Siblings are wonderful. I’ve been thinking a lot about my own siblings lately and the special bond I have with each of them. There’s not another relationship like it in the world. And it’s likely that the longest lasting relationships you have will be with your brothers and sisters. You’ll know them longer than your spouse and most likely even your parents.

It’s been so fun to see the bond between Lincoln and Claire grow stronger. They are becoming best friends. And they know how to torment each other already. Lincoln will wrestle with Claire until she screams out for help and Claire will destroy Link’s train tracks he worked so hard to build. But there is no more joyous sound than to hear them giggle and squeal in the next room as they play or and hear Lincoln make Claire laugh hysterically. I love when Link says, “Baby girl likes me!” or “He (yes he says he, not she) thinks I’m funny!”

In preparation for taking some family pictures for some friends in my ward, I toted Lincoln and Claire to along to check out the possible locations for the shoot. They are such easy test subjects! I rented a lens and was excited to practice with it before tonight. For those of you who might care, I rented the 70-200mm Canon lens. I liked the lens but it was kinda heavy and awkward. I’m not used to working with zoom lenses though. I usually use a 35mm fixed lens but wanted a longer focal length to work with. I thought renting was a good option as I cannot yet afford glass that costs over $1000! I’m looking into other fixed lengths like the 85mm. Anywhoooo.

So here are some of my “test” shots that will count as Link’s 3-year-old pictures and Claire’s 1-year-old/ 15-month-old pictures. They were good sports.

My brother-in-law, Beau, married his beautiful Filipino bride, Sibyl, a couple weeks ago. And they asked me to be their photographer! I was rather excited for the opportunity. But it was humbling and nerve racking. I mean it was their wedding day! No pressure right?

They chose to marry at the end of a record-setting hot Arizona summer. It was a smaller affair which was perfect for an amateur photographer. They asked me to simply take photos of them at the Mesa Temple. They held the reception a week later so unfortunately we couldn’t be there.

Most of the photos were taken at sun-rise as we were trying to beat the heat and have good light. But funny enough, it just so happened that it was very overcast that day. So we could have slept in a few hours.

Sibyl was a beautiful bride. We met her for the very first time during the shoot. Miles assisted me and proved to be a great packhorse. We felt very honored that we got to spend so much time with the bride and groom on their special day. Congratulations Beau and Sibyl!

Beau in anticipation of seeing his bride for the first time.

A perfect reaction!

Today I felt like I needed to be creative. So, I packed up the kids and we drove up the canyon so I could take some pictures. It was late morning so the lighting wasn’t perfect but that’s just how it goes with kids. Link was in heaven hiking around in the brush and through the “forest” but Claire was less than happy. She wouldn’t let me put her down for a second, which made it pretty difficult to take pictures. We even crossed a river—a stream really—during our adventure. That was pretty interesting, if you can imagine.

Here are a few gems from our photo walk.

Here is my favorite collection.

If you could have any career (outside of being a parent) what would it be? With nothing holding you back. If it was the perfect world and any talent could be yours, what would you want to do? I would want to be a photographer. An awesome photographer!

So what’s been holding me back? Lots of things. Lack of money (cameras, lenses, Photoshop, lighting—it can get very expensive), lack of time, but mostly lack of confidence and the fear of failure. So I’m taking a leap and am throwing myself out there, and to be honest, I’m feeling a bit vulnerable. Every spare moment I’ve been thinking of ways I can improve and develop my skills. I’m looking into taking photography classes at my local community college, checking out photography books from our library, reading forums online, and taking lots and lots of pictures. I’ve read somewhere that you should take your camera everywhere you go. Well, that’s probably a lot easier for someone who isn’t already hefting a diaper bag and a baby while chasing a toddler. But yesterday I took that challenge. I got some great shots of Lincoln outside our library, and was so happy with the results!