Kenzie is ONE

Oh Miss Kenzie! She was such a good sport for us on this warmish day in November! If any one remembers sweet Kaylynn who turned two a few months back, this is her amazing little sister! I love this family! They are all so much fun every time we have a photo shoot!

Kenzie is such a sweet, fun, adventurous one year old! She loves dirt, the water (when it isn't freezing cold) and her adorable little purse she brought with to her session as well. It got a little chilly in the water but oh we had a blast! Happy first birthday Kenzie (late because I am so behind on my blogging)!

Bring Back Fall!

Since I am again realizing I have several amazing session I NEVER BLOGGED, I'll be doing that now!

I met Bridget and her daughter a few months before this when I took nursing pictures of the two of them. She contacted me a few months later for family pictures, especially some with their amazing family dog. They recently found out that their family dog was sick and the vet had estimated she had 5 months left. They really wanted to have some pictures done of them all. Bridget and her family are one of my favorite families to photograph. They are so natural in front of the camera and their love for each other really shines bright.  I am so happy I was able to capture some amazing moments for them to hold onto forever! 

Backyard Snow Adventure

What do you do on a Friday when you are stuck at home and should probably be cleaning or doing other household chores....You trade that silly adutling stuff in and get your coat and snow boots on and then head outside!!

Maddie is our sweet, loving flower child. She has such a kind, free soul. She spent most of her time making snow angels and making foot prints in the snow.

Our oh so cute adorable Husky spent her time chasing the kids and playing fetch with her KONG.

and May.

May has never played in the snow until this afternoon. She had a blast, mostly eating snow, but she enjoyed every second of it! She is our hard headed, go getter kid. She is sassy, knows what she wants, and won't stop until she gets it. She was the most devastated when it was time to go inside (even though her little nose was red and her little hands were getting cold).

If I could spend every afternoon outside in the snow with these kids, I would. On the agenda for tomorrow is to build a snowman!! What will your Saturday consist of?

Stay warm! From Colorado with love!

Toddlers

On most days the one word I hear repeatedly is "no".  Are you ready for breakfast? "No". Would you like blueberries? " No". Are you finished? "no". It is a very common word for my 15 month old. I've tried to teach her "yes" and when the word "yes" should be used, but she just replies with "no". Regardless of her 15 month old vocabulary, this is one of my favorite ages. They are learning to talk, and communicate and even when they are being "sassy" they are just testing the waters with words and their meanings at this age. My 15 month old is spunky, sassy, lovable, funny, sensitive, and a mama's girl. So it is really special to capture moments like the one below. She loves him, and they have the cutest bond in the world. Even though she is sassy and tells us "no" a lot, you can't hold it against her with a smile like that!

Goodbye 2015.....Hello 2016

As this year quickly drew to an end I realized there were so many things I wanted to do differently in the new year. This year was a great year for myself, my family, and my growing business.
In 2015 we bought our first home, the girls turned 1 and 3, our oldest started preschool, my husband took a new job, I made some amazing new friends while even catching up with a few old ones, and my business really blossomed. 2015 was filled with MANY great things!

One thing I really noticed that I missed too often in 2015 is..... I didn't take enough photographs of my own family. Yes, we had our family pictures done, but I am referring more to just capturing those special moments when we are sitting home on a lazy Friday, doing crafts and catching up on house work together, while singing mother goose songs all morning.

So today I did just that.

Our day started off by sleeping in late (it is winter break and all). After breakfast, Maddie decided she wanted to write a letter to her BFF who moved to FL a few months back. She asked for a card (sorry all I have are birthday cards), an envelope and a stamp. She was so excited to try and write his name and drew a picture of the two of them! She was so excited she had to bring it to the mail box ASAP!

After we played with some play-doh. We play this game where we pick a color, and then we try and guess what the other person made (it has to be some thing that is he same color as the play-doh you have). After, we just combine all the colors and make a big ball of all the colors!!

2016 I want to get more personal. I want my clients to not just be clients, but friends. It's important, because I want you all to feel comfortable around me, and that means knowing more about me! If you don't already know, my girls are co-sleepers (so it was huge this year when my three year old asked for her own bed for her room from Santa). Nap time (if it happens while we aren't in the car) usually involves a nap for Baby May and some Mommy/Maddie time!

