{Couples} Gary & Karin

Do you remember the recent blog post about Reid, Brenda and their son, K? And I mentioned that my husband and I met Reid & Brenda in person for the first time at another blogger-friends wedding? Well, that was Gary & Karin's daughter; and now I go to church with Gary & Karin. I'd like to reference the "Mennonite Circle" here, even though I'm Dutch (which has an equal amount of crazy connections amongst it), it's incredible how people are connected to each other.

Gary & Karin have now celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, and though they took their family on a lovely holiday to celebrate, this was about just the two of them. It was a mini session at Ellwood Park and it was so wonderful! You don't have to have known them for very long to see that they love and treasure each other. They are so sweet to each other and Gary was trying to sneak in a kiss at any opportunity!

Happy 40th Anniversary to the two of you - may God continue to bless you and your marriage!

{Maternity} Justin & Racheal

Racheal is my husband's cousin and at a family gathering on Canada Day last year, she was already mentioning that when they started their family, she wanted me to do pictures. If my math is correct, she may have already been pregnant then and either didn't know herself, or had just found out. Very exciting!

I was so happy we hit a sunny Spring day and got to talk pregnancy, birth and all those fun things! They did not find out what they were having, deciding to be surprised at the baby's birth. When she picked the DVD of pictures up from me, some of the things she was telling me led us to believe it was going to be in the next few days and sure enough it was! But I will share all the newborn pictures and details in an upcoming post.

For now, enjoy this beautiful couple as they waited for their first baby!

{Children} Cory & Heidi

I have photographed these five lively kids before and was excited when Heidi contacted me again to do some 'school' pictures for them as they weren't in love with the ones they'd gotten at school. I was more than happy to do that and even managed to snag a couple of family pictures. A fuller family session is being planned for spring and I am looking forward to the mayhem that may ensue :)

{Hayden}


{Charlie}


{Manny}


{Nat}


{Ally}

{Extended Family} Henry & Anita

The weather was not looking good on the day I was to meet up with this family, but thankfully it improved shortly before our meeting time and kept getting more and more sunny! It was definitely chilly, but the family definitely persevered...including little Nathan who was in the middle of a stomach flu! He may not have smiled much, but he did look at the camera here and there and took as many cuddles from mom and dad that he could.

Do you recognize part of this family? I photographed Loraine's family about a month prior and then Ron's family was in town for Christmas, so we met up with his side of the family. I quite enjoyed being able to photograph both their families! I may have slipped up a time or two on Anita's name seeing as how both dad's names are Henry and I had the other family names still relatively fresh in my mind.

Thanks to you all for meeting with me, enduring the fresh air and asking me to document your growing family!

{Family} Jeff & Veronika

In early October, I had the chance to meet up with this family of six under cloudy - but dry - skies. They are good friends with Frank & Tina, and to have heard how far back they go and the similarity in their kids' ages, was so neat! They both have the three older kids and then further down the line...a 'little' one. It didn't take long in this session to see that their youngest, Caden, was super energetic and wanted to constantly be on the move. I certainly got a workout running after and ahead of him and it was so much fun!

Jeff & Veronika, I had a great time with you and your family; thanks for letting me chase you (Caden) around with my camera :)

{Couples} Josh & Sarah

This was my second of the Valentine's Day mini sessions and I was thrilled that the dark clouds from the morning session had lightened up and left us with some better light.

Sarah and I went to high school together - all five years - and actually haven't seen each other since graduation night which was almost 14 years ago (did I just admit that here?). I was excited when she contacted me for this mini session because we've been friends on Facebook for a while already, so it was fun to see her in person again. As an added bonus, they needed to bring their kids along so I got to take a few pictures including them.

And I'd like to just take a moment to point out that Josh and Sarah had absolutely no hesitation kissing as much as I asked them to, if not more! So that's where the last picture comes in - poor Braedon had seen enough!

Thanks Josh and Sarah for coming out to my neck of the woods for this session - I had such a great time with you guys and it was great to see you again, Sarah, and meet your little family!









{Sarah has amazing, dark blue eyes!}








{Braedon was great fun to have along - and what a smile, hey?}






{I did get everyone looking at me!}




{Braedon was done with all the lip-locking}

{Couples} Ron & Loraine

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to do a couple of mini sessions with the goal of couple photos in time for Valentine's Day, so my day started with this lovely couple. Loraine and I met in September when their daughter joined the ballet class Taeya was in, so we get to visit every week and watch our boys play together too. She was so excited to get pictures done of her and Ron as they hadn't had any done since their wedding nearly eight years ago. It was super fun to see the happiness on their faces (hers especially) through the session. Very, very cute!

Thanks to you both for thinking the Valentine's Day mini sessions was a good idea - I hope you like the pictures. Happy Valentine's Day to you!