It is great having all of the kids home 24/7 during the summer, except for my constant nagging about picking up their stuff (seriously will they ever get it?).  The girls are having a blast playing together, it seems like since Taylor has been in school they don’t have enough time to just play and imagine, so during the summer they are able to get all of that in.  It makes my heart swell when I find them off playing nicely together.  Yesterday afternoon was one of those occasions so I had to take a quick pic.  They were on the swings singing about where they were from, Taylor informed me she was a girl from Italy and Hailey was a girl from Russia. The other picture is of something I found on Saturday, they were about to attend the b-day party of a dear friend Flora May so they were working on a card.  Hailey is the most kind hearted, generous person I know, when her friends come over she always wants to send them home with one of her toys, sometimes her favorites, she insists and what can I say, “no, be greedy”?  So she watches with a huge smile on her little face as her friends leave the play date with a newly acquired stuffed animal.  Well, these unicorn stickers are her favorites and she wanted desperately to give them to Flora, I didn’t even try to explain that most people wouldn’t want a half used sticker book, to her it was priceless. What made it even more adorable was that Taylor tried to help her write an explanation after Hailey’s large letters didn’t fit.  Check out her spelling… “Flora, some are oretee used”.  When I found this on the table I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.  I love you girls!!!

These 6 year old twins were so hilarious!  They had the best personalities, we had such a blast running around and chatting nonstop.  I love when kids chatter constantly and tell me all about their lives, it is so fun to get to know them.  Thanks girls for the fun evening!!

You would think that a wedding at the end of May would be fabulous, well, the bride was beautiful but the weather left much to be desired.  We’re talking drizzly, wet, cold, and windy,  yep it was delightful.  I’m not sure that the bride even noticed, she didn’t complain once and was glowing the entire day.  I felt bad because we had to completely alter the bride/groom pics we had planned but they happily went with the flow, they even ran down the streets to avoid getting completely wind blown.  M & M were such a sweet couple, completely enamored with each other.  I don’t think I have ever seen a more gentle groom, it was heart warming to watch them interact.  Thank you for letting me capture your special day!!

I think since my dad is gone, I’m a sucker for dad, bride pictures, there is always a tender moment between the two that totally makes me teary. It’s kind of pathetic….but I can’t help it, I’m a crier.

What is going on, crazy summer weather?  Everyone is complaining but I have to admit I’m enjoying it.  The cool summer days remind me of where I grew up on the beach and the cloud filled sky, perfect lighting for pics.  Mom was a little nervous because it was a bit chilly and the girls were in sundresses but throw a cute little sweater on and wall-ah, fabulous.  Look at the reflection in the water, I mean come on really can it get any better?  Well ok, maybe if there was a rainbow in the background and a deer walking by.  Maybe next time 🙂

Time for some happy fun pics! So the last week it seems like it has been gloom and doom, crashed site, putting our dog down….  It’s about time to show you some of the great sessions that I have had in the last week, many have been father’s day surprises.  This mom wasn’t able to contain herself, she kept it a secret but then couldn’t keep it any longer so decided to show her hubby on his b-day (that’s a good excuse don’t you think?)  He is a sportscaster for Q2. do you see a resemblance?  I love photographing this age, they are so hysterical and aren’t afraid to let their personalities shine through.  Oh did you happen to notice how gorgeous the mom is? Have a great day!!

A sad day at the Graham house….. we had to put down our 11 year old dog Cole.  Chris and I got her right after our first year of marriage, she went with us everywhere, she was our baby.  As children came along she welcomed them into the mix, she was not the main attraction anymore but was a great addition to our family.  Chris and I knew this was coming, imminent over the last couple of weeks.  I realized that I really didn’t have any great pictures of her and the kids, I have been so bad about photographing my own kids let alone the dog, so I asked my great friend Ronnie to come over and take some pics of the whole family and then kids with Cole.  He was so gracious and thoughtful and brought his treasured Polaroid so the kids would have immediate pictures, they loved them and quickly raced down and stuck on their bulletin boards over their beds.   After Ronnie’s visit we went to a friends house and then brought them home after it was over to tell them the sad news.   Wow – that was hard, it breaks your heart to see your babies sob, we went over again our belief of eternal families and told them that Cole was happy now bounding around in heaven without any pain.  What a day…..we’ll miss you Cole.

I am very excited to announce a new photography experience for Jana Graham Photography.  I attended a seminar by visionary Jesh de Rox, that blew my mind and made me want to capture something different and unique for my clients.  I always had offered to take a few pictures of just the couple during family sessions and was not surprised when 9 times out of 10 their reply was “yes please, we haven’t had a picture taken together since our wedding.”  Many of these couples had been together for a long time and didn’t have one pic together, often at a family shoot we take the couple pic at the end, a quick, “ok, get together, look like you like each other”. Something was definitely missing, I was yearning for something more genuine.  As I listened to Jesh talk, I had continual “aha” moments.  He moved me to the core.  His suggestion is; why not have pictures of couples beyond the status quo wedding shots, why do we stop celebrating relationships after the ceremony, really relationships should be celebrated later, after we have lived life, had experiences together and grown as a couple.

