jessica & steve... expecting!

ive known jessica for about a couple of years now and i really cant get enough of her and her sweet family. it seems i am just making my way down the list with she and her 4 other sisters and i couldnt be more thrilled! (i recently shot her sister ashley's senior portraits as well as her sister jennie's wedding last may.) im honored any time i am contacted by these people. ive said it before but i will say it again, jessica and her family are just the nicest and most warm spirited people. so you can imagine how excited i was when jessica emailed me the BIG news... she & steve are expecting their first child this november!! as if that wasnt exciting enough, they wanted to get together to take some photos for an announcement they will be sending out. they decided to make the trip up north for the session to experience a little of flagstaff and let me just say, they sure got to experience it. the weather up here is SO unbelievably bipolar, its really not even funny. it will be warm short weather one day and SNOW the next, unbelievable. jessica & steve were such champs during the cloudy, cold, WINDY weather as we took the photos... and why it couldnt have been 76 and sunny? who knows.

anyways, jessica has got to be THE most creative gal i know. seriously, we used to work together and every day i was amazed at her genius ideas. she thought up all of these brilliant ideas for the session and a fun way they could announce to family and friends that she will be having a baby. the theme for the shoot was "first came love, then came marriage, now comes the baby!" so jessica created three different scene ideas for each of the little phrases. soooo cute, right?! these first shots are some of my favorites and they are from the "then came marriage" set:

and here are some shots from the "first came love" scenes involving a handful of balloons that SOMEHOW we managed to hold on to

i mentioned this in the last post about subtle angle changes and how big of a difference they make, keeping your subjects in place but taking a few steps yourself. subtle differences people, subtle differences.

so in love

and now comes baby!! highlighted by a cute frame!


jessica & steve are going to make such great parents, their child will be surrounded by SO much love and laughter and (my favorite) creativity! im just so thrilled for them and this new adventure they are beginning. i cant wait to hear if its a boy or girl and which name they decide to go with! they've got some great ones picked out.

jessica & steve: thanks for bearing with the chill factor to get these shots. so fun spending time with you guys!