Family Time and Lifestyle Photography

This past weekend my family and I trekked on up to visit my sister-in-law and her family this weekend. Aside from spending time together, our two main goals were moving and maple consumption. It was maple open house weekend in Vermont (and I believe, here in New Hampshire as well) so we wanted to be sure to check out a few places, try some different samples, and pick up a few favorite maple products - oh, and of course, eat some maple creemees outside in freezing temperatures (the only way to do it). We also got to check out the new apartment-in-progress that the gang will be moving into very soon while they build their new home.

 After all the fun of getting a little bit of stuff over to the land and checking out some sugar shacks we spent the rest of the time enjoying what would be the last weekend we all spend together in the old house. It was the house that Amanda and Jesse purchased together while dating, the house in which he proposed, and the house in which their two children have grown. There are a lot of good memories, some of which I know of and some of which were pre-Michelle (Aaron and I met just under six years ago). Either way, I really felt it was important to document some moments from this weekend and make sure to snap a couple of shots of them all together outside their first home. 

I don't often get to do many lifestyle sessions for clients, but hopefully this will encourage some of you to take a leap and go for it! Let me assure you that if you have children and popcorn with any sort of seasoning, you WILL have a mess as well. There is just no way around it :) Apparently there is some video going around the internet where a woman eats a pepper that she believed to be a cherry (now, I can't wrap my brain around this one because she seems to be attempting to make an informative clip about eating healthy, she should know her stuff..... planned? I think maybe.....) either way, they thought it was hysterical. I LOVE my husband's laugh. Gabby, quite proud of her attire. As you might notice, poor Emma was not feeling so hot about halfway through the weekend. But the other kiddos seemed to be just fine ;) Now, natural lifestyle shots with these little ones is nearly impossible. They are stop-and-smilers. They are my go-to models when I need to practice some more traditional portraits but this weekend, I think we managed pretty well to get something a bit more different. Every now and then they decide to ignore me and just get down to kid business :) Before lunch we stepped outside real quick to get a couple of shots with the house, and of course, it became incredibly bright for the few minutes we were out there.... that kind of bright where the sun isn't exactly visible, but the clouds in front of it are very thin..... just bright enough to make us squint no matter what direction we were facing! We're going to miss our weekends hanging out there with them, but it will be so fun to watch their new home go from ground to grand! Cannot wait to see it all unfold!