Eliot & Olivier

I LOVE my niece and nephew. They are the cutest kiddos I have ever seen. Maybe I'm biased? I doubt it. They are part of the reason I got into photography. Besides the fact that I have ALWAYS loved taking photos, I took these photos of my niece, Eliot, last fall and I just knew this would become more than a hobby.

Told you my niece is adorable! Well, I went out this week to take some pictures of the kids and my brother Ryan and his wife Bethany. We had lots of fun, but being childless myself (so thankful...for now) I totally forget how fast kids are once they are mobil and how much they want to be on the ground running around! Well, Olivier is like that for sure. I'm lucky I got any pictures of that little monkey! These kids really are some of my favorite subjects. Although, they will probably think that their Auntie Mindy has a camera attached to her right eye at all times. *Note to self: take pictures at Thanksgiving (obviously), but remember to put the camera away and enjoy the day with family! Can't wait to eat smoked turkey and the other goodies on thanksgiving with this family! Did I mention that Ryan & Bethany are AMAZING cooks? Yep, my mouth is already watering as I think about the thanksgiving delicacies awaiting me! Less than a week...hooray! Love you guys!

(see... FAST runner haha)

The Vassar Family

I have know Erin since before she was a Vassar. I knew her when she was Erin Christianson. Her sister is my same age and we were in youth group together. When I was in college, I was on staff with the Jr. High group at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. Erin was on staff too. So was Steph (you may remember me doing a session for Steph's daughter Nataley). Anyways, we were having the time of our lives hanging out and doing ministry with Jr. High girls. After a year or so, I left Mn and went to a bible school in Spain and England with Torchbearers International. When I returned home, I discovered that Erin and Steph had fallen in love with brothers! They married these brothers. After a couple years they had daughters with in months from each other. How fun is that? I always wanted to live close to my cousins. Mine live in California and Montana. Not exactly "let's hang out" distance. Erin loved the photos I did of her niece, Nataley, and emailed me about taking some candid photos of their family and their daughter, Alyce.

Alyce was so sweet. He big blue eyes just blew me away! She LOVED the autumn leaves and thought it was so funny when her daddy would pick up a pile and let them fall. It makes for cute photos when Daddy's are funny. It was really fun shooting these pictures on such a gloriously, sunny November afternoon. I think we can pretty much count on one hand how many of these days we have left!

Told you it was super cute when daddy's drop leaves and are funny!

Nataley

A few weeks ago, I look some portraits of a lovely little girl named Nataley. Her mother, Steph, and I have been friends since High School. I did a session for Nataley this summer and Steph wanted to get some more photos with the autumn colors. There were a couple big differences that occurred in Nataley's life between the photo shoots... she turned one and learned to walk!!! This made the shoot really fun and ACTIVE! Let me tell you, you give a toddler a balloon and be prepared for some fast paced fun. She was so sweet as she tried to keep up with the balloon that she herself was pulling. Super cute. Nataley's dad, Dan, purchased the cute balloon special for Nataley's photo shoot. The balloon was tired to either her hand or her pants the whole time until the last ten mins. when her little hand let go of the balloon and we all watched it float up, up, and away! Surprisingly, there were no tears. What a good little girl. Here are some of the adorable pictures.

This last one is my favorite! Headed off down the path armed with her pink polkadot balloon.