My first frigid shoot of the year, done at 9am on a morning with sub zero temperatures in early December. Why, you ask? Well, we posponed the shoot at least 5 times in November due to rain (It was a quiet November for Mandy Jill and her camera, thanks to Mother Nature) and there was a Christmas Card deadline to meet. The Dawes family braved the cold and we met at Maple Ridge Park. I was so glad they chose this spot when I first drove up.

It was a breathtaking morning. Mother Nature apologized for giving us a crappy November! Yes, she was in a good mood this morning. This is the type of morning that makes your entire WEEK seem beautiful. The low sun shining through the frost-bitten willows was simply stunning to behold. But it was still damn cold.

We captured some sweet family photos for the Dawes family…without jackets at first. The request was for just a few photos without them but that was enough for little Kloey. She quickly let us know how cold she really was and started crying. Her tears didn’t stay long enough to freeze and luckily we were still able to capture some sweet moments before wrapping things up a bit early. It was just to cold to keep on going, unfortunately. I find tears endearing, especially on Kloey’s sweet little face. However, for some reason, Christmas cards don’t usually feature photos of crying children (*sarcastic – you got that right?*). We tried.

It’s been a crazy week! The last time I posted I had some great news and now that we’ve all had a chance to come back down to earth I’ve got some family goodness to post about. Not my family. The Siemens’: Kristi, Rod, Jake and Taleah. I’ve known Kristi for years and when she asked me to take photos of her young family I obviously jumped at the chance. Then we had to reschedule due to rain. And then again. And the third time we said let’s go for it and see what happens! We met at Lafarge Lake in Coquitlam and as soon as they arrived it started to drizzle. Of course. But then we were lucky — the sun peeked out long enough to get some lovely sun-glowing family shots. Then back to cloud. This is life in the Lower mainland.

This is one good looking family. So photogenic! Jake is a typical two year old and his favorite word is no. He loves his Tonka truck more than anything and that’s why you’ll see it make cameos in a few pictures. He also loves to stick out his tongue so you’ll see it making a cameo, too. Taleah is just the most adorable little thing with her pink bow! She has squishy little cheeks that I just love.