my family prints

It's almost the weekend y'all! I have a wedding to shoot + my husbands BIRTHday-- its going to be jam packed full of sweet memories. I can't wait. But first let's talk family photos. We haven't had ours done since last summer so I scheduled hair appts, picked out clothes (which always sounds easier said than done for photos I know!), and headed down to german Village. I love end of summer photos. Everything has that glow and the excitement for school starting and fall season approaching is my favorite. My mom was in our photos last year so I thought it would be fun for her to come again. Plus walking around German Village doesn't suck guys. 

I also wanted to mention we just printed about 10 of these beauties to put in our new home. Yep, we moved about 2-3 weeks ago (honestly my brain is mush so who remembers when at this point...) BUT making it feel like our home has been good thus far. Changing light fixtures, painting, moving everything-- my husband is a mega BOSS! He's probably under appreciated as far as his talent in my mind because we've been together so long but he seriously still can blow my mind by his ability to create, fix, and pouring love into our home. So its been a great reminder of all he can do. These photos will endure for years-- PRINT YOUR PHOTOS FRIENDS!

And if you see this guy wish him a happy birthday-- cheers!

Photos taken by Savannah Ward Photography, edited by me :)

Winter Meet the Kiley Family

When I met this girl I knew we were kindred spirits. Everything she said made me laugh and you could tell she's as real as they come. I love the Midwest because it produces so many real people. I hate to brag but I have the best clients who become friends!

christmas spirit + santa struggles

Christmas is upon us & as Americans we are bombarded with constant shovels of stuff we just need to buy. I should add the branding for target is absolutely genius! When I walk in there, I suddenly "need" it all. But let's be honest, I don't remember very many gifts that I got as a child. I remember the traditions we carried on and the magic of Santa. So as an adult I love seeing their faces light up with just walking through Christmas lights & how much I enjoy a good wine with the husband in front of the fire. 

The truth is we put so much stress on ourselves to be enough. Well loving one another is enough. Caring about people definitely makes you enough. Even though I'll forever love that my husband wants me to unwrap something Christmas morning and watching Die Hard puts me in the Christmas spirit. I don't really need to wrap beautiful gifts for every single person I know & we don't need to attend every party or every light show. The kids really like stacking one cookie sky high with homemade sugar icing-- they don't care to make 100. I put all that on myself. This year I decided okay, the teachers will just get a great end of year gift. And I'll send a thanksgiving card instead of a Christmas one. And you know what my sessions will take a couple weeks to edit instead of a couple days. I had to leave time for my family. 

I ended up getting way more done without feeling like I didn't do enough. I actually felt accomplished. And I'm so excited to just be present with my family tomorrow. Plus my mom and I will be cooking a bomb meal for everyone and I got all the wine for hanging out. I'm pretty excited if you can't tell. Santa's magic will touch our home tonight and it'll be lovely. (I'm still going to pray for snow!) Happy HOLIDAYS from the COOPER FAMILY!

Ps PJs in bed make for the cutest photo gifts. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow and give them some cute personalized gifts!