Thomas, you’re quite dapper yourself!

Gorgeous.

You can’t go wrong cramming two (well, three with me) people in a tiny little alley way. Don’t you just wish you knew what she’s laughing about?

Loved this little spot (thanks Bri!).

My favorite of the day.

Shar, I love, love, love these of you.

Watching the sunset.

Thanks Shar and Thomas! Can’t wait for your wedding in a couple of weeks!!!

And I’m just warning you, there are a lot of photos. I easily could have posted even more…

Enjoy!

Just look at these four beautiful kiddos. And I’m totally digging on the Good Egg shirt.

The girls.

Sweet sisters. And amazing hair.

She was just so sweet and nurturing throughout the whole shoot.

The eldest and the youngest.. even if it was slightly against his will .

The sun just shimmered in her hair.

I could pinch those cheeks off with his little shy smile .

As I was shooting the kids individually, I looked over my shoulder and just barely caught this moment. I’m pretty sure they never even knew I took it. I think that’s why I love it so much.

This kiddo was just way too much fun.

And let’s be honest, I could’ve stolen both of the girls and just shot them all day long. Gorgeous, gorgeous girls.

Another completely unplanned moment that I turned around on.

What a lovely couple.

Who made such a lovely family.

I love these.

And these.

And their faces.

Hands down my favorite of all the kids together. The girls initiated this.

Just beautiful.

Thank you Falvey family! I have no idea how you’re going to decide what to hang on your walls!!!

Her face says it all.

If I have a boy, I need a had like this one!

Grandpas are good for warming cold little fingers.

Such charm in these old buildings (which really look like every house in the town I grew up in….so different in Phoenix!). These two were so sweet together.

Grandma-ma and her boys .

Here are those blue eyed beauties. I mean, ahem, good looking’ boys .

Maybe some of my favorite family “non-posed” photos ever.

Only in Phoenix, in the dead of winter, can you find citrus and falling leaves in the same square foot of land.

A brother moment.

I love these of Jeff and Erin! (And yes, Erin, I saw your comment about the top left one on fb…hilarious).

Newly engaged couple!!! Congratulations!!!!!!

Thanks to you all for letting me capture your beautiful family!!!!

BUT, with an excuse (yep, I’m definitely riding on it all the way! Ha!)! We are pregnant!!! If you follow my family blog or have seen me lately, than you know…but we haven’t let the cat out of the bag on this blog yet! We are super excited! This sweet baby was VERY planned…as in, we gave ourselves just a short window to try so that I could deliver around my busy seasons of photography. Little baby cakes will be due in the beginning of August! So don’t be scared to still book (that was my very short and sweet plea to still hire me even though we’re preggers )! We have a few short weeks until we find out what it is and of course I will be sharing. I just can’t help myself! I LOVED knowing with my first and can’t imagine this one any other way! I’ve been quite MIA due to a very rough first trimester and our little house has since been sick more on than off in the last month! We are so ready to be healthy and I’m VERY ready to take advantage of this energy in the second trimester!

On to the post at hand ….

If you’ve followed me a while, you’ve seen this cute family. This is one of my BFF’s, Christine and her super sweet family, Rowdy and Bella. And of course I couldn’t show up to Bella’s second birthday party without my camera in hand. I was going to share this on my personal blog, but then thought why not over here. Not that I don’t have about 15 posts lined up that I’ve neglected over the last couple of months!. Gotta start somewhere, huh?

Christine did such a cute job with her little details and Bella was SUCH a doll in her little Gap dress and sparkly Toms. LOVE. And…there may or may not be a pic or two of my littlest one thrown in too (yep…brag, cough, cough). Although, she never seems to want to look at the camera!

Christine makes her own cupcakes and they are to die for. I eat these things in my sleep they are that good.

So cute!

Maya and I both stood there drooling over all of the yumminess we were about to devour.

Making things mini just makes them taste better. Don’t you think?

Birthday Girl Bella!

Besties. One day, they will hate me for posting pictures like this that show their skivvies… hehe.

Gorgeous, gorgeous girl.

Not so sure about the ginormous crowd watching and singing to her.. .

But she quickly got over the fear when she got to eat the cupcake.

She loved this little birthday gift. So cute.

Shout out to my amazing mom on this one. She drew a portrait of Bella for me for Bella’s birthday present. It turned out amazing! I mean…I didn’t grow this artsy stuff on my own! All from my Mama!

Bella, Happy Birthday, little peanut. We love you so very much and are so blessed to have you in our life! I’m loving watching you grow up into such a beautiful, smart, little girl!!! xoxo

This cute little family made their way from Ohio to Arizona this past summer. I love me some mid-westerners . When I talked with Alyssa about what kind of shoot she would like, she immediately replied, “Desert! Something Arizona!” It was a great way to document this time for their family; a desert scene for their big move.

And can we talk about just how adorable these little blue-eyed blondes are? I had such a blast photographing them and they were both amazing for me!

I’m pretty sure that out of all the family photos I take, the ones where no one is looking at the camera end up being my favorites .

Such a boy.

See, like this one.

Holy goodness, that little girl is beautiful.

