Maybe it’s just me, but after all the excitement of the holiday season, I can feel rather down in the dumps. We spend November working on being thankful, we go right into December counting down each moment and jam-packing a ton of activities in as we celebrate baby Jesus’ birth at Christmas, and then within a week we are sent into a new year. Wow, just thinking about it leaves my head spinning. And yet, we do this every year… and I’m starting to notice a pattern for myself of where I feel a bit overwhelmed with the daunting tasks and unknown future of the new year as I step into early January.

Whenever you stay twenty minutes just chatting about life and its many choices after a photo shoot, I can’t help be grateful for the job that we do. To be able to walk with others through life’s craziest ups and downs is something we do not take for granted and regularly remind each other of how precious it is. This happened when we took the Leppke family’s photos a few weeks back. Jenna & I stood and chatted while her hubby chased their smiling and giggly kiddos through the leaves.

We all know the drill. You get together with the extended family and someone says, “Hey, we should get a family photo!” You’re then trying to set your phone on a chair and you, thankfully, figured out that it has a timer, so you can run back to the group and be in the photo as well… or maybe you’re doing the everyone cram in the photo behind me shot and when you look at the photo, your head is the largest because you’re the closest to the camera… or maybe you take turn taking photos of different groups but never the whole group together… or… well, we think you get the picture. Family photos can be hard, especially when you are trying to take them and be in them at the same time. (If only you could temporarily clone yourself…)

Mini sessions are the best because they are like family get-togethers! We get to see all of our amazing photography families once again and quickly catch up on life. I’m not even joking one bit that it feels this way, and we work hard not to take this feeling for granted. We feel so privileged to get to document the absolutely precious stages of life that go flying by way to quick, allowing our amazing families to not only remember the moments but be in them instead of behind the camera.

We’ve had the privilege of taking the Teal family’s photos three times now, and we love this family! Our boys love hanging out with their boys; Mark and Jim enjoy talking car things, and Michele and I can sit amidst crazy kiddos and talk about all things life. It’s so refreshing when you find a fellow friend family! There is not much more to be said about the amazing Teal family of four – except that they ‘re about to become a family of FIVE!! One more adorable little munchkin to love on? Yes, please! Jim & Michele are such an awesome couple who loves on the people around them. And did I mention Michele is an amazing baker? She created the cake for one of our bride & groom’s wedding this past year. You can find the link here.

Meet the Hoffman family and their spunky little puppy, Gus, who they got right around the beginning of the school year. We know this because this fun family attends our church, and we were surprised one night when the girls got out the vehicle for youth group (because they should be out at college). Then came out this adorable little furry, four-legged creature and we realized why they were home on a Wednesday night – puppy love! Gus is definitely a cutey and Mark & I aren’t the only one who think so: when we put our 6 month old, Chloe, down on his level, she squealed with delight and wouldn’t move her eyes off of him, even if he barely noticed her.