Leah, Christmas beauty!

Leah is all ready for Christmas!  Don't you just want to hug and squeeze and love her?  

Anders Family photos

What a great well behaved, polite, sweet and kind family!  I had the opportunity to work with The Anders family yesterday! They were fantastic to take pictures of, so easy, and the kids were the best!  You can really tell how much they love each other! We met out at Russ Forest with is out between Decatur/Dowagiac/Marcellus.  The weather was chilly, but for December 18th, it was perfect!  Here are a few from the shoot.

Jaxson Juan, Three days young.

This past week we had a new Miracle arrive on our family.  My brother Jake and my Sister in law Gracie had their second beautiful child.  Jaxson Juan came into the world last Sunday.  He is the first boy on our side of the family, the rest of the grand-daughters are super excited.  I just hope he will be ready to wear a princess crown, because I have a feeling a some point he will be sporting one.

Here he is at three days young.  Handsome and so sweet!  Big sister Maggie is doing Fantastic being the best big sister ever!  Enjoy.

Me, just me.

Hard work.....Now and Forever!

I have been pretty busy this past year....This has been the year of ME! First of all, I want to say,  I love my husband with all my heart, and adore my two little girls.  I love doing my photography and also getting the opportunity to work with the fantastic folks at the YMCA.  However, with my YMCA job, I had to first, get to where I am today.  With that, it came with a lot of hard work on my part.  I decided a little over a year ago, that I was way to out of shape, and I wanted to be healthy.  My goal was then and still is today; isn't getting SKINNY.  Super model, magazine skinny, is not my goal or even a realistic goal.  I want to be healthy and fit, and show my girls how to be healthy.  Last September I joined my local YMCA because it was so easy for me to get there, since Amelia was there for Preschool.  I started slow and kept going.

Today I received a photo of myself, which honestly, I scoffed at when I first saw it.  First thing I saw was my fat rolls and pointed out how fat I look.   But then I saw a a picture from a year and a half ago, and I realized how far I have come.  Check out the two photos below.  Yes, I still have a lot of weight to go, but i feel so much better!  Before, going up a flight of stairs made me tired.  Now I RUN up those stairs!

I just ran a 5k on Thanksgiving and plan on doing another one in January.  Then, I plan on doing the a 10K this summer!  I do this for me....not my family or friends, but for me, and how it challenges me and makes me stronger in so many ways.

This was from last spring....

This was me this morning.

Tracy and her Awesome Boys!

I had the chance again this year, to take family photos for my Very good friend Tracy, and her two cool Boys!  We had fun, and the weather really worked out perfect for us.  How often do you get that warm of temps in November?!  It was so nice!  Here are a few from our shoot last weekend!