Hey, and we're back after a whopping whole day of not writing a blog post - with two. First off, an incredibly adorable kiddo his parents call "trey." We could barely keep up with this little guy, and it was great.

The one above = definitely my fav. I love how much kids and dogs are alike - Murphy at this age and our dogs would fight over sticks and leaves in our yard. We've talked a bit about how much we like shooting families, although our schedule often gets filled up with big people first, but of all little people, this is my favorite age to shoot - Trey is just turning one, and his personality is coming through, he's all kinds of moving around and he's so into discovering the things around him. It's so cool when water or some leaves are way cooler than big expensive toys. So rad!

Yeah - as well we know with Murphy on the doorstep of four, those days are quickly fading. Things are a lot simpler when you're one, and everything is kindof perfect.

This one might well be my favorite. I can't get over how much I love shooting kids. I assume it's because we have a kid now - and what the hell, I'll throw it out there - we've got another on the way! So, right now, being around babies and toddlers is a ton of fun, and I'm trying to get my head right for round two of having an infant :)

Oh! Fair enough, I guess we're announcing our pregnancy on the blog... wasn't exactly my first choice, but if you like, there it is. We're pretty excited, though. We haven't had the easiest time with it, so we're really happy. Like this adorable family!

I like that whenever we're tell folks we just want them to play with their kids, all dads inherently toss their kid in the air, throw them over their should or hang them upside down. And sometimes, all three :)

It's a dad thing - you just want to wrestle and roll around with your kiddo, you know? Toss 'em in the air - it always gets a laugh, even as they get older. I remember Murphy giggling like nuts when I would toss him as a one-year-old. Heck, he loves it now, I just get a little less height on him now that he's pushing 38 pounds.

It's actually been a hell of a week. We've been sick a couple of the days, but we got to hear the as-yet-unnamed baby's heartbeat for the first time, we had a couple of great shoots the past coupla days and we cold-turkey quit facebook, which is kindof weird - but a really good feeling. We kept the fan or "like" or whatever page up, but we ditched our personal accounts and, I gotta tell you, it feels kindof cool to feel like I'm getting back a minimum of an aggregate hour a day I used to spend looking a newsfeed.

A little less... ha! You used to get serious air, he now gets maybe a foot. So, Ming... Ming did not like that I spent the first 15 minutes calling her Toto. For real, we're walking up, and Rich hears her barking, and said something about Toto, so I sat there calling her that forever. Thank you, babe, for not correcting me that I was totally using the wrong name and just letting me sound like an idiot. Maybe she would've like me more if I hadn't been mocking her.

Being a parent really is the coolest thing on Earth. For real.

It is - so, so, so much :). Every time I think having kids can't get better - our kid surprises me. I'm sure all parents feel that way. I really, really wish we had spent the time and money on having portraits of Murphy taken at around one. We've had a couple family portrait sessions done in the last year and a half, and I can't stress how awesome it is to have those.

It's crazy nerve-wracking for sure - Laura mentioned she really didn't need family shots, but really wanted stuff of Trey, and I get it. As an adult, you get paranoid about getting your photo taken. Most of your life, people have whipped out a camera, flashed you two feet from your face, while you're mid-talking or eating, and it's not fun. Truly, the most common things we hear when brides come in to meet with us are "I don't like my photo taken," and "I'm not comfortable in front of a camera." But there's no way I'm not getting photos of an adorable happy family while I'm shooting kids - I truly regret not having photos of us with Murphy for the first 3 years (literally, we had three photos with all three of us in the shot, and two of them were drawn on a machine at Chuck E. Cheese). This age is so cool, and I wish we had these for us at this age, but also for Murphy when he's an adult with a family of his own. This = exactly what you want your kid to see when he goes back to see what his childhood was like.

That thing I said about upside down...

...and tossed in the air? Check and check.

And, for real, the kid is a poser. A couple different times I swooped in close for a couple frames and he paused and cracked a smile. Awesome :).

Thank you guys for having us out to capture your family! And thank you, so much, for booking so far out due to our insane wedding schedule. Next year we'll be taking less weddings so we can hopefully do some more family portrait stuff. If you want to book something with us mid-winter or next spring, give us a shout now! Okay, sorry for the mini sales pitch. I'm psyched Alyssa picked this one as the last photo - I freaking love it :). Cheers, you guys, on having such a beautiful, happy, perfect baby.

