My Little Mary is 9 Years Old

My new family tradition is to take birthday portraits, however this one was taken 13 days after the birthday! Better late than never!

Little Mary is my youngest daughter. She is so sweet and caring. She's also the kind of girl that can watch those operation shows on TV and is captivated by it. She does not get that from me. I have to close my eyes.

She decided to go to Union Park to ride on the Heritage Carousel. It was a fun time.

Here are a few of my favorites...crooked glasses and all...

The Eisenmanns

I spent last weekend with my sister and her family at their home in St. Louis. Part of the reason for my visit was to spend the day taking family photographs for them. There is something so deeply special about taking photos of your own family. These are your memories you are creating. Not for someone who's hired you to help them create their memories... but your memories... MY MEMORIES.

There is something special about editing images of your own family. To look so closely into my sister's eyes is like looking into the past at all of the women who make up our family tree.

My sister has three beautiful children and a great husband. I enjoy spending time with them... good company, good food, good drink, good conversation ... good times.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day...

Sixty-Fifth Birthday...

My mother-in-law turned 65 last week and the family threw her a surprise 65th birthday party. Dave, the kids and I drove in to St. Louis. It was a great time. We ate yummy "Don Burgers" (a famous burger made by my father-in-law, Don) and beautiful sunflower cupcakes.

Here are a few shots from the day...

The Birthday Girl gets a birthday kiss from her husband:

The yummy sunflower cupcakes:

Smiles...

A Walk in the Roses | Des Moines Photographer

It turned out to be a BeAuTiFuL day at the Rose Garden. Miss Ashlyn was just the perfect little model. She knew just which way to look and just which way to stand... effortless for me! She absolutely made me crack up when I brought out my little Ansco camera for her to play with. At first she wasn't quite sure how to look through the thing, but once she got it she was wandering around the Rose Garden watching where she was going through the camera lens. HiLaRiOuS!

It was just a wonderful time. Here are a few of my favorites:

Weekends and Family Traditions

This weekend was a busy one...

FRIDAY: Friday is "date night" here at the Brown household. Date Night means that mom and dad hit the town and the kids stay home! We decided to change it up this weekend and do something a little old school... dinner and a movie. We had a yummy dinner at Ruby Tuesday, complete with dessert. The movie... we saw "Up" in 3D. Wow. Wow. Wow. 3D has come a long way since we were kids! It is a fantastic movie... I laughed, I cried, I laughed, I cried. I highly recommend it!

SATURDAY: It sprinkled off and on all day. The kids and I walked up to the high school and watched the parade at 10 am. The parade was full of fun floats and lots of candy (of which we did not need).

The afternoon was spent packing Hannah for Camp Hertko Hollow. For those of you who are not familiar with this particular camp, it is a camp for kids with diabetes. My daughter has looked forward to this camp all year long. She says that she is going to go every year until she's too old to go. Then she's going to go as a camp counselor. Good for her. She's been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes for only 14 months, but she is such an inspiration!

The evening, of course, was fireworks! Urbandale put on a BeAuTiFuL display this year.

SUNDAY: Gracie's Birthday! Gracie turned 10. Whoa. I can't believe how quickly they grow up! Presents were opened in the morning. We took Hannah to camp in the afternoon, followed by taking Gracie to Game Stop to buy her a DS game and then off to dinner. Cake and ice cream with the neighbors finished off the day. Phew! Busy weekend!

FAMILY TRADITION: Okay, so I've decided to start a new family tradition. You may ask yourself why the heck I didn't think about this sooner, since I'm a photographer and all but I didn't. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's because I'm always thinking about the next client shoot and forget that I have a WoNdErFuL family right here that needs to be documented regularly. SO... on to the new family tradition... BIRTHDAY PORTRAIT SESSIONS! Okay, okay so my youngest is about ready to turn 9 and I'm just now getting around to this?! Well, better late than never!

Gracie is the first kiddo in the family with a birthday this year, so the tradition starts with her. The deal is just me and the birthday girl or boy gets to go somewhere with mom and have a private portrait shoot. Here are some of my favorites from the 1st Annual Gracie Birthday Portraits!