Kessenich Family

Little Oliver Jack is turning 4! Remember the last time we saw this family? Jack has certainly grown up! He got his birthday present a little early just for this shoot…he got his very own John Deere tractor!

I was fully prepared and totally pumped up for the tractor surprise. What I wasn’t (totally was not) prepared for was when they brought the piglet out to play! It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. All of a sudden, Jack’s dad drove the 4 wheeler up with a wagon on the back and a piglet was in the wagon! I seriously could not take pictures for a few minutes. I was paralyzed with laughter…honestly, I could not do anything but laugh! I really wish we would have had video of the event, I still laugh when I think about it!

I did finally get over the surprise piglet and put myself back together enough to finish out the shoot. The girls were so cute, they have a little kittens that they love so much. We took a lot of pictures with their kitties. Isabelle even went and found this perfect hat! I love going to farms because there is never a lack of things to do or capture!

It was fun to see you guys again! We love seeing the kids as the continue to grow up! I will not forget about this shoot anytime soon! You will always be remembered as the first time we got to include a pig in a photoshoot! Isabelle, I love that you always have news ideas to try. You have a totally cool Little Miss Pigtails crown! Lillian you are so sweet and I loved that you didn’t want your picture taken unless I would include your cat too! Oliver Jack it was so fun to watch you discover your new John Deere! You cracked me up when you discovered the loader could double as a fun ride for your cats.

Lost pet

We have both Maddoxx and Punk microchipped. As part of the microchip, we have their information registered in an online database and have signed up to receive alerts should a pet near-by go missing. I received this today and am hoping that if you live close you will have an eye out for this missing cat. If we should ever need this service, I can only hope people will be able to help as well...here's to paying it forward...and finding Lola!

{Beau and Caroline} Class of 2009

These 2 rolled in with their mom in a BIG truck…with the back seat converted to a closet for the day. Caroline showed us her outfits and then continued to show us her brother Beau’s outfits as Beau quietly stood by. I couldn’t help but ask Beau if he had any input about his clothing for the day. He was quick to let me know his sister Caroline totally hooked him up and took care of his senior clothing shopping. In fact they were taking tags off the clothes on the way to the shoot!

I think we need to take Beau on more shoots with us. He was a rockstar location scout. We’d been to the area before, but NEVER found the places that Beau was bringing us to! It was perfect!

Beau and Caroline are about as opposite as you will find! Beau thought the whole smiling thing was overrated, and Caroline was nothing but smiles! The serious look was just not her thing, the smiling look was just not Beau’s thing. But we did get them each to step to the “other” side for a few shots each! Yahoo!!

Perhaps some of Beau’s smiles came out after Caroline knew exactly which buttons to push of Beau’s…like any good sister would! Isn’t that what sisters are for after all?!?!?

Beau and Caroline – we has so much fun exploring new locations with you! You were such good sports…with the unexpected workout we took you on! We wish you all the best as you begin your senior year! Have a BLAST!!

Jeff and Lindsey...

have a very cool wedding date. A lot of people have “their song”, not every couple says they have “their number”. Jeff and Lindsey have “their number”…22. This number is so special to them in fact they have even planned a Friday wedding so that they can get married on the 22nd!

Jeff even does something special for Lindsey on the 22nd of every (EVERY!) month! What a cool guy! Lindsey even said when they were traveling on a trip, he still remembered to give her a card on the 22nd….as I said, very cool guy!

For their engagement session, they brought us to a place where the flood actually did cool things! The floods of 2008 brought in the coolest driftwood! Love it! We had them sit on the wood to hang out and chat while we were in heaven capturing all the beauty that nature brought in around them. It was totally awesome!

Jeff and Lindsey – It was an early morning, but I’m so happy we met and were able to capture all your love amongst the driftwood and the river serving as the perfect backdrop. We cannot wait to hang out with you again and capture your wedding!!

The Lettow Family...

came to visit us in Ames last weekend! Our travel schedule was limited until September...September was too long to wait, so they came to us! And we are so glad they did, we had so much roaming around the park with them.



The kids were SO stinking cute together! I asked them if they could hug each other...fully anticipating a big NO WAY or are you crazy (I know that is the reaction my brother and I would have given a photographer!). Not these too...they didn't even question it! SOOOO adorable!

At some point I thought it would be a great idea to challenge Landon to a race...

