Merry Christmas Eve!!

One of my favorite things about marrying into my husband's family is their annual tradition of cutting down the Christmas tree! Ever since Josh and Stacie were really little the family has gone out to a Christmas Treen Farm to pick out and cut down a tree. They even have a song they sing as the tree is being chopped. Having grown up in a household with a fake tree, having a real one facinates me. I love the charm and character of a real tree! It brings an extra bit of Christmas cheer to the season. 

It seems like winter temperatures are slowly creaping in so I'm trying to take full advantage of every last bit of the warm autumn sun. My latest family portrait session in Liberty State Park was certainly a super breezy one! I had been trying to schedule Marta, Alan, and little Isaac's mini session for some time now and we were ecstastic to finally nail down a date. Their session day came and thought the temperature was fair we had huge gusts of wind that made it quite cold. They were such troupers to bear through the crazy wind and we were still able to snap some great pics!

Alan is the bishop of my church congregation here in Jersey. I first got to know he and Marta by attending our church choir practices and I instantly fell in love with their kind heartedness. Its been a joy watching them become parents to Isaac, who is just the cutest little munchkin. I feel so grateful for their sweet friendship and blessed to have been entrusted with photographing their adorable family!

Yessie is one of the classiest ladies I know- always dressed to the nines and so kind. This family of four was a family of three when I first met them at church two years ago and I have loved watching their adorable children learn and grow over the years. Lyla was so much fun to photograph... she'd flash big grins my way and pop her shoulder to her chin. Ollie was so well behaved and loved playing peek a boo with me behind the camera! Beautiful children. Beautiful parents. Inside and out!

I was truly ecstatic when Yessie reached out to me about taking their Family's portraits and the fact that she wanted to do them on the Brooklyn Bridge was the cherry on top! On the day of our session the weather couldn't have been better and the pedestrian traffic on the bridge wasn't bad at all.  They started out in fancy outfits and then transitioned into a more casual look for photos in and around the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade. So grateful to this sweet family for entrusting me with capturing their special love. I hope these portraits make fantastic Christmas cards for them and wonderful memories for a lifetime to come. 

Continuing along with family portrait season...

​I just love this little family of five! I've had the great pleasure of serving alongside Luke and Lauren in our church here in Jersey. In our ward (congregation) I lead music time for all of the children and I've been lucky enough to have Luke accompany me with his incredible piano playing skills. Lauren has put together a great program that our primary children will be performing next week! I have loved getting to know them and . And their two little boys and new baby girl are such sweet spirits- always happy and smiling! 

I was so excited when Lauren wanted to book a family portrait session. We had to reschedule a few times so it was wonderful to FINALLY have it happen! We photographed at Liberty State Park during a gorgeous warm autumn sunset. The temperature had dipped a little by the time we started shooting and the boys were such troopers as they shivered between shots. What an absolute pleasure it was photographing this sweet family!