Beautiful.

Love these.

Aren’t they such a cute couple?

I had the hardest time narrowing all of the photos down…there were so many!!! Thanks Handel Family!!! I hope we captured Arizona just the way you had hoped!

xoxo,

Jenny

We’ve also once again neglected to send out a Christmas card. I am just horrible at this. I just don’t know what it is. Maybe that I’m focusing so much on everyone else’s or just that it seems like it should be the last thing on my list. Oh well. Instead, I thought I would post Maya visiting Santa again this year. Which is VERY reminiscent of her visit with him last year. Poor girl. I thought maybe, just maybe, she’d be ok with him. I’ve been reading book after book about Santa and playing many Christmas movies off of Netflix to get ready. We stood in line and I thought this was it…she’d be great! She kept waving to him saying “Hi Santa!” and even “Ho, ho, ho.” As soon as we walked up, however, her little face turned to fear and she hung on to Daddy with dear life. Repeat from last year, I suppose. I still smile every time I see both of them though .

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Christmas season! Remember to slow down and remember what it’s all about!

I hope you love this amazing shoot as much as I do!!! Enjoy!

I adored every single little prop Kat brought along.

So many of these things are precious family heirlooms and I love how the feel of the resort added to the look of the details.

Her Grandfather and Grandmother’s shoes. Old family photos. Deep sigh. Love.

Oh. My. Goodness. Kat warned me that her children were super yummy and she was nothing but right. And they were both so EASY in front of the camera!

These shots were recreations of a shot that Chad and Kat had at their wedding. Same place. Same chair. Same poses from Chad and Kat. New additions of family. I loved this idea.

Such dapper gentlemen.

Beautiful.

This guy was amazing for me. Every time I called his named, he turned and gave me the most wonderful little smile.

Bringing flowers to sister.

I could have shot those beautiful eyes ALL day.

Oh my.

So darn cute.

I love this.

Ring around the rosie… xoxo.

I feel like every single daddy should have a picture like this with his daughter.

And every mama with her little boy.

Thanks Merwin Family for this amazing day! I hope you love all of these!!!

I won’t write too many of the details of the wedding on this particular post since I’ll be doing it later, but I will say that I just LOVED every little detail that Cara & Quin put into their gorgeous wedding. It was a blast watching them together on their day and enjoying it along with them!!

As much as I’m smitten for my Arizona sunshine, I quite enjoyed our overcast skies that lasted all day. It was nice to shoot a wedding in the chilly air for the first time since last winter!

Loved Cara’s pink and black EVERYWHERE.

Cara, you stopped me in my tracks so many times. Beautiful.

I really like how this shot of all the bridesmaids turned out.

It’s quite possible that these above were my favorite of the day.

Quin, being quite dapper.

We had such a fun time with these guys.

My favorite of Quin of the day.

I adore this shot of Cara and her Dad, Doug.

A little tough to get that ring on .

The Mr. & Mrs! Congrats you two.

A few days later, I learned I lost a past client in my old job. I was crushed and, even more, so completely saddened for the family he left behind without warning. Such a heavy, heartbreaking week. That Saturday as I was sitting in the funeral trying to wrap my brain around all of the heaviness, it hit me that I had completely forgotten the anniversary of the passing of my mother-in-law 5 years ago. Worse yet, I remembered that on the anniversary date that I had been so caught up in not knowing how to handle my own feelings that I was distant from Derrick on a day that was very hard for him.

I know this is hardly appropriate for for a family photo post, but it was as I was driving up to this shoot that I was able to heal. To reflect. To be reminded of life and the good that it still brings even in death. As I drove, I prayed and I prayed to feel God’s peace. To ask for healing. I prayed for the families that lost loved ones. I prayed that God would release the dark feeling that filled me every time the image of the man that took his life would fill my head. I prayed desperately.

I arrived at Mirabel early to look around and find some spots to shoot. As I was walking around the clubhouse, I found a path along a stream that was full of lush green grasses growing. I saw a roadrunner pass right in front of me. The sun seeped through the leaves of the trees and over the grasses in the valley. As I walked up a hill, I stopped in my tracks and saw a young buck and a smaller doe only 20 yards in front of me. It was in that moment that I felt God’s presence wrap all around me in a feeling of peace and a knowing that this burden of death was not mine to hold on to. I felt it and I believed it. I know it sounds cheesy as I write this down, but sometimes God shows himself in his own creation and I am so blessed to have found it there.

I went on to meet the family that I was shooting and was filled with so much joy as I was able to watch life and love happen. A new mommy and daddy to a precious little one. Aunts and uncles proudly watching as well.

Thank you Erkmann and Nath families for sharing this day with me, although you would have hardly known the gift that you were to me that evening. I am so completely blessed to do what I do, to celebrate life in the form of capturing happiness in a photo. I know your Mom will love these come Christmas!

These photos hardly do a justice to how beautiful it was!

GORGEOUS family! All of them!

New Godparents to that little love bug.

We went to spend a little extra time after everyone else left (our deal was to make the photoshoot as FAST as possible!!! ) to go shoot this little family.

Love.

Thank you!!!