I mentioned it here before, but at the beginning of the month I decided I wanted to create a year long gratitude journal this year. So far I’ve been pretty diligent in writing my entries every night…and it’s surprising how many little things I’ve taken for granted and how really treasuring those moments makes me feel like my life is so much fuller than it was before! I’ve even found myself asking “Can I write more than one thing in an entry??” Uh, yes!! One of the things I wrote in my journal recently was how grateful I am to 1. Not have to ever set foot in a Sears Portrait Studio or the Picture People location. And 2. save my good friends and close family members from that fate as well. I just have never walked past one and thought to myself “Wow, that looks like such an awesome experience, and the pictures capture the subjects SO well!!”. Not to knock Picture People, but I’m really thankful that I have the opportunity to one day take all types of images of my own babies, and that I can share that with my friends, too!

Their little one, Vance, came into the world a little over a month ago, and we finally had a chance to get together at their house to take a few of pictures of them as a family! I’ve had the opportunity to photograph Jerri and Mark in the past, but I’ve never seen them as happy and as centered as when we were taking these with Vance! They are naturals at being parents and seeing that makes me so excited to start a family of my own one day!