Today,May 30th, is my dad’s “would-be” 70th birthday…  He passed away exactly 2 weeks ago today, almost making it to this huge milestone birthday.  Today, along with my mom, 3 of my 5 siblings, 1 sister-in-law, my husband, and 5 of the 10 grandchildren we celebrated his birthday and shared many warm thoughts and memories of him.

I miss him dearly.

I took the above photo of him about 3 years ago…  My dad was a hard working man.  A machinist, to be exact, for most of his life and owning his own shop for the past 20 years or so.  I remember when I told him that I wanted to do a “photo shoot” with him working at the shop as my focus, he laughed a little bit and happily consented.  I’m sure he thought I was crazy for wanting to do such a session!  But, in all honesty, this session for me has been hands-down my favorite session ever.  Not because I had a great camera – because I didn’t – and certainly not because I had some fancy new lens to try out – because, actually, my lens at this point was pretty lame .  This session was my favorite because it was one I had been wanting to do since I first had the urge to try my hand at photography.

I had so much fun that day working with him… I remember him laughing at himself when I made him pose with a pencil behind his ear and a mug of coffee  and blueprints on his desk, as if he were hard at work doing something really important!  At one point, I even made him pose with a phone to his ear!  He got such a laugh outta doing that!  Even though, I’m sure I made him feel so silly doing some pretty goofy poses, he went along with it all with no complaints.  And, to top it all off, we got some really awesome photos of him that day (like my favorite above!), as well as some funny ones too when I made him pose!  I’m so glad he and I did that together…  Fond, fond memories in my heart forever.

Happy 70th Birthday, Daddy!  I love you!!

These two adorable little ones were simply the sweetest little dolls ever…

Check out little man’s high kick here (above and below)…  Little ones are SO flexible!  It’s incredible!

Brother loved being in front of the camera… He snoozed and snoozed and let me snap millions of him looking so peaceful.  And then, he smiled and oooooohhh, joy!

Sister was as sweet as can be too…  I love these next two of her.  Simply adore them both!

That’s all for now!  :)

xox, reata

What a lovely high school senior session this was…  Gorgeous gal, totally sweet personality, and her wonderfully awesome family and friends were in tow too!  She’s Auburn bound and happily displayed some future school spirit during our time together and it couldn’t have turned out cuter!

See?  Totally adorable!

Oh, and I loooove these… This hat was so adorable on and off!

And, one more to grow on!

xox, reata

What fun it is to photograph gorgeous, thrilled women who are about to become moms for the first time….  The excitement from new mom-to-be is just simply contagious!  It’s hard to be around a pregnant lady and NOT become totally over-joyed with her, ya know?!  It’s such a wonderous time full of so many different emotions…. with a sweet, cuddly surprise waiting at the end of the nine month time period!

This lovely, little momma-to-be featured in this photo session happens to be a really good friend of mine!  She was great fun to photograph her with her bright, gorgeous blue eyes and beaming smile…  plus, it was fun just hanging out and laughing!  L + M: I hope you enjoy this tiny sneak… The best is yet to come!  :)

See… She seriously has some knock-out blue eyes!  I wonder if baby will too?!

Oh!  Here’s L + M’s first little “baby” – Riley!

From what I’ve heard, Riley has enjoyed all the fun baby toys that have been appearing in the home after the many fun showers… I’m sure she’ll be a good big sis!

More soon, L + M!  Promise!  ;)

xox, reata

… this precious momma makes 37 weeks pregnant look like a breeze!  She had an adorable little tummy, energy to spare (or so it seemed), and a glowing smile full of love for her charming family!

I think it’s safe to say that this little one is excited to become a big sister… She was aaaaall about her unborn baby sister!

xox, reata

One cake. One birthday boy. One family.

Totally wonderful family session centered around the sweetest little birthday boy!  My camera thoroughly enjoyed snapping away at his darling big, brown eyes and luscious wavy brown hair…  Siiiiigh.  What a cutie!

This little guy happens to not like cake….  He honestly wanted nothing to do with the sugar sweetness that is cake!  He did enjoy “finger painting” with the red icing though!  ;)

Total cuteness… Look at those gorgeous eyes!!

Super happy baby with mom and dad…  Big smiles!

xox, reata

This little guy started off in this position – arms over head, eyes completely shut, body fully relaxed in the warm heated air – and pretty much stayed this way through out the entire time I photographed him!  He is such a darling, sweet little thing and I was amazed at how beautiful and perfect he is…  Really.  Just a dream to be around!

I just love these!

This face could make even the coldest heart melt…

A little unexpected smile for the camera:

Showing some love to his heritage… (a gift from his grandpa!):

You might recognize his momma’s pretty smile in the below photo from a few weeks ago…

xox, reata