bottles & blunders: Holiday Photo Shoot

I am very lucky to have quite a few family members with various talents. Of course, these talents are most amazing when I find ways that they can benefit me, am I right? My cousin Nicole happens to be one of those talented people, and her talent is photography. While on the wait list to get into nursing school, she took a liking to taking photos, took some classes, and purchased a bunch of fancy equipment. A hobby became something she actually really enjoyed, and she began taking on jobs for various family members and friends.

This summer, I commissioned her to take Adly's one year pictures. I felt that those pictures were the kind of thing you just have to do as a parent, that I was not really looking forward to. I was grateful to have the opportunity to do the pictures at my aunt and uncle's in a relaxed environment to *hopefully* get some amazing pictures of Adly. Of course, babies have plans of their own and that day in particular, my little princess did NOT want her picture taken. Nicole was fabulous and all of my family spent the session hopping up and down, hooting and howling, making silly faces, trying to get ONE smile. Despite Adly's diva ways, Nicole still managed to get some absolutely adorable pictures.

With the holidays coming up and Adam finally getting some time away from work, I knew I wanted to do some family pictures, something we haven't done yet as a family of three. Nicole has since gotten into nursing school and photography has definitely had to take a backseat. Even so, I reached out to her to see if she could squeeze us in over Thanksgiving and do some family photos. Turns out she had the entire week off and was wide open, so she had no problem with getting in a session with us.

In preparation, I turned to my best friend Pinterest and searched for some good location ideas for holiday photos. A handful of them were in what looked like Christmas tree lots. I then started searching lots around my hometown in Michigan, where we would be for Thanksgiving. Turns out that the big season for tree farms begins the Friday after Thanksgiving. Who knew? So most of them weren't open for our session on the Wednesday before turkey day. However, I was able to find one farm that would be open, called Santino's Tree Farm. In the city, I have to imagine that heading into a tree farm without the intention of buying a tree wouldn't be heard of without paying fees of some sort. So when we got to Santino's and were greeted by the owners, I wasn't sure what to say. I asked if we needed to buy passes to get in, and we didn't. The owners were so incredibly friendly, I gave in and told them what our plans actually were. They were so kind and said they needed nothing from us. They then proceeded to tell us the best places to get pictures and after all that, they offered to drive us out and take us for a hayride! I mean, I was blown away by their kindness. I only wish we lived closer so we could have actually bought a real tree!

We set to our photo-taking and child abuse of having our child run around in the freezing cold without a coat. For the clothes, we went with browns and Adly and I had matching fur vests. I've had my vest for a few years and when I saw one in Old Navy, I knew Adly had to have it! After galavanting around the tree farm and trying everything possible to get some smiles, we decided to head to downtown Frankenmuth, MI for some Christmas-like pictures. Even though there wasn't snow, we were able to find a little town square with huge trees and decorated bridges. All perfect backdrops for some holiday photos with my two favorite people.

To say I love the photos is an understatement. Nicole did a fantastic job on them and I couldn't be more proud to say she's my cousin! While I know she's going to make a great nurse eventually, I think she's definitely got a knack for photography!

Be warned, photo overload begins now.