Another thing that I realized today was that I wasn't taking pictures because of silly things like there was a mess, or folded laundry on the stairs, or thanks to my one year old, the daily trail of toilet paper trailing down the stairs. Then it dawned on me, I am out numbered during the day, and to me personally, a trail of toilet paper and a happy toddler wasn't the worst thing that was going to happen to me. I pick my battles, and that isn't one of them, and that's OKAY! So this year, I'm going to learn to EMBRACE the mess, the laughter, and the happiness of my children. Soon they will be grown and I won't have laundry folded on my stairs or dirty laundry piling up down stairs. So it's okay to capture stuff I still have to do, while still capturing my kids being kids, because in 15 years I won't be looking at the bin of Christmas decorations that need to be put away in the background, Ill be looking at the happiness in my children's faces while they stack their magna tiles to the ceiling and then knock them down in a crazy, silly rampage. That will be the memory I am really looking back on.

So this year, you'll learn more about me. Maybe you'll find you have something in common with me that you didn't know before. Maybe you won't. Either way you will get to know me, as a photographer, and a friend. I'll be blogging more, about a lot of things, not just work. To me that is important. I am more then just a photographer, I am a mother, a wife, and a friend. So keep up with me this year, see what new adventure come along, what amazing people I meet and work with, and what I do on a normal day to day basis. This year for me, is a year of documenting everything!

Today, as I said, was crazy (after nap especially). It was filled with crafts, smiles, tears, and cuddles. Each day will be different and I don't want to miss the every day moments, because honestly those are the best.

Hi, I'm Candice, a wife, a mother, a friend, and a photographer. Bring it on 2016!

Turning Two

Meet the cutest two year old ever, Kaylynn! She was just the SWEETEST two year old to photograph. There is nothing I love more, then a kid on an adventure during our session. Photographing this age is one of my favorites. They explore, they don't hold back, are fun, silly, and truly themselves! It's really amazing to look back at photos of our kids and remember exactly how they were just by being able to capture these photographs of them in their element just being themselves, and asking questions and exploring their surroundings. Thank you Kaylynn for being an awesome, fun, energetic two year old!

I'm back!

It has been WAY too long since the last time I blogged and I need to catch up like crazy!!!!!

This little man is a couple months old now, but he was such a sweet, sweet newborn to photograph. His mama is part of this amazing moms group in Highlands Ranch, CO. She is one of several ladies I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with through this awesome group! His mother is from Germany and his little brother put on his Lederhosen to be photographed with his new baby brother! I love incorporating a family's heritage into their session. It really shows where they come from and not to mention, big brother ROCKED them!! I love meeting amazing families through my work, such as this one! Enjoy all the cuteness below!

A Bitter Sweet Goodbye

CThis is one of those bitter sweet stories! I met this beautiful family when my oldest started her big girl gymnastics class (the one where she doesn't need me in there anymore). Every Tuesday morning all us moms would show up, coffee in hand, and see our older kids off to class while we waited with our younger children outside that glass window. After several mornings of talking, Tuesday become more then just gymnastics, it became an hour I got to hang out with some awesome moms! Briauna was one those moms! We really just hit it off, and our girls loved each other! Sadly after we began to get close, Briauna got amazing news (for her) that they would be relocating to SCOTLAND! How exciting! We were all thrilled for her, but saddened that we would be loosing an awesome friend. Though we were only able to hang out a few times before they left, they were fun times! I was extremely touched when she asked me to take their extended family pictures before they headed off on their new adventure in life. I'm glad I was able to catch some amazing photographs for them to take with them, and for their family here to have as well. Briauna, we all miss you and the girls so much! Hope you are settling in great over there! XoXo

The Childers Family

I met this sweet family one year ago when they welcomed this beautiful little girl into this world!  Miss Kennedy wouldn't sleep for me as a newborn and just wanted to stay awake and watch everything! One year later, she is that same sweet girl who doesn't want to miss a thing. She has two of the most loving parents who just adore her, and let her be that little explorer that she is. I love getting to meet such amazing families!

Badass Breastfeeders of Denver

Meet the Badass Breastfeeders of Denver!

This is truly an amazing, supportive group of mothers from all over the Denver area. Darby, Kobie and Amany are the three incredible admins who, in their free time, choose to run this group, and do a fantastic job at that!

I was contacted by these three wonderful ladies to take a group photo of their growing group of ladies. In the past year this group has grown from 10 mamas to over 1000! It is really just an amazing group filled with so much support and so many answers to questions that some may have never thought to ask! If you having trouble breastfeeding, don't know which pump to purchase, need a place to donate milk, need milk donated to you, extended breastfeeding questions, bottle feeding and the best bottles, even weaning,  these are just as few topics touched on in this group! If you haven't heard of them go check them out!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/685826011447771/

As a first time mother who did not have much breastfeeding support with my first child and stopped nursing at 3 months, so with my second daughter it has meant a lot to me to recently hit our 1 year goal of nursing. This group has really offered the support and answers that would have really helped me as a first time mom. 

