Christmas Cards 2011

Life has been moving in fast forward the last 5 months...I seriously can't believe it has been 5 months since I posted.

However, our busiest time of year is here...and October blew us out of the water! I love getting to photograph children and families and this year is no different. Here are our holiday card collections for 2011...We would love to help you customize your holiday card with some updated images! Email or give us a call if we can help.










If you are interested in the options we had available last year click this link.

Woefully Behind...An attempt to begin to catch up!

I am woefully behind but I have to start somewhere to catch up....

This little girl was full of personality and fun! I left the session with a smile on my face after getting to spend an hour playing in her yard with her and her parents.

Meet Cohen - Our Precious Boy

Darling by Design has a new family member! We are finally able to share his picture with all of our amazing friends and family and I couldn't wait to show him off here! So many of you have been so encouraging during our wait and I often received emails asking for updates. We are all home now and transitioning to life with an infant. He is 7 months old and is blessing from God! This little man has brought such joy to our family and we are continually thankful to God for bringing him home.

Last week I took a few minutes to take a few pictures of him at our home....and I couldn't wait to share them here.

Without further delay, let me introduce you to the new little man in my life....Cohen Bereket!

He is full of personality and I am so happy to have captured some of our first days together on my camera. I will try not to overwhelm you with pictures of him here....but if you want to read more about our journey of adoption you can do so on our family blog {www.darlingjourney.net}.

For anyone wanting to schedule a session, please contact us soon as appointments for the next few months are filling up fast! I won't be taking on as many sessions for the next few months as we enjoy some family time.

Our New Addition

It's amazing how quickly time passes...but this time I have a great excuse! Mike and I have spent the last 10 days traveling to Ethiopia via 2 days in Rome to meet OUR SON for the first time! We were there to meet him, love on him, and appear in court as a part of our adoption proceedings. It was an AMAZING trip and one that we have written a lot about here. We are home now but are hopeful to be returning within the next 4-8 weeks to bring our boy home. Now we just wait for the US Embassy to clear our file and confirm an embassy appointment that will make him an official US citizen. We covet your thoughts and prayers as we wait!

I hate to do a post without a pictures so here's one of me and my son! I'm in love! (We can't post pictures of his face until we travel to bring him home)

To read more about our adoption journey you can find our posts here:

www.darlingjourney.net

My first session of 2011 was to photograph this precious newborn baby boy. His mama was on top of things and we had talked about the importance of photographing within the first 10 days in order to get the best possible images. I believe he was 10 days old exactly during his session. He slept so wonderfully for us which is one of the best reasons to photograph so quickly after birth. Newborns are much more cooperative when then are in the milk stupor. He was quite a big boy and was doing so great when I met him. His family is head over heels in love with their new addition.

I love those precious baby details....

Precious soft skin and fat rolls...

His older brother is in love and is so sweet with "his baby."

I believe there is a lot of staring going on in this house....

A family of boys is just right.

The little.

And the big.

These were all processed in black and white at the request of mama. I love the timeless look they create!

A Special Family

One of our trips in December included a stop in Oklahoma to visit my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew. We have wanted to do a family session for awhile now but our trips are usually packed full and our session gets put on the back burner. That ALMOST happened this time but we weren't going to have anything to do with that. It was cold and really overcast but we made a short session happen....and I love the results!

My sister has always had an eye for fashion and I love the choices she made for their clothing. It all coordinated so well together. Her littlest wasn't thrilled about the cold but there is just something about these images that speak to me. It's real life...not everyone is ALWAYS happy, but everyone has their moments.

See, he's really a mama's boy and it was a little better once he got to her.

This little girl LOVES her daddy though....she also LOVES her Uncle Michael. (Don't ask me why she calls him that when EVERYONE around her says Mike, but she hasn't deterred from it in over a year.) I try not to get my feelings hurt when they call and she asks for him. :) What can I say...she has good taste!

I adore these of my sister and her husband. We sent the kids inside and they got to snuggle for a few minutes!

This little girl loves being a princess so when we framed it that way she was happy to be in front of my camera....she just posed away. Patrick, you better beware...she's gonna be a cutie!

I'm really not trying to be biased to her....it really wasn't a good day for the little guy. Funny thing is last time he was the one hamming it up...maybe next time they will BOTH be funny for me?

Celebrate Adoption Session

I had the pleasure of photographing this family shortly after they arrived home with the precious son. We met at their home and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon. They were already bonding beautifully and it was such an honor to witness this family of five meshing together.

Just a few from our session together......



I think the kids are pretty happy!







LOVE THIS!!!!!


and THIS!!!


No doubt....this family will bless their son and their son will bless them! A match made in heaven!!!

Catch Up Post

I have been incredibly negligent with this blog. The holidays hit, we got a life changing call, we traveled to see both sides of our family, and now we have been trying to get our mile long list done before we traveled across the world next week. We are ecstatic to be reaching this point in our journey but I don't want to forget some the amazing families I photographed this past fall.

This session took place on a rainy, dreary Saturday. We did the best we could given our circumstances but everything turned out great! I always love seeing this family!












This little beauty is now 6 months old! We were blessed with a gorgeous day and had LOTS of fun photographing this little one's personality. Her mama always makes great clothing choices!! LOVE these outfits!









This little cutie is 8 months old and gave us lots of fun personality!!! She made me work for her smiles but rewarded me when I was really funny. I love the colors and light from her session!






LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!! One of my FAVORITE images from this fall!!!




I don't get to photograph older kids very much but I absolutely adore it when I do. We love this sweet girl and it was so fun to photograph her on a chilly Sunday afternoon.







After a reschedule for a family emergency we were able to do a family session for this great family. You can tell they are a close family....my favorites from this session were the family images.









I have had the privilege of photographing this family MANY times over the last few years. I have loved watching their daughter grow up. She is a spirited child and so much fun to be around!




She loved exploring and was on the go!



One of my last sessions of the year was this family! We had to reschedule several times because the weather didn't cooperate but finally were able to battle the wind and capture some great images. Here is a storyboard we designed from that session...I thought it turned out great!