He's fast....I'm not. :)
But I've come to terms with it. I'll trade a loss in a race for an image like this any day! (Reason #1,264 why I LOVE that Eric and I are a team on every shoot...he get's to capture this while I get to play!) :)
Lettow family - I am so happy it worked out so soon for you to come to Ames! You are adorable and I felt like we'd been friends for years! Stay in touch and we do hope we get to continue to capture your family as the kids grow up! I am fully ready to challenge Landon to another race...let's make it the best of 3 next time! :)

Little Miss Madeline...

brought us to her Nano's (translation = grandma) garden for her photoshoot. It was beautiful! If I could have 1/116th of Nano's green thumb, I would be a happy girl! It was the perfect setting for Madeline to show us all around and to show us her favorites in the garden.
The tour included a few games of peek-a-boo...

and a little bit of attitude...

How great is that little hand on the hip action?!?! 2 years old going on 14...I think so!
Madeline - thank you for showing us all around Nano's garden! We had so much fun trying to keep up with you, you are one busy girl!! We can't wait to hear when you become a big sister very soon! Can't wait to see you again!

Sitzmann family...

What's a family to do when they have 3 kids getting married within a year and a half of eachother and they need to pick a family portrait to hang on the wall?
The answer: Scrap the wedding dresses and tuxes. Rather, find the hottest clothes (including heels), meet in a central location and get together for a neutral family portrait...no need to choose who gets to be on the wall in their wedding dress!
Here is the result...total HOTNESS!! Check out the Sitzmann family!


The five (yes FIVE!) sisters...love it! You are SO beautiful!


This is one of my most favorite images from our time together. I LOVE that it is so real life I can hardly stand it. All the girls are taking care of their hair while the boys look on.....ummmmmm, one word....perfect! If this isn't a lifestyle portrait, I don't know what is!

Sitzmann family - I am so happy we were able to get together and capture your (growing) family! It was so fun to see all of you again. Thank you for hanging with us and hiking the hills and standing in the soggy grass with your heels on! You guys rock! I will be in touch again shortly!

Hollywood Harrison

Meet Harrison, he's from Hollywood.

Well, OK, that was a little white lie. He's not from the west coast. He lives here in the midwest. But at one point during our session, I had to stop and look around and wonder what people must have been thinking. Harrison brought his entourage which included his dad, mom and grandma. Then there was Eric and I with our camera's capturing his every move! Count it, that's 5 adults tending to this 1 year old every need. Honestly, it looked like we should have been in Hollywood....on a movie set...called Hollywood Harrison. :)

To top it all off, Harrison hit a couple of milestones during the session too! He had a molar that was starting to pop through. He's a growing boy! The next milestone was a cool one...when we started the session, he wanted nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with the slide. It was probably the worst suggestion ever made :) No problem...we moved on. There's plenty more to love at a park!

We made it down to the walking path with the wild flowers...

picked a flower or two...

had a couple outfit changes (isn't that Hollywood after all?)....

and believe it or not... we made it back to the slides...and get this, within an hour the slides turned into the COOLEST thing on this planet! He was LOVING the slides, in fact he had to try all of them out before calling it quits! :)

(did you see daddy peeking from the top of the slide?) Too cute!

"L" family, we had so much fun with you! Thank you for sharing Harrison with us...his hair, that smile...too much to handle! You all were a joy to be around and we enjoyed every minute with Harrison and his entourage!

Cone head...

(so much for the no more Punk updates that I mentioned a few days ago!)
We are already onto the next stage of recovery! Punk's cast was removed today because it had slipped too much. He also got the stitches removed from where they took a piece of bone for his bone graft. Big day for a little guy!
As soon as the doctor removed his cast, Punk immediately went to town on cleaning his leg...thus the reason for the cone head (e-collar) he has to wear.
He's not a very big fan of it. :)
He is on crate rest for the next FOUR weeks!! We can't bear the thought of having him in his crate while we're home, so Eric and I have been taking turns holding him all night. Yes, Maddoxx is jealous.

Nothing will hold him back...

not even a cast. He is still running around the backyard. He has no fear!



Sneak peaks of the 2 sessions from this weekend will be coming in the next few days!

Home sweet home...

that's where Punk is...yay!! We got to bring him home Wednesday night and we were SO very excited! He wanted to be held all night, we could tell he was missing us! He has been doing very good and doesn't act like anything is wrong...he just drags his cast along...think that it bends like his leg. So far he's done 1 somersault and 1 side skid because he moves too fast for a having a peg leg! I haven't decided if this is because he's just being a boy or perhaps not the brightest dog on the planet...it's probably a combination of both!



I had to laugh when we received this in the mail today! Have you ever seen a more itemized receipt?!?!? They honestly itemized out the large disposable gown and the extra large disposable gown!! There was a $.50 difference between the two...seriously!! Too funny!! In case you were wondering what they did to fix him all up and you're in the medical field...here it is. (Maybe you could dumb it down for me too!)


I think this will be the last of the Punk updates for awhile. We have 5 shoots scheduled for the next 8 days! We will be keeping busy and are excited to get all the sneak peaks up here! Stay tuned!!