Back to School Pictures {Utah Children Photographer}

Today I worked on my own kids' back to school pictures! The session took place at high noon on a sunny Saturday. I pulled out all the tricks and still ended up with lots of squinty eyes thanks to the reflective surfaces I was shooting in. I still captured some great shots. Here are a few of my favorite. The first one above captures how truly mischievous my youngest is! We are in so much trouble with that one!

How did this young man get so old looking? He is such a great kids and is so cooperative when it comes to having his pictures taken. He totally grasps the concept that the quicker he cooperates the sooner he is done!

This sweet heart was so excited to take a picture with her cowboy hat on. This little lady can be so sweet and then so goofy! She keeps life entertaining.

 This beauty is my oldest daughter. She is fun and spunky! She loves having her pictures taken and also enjoys helping me with sessions as my assistant. I don't know what I would do without her!

The Best Thing About Being a Kid. . .

playing hide and seek in the weeds,

jumping, skipping and dancing just because you want to,

 and spending every day playing with your best friends.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

  If you know my Allie then you know this picture is so her! I can't help but chuckle when I look at this photo. Do you have photos you love to look at? Are they lost on your hard drive hidden from the human eye? I love the digital camera. I love that I can take hundreds if not thousands of photos and then only keep the best ones with no cost. What I don't love about digital is how many photos are never developed and put into a format that can be displayed for all to enjoy. Sure I can share it on facebook but it will still get lost among the thousands of daily updates. 

  How and where do you display your priceless snapshots that capture your everyday life? Here are a few ideas:

Click on the Studio J layout to see it larger.

• A photo board in your kitchen that you update regularly with new pictures.
• Digital picture frame - they have really cool ones now that you can actually email photos to and it automatically updates the frame. Great gift idea!
• Studio J or Classic scrapbook page! Ok this is probably my favorite suggestion. I love a good scrapbook layout and so do my kids. This is also a fabulous long term solution. My whole family enjoy looking at their albums and naming the people in the pictures. With family spread all over the country this helps my kids especially get to know and recognize their relatives so that when we do get together they aren't complete strangers.  You can also find 12x12 frames and display your most recent completed layout on the wall. You should be proud of your work and show it off a little. 

  So what is your favorite way to display your favorite photos? I would love to hear your ideas.

Family Life 52 Week Project: Week 3

I have been really enjoying my Family Life 52 Week Project. The kids were out of school on Monday and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of my oldest daughter in her new vest.  She found the best a few weeks ago while we were out shopping. She really didn't need it and frankly I had spent a lot of money on her in the last month with her birthday, Christmas and baptism so I told her if she really wanted it she would have to earn it by cleaning out the dishwasher and doing all of dinner dishes for a week to earn it. She enthusiastically agreed.  I need to find something else she wants so she will keep doing the dishes. ;)  Anyways she finally earned the vest so I thought perfect opportunity to take her picture. 

I posted week 1 and week 2 on my family blog. Also, I posted some additional photos for week 3 there as well.

  My oldest daughter is 8 years old! For us it is a significant birthday. It is the time when we are able to make the choice to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by choosing to be baptized.  My daughter has made the choice to be baptized and I am so proud of her. I took the opportunity to take pictures of her for the announcement that we sent out to friends and family. I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from her photo session. It was a clear and gorgeous day. The only down side was that it was FREEZING! She was a trooper and didn't complain once. Her only request was that she have some hot chocolate when we got home.

Norris Family Photos

It was time for the annual tripod impromptu family holiday photo.  These short sessions are always entertaining. We set the camera up on the tripod hit the button to activate the timer and I run into the photo before it takes the picture.  You really never know what you are going to get and who will be smiling or even looking.  I don't know if it is the pep talk (threatening) Jason gives the kids before, the fact that my kids have been doing this for so many years or that heaven smiles down on me but we seem to get some decent photos. I am really excited about these.  I have such a cute family if I do say so myself.

This one is my favorite.

Back To School 2011

And they're OFF! Yep School is officially here ready or not. I was heavy on the not but oh well. I sure love having my kids around during the summer. I love not having to deal with homework and  to be extremely honest I love having the help with the housework! That said I am excited for my kids to start a new year with new teachers, new friends, new experiences.

  Here is Brock sporting his all attitude t-shirt.  He informed me this year that he doesn't like shirts with collars.  I think that kids should dress up a little for school so it presented some challenges. I also don't normally buy shirts like the one he is wearing because I don't like the attitude but this one I thought was actually pretty funny and lets face it my kid has some "AMAZING AWESOMENESS!"

  Can you just smell the newness of these bright orange shoes? Calvin, by brother, would LOVE them! I will say that I do like the new cloths, new crayons, new shoes,  and new markers part of school.

   Mikele spent some serious time last night trying to decide what to wear on her first day of school.  I have to admit that I was the same way! She finally had Brock pick her outfit out for her. Brock said he picked an outfit that he thought would get the most attention from the boys. WHAT!! I totally smacked the kid. (in a totally non abusive way!)
  Anyways. I have to admit I didn't get much but what we did pick up mostly off the clearance rack is DANG CUTE!

 Mikele REALLY wanted laced shoes this year.

 Morgan (the neighbor) and Mikele - 2nd Grade and Brock 5th grade

Kassie's Turn

While Allie was doing this. . .

I decided to take some pictures of Kassie instead.  I didn't do much better. . .

But eventually I did get these faces. . .

Much better!