Family Pictures 2014

Our dear family friend, and almost family, Alex Hawker took our family photos this year.

We ran into her at a store in town one day and she said she wanted to do something special with our family if we were okay with it. (I will tell you what in just a second.)

I told her we wanted family photos anyway so let's just do it all at the same time.

The day couldn't have been more perfect. 

(Well expect for if Clara felt better, that would have helped.)

We woke up super early in the morning and drove out to Terreton, ID, an hour and half away from where we currently live.

It was overcast, no wind and pretty warm for this time of year.

Out in Terreton it gets really windy. 

Like REALLY windy. So honestly we couldn't have asked for a better day!

We are thrilled with the way our pictures turned out!

The colors are amazing.

Since it's a farm town, we embraced its beauty.

(When I was a little girl we lived out there. I have wonderful memories of the town.)

These are even my uncle's straw stacks. 

Cool backdrop huh!

It's fun to have some family ties in all these photos!

Clara wasn't feeling too well that week.

So we are happy with what we got of her.

She really didn't want anything to do with photos.

She just wanted wrapped in the blanket her Grandma Kelly made her.

It's one of our favorite blankets!

If you notice Miles' beloved Monkey, yes he named him Monkey, is in almost all our photos. 

He always will be from here on out.

Alex captured this sweet moment with Vivian and Monkey.

I love it!

I just love this girl.

She has helped us through so much, she may never even know it.

And this sweet blessing came to us during the hardest time in our lives.

It's rare to capture her so still.

But she's as sweet as they come.

This photo is taken at a Pellet Mill my grandpa and his brother built decades ago.

The contradiction of happy and sad in this photo just grabs at my heart.

More at the Mill.

We will be going back there again someday for more family photos. It's amazing!

Okay, now the proposed project of Alex's.

She said she loved the photos of our family at Miles' grave on his birthday, but was sad our whole family wasn't in them. 

She asked if she could take our family's pictures at his sacred transformation place. 

Mark and I were so humbled and touched by this thought.

Thus, out to Terreton for family pictures it was, because that is where our son rests for now.

We took out some of Miles' favorite toys and played around his headstone, while telling the girls stories about their big brother who now watches over them from above.

The girls never tire of Miles stories, and neither do we!

The girls also LOVE to play with his things!

Mark and I love seeing them and holding them again whenever we get them out.

Thank you Alex! You are so thoughtful! I'm not sure I would have ever thought of doing this by myself. We will always cherish these photos. We must do it again!

If you want to check Alex out you can find her here at

Alex Hawker Photography

(just click for the link)

She's based out of Blackfoot, ID is very reasonability priced. She

 does a great job and is as sweet as can be!

Love that girl!

I can't wait to get these up on my walls!!

Lisa Hansen Photography

Before the end of the year we decided that we wanted to take family photos. This was the start to our year of healing. We had photos of our family up all over our house that we cherished, but none of them included Clara. Mark and I both felt so torn about the idea of “a family photo.” I mean what does that really mean now? We will never have a true family photo of our family again in this life. We have family photos with Miles but they don’t include Clara and now we will have family photos with Clara {and other future children} but not with Miles physically in them. It’s heartbreaking either way.

Deciding to have our family photo taken was truly the first step forward for us in our healing journey. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. Nor was choosing a photographer. I didn’t just want anyone taking our photos. I wanted someone who knew us, who knew our story and would capture our family beautifully. When thinking of someone I immediately thought of a friend of mine from design school who has started her own amazing photography business…Lisa Hansen Photography.  She even calls herself a Boutique Portrait Artist. Sounds nice huh. So I contacted her and told her my thoughts and ideas of what I was looking for. I also asked her what ideas she had of how to incorporate Miles into our family pictures.  With both of our creative ideas coming together I knew she was a perfect fit for us.

Working with Lisa was wonderful! She captured our family and our story beautifully. It’s illustrated perfectly in this video.

Two weeks after our pictures were taken Lisa came over to the house for our Session Premiere where see spoiled us with yummy cheesecake we selected from her dessert menu. We all dished up a slice and watch the video on her giant screen and surround sound that she brought with her. Tears and cheesecake, who knew it was such a good combo?

Since Lisa’s initial degree is in Interior Design she brings a bit of that magic into her services. Have trouble deciding how to hang your pictures? Don’t worry; she has layouts already to go for you. All you do is choose which picture you want for each of the predetermined canvases within her layout options and boom the work is done. Well except for actually hanging them. But don’t worry she gives you a mapped out guide showing you just how much room it will take up on your walls and how much space to put between each canvas. Seamless and easy! Genius idea as it seems hanging pictures is one of the biggest issues I constantly see people having.

She had lots of sizes of canvas to choose from too. She even brought all these sample sizes to our Session Premiere so that we could see firsthand what each size looked liked along with the different styles and the quality of the canvases. Everyone who comes to my house and sees ours canvases asks where we got our done because the quality is so amazing.

Lisa Hansen with Lisa Hansen Photography is simply amazing…. I would highly recommend her for any of your photography needs! With that being said Lisa is offering for the first time ever a special deal for any of my readers. YEAH!!! So if you mention that you read this on my blog to Lisa she will give you $100.00 off your session premiere package until October 31, 2014. Oh and she is an on location photography so she will come to you. So check out her website Lisa Hansen Photography to see for yourself her amazing work! Click Here. Or you can find her here on Facebook. Click Here.

Silver Lake

As I mentioned in my last post, our family has always enjoyed going up to

 Silver Lake in the mountains.

It's perfect for kids, because it's really a nature walk around a large lake.

Just before Miles' passed away we went up there 3 times in one week.

The first time we went on a Sunday afternoon.

The kids loved it, as always.

They loved feeding the ducks.

Miles' loved finding all the "secret trails" just off the main trail.

He would quickly go on them and beat us back to the main trail.

He was so proud of himself, and having a great time laughing each time he beat us back to the trail.

Half way around we snapped a family photo of another family.

They asked if we would like one too.

We of course said yes.

It was amazing because the husband knew how to use a camera, our camera even.

So he was paying specific attention to the lighting and the scenery around.

Here is what he captured.

Our last family picture with Miles physically in it.

This picture was taken just two weeks before Miles left this physical world.

We will cherish it forever!!!

As we walked away I distinctly remember a voice within me saying "That family will never know how grateful we will be for taking our photo."

That voice was so loud and clear, I even looked back at them and smiled, I said a giant thank you in my heart, as though my soul was sending it to them.

It was a small moment in time, but one I will never forget.

It's also very interesting that just behind that peak in the background is where we spent 

our last days and moments as a family.

We finished the rest of the trail talking, laughing, watching people fish and chasing after one another.

It was a wonderful evening.

We will forever cherish those moments in our hearts.

Two days later Mark and Miles went up to Silver Lake for a father and son fishing trip.

They had the best evening.

Miles came home talking up a storm about all the fun he had, even if they didn't catch a thing.

I'm so grateful Mark and Miles got to spend some time together and a father and son.

Thank you Mark for taking time for our son.

He adores you!

The following day I took the kids up myself and met a friend and her son there.

We had a wonderful picnic on the rocks.

Miles found a squirrel to chase, so he didn't eat too much lunch after that.

He was laughing so hard trying to capture that squirrel.

Miles really wanted to take pictures with the camera himself.

Here is what he captured. 

Pretty good I would say.

Mark and I treasure all these pictures.

Most of all we treasure all the memories created behind these pictures and more.

I'm so grateful we got out and made so many memories that week!

What a blessing!