There have been several special milestones in my life where I felt like I needed a professional photographer present. All three of our birth experiences, annual family updated photos (lifestyle), and birthday milestone photos for the kids (up until 2014). As a photographer myself, there are still many special "in between moments" that a tripod just cannot capture. I fully admit this. But what about all the other occasions?

Annual Family Christmas Photos

Amanda Raylee was seriously pure magic. She had a baby strapped on her chest all the while and that didn’t slow her down one bit. I LOVE the way our photos turned out. Seriously. I could not have made a better choice to send us off from Texas right. I love my family, you guy. Seriously, I am so dang blessed. I love that my beautiful family continues to grow and connect. We are so dang grateful. These four are truly picture perfect. Here are a few images from our session. I already have our new wall set in photo production.

                                      

First Family Photos As Four

I've replaced a lot of the photos in my blog tabs with photos from our session. Take a peek at some of the amazing photos Chloe was able to capture:

♥- Leilani

Chelsea Giraldo Photography

Two weeks ago my family had the extreme privilege of having our Christmas photos taken by the lovely Chelsea, from Chelsea Giraldo Photography. Chelsea was advertising a mini session giveaway on her Facebook page a few months ago, and I ended up being a lucky winner! Due to Justin's Army schedule and Chelsea adding a new addition to her family, we could never figure out the right time to schedule a session. Luckily, this holiday season allowed for our schedules to correlate and we met Chelsea at one of the local tree farms in our area.

Right from the initial meeting, I knew that she was going to be a sweet photographer. She was extremely personable, super helpful with directions, and she was flexible about the impending rain we had all week. I was also impressed with how well she did with Ava bug. Our girl was in no mood to have her pictures taken that morning, but we still managed to receive photos with smiles and a happy Ava. She even captured some of the lifestyle photos of our sweet girl that just made my heart melt.

During our session, Chelsea continued to be efficient and helpful. She didn't make us feel overly posey, but she did capture the traditional Christmas pictures that my family always aims for. She brought cute little props with her that added the holiday spirits to our session, and I was very grateful for that (I spaced on bringing props to our session guys)!

After our mini session was over, Chelsea gave us a window of when to expect our photos. We definitely had a great family session with her, and I enjoyed learning about her passions for photography and motherhood. Since the Howland's are on the hunt for a new photographer in our area, I think it's safe to say that we have found her! Anyone that gets my husband to genuinely smile is a win in my book. If you are in the Auburn, Washington area, I highly recommend that you contact Chelsea to book a session. She delivered our photos in the window she anticipated, stayed professional through the entire process, and she gave us beautiful holiday photos that we will cherish for years to come.

I'm excited to book future sessions with her. Here's a sneak peak of some of the amazing photos Chelsea captured for us:

Happy Saturday all!

♥- Leilani

Jessica Oda Photography

As promised, here is a review of our experience with Jessica Oda Photography. We met up with Jessica at Golden Gardens in Seattle, and right off the bat, I knew that she'd suggested a beautiful location. Jessica was prompt and arrived before our session time even started. She was vibrant and full of smiles from the start; I just knew it was going to be a great session.

She immediately got down to business and started taking pictures of our sweet girl. Little does she know one of the first pictures she took, has turned into one of our all-time favorite pictures of Ava bug! She allowed us to do what made us feel comfortable, while giving us great direction for the pictures that had more of a pose. Justin liked the fact that Jessica was open to our ideas, and incorporated some of her own as well.

What I loved most was how she communicated with Ava. She interacted with her, talked to her, and she really did get some good smiles out of her. There were a few times were Ava was being a little stingy with the smiles, but Jessica worked through it and was still able to deliver awesome photos. Overall our session couldn't have gone better! She even did well with Justin going on about how  hungry he was, haha!

After our session was over, I was able to see a preview of the session that night. I'm a bit finicky when it comes to pictures of myself, but Jessica was more than understanding, and she wanted to make sure that I was comfortable with the images she took. When I was able to view the full gallery of our time with Jessica, I was in complete awe! I couldn't believe how many photos were popping out for me. Tons of great material, and I really just couldn't have been more grateful. Take a look at some of the stunning images that were captured:

All in all I would recommend Jessica to anyone looking for a lifestyle photo session in our area. She's attentive, has a quick turn around time, and she's really easy to work with. I hope we are able to book future sessions with her.

Happy Sunday all!

♥- Leilani

Bad Sunday

You know that law.. Murphy's Law? Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong? That was my day today. I woke up this morning with the sunlight on my face, Ava bug snoozing away, and a husband that was overly eager to cuddle. Little did I know that this morning would be the extent of how happy my day got.

Our first family Christmas pictures were today, so I wanted to run all my errands in the morning. I started driving out of my subdivision and a little down the road I realize that our car is acting weird. I pulled over, and long behold we have a flat tire. Initially I thought, no problem. Justin got the jack out, and took the bolts off, only to have the tire not want to come off. I had to call a friend to come out and help! (Thank you Simmons family) It took awhile, but the tire finally came off. A darn screw was lodged pretty good into our tire.

Due to the South and it's lovely "no establishments open" on Sunday, the only place to get a new tire was Wal-Mart. The wait was over two hours long, we had to leave for pictures at two, and Ava needed to nurse badly. I have never spent that much time in Wal-Mart, nor do I care to ever again. By the time we left, we had very little time to get ready for pictures. I rushed to get both of my Howl babies ready, and then I threw on mascara, and cover up within seconds it felt like.

On the ride to the beach (1.5 hours away) Justin kept making comments on how cold and windy it was. At this point I was so irritated from my day, I had little patience for those types of comments. My cuddly, lovey, husband from this morning was being such a little terd! I was annoyed, and the only thing I had on my mind were our beach photos, and how they would make up for my awful day.

We get to Jekyll Island, and the wind is whipping, it's cold, and Justin started up again on the harsh weather comments. I won't lie, It was freezing, and I didn't want Ava to catch another cold, or freeze.. I just thought maybe it won't be so bad when we get to the beach... WRONG! It was worse. My hair was flying everywhere, my hands felt like they were going to fall off, and I could hear my husband's not so happy tone about the darn weather!

I felt so bad for having our photographer (and friend) drive all that way to have us turn around. She managed to take a few photos, but after that we'd called it quits. It was a good decision. Ava bug was an ice bug when we got to the car. We immediately warmed her up, and started our ride back home. In the car, Justin apologized for being a terd. I was thankful. I really hate when we don't sync, it throws me off completely. I apologized for not rescheduling the photos after an already bad day. Ava knocked out, and we ended up laughing about something that happened earlier in our week.

Even though our Sunday wasn't so great, tonight has been. Any day that doesn't require me to wash dinner dishes is golden in my book. We munched down some Italian food, and Ava had her second serving of apples tonight. Looks like after the Broncos play, I get some snuggle time with Justin. I can't wait to watch a Christmas movie, and just relax. Happy Sunday all!



♥- Leilani