We've been talking about adding a new type of session for a while, and we knew we had the perfect clients to try it out with. We met Keri + Josh forever ago, and when they called up for family portraits, we absolutely knew this was going to be the perfect family to showcase our new session: the go. It's a day-in-the-life fusion of photos and videos, capturing this moment in your family's life.

The video is below - I hope you watch it before scrolling through the photos, and enjoy!

This is definitely my favorite project in recent memory. Things went so well that I can't wait to do it again. Also, I can finally talk you into letting me buy that boom mic and steadicam I've been bugging you about - grab the credit card - it's on!

No.

But yeah, I'm really proud of these shots. I loved everything about this day, and I think this is probably the best shoot I've ever had. And I dare you to not be in love with this family by the end of this post. They really are an amazing group - Leni might be the most gentle, sweet and adorable child ever, and Leo is so ridiculously expressive - he's got more personality at one than Rich does now. Hey-o!

You are out of your mind - please do not bring a knife to a gunfight when it comes to insulting and invoking the "hey-o". Leo is the man, and I would be proud to have his thirst for happiness, especially when diving facefirst into a pillow repeatedly. Holy crap is being one kickass.

So, no hey-o? :(

I love everything about this shot - including Josh's purple face. Throwing a one year old up is WAY different than throwing a 3 1/2 year old, but man, does it make them happy!

This photo makes me wish we had a daughter. Seriously.

Best dad photo ever, babe - this is my favorite.

Thanks :)

Doesn't the park look empty? :) (man am I smiley-face happy tonight!)

Are you in love with this family yet?!

Come on with this adorable-ness, Rich. I love this!

Hey, thanks! Not hard at all with those two...

I. WILL. CLIMB. THIS. FREAKING. PILLOW!

So, we've taken photos of Leni a couple times now, and the past times, whenever she'd notice the camera or anyone asked her to smile, this is the face she gave. I LOVE that she still makes this face every now and then, but I got mostly real smiles this year. It's so amazing how fast they go from babies to kids.

Was it you who said the other day you want to bronze Murphy right here at the end of 3? It's an awesome, awesome age, but I was reminded by Leo of how rad one is, too. Kids are so bad-ass.

Guys - you know we think your family is awesome - thanks for being our guinea pigs, and I hope you love it!

I am flying solo on the blog this morning - Rich is at the VA, and so Caryn's refresh button doesn't hate me, I figured I'd get their family post up this morning :) We went out to shoot AJ's one-year portraits yesterday, and I fell in love twice! Once with this little man, and once with Wilson. I'd never been up that way before, and it's absolutely gorgeous. The minute I snapped this, I knew I had a favorite. :)

I'll be honest - shooting one year olds is hard. They don't want to be held, they don't want to sit still, they don't take any direction, and it's quite possibly my favorite age to shoot. The new-found independence, the emerging personalities and the fact that everything is amazing - bubbles and leaves are better toys than any you can buy, and the simple act of being held upside down makes their day. I absolutely love shooting kids this age.

This little man's eyes and smile were killing me - you guys make an absolutely beautiful family.

This never gets old - Murphy still tries to get me to do this with his 40 pounds - I can still do a couple bounces before my legs start shaking :)

Rich - when you read this later, I just want you to know how much I adore this shot. Fantastic job :)

This might be one of my favorites of the day - love love love it!

Another one of my favorites by my man! He's so good at what he does! He just bought me my very own World's Best Boss mug (it's absolutely my favorite possession) and we've been joking that we should get him a World's Worst Employee mug to go with it, but the truth is he's the world's best employee... I mean, coworker ;) We've had a lot of people tell us they couldn't work with their spouse, and it took a while to figure out how to work together, because there can never been a "boss," but now that we have, I can't imagine working with anyone else. I love getting to do this with you, Rich.

It's funny - I shot this exact same moment, just from a different angle, and the bubble on the left of his face is directly over his eye in my shot. It looks like he has a bubble monocle. It's kind of funny, and I thought about drawing a top hat on him for the blog, but I thought this one would be more appreciated :)

Can I just say how much I admire a couple who has been together for 18 years and still is this adorable together? You guys are so ridiculous cute together!

Guys - thanks so much for having us out to your home - you have an amazing family, and A.J. is absolutely perfect. We loved getting to spend the afternoon with you guys! Thanks, again!