Welcome Linkin! Our lil LJ!

On June 5, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. Linkin Justin Giguiere was born! A whopping 8 lbs 7 oz and 21.5 inches long! That's a big baby for our lil Kelli!!!

So after a long night of labor, taking it slow and steady, things sped up quick and after only two minutes of pushing, our lil Linkin Justin Giguiere was born! Kelli did SO amazing, given that her epidural was pinched and she could feel the whole thing at the end..

They started her slow, then broke her water, then pushed the PIT up and she just started ta going!!! This lil lady is MADE to make these lil ones!!! But she started to feel pain and we sent Justin out to tell them to give her more Epidural... instead, the nurse came in to check her and said, "Let's see how ya push.... I'm calling the doc let's have a baby!!"

And it was like... "ok Kelli, ease up... wait for Dr. Folkestad..." ha ha ha Linkin was about to fall out!!! And Dr. Folkestad walks in and says, "ok looks like one push and we'll have a baby!" He wasn't kidding... It was really only like two pushes..!

Kelli was amazing! She was sooo tired from being up all night but she popped that lil guy out! It was so amazing and so special and precious! Justin and Kelli held each other right after... The bonding was so touching and tender! I love child birth, it is something so sweet and pure... SO spiritual!

Here are a few highlights of the day!

Big bro Drake and big sis Kiowa are soooo happy and soooo proud... you can see that in the photos! Mom says they are so in love with him and that they are such good helpers!!!

Good Job Kelli! I love you! I love your family and was honored to share in the moments!

Oh Janelle!

Here's to Janelle! She got her Masters in Nursing! and me and Alyson and Jen (and her gorgeous baby Emery) went to Vegas and surprised her in celebration of this amazing and great accomplishment!!! We are SO proud of her! There were some fun moments of "inside jokes" in these photos, but aren't those the best kind??? The pinning ceremony I do have to say, was SO sacred and SO touching... I'm so glad Janelle allowed me that honor to PIN her!!! ha ha ha ha ha

Well the trip was a quick one! In one day and out the next but we made it the best! We had a blast in the car and a blast shopping the ever amazing H & M (which we NEED one in Phoneix by the way) and a blast staying up late talking! Emery was an ANGEL, we hardly noticed she was there! Even at "Club Yard House" she did SO SO good!! Then it was the ever so sacred PINING ceremony! : ) After we all enjoyed a Greek lunch with Jill, Ben and Jo Jo! I love that stinkin Baugh family! I swear!!!

Here's some photos of us! And I just have to say... I just love us girls! WE are SO cute! he he he he he

Now This Girl Looks GOOD!

This is my BEAUTIFUL friend Kelli and Justin... and Drake and Kiowa! How stinkin cute are they???? This was a FUN shoot, but let's talk about PRESSURE!!! : ) I wanted to make my best friends maternity photos PERFECT... so i overshot, of course, as I often do... AND it's easy to overshoot someone as gorgeous as Kelli! Look at her! SHE LOOKS GOOD!

Well Kelli is due to pop in about 6 weeks!!! Yay! I'm soooo excited! She is having a BOY!!! Linkin Justin Giguiere! I can't wait to see this boy!!! He's gonna be tall dark and handsome!! Look at his parents... and his siblings!

I love you guys! That was good times...

Those pics of Drake and Kiowa are priceless! Gorgeous!

Thanks guys for letting me be a part of this precious moment in your life!

Helen and John... and the baby!!!!

I had the opportunity to shoot some maternity photos of my friends Helen and John... They are having their first baby... I'm sooo excited for them... she gave birth a few weeks ago to a gorgeous baby boy... Collin!!!

Helen is an amazing woman and freind of mine... her family owns an incredible bridal shop callled I Do I Do Bridal and Helen basically runs the place on her own! Its amazing in there!!! They do EVERYTHING from gowns to tuxes to rentals... and the best part is that the cutstomer servce is amazing!!! They treat ya like a queen!!! I send all my friends and brides there! In fact I went there for wedding for all my bridal needs and for my gown... which by the way, was GORGEOUS and sooo unique!!! I loved it!!!

Anyway... we had a great time shooting Helen and John... but I always have a good time shooting with them!!! John is always cracking us up and its so cute to see how in love the two of them are!!! Kelli (my assistant) and I got a kick out of how John whipped out his digital camera to show us pictures of the nursery... and boy it was cute!!! This baby is gonna be LOVED let me tell ya!!! wink wink... It was such a cute "father" moment!!!

Here's just a few highlights of the shoot!!!