The purpose of the photo session is “to explore photography as a means to celebrate and renew relationships, the emphasis being to create the ideal environment for the couple to experience each other. Instead of taking images of people and trying to make them look happy or in love, he focused on inviting them to a place where they were feeling incredible joy and deep love,  acutely aware of their connection with one another, and then capturing those powerful, genuine expressions.” Through these experiences feelings emerge that have may get lost in the everyday hustle and bustle, this gives you as a couple the chance to reconnect, remember, heal, explore and find each other, to see each other again for the first time. I came home and told my husband about the idea and the experiential invites that help couples to open up, just in explaining the process to him had us both teary and reconnecting.

I am so excited to offer these sessions to couples of all seasons, whether  you have been together for 3 months, 5 years, or 25 years this experience will move you.  How amazing would it be to come home after a hard days work, kids screaming and life running by, you may feel testy, then look over at a canvas on the wall of you and your loved one having a genuine loving moment, you would feel all of that tension melt away and those feelings return.  Is this all serious and deep, no, I promise we will have fun as well, laughter is a huge part of how we connect and share, expect to be silly, laugh, love and reconnect.  Take a look at my first “beloved” session.  I have been incorporating the beloved ideas into engagements, and weddings and had a fantastic time.  (I’ll blog those soon)  I can’t wait to do more “beloved” sessions, these are amazing!

We shot this the day before graduation, her family was so proud of her.  Kendra is a great girl, it is obvious she will go on to do fabulous things in this world.  I can’t imagine how emotional I will be when my first graduates. Yikes – bring the box of kleenex I will be a mess!

i had to show you these cute kids! we did a fundraiser for the preschool, i took pics of each class when the baby chicks were visiting for the week and then did hailey’s class (that’s her in the middle) at their field trip on the farm.  i couldn’t show you the entire pic in this format but you get the idea, the chicks were adorable.  I love our Good shepherd preschool the teachers are amazing, we were lucky to be referred there when we first moved here so Taylor and hailey both spent two years there and then ty starts this fall, i can’t believe how fast time flies, i wouldn’t have them go anywhere else.  The kids have learned so much about the world they live in, in such a kind and gentle way.  the director jan plays the guitar and sings songs with them every morning, really does it get any better than that?  thank you for helping my kiddos grow up to be fun little people.

A few might have seen on facebook or discovered while trying to look at my site that everything was down and out.  The host I researched forever and pay monthly to maintain my website and blog lost one of their servers so my site and blog were completely erased  and the backup failed, (I know it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have a foolproof backup).  I found this out at 11pm on Wednesday night, I was frantic…..anyone who knows me knows that I am a perfectionist and completely obsess about certain things.  The thought of my site being down and having to rebuild from scratch made me twitch, it originally took me two weeks of crazy computer time, ignoring my kids and not being very nice to my sweet husband all to get my new and improved site and blog up at the end of march before I left on vacation. I couldn’t bear the thought of putting my family through that again, two more weeks of misery?  That would mean a month of a horrible mom for what – a website?  My personality was pushing me towards working nonstop again but the one thing that thankfully stopped the insanity, wailing and gnashing of teeth was the fact that I was editing a Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep shoot when I found out the news.  I have had the privilege of photographing 6  different angels in the month of may, these shoots really put things into perspective.  Did I get teary and have a bit of a meltdown when I found out about my site?  Yes, but instead of putting my blinders on and ignoring everything around me until the problem is resolved , I did my best to put it out of my mind, realized that I didn’t have any control over the situation and  after going back and forth with the CEO of that great company that hosted my site, went down at 2 am and gently kissed my little girls, brushed their blonde curls away from their sweet faces and watched them sleep.  I avoided the internet for 24 hours while my husband and I went to Red lodge to celebrate our anniversary, and resisted the urge to get on every computer that we walked by.  Yes I am very proud of myself for growing during this week, and thankful for the opportunity that I have to volunteer for the great organization that helps me stay focused on what is really important.

Thank goodness for my techie friend  Sean who happened to back up my blog on his server before we switched and upgraded in March, I learned a two days ago that he was able retrieve all of my posts up until three months ago,  I pieced the remainder of the blog back together, they aren’t all there and do not have the exact same wording but if you are looking at my work for the first time you can get a good idea of what I have done the past few months…. And the website, well that is a work in progress, I do need to rebuild from scratch but am about 45% done so look for it to go live hopefully in the next week.  Thanks for your patience, I am still scheduling and am really looking forward to my sessions this coming week!!  Shooting is my favorite part, and makes all of this craziness well worth it!!

I can’t help posting a pic, this is from one of the surprise father’s day shoots that a few clients have booked (what a great gift for dad!)  I can’t wait to show you more from the shoot but it will have to wait until after dad gets his surprise. 🙂