Las Vegas Gilcrease Orchard- Primas Family

i am unbelievably blessed to photograph such amazing families. i was able to photograph these cuties last summer and now beautiful Kristie is almost due with their third baby! They decided they wanted a place that still had tons of gorgeous green (which is a little more tough to find in vegas) and not shoot at the same place we did last year. She is a genius. i LOVED shooting here. we got there nice and early and the sun was perfect!

here's a few of my faves! 

look how adorable the sibling duo is! 

we even snuck in a few maternity shots, and i'm SO happy we did, she's one hot mama. 

I so enjoyed our time together and seriously adore these two. They're such a beautiful couple inside and out. 

Something that made this shoot so special was, i was having such a difficult couple of days; but after the shoot i joined them to pick some veggies and fruit and being around such God-fearing inspiring people lifted me up and made my entire week. Thank you guys! you're more of a blessing than you even know :) 

Back to my regular lifting schedule.

i'm back from minnesota, for a little while anyway and some of you have been asking about workouts and eating habits i've recently started to form more seriously. a few of you might know my story from the past couple months but here it is!

for a couple years now i've been on again off again working out, and also starting changing what i eat but i wasn't seeing any change. i was completely stuck and because of that, i would get so unmotivated. As gross as this might sound, i always was feeling bloated, i wasn't getting anywhere and i had a few lbs to lose. (i still have a couple, but i'm well on my way!) My good friend Jordan has been a distributer of Advocare for a while and i saw the products he was using and how good he felt, i finally decided the last time i went to Minnesota, i was ready to change and try a cleanse.

I started the 24 day challenge in May and for me, discipline of food was the toughest part. yikes. it slowly has been getting easier to say no to junk seeing how my body is changing and how good i feel after eating better. i stuck as close to the diet as i could and by the end of the 24 days.. i felt GREAT! i lost a few inches, the food i was eating made me feel good and i was finally understanding the saying that "nothing tastes as good as fit feels" cause.. i didn't fully believe that before. 

I wouldn't have made it through the challenge with such enthusiasm if it wasn't for the Warren family and my husband. They have great eating habits, and helped me every step of the way with whatever i needed, they were there for encouragement. 

now that the cleanse is done, yes i have cheat meals but when i don't i feel how different my body reacts to food and how much better i feel when i stay away from a lot of dairy or gluten. i'm not completely gluten or dairy free but it gets more and more everyday. 

One of the days, i allowed more cheese than i have had since the start of the cleanse, and for the rest of the day, i felt sick. my stomach bloated and i could really tell how dairy affected my body. yuck. for those of you who don't know... i absolutely was in love with bread and cheese so not desiring it (as much) is a huge step. 

These photos are slowly showing progress and when i feel like i'm at my first big goal, i'll show before and afters. my workout is mostly lifting, a little cardio, and of course... as much clean eating as i can. I'm so excited to continue to see progress, and if any of you have questions or are maybe in doing the challenge, let me know! i'd love to help you out and start feeling good about YOU again! Want to see product i use, food i eat or more progress pics? follow me on instagram for all your stalking needs. :) 

Floyd Lamb Park- a perfect location for family

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning at Floyd Lamb Park for family photos! we got there nice and early so it wasn't too hot, and although the kids seemed tired at first, they did PERFECT! so many gorgeous smiles and giggles. This family is from Texas, so when they showed up in their cowboy boots and we started by the white fence... i thought it was a great fit! 

This gorgeous mama of three helped out so much getting them to smile and i had so much fun adventuring around finding great spots!

Two of my absolute favorite images below. Melissa, you're stunning and your kids adore you! i love seeing all the love in this family !

we were able to get lots of different combinations and walk to a few more locations. seriously, these flowers! so pretty! 

some of my favorites are the spontaneous images when giggles and hugs happened. I'm so happy we were able to make it work out, and even though it was early, they turned out so great! 

Strauss Family- Memorial Hill, Red Wing

I was so excited to photograph Andy, Kelsey, and baby Ellouise. She's such a perfect blessing and a complete doll! It was such a wonderful time, i was able to see their gorgeous little family at a wedding too, so i got double time to see Ellouise! 

i love how much Andy and Kelsey are absolutely in love and adore her. It's beautiful, and you're such wonderful parents! 

Kelsey.. ADORABLE.

it was a bit windy that day, but it always just adds more adventure and plus..  i don't have to worry about plugging in a blow dryer like i prefer ;) so it was a lovely shoot and i'm so blessed to know such a fabulous family. 

beauty photographs, my turn!

It's been a couple months since i've done some photos of me or my family, so it was about time again! :) I usually love to capture moments of my family, but with brandon gone it's been about trying new poses, light, and  new ideas. If you follow me, you might know i do boudoir and some women might be skeptical to jump into that type of photography but there is another option... beauty photos. Ya know that old glamour shots you had? you might have had fluffy hair, huge earings, and a jean jacket. well gorgeous, these are the updated, modern version! It's becoming more and more popular among women again to get these done so to show you a quick 20 minute session, i photographed.. myself. I'm also going to show a before and after!

So why should you do beauty photos? There are so many reasons women are jumping into this type, i did some a little more casual, a gorgeous flowing dress always works too, or even jeans! one reason for me was i'm finally getting back into working out and eating clean (for the most part) my body is just starting to change and i wanted to show some progress! but even if that's not the case for you, i think about if i have kids someday; they'll be the ones to hold on to photographs and everyone always treasures photos of their mom. so ladies, i know a lot of you don't want your photos taken.. but your kids do! one of my favorite photos of my mom is when she had these tiny little shorts on a top that showed her stomach when she was about 19, she's adorable. 

in these, i decided to be real. i did a few serious, but my personality is just a LITTLE outgoing, so i wanted to show who i am and yes kept the crazy ones too. my set up was my camera on a tripod going off every 5 seconds, and a blow dryer sitting on a pillow and a box, that simple with my white walls. i ended up with about 9 favorites, and am SO happy i'm going to have them printed (and pretty big sizes!) for wall art when we move. i have some photos of just brandon, so why not me! :) 

as a woman, i could pick a part these photos. i've been working hard to eat clean and lift, but i still have days where those flaws just pop out at me. i know most women feel this way, but when i take photos of myself i try to see a woman with lots of personality, who's happy and loving life. i also try to always look at photographs of me from a perspective of my husband or my best friend, and what they see is a beautiful woman.  

i didn't want to touch up, liquify, or change too much in these because i wanted to show you that by a cute outfit, light, and posing can make the photograph, not changing how you look. so here's a before and after. the only thing i changed before any of these, is i cloned out the light switch. what i did to this photograph is lighten and add warmth in lightroom. In photoshop i used two of my favorite actions and then changed how i wanted them. i also touched up my skin but only on 20 percent. did i want to do a lot more to make me look perfect? absolutely. but the best part is i look happy, and i look like me.. i love it! 

So, if you've been interested in photographs but aren't sure about doing boudoir, beauty could be perfect for you. get your hair and makeup done and let's get some fabulous photos! 

another great part? you can hang these anywhere in your home, where boudoir usually is a little more kept away. so show off your gorgeous self!