Helen... welcome to Motherhood... it's such a ride!!! ; )

A Tribute To Tanya and my Uncle Brian... "LOVIES"

Last week my aunt died. This is a really hard time for me and my family... You see she had a horrible and rare neurological disorder, called Huntingtons Disease... In the last decade we watched as my aunt went from this beautiful, full of life and charm and spark, woman, to a woman that the disease slowly took over... This was not a fun process to watch or deal with... And the person who had the hardship of it all and who is my hero is my Uncle Brian, her husband... he is an amazing husband, amazing father and at the same time, when Tanya couldn't be, an amazing "mother figure" to their beautiful girls... giving them life experiences through school activities and what have you... making sure they are experiencing their world! And they are amazing lil girls succeeding in EVERYTHING they DO!!!! AMAZING FATHER!!! AMAZING HUSBAND!!!

The Pratts are a rare family, and if anyone has met them, you DO not forget them... they are seriously THE funnest people to be around, you can't get out of their house without rolling and laughing so hard... It has ALWAYS been this way and Brian has kept this spirit in his house, even through all the hardship, we still had to roll!!! And the greatest part, that made it so beautiful was he included Tanya in it everytime, in every story... no matter what state she was in... Because that was THEM.

Last weekend was the funeral for Tanya... it was the best funeral I've been to. It was done so authentic and real, it made it so beautiful. (However, Utah was too COLD for my AZ butt!) The night before, was the "celebration of life" of Tanya... where Brian opened saying we could be as "irreverent" as we wanted and that he didn't want to "roast" Tanya too bad in fear she may "haunt him"... ha ha ha ha That is soooo my Uncle Brian.. So we spent a unique evening sharing amazing moments about Tanya that made us all laugh and cry at the same time...

Some highlights were when Tanya drove around the streets of Cali with her pants off to keep cool, or when Morgan was a baby, her headband strangling her while her head was stuck out of her stroller leg holes... or Tanya's many many driving issues or tickets! : ) The stories went on and on... It was such a FUN evening of memories! We could feel Tanya's spirit there, I'm sure she was laughing along with us!

The funeral was amazing thanks to Tanya's amazing, "go getter", sister Charity and it was great to see the close bond the two families have... the Pratts and the Bakers... Two great families bonded together because of this amazing woman and amazing man. Although the tears were shed because we will miss her greatly, (and this may sound bad but) I think we all feel a sense of relief that she is released from the bondage of the disease.

I'll miss you Tanya.. I loved you so much.. It was an honor to have known and loved you.... Thank you for leaving us with such great memories and such good laughs of love! Your spirit through this was strong... This disease could have easily broke anyone, but you remained strong, and as you told Charity in December... you still remained "Happy" through it all... what an example you are to us all... to be that much bigger than the disease... I love you for all of that... Thank you for your example of life... and how to live it to the fullest..

I love you Uncle Brian and thank you so so so much for your example to me of what true Unconditional LOVE IS... what it TRULY TRULY is... You are a hero amongst us and we all look to you with such admiration of your strength and endearing love... You are so humble about it all, you seem to act almost embarrassed when we honor you... : ) It makes me smile, how amzing your your heart and spirit is!

To my adorable cousins Morgan and Madison... you are amzing and strong little women... you have endured more than most your age... what a life experience you already have... such love, such devotion, while still living your own lives and experiencing your own experiences... sharing them all with your mom!!! That is something you will always remember.. You both are such strong young women and so talented and successful in all you do! You amaze me with your drive in life!

To Jen, Tanya's dear friend and caretaker... thank you, thank you soooo very much for being there with her day after day and being with this family through all of these years... what a difference you have made in their lives... You are an angel.. Truly an angel... another TRUE example to me of Unconditional LOVE and devotion. You amaze me with your humble soul and heart.

I love you Pratts!

OH MY!

This is so hard to choose a Background!!!

Oh... Kylie...!

Ok so here She is all Nakey!!! She's sooo cute!! We had a great time... I had been putting off the shoot for a long time due to exhaustion as all you know.... and for the fact that Tommy NEEDED to assist me thru it... and I don't think HE understood WHY until we actually DID it!! ha ha ha ha it was great!!!! HE was all.... "I think the assistant does more work than the photographer on these shoots!" ha ha ha He did sooo good getting her to smile. It was so funny to watch him as he tried to multitask... and sorry men out there, but we women can do it better... Needless to say... it was NOT his favorite shoot! With all the resituating and falling over and crying and breaks and outfit changes... he was kind with his words, but I knew he did not love shooting a baby... even his own precious angel! ha ha ha ... Here are a few... there were a few more outfits.. these are just some highlights.. Enjoy! I have not touched them up at all yet... but you can still enjoy how cute she is!!!!