I am glad I was able to meet all of these beautiful ladies and even was able to capture some individual moments for them as well. Thank you Darby, Kobie, and Amany for starting such a wonderful group for all these Denver mamas!

Baby Jackson

I've been so busy I have been forgetting to blog!! So I'll be playing catch up these next few weeks!!

This beautiful family welcomed their first child into the world this summer. Meet baby Jackson. He is just the sweetest thing. Jackson was born via c-section a little early and had to spend sometime in the NICU (which I know first hand is heartbreaking for every mother). Heather couldn’t see her son right away, so Dad spent every moment in the NICU with him until mom could go see him. Dad and Jackson really bonded over one particular song that seemed to really calm him down while in NICU. That song was Darius Rucker’s, Wagon Wheel. They put it on when we were in the middle of their session. Dad held him and sang him this song. I’ve never seen a father and son bond like I did that day. It just melted my heart.

This amazing session was just published in an amazing blog. In case you missed it, check it out here: http://blmommy.com/baby-jacksons-sweet-newborn-photos/

I loved every moment of this session and this family. The love they had for each other is just indescribable!

Baby Aubrey

Meet Miss Aubrey! She is just the sweetest thing. My dearest friend Emily, her husband Chris and adorable son Adam welcomed little miss Aubrey into the world this past June. For Emily, this pregnancy was a breeze! Aubrey is just the most content baby I have ever met. She sleeps for a few hours at a time and rarely fusses! What a blessing this little girl is. She is the spitting image of her mother. Congratulations you guys. She is just perfect.

A Farewell to Colorado

I met Crystal about 2.5 years ago. Our family was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado and I had the pleasure to meet an AMAZING group of moms whom I have built some great friendships with. When you are a military family, these friends are not just friends, they become your family. Crystal happened to be one of those awesome moms! When I met her, she only had her oldest, Ben. Ben is such a smart, sweet, boy! I remember we were at a BBQ when Crystal said she was pregnant, and that there was a really good chance she could have twins, and oh boy was she correct!  Then there came Alexander and Zoe! Sweet, spunky, energetic twins! I photographed their first family session as a new family, and then the twins smash cake for their first birthday, and even Ben's 3rd birthday! I feel so honored they chose me to capture all of these important moments for their family! Hope you are settling in back home. Colorado misses you!

Three going on sixteen...

Yesterday was my oldest daughters birthday. She turned three. What an age! It is filled with lots of laughs. giggles and funny sayings. I really have the best conversations with my three year old, and they never get old! She is really set on "turning 16" so that she can drive our car. Right now, that is her biggest goal and I love that, because one day her biggest "goal" won't be so easy to fulfill. She's growing so fast. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were in the hospital and I was holding her in my arms for the first time. It's so crazy that she is now this little person with opinions, stories and fun silly ideas. I know our cuddling days are becoming more limited. I know she won't always be so eager to tell me everything that has happened. Though I hope she will always come to me for advice, I know that sometimes, she may not, and I hope the advice she is given is good advice. As they grow older, the world becomes harsher, no matter how much we try and shield them and try our hardest to keep the world a positive place. I know she is only three but I'm dreading the day where she is sent out into the real world and I can't be with her every second (even watching from afar). It's an exciting, yet frightening moment when you realize your baby is growing up so quickly. Have fun, hold them close and love like there is no tomorrow! This is for you Maddie.

Dream big, follow those dreams and love with all your heart!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweetheart.

Half Birthday!

Oh my! The cuteness you are about to see is just indescribable! Little Miss Kendall was just a riot. She was all smiles and had such fun at our session. Looking through her pictures, her facial expressions are just about the cutest thing I have ever seen! Lucky for us and our crazy Colorado weather, we beat out the rain on this day. We had amazing light and mom and dad even got in on some pictures (I love when they do)! Happy half birthday miss Kendall!

Denver Tula Mamas Baby wearing Mini Session!

The one thing I love just as much as Photography, is Baby wearing. I teamed up with a local baby wearing moms group, Denver Tula Mamas, to offer an exclusive mini session just for baby wearing moms! It has to be one of my favorite sessions that I've ever done.

