Happy Last Day of November.......

It's the last day before my FAVORITE month of the year arrives. We are currently chilling out in our cozies, sitting by the fire, playing games, and drinking tea out at the cabin. I choose this over Black Friday ANY day of the week. Before we left, our family rallied (and also cheated a little) and bestowed Christmas upon the Gendreau abode. It was a perfect end to a wonderful Thanksgiving.



Cheers to the end of November and let the gratitude and love continue into December.

Did I mention I love December?

Big hugs!

-Stacy

The O'Byrne Family | Hoopla Superstar | Olympia Family Photography

Krista has become such a good friend this year! She is the superstar of Hoopla Events (total talent), a gorgeous wife, a loving mama and can coordinate like no other!!! I started collaborating with her back in the spring and just wrapped up another super fun styled shoot/party a few weeks back (which you'll see here in the near future!).

But on this day it was all about the O'Byrne family. This solid unit of four is awesome and we had so much fun exploring their property and capturing the beauty of this season of their lives! 

We didn't sit still for very long. And boy did we have a blast! 


Nothing like hanging out in your daddy's classic car in a field of pine trees! Hello Holidays!


LOVE this!


Kamryn is SO out of here!

Oh Krista - you are such a beauty! I'm so glad we met!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving Eve - Eve! 

xoxo

Stacy

November thoughts......

Can you believe it's almost the end of November?

I swear this month FLEW by! But I have to say that although Thanksgiving is late this year and we have less Christmas decorating time....I, for one, have appreciated the extra time for thankfulness. I've enjoyed my extra week of fall decorations, my extra week of "autumn sunset" filling up my kitchen with deliciousness and the brown/orange/yellow/red construction paper everywhere I turn.

Every year my family makes a construction paper Thanksgiving Tree. We cut out leaves and add to our tree over the month. It becomes a tree FULL of gratitude  You might find things like, "I am thankful for Hot Wheels", or "Theo", or "Family", or "Pizza"....but you also find things like "Nathan loves Audrey" or "I am thankful for snuggling", or "I am thankful for my health". Regardless I totally love this tradition and save our leaves every year - tucked away in an envelope (I should probably go look for that envelope. Gosh, I'm such a stasher. Stash it away in a "safe" location so I don't forget - but really lost for a few years. I'm so notorious for that). Ok, I digress.

Truly, I am thankful for a lot. Every day, really. I'm thankful for the little moments where I may appear annoyed - but later in the evening I look back and find the nugget of goodness in whatever interaction I was having during the bedtime routine (which is where I can sometimes be found with a lack of patience). But when I think about it - I would want to be nowhere else but here with my family. The weight of the world slips away when we hang out and read or play cards or just snuggle and talk about our day.  I couldn't imagine my life any other way. For that, I am so thankful!

I was telling Audrey earlier this week that the three best days of my life were my wedding day, her birthday and Nate's birthday. She swiftly reminded me that my own birthday should be up there in my top tier since without it, they would never have been. Audrey, sweet Audrey, so insightful. So to my own parents - thank you - for your sacrifice and for finding each other and giving me such a great start to life! And the same gratitude to Todd's parents!!! And with that follows gratitude to so many generations all around us....because I couldn't imagine living my life without the joy so many of you bring to my world!!!!

I hope your holiday season is filled with what is important.....Love, family, and gratitude. Spread it everywhere you are, for you never know what impact you might have on another! You just never know.

Wishing you all a FABULOUS Thanksgiving holiday.

And I can't end without a photo. Isn't she scrumptious? She napped on the way to our shoot and spread nothing but love during our session.




Happy Thanksgiving!

-Stacy


Countdown.....

It's 2pm here. I'm working. I'm looking out at this crisp, sunny, COLD day. I'm listening to my 13 year old black lab snore. AND, I'm slightly sappy that this guy turns 7 in less than a month.

Cue my maternal mush.

Get ready - I may be flooding the blog with classic old school shots of Nate!

xoxo


Reid | Olympia Family Photographer

This little family - SUCH love and total adorableness. 

Reid recently turned 1 and he is ON THE MOVE!!!!!!



I love that this family enjoys the little things. 
The way he drinks his milk all. the. time.
His unending appetite.
The sparkle in his eye when the music from Curious George enters the room. 
His feet. 
His army crawl. 
His gorgeous eyes. 
His profile. 
The little things. 



Happy celebration of your 1st year Reid!!!!

-Stacy

The Gehring Family | Hood River Awesomeness

So, this shoot is just extra special in my heart! 
A few weeks back I traveled to Hood River, OR to chase around the most fabulous family! 

He was my husband's college roommate at WWU (Go Vikings)!
And they, as a family, are just so special! 
We love them! 

So sit back, relax and enjoy the most fabulous Gehring family. 

And sidenote - they have the cutest boys EVER! 
I love them and I may have bribed  rewarded them with orange tic-tacs and gum!




This right here is just 100% LOVE!




Scott and Heather, thanks for being super amazing!!! 

xoxo

-Stacy



I Wish They Had Emoji For Blog Posts.....

If there were such a thing as blog emoji....you guys would think I was crazy and I would TOTALLY overuse it (for sure)!!!

I have had the privilege of shooting some seriously fantastic families this fall.
Families full of love, fun, silliness, wit, care, and just major adoration for each other.
I'm serious when I say I LOVE MY FAMILIES SO MUCH!!!!!
I thought I'd share a few with you tonight. 

This is the Levesque crew. They are AWESOME. Their emoji would definitely be dancing girls, major hearts, silly faces and a glass of wine emoji for mom (kidding - well, doesn't every mom need a wine glass emoji from time to time). I look at their photos and hear their laughs. Such fun!!










And this is the West family. 
Emoji for them would be some seriously BIG, giant hearts, all the way across your screen.
With about 1,000,000 exclamation points following the hearts.
They have that much love!








There is SO much genuine enjoyment here. Thank you to all my families that come out and just bring their hearts to a shoot. It shows and totally pays off in gorgeous images!!!!

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo

-Stacy