My Own

Time goes so quickly. The older you are, the busier you get, it seems you can't hold onto today long enough. You don't even see the changes happening in front of your eyes sometimes. Your kids grow inches and you get more wrinkles...life just continues to move on.
I've always loved beautiful pictures, and have always wanted to get into photography, but what finally prompted me was my three children growing up so quickly, and wanting to really capture who they are at that moment in time, in ways that only I could, as their mother, see them. But as with all things in life, my schedule gets busy and I take my time doing other things-keeping my house, my children's schedules, taking other peoples' pictures, and I forget to capture the moments of my own in anything more than a snapshot to remember where we were, what was happening, documenting milestones, etc.
So this year has gone by faster than most. Earlier in the year I had contacted a fellow photographer to take some pics of us, but somehow my emails got lost, because we never finalized the date...I asked a friend that is learning photography to come help me out, and we were never able to work out a time! So, in what was a last ditch effort to get some family pictures for our Christmas cards and gifts, we ventured out to take some of our own. I'm glad I did. It reminded me precisely WHY I started this journey. So here are some of my own family.

Five little dumplings

My sweet cousin came and stayed with me last week and brought her five amazing children along. We had a crazy, fun time, even if it was pure chaos at times. I loved staying up late and talking with her, and loved watching the kids play and seeing how much her kiddos have grown up since we saw them last year. They have moved all over the place and are in PA now, and I keep telling Jason we need to go back and visit them...glad they made time for us on their trip out west though:) Here is one of my favs:

One of my Little Lady

The other day it started finally getting cool enough outside that I could pull out the cute fall clothes I bought for my little princess. She was too cute in this outfit, I just had to take a quick snap. She really wasn't up to posing for me, but I don't blame her ;) I love her just they way she is.

For Sale...off topic

Well, we've finally gotten most of our renovation work done in our home and you start realizing that some things just don't fit like they did in your last house. This, sadly, does not fit here, so I'm trying to sell it. If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, please contact me. It's a full hardwood pottery barn entertainment center/armoire. (please ignore the quality of the pics...just used a little point and shoot).
Details:
Pottery Barn full cherry wood entertainment center, or can be used as an armoire.
Two deep drawers. Doors close to hide TV and open fully (the doors can be opened all the way and back so they touch the sides of the console).
Specs: 32" deep, 59" tall, 52" wide.
Price: $200 obo
Contact: 414-8720 and leave message or email joannataylorphotography at gmail dot com. I will be having family over for the next few days, so I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Family

I had fun meeting up with Nate, Ashlie and kiddos in Salt Lake at the State Capitol for some family pics. It started blowing and drizzling right before it was time to meet and I was so worried that the weather would be just awful, but luckily it blew right out and the weather turned gorgeous just in time for our session.

Meltdown

I did another extended family session at Mueller Park last week and I got some similar shots to the last one...but I had to laugh as I was editing this session and found that as the session progressed the little ones were just melting. Sometimes no matter what, kids just don't want to be there doing what you want them to do! But I had to share my favorite from the session...the newest grandbaby and grandpa. I love the way he's holding her and trying to comfort her as she screams.

Sarah and Jacques

I think it's unfair that children can be this beautiful. Really--these two kiddos are so gorgeous. Mom wanted to get some pictures of her little ones before they add another baby in December.

Sarah was giving me the pout when we first started, which made Jacques unsure. But she warmed right up when I sent mom away on a walk, and she started getting excited about having her picture taken. It was cute, she kept saying, "Let's take my picture here" or "this would be a good place to take my picture." Jacques followed suit and warmed right up too, climbing up on rocks and posing for me. It was adorable.

Can you tell he watches what his sister does??