As I am looking though and editing pictures, I am taken back by all the love each of these gorgeous mamas show for their little one in every picture. There is something about the love between mother and child that just naturally shows through. No posing, just pure baby wearing love. Every mama kissed their baby and hugged them on their own. I was able to capture these raw, emotion filled moments between mother and child, and the love they share with one another. I feel so honored to be able to capture these important moments in each of these mama's lives, because baby wearing does not last as long as we'd like. They grow so quickly that it is important to enjoy those cuddles and when they ask for "ups". Snuggle them, kiss them and hold them close.

It doesn't matter what carrier you have, just wear your little one! It is such an amazing opportunity for both mom and baby. I mean who doesn't want to be close to their baby and kiss them every chance you have.

I really have no idea how I made it without baby wearing my first child, because I would not know what to do if I didn't have a way to carry my second. I probably would be always working one handed and pretty slowly at that.

Thank you mamas for allowing me to capture these special moments for you. Carrier those babies as long as they let you. We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful state with an awesome group of mamas who support and encourage baby wearing!

Sunshine in Colorado!

When I hit a milestone on my facebook page, I decided to raffle off a mini session to my clients. This beautiful family happened to be the lucky winners and boy did they deserve it!

This beautiful family was just hands down amazing. Mom and I clicked right away as we both figured out we grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. We ended up doing their session on a Thursday night since mom works weekends. I made sure it was possible for them to have family photos not just pictures of their cute kiddos. So one night after my husband got home from work, I ventured out to this lovely session to capture all of this family's love, and beautiful moments at a trail head down the road!

It was very cloudy night with random bursts of sunlight. For a 7pm bedtime (we started at 6:30pm) the twins were amazingly happy and playful. I was able to capture such beautiful, real moments of them as a family, which I think make for the best family portraits. Little miss Mary was interested in everything and George was just as happy as can be! Mom and Dad were just the best! I've never seen a family have such an pure, loving connection. They were just themselves and it shows. This is one of my favorite family sessions to date. Looking at these pictures, you can just feel the love they have for each other radiating in ever frame.

Babywearing, Cloth Diapers and lots of Love!

What is better then a cute baby, a ring sling, and a mama loving her littles all together (with pictures to capture it all)? Nothing, nothing is better! As the baby wearing enthusiast that I am, I can not express how much I am in LOVE with this whole session. (Yes I did go out and purchase a new ring sling after this session because I only own buckle carriers) . These heart warming pictures show the beautiful connection between mother and daughter through baby wearing and  just MELT my heart!

A close connection during the early years with our children is so important! Not only is it nice to snuggle baby, but after being carried in the womb for 9 (10 months realistically) baby is brought into the world and really loves and wants to be close to mom as much as possible ( I mean us moms are awesome why wouldn't they want to be carried and loved on by us all the time). It's comforting, for both mom and baby. This may be my favorite session because the two things I love most (besides my own family) is photography and baby wearing.

Kiri is such a sweet, loving mom to her two beautiful daughters! Seeing her close connection with them really warm my heart. Those two girls ADORE their mommy. Keep being awesome Kiri! It was such a pleasure to meet you and your girls and capture these beautiful moments for you to have forever!

As I sit here tonight writing out this blog post, my youngest daughter (8 months) is strapped to my chest in her baby carrier. Leaving her sleeping happily and comfortable and leaving me with two hands to do my work! One of favorite reasons of baby wearing. I can't imagine life with out any sort of baby carrier!

So love on your littles and wear all the babies (because sadly babies don't want to be carried  forever)!

Ellen's turning 5!

I met Ellen's sweet family 5 months ago when I was photographing her then 3 month old sister.

This time it was Ellen's turn! She turned 5 this past weekend. Happy Birthday Ellen. She is a very sweet and spunky little girl. Full of giggles, smiles and so much love for her Mom, Dad and baby sister.

My favorite shot is this black and white image of her. It really just captures her in the moment and I couldn't be more excited that I was able to get such beautiful pictures of her.

Hope you had a wonderful 5th birthday! 

Jen and Todd's Gender Reveal Shower

It's pretty exciting when you find out that you are expecting a new baby. It's even more exciting when you wait to find out the gender of your baby with your entire family!

Jen and Todd did exactly that.

The room was filled with pink and blue tables and cute little elephants everywhere. From the diaper cakes on each table to the adorable little cup cakes and shower games.

This is Jen and Todd's 4th child. With the oldest being a boy, followed by two little girls. Their son was ready to move out if this baby was another girl! Lucky for him, he got what he wanted, a BROTHER! Nothing was better then being able to capture his excitement when they opened the box which was filled with colored balloons that represented the gender!

What an amazing shower and such a sweet family! Congratulations Jen and Todd!