the.steffen.fam!

Last weekend, I got to hang out with my old buddy, Owen. Carrie and Adam were my second client ever! That's hard to believe! I took Owen's pictures when he was a baby (pre-blog era) and then earlier this summer. So now that we were on our third round, Owen was quite the pro. This was the first that I had been around him since he started walking, and MAN is he BUSY! He was all over the place! He was a trooper too because it was quite chilly outside. You can see his little red nose in some of the pictures:) Oh...and I got the funniest news when Carrie emailed me to setup this shoot. Apparently, back on June 2nd (the day of our second shoot) they found out that Carrie was pregnant for baby Steffen #2 RIGHT before they were getting in the car to come to the shoot. It was so funny to find out 5 months later that they were going through all of that during our shoot! I am so happy for them and wish them all of the best with their second child! Alright...on to the good stuff...

Here's Mr. Owen all grown up!

So cute:)


Carrie looks so cute pregnant!

Soooooo serious:

This one cracks me up. I LOVE how excited Owen is, and especially love Carrie laughing in the background.






Adam & Carrie, thank you so much. It was great to see you guys again. I cannot wait for the new baby to arrive! Enjoy your slideshow.

IMPORTANT!

To all of my clients out there, I wanted to update you on Pictage's holiday deadlines. Many of you will be ordering photos to give as holiday gifts, so please make sure that you are aware of the following deadlines if you want to receive your prints before Christmas.

December 7th: The last day you can order prints with STANDARD shipping

December 12th: The last day you can order prints with PRIORITY shipping

December 14th: The last day you can order with OVERNIGHT shipping.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

happy.birthday.simon!

Today is my husband, Simon's, birthday! Lets see how many people we can get to leave a comment below (at the bottom of this post) and wish him a happy birthday! I already gave him his Birthday/Christmas gift on Friday! I knew what I wanted to get him, but thought I'd actually go out and get it on Black Friday in case it was on sale. Well, in my book Black Friday isn't all it's cracked up to be from a "deal" standpoint, and my gift idea was NOT on sale:( In any case, I knew I wanted to get Simon a big, manly grill. We have one already, but I kept hearing him complain that it was too small. A normal person might not think it's too small, but Simon loves to cook a LOT of things on the grill at one time. He is a FABULOUS cook, so selfishly I knew that a new grill would not only make him so happy, but it would also make me so happy because it would mean that Simon would be doing all of the cooking. Like I said, he is a great cook and uses fresh herbs and spices that I have never even heard of! I don't come from family with a history of good chefs (except you, Uncle John), so things are just better if I stay away from the kitchen unless it's frozen and requires heat! I am NOT joking! So far, we have had great meals on the grill the past 3 out of 4 nights. I LOVE it, and Simon LOVES it! Happy birthday, honey! I love you!

I documented our very first meal on the grill from preparation to the end product with my little point and shoot camera:

Here is Simon firing up the grill for the first time:)


Isn't it cool looking?

He made roasted red potatoes seasoned with rosemary, minced garlic and olive oil

He made filet mignon seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, and then seared

Preparing the asparagus. YES, mom...I ate my grilled asparagus!

When he's preparing food, Peyton always hangs out right below Simon and waits for something to drop!


The finished product. It was DELICIOUS.


Happy Birthday!

meg | 3 months

I got to hang with my little friend, Meg, last weekend. I am sure you can all remember her newborn shoot from back in August when she was only 11 days old! I have really enjoyed getting to know April and Josh and am already looking forward to Meg's 6 month, 9 month and 1 year birthday shoots! She was dressed like a little doll. Check out how big Miss Meg is getting...

Just like a moviestar, Meg started hair and makeup in her robe. How adorable is she?!?!

She had a little frog on top of her head:


...and matching slippers to go with the robe. Ha!

Check her shirt. It says "daddy's angel."

She had little angel wings on!






It was great to see you guys! I hope you like your slideshow!

the.wilson.fam!

Ironically, I met the Wilson family right after my shoot with the Hamilton family (from 2 posts down), and they are neighbors! That wasn't planned...it was a complete coincidence! Eddie and Alicia have the cutest little girl, Sydney, who is so happy and energetic! Alicia had her dressed in the cutest little outfits. I think Sydney has had her pictures taken a few times before because she really knew how to turn it on for the camera!:) Check out the shots...

Isn't Sydney a doll?! I'm not sure what's going on here, but check out that balance!

Love it!

My favorite things are her little gold ballet shoes!


Sydney just discovered another new pair of shoes!:)



Sweet!




Alicia and Eddie, it was so nice to meet you. You have the cutest little girl! I hope you enjoy your slideshow!

lyza.kate.is.here!

FINALLY! My second niece, Lyza Kate DeShong, arrived at 12:03am this morning! We have patiently been waiting for her arrival. Many of you see lots of pictures on this blog of my niece, Claire...well, Claire is now a big sis. You'll be seeing a lot more photos soon when we have a full blown photo shoot, but I did get to the hospital at 7am this morning to take a few pics to share with you.

(to all of my relatives out there, note that miss lyza DOES have a 'butt chin' and long fingers--just like her aunt jamie!!!)

Meet the littlest DeShong, Lyza Kate, who is only 7 hours old here!

Check out her LONG LONG fingers!


BIG YAWN!

The fam!

Here's all of the information that Grandmas want to know:)

Lots o' hair




Here I am with the big sis, Claire! This was taken on Saturday afternoon.