Meet the Follansbee family and their precious little lady — who we learned they affectionately call “Bear” (aaaaaaawwwwww!!). We met up at Oakwood Park in Cottage Grove with these three to capture their family photos for a mini session, and you can’t help but fall in love with this little cutie!

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I know I’ve shared this before but one of the most fun parts about being a family photographer is watching other families grow from year-to-year and one of these such families is the Yangs! We first connected last year at our summer mini photo sessions and so when they booked again this year, I was so excited to connect with them again! For one, it’s so fun to see how the kids change from one year to the next and yet stay so true to who they are; and for two, because they have two boys and then a little girl – so it’s like getting a sneak peek into my family in a few more years! 

I’ve got to confess something: I -even as a photographer-haven’t gotten our own family photos taken in almost a year. Yup, we all struggle with keeping those photos updated! I literally have multiple cameras within reach or a quick minute walk away, and I can still struggle with keeping updated on photos with my kids and our everyday life. And you know what? It’s okay. Yes, I’m telling you that it’s okay if you haven’t gotten family portraits done in the past year, the thing is, don’t keep waiting just because you haven’t had a chance to yet. In the meantime, keep that iPhone close and keep snapping away, because we all need a chance to be able to look back at how we did this COVID-19 lifestyle. Set it up and do the silly running back and forth with the timer thing and get a photo of you and your family in the masks, but don’t forget to be in the photo. Seriously, you’re a part of the family, too! And that’s why we offer family mini session photos – so that everyone can be in the photo, even if they don’t necessarily want to, you can all make it for 20 minutes and get this stage of life documented.

Call me crazy, but I am a sucker for the families who set up a time each year to get their family photos taken. There is such an honor to get to see the kids grow up from behind the lens of a camera, to document the precious stages of each year and family transition, and to hang out with the family again and again! Whether extended family mini session in the fall or a full in-home portrait session like this family’s addition of little Eliza, we LOVE it.