One of the reasons we went to New Mexico, was to hang with this beautiful family!  Mark and his wife Melanie went to college with Brett at UNM. We had so much fun with these guys on our trip!  The last time we were out there Priya was 20 months old, and Julia was 5.  They were inseparable.  :)  It was so cool after all these years (and adding 5 kids!) seeing them all play and get along so well.

Of course we had to do a mini-family session with them while visiting.  Here they are!  Melanie, Gracie-2, Mark, Alicia-9, Julia-14.

Gracie was just not feeling this picture thing….she was kinda done with it from the beginning to tell you the truth :-)  The ONLY thing that made her happy, was playing with rocks.  Sooooo, she played with rocks for a while!

Julia had grown up so much.  Last time we were here she was 5!!  Now she is a beautiful, sweet as could be, teenager.

Like I said, ROCKS were IT!  ;)

Daddy, trying to make Gracie laugh!

Alicia is a total sweetie pie.

Brett sneaking up on Gracie.  This photo is too cute.

A couple minutes later, this was the scene.  Mark and Mel weren’t laughing, but Brett loved this real-life action shot he got. I feel like I should put a disclaimer here: We are only posting this shot because they are our close friends- this type of thing actually happens from time-to-time on shoots , but you would never know from the blog ;-)    As it turned out Gracie wasn’t feeling very well…..but MAN they will have an awesome photo to show her someday!!!!

Mark, a great daddy, calms his girl down with some drawing.

Now she’s HAPPY!! (Alicia, you’re too cute.)

We headed out towards their house and saw this gorgeous  scene off the highway with the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the back.  We had to stop!!

Mark and Mel, I LOVE this one!!!

Brett was cracking me up.

This is their adobe home, THAT MARK BUILT!!  How amazing is that?

One of my favorite things is the kiva fireplace in the kitchen.  So awesome.

Brett took this shot without us knowing, as we were hanging out after dinner.  We LOVED their kitchen with the exposed vigas. That is Gabe in the lower left trying to find the cat I think.  ;)

Much love to the “H” family!  We miss you guys and hope to see you again soon!!!

The Z’s

This precious family is very near and dear to our hearts.  Eric and Jill have been friends of ours since back when they were single.  We have many wonderful memories with them, and we have been blessed to see them marry, have baby one, two, three and four!

We were THRILLED to go out to their new home and do a fun family session of them.  They have dreamed of having a home with a piece of land to raise their kids on, and recently they got just that!  It really is a lovely home and property, and I’m sure they will make many happy memories as a family together there.

This is Sarah  :)  She’s my buddy.

I love how loving and carefree the kids seem here.

Sweetie pie Sophia  :) She had just turned *1* a couple weeks before we took these.

Caution: A little too much of this…..

…..may lead to THIS.  (Trust us on this)

OK, so we were a little OBSESSED with smiley little sweetie pie….Can you blame us???!

Noah, doing the boy thing.

I remember we had to say some gross and mildly inappropriate things….but look at their faces.  :)  :)  :)

and this is their plot of land they are walking…

Sarah got tired of photos and took a 10 minute swinging break.

Pretty, big sister Naomi.

Noah, or mini-Eric as some call him!

Jill, Eric…..I love these two photos SOOO much!!  They are just completely you two.

:)

Ahhh, such a fun night with such wonderful friends.  Love you guys!

P.S. Happy early birthday to my birthday buddy Naomi!!  ;)