my family twelve times | january

If you've never seen Tara Whitney's work, you need to check her out right now. She's amazing. My absolute favorite portrait photographer of all time. Her images are so authentic and true to her clients... I can't get enough! And her family is absolutely adorable.

On her blog, she just decided to post a photo of her entire family once a month and include some things that are happening in their lives at the time. She invited her blog readers to join her in the endeavor, and I love, love, LOVE the idea.

So... Here's our first family picture. I'm actually cheating because it was shot in December for our Christmas card, but I'm going to allow myself to cheat for the first month! Getting myself into the photo is always tricky...

January | at a glance.

-- Maggie has started saying things in three's. It's adorable, and I have no idea where it comes from. When I tell her she needs to wash her hands, this follows: "Are they dirty and dirty and dirty?" Yesterday, when Tim asked her to sit down (instead of jumping up and down on her seat) she said: "I'm just being silly and silly and silly!" Cute.

-- Caleb smiles pretty easily, but any time he sends a grin our way you'd think we won the lottery for all the screams that we let out. Maggie is the loudest. "He smiling at me! He smiling, Mommy!" So sweet.

-- Tim finished two incredibly hard things... Graduate school and our basement. I'm so proud of him! I'm also relieved.

-- Caleb sleeps through the night. Most of the time.

-- Every night before bed, Maggie requests to pray for three friends. Jack and Rowan and Brandon. Every night. She also picks out several books for us to read to her, and right now she enjoys reading about ballerinas. She practices her ballet during the day. She calls it "Baa-yay".

-- I celebrated my 29th birthday. This year I'm making a resolution to cook more often. I love it, but I rarely give myself enough time.

-- Apparently, Maggie is incredibly proud of Tim and me. Whenever we complete a task, like brushing our teeth or putting away the dishes, she claps her hands and says, "Yay! I'm so proud of you!"

-- Caleb and Maggie are really cute in the morning. And the first words out of Maggie's mouth in the morning are always the same. "Are Caleb's eyes awake?" Every morning. But it actually sounds more like this: "Are Cayub's eyes wake?" So sweet.

-- After all this snow, we're getting pretty excited about the Spring.

-- Thanks for reading! Do you like this idea? If so, you should do it too! For me it's really easy to blog about my job, but I end up forgetting about the new things that are going on in my family. I love the idea of bringing them both together.

maggie's first haircut | my life

It took Maggie over a year to grow any hair. Seriously. During her first year of life, I kept daydreaming about putting her hair in pigtails. So... when her hair actually started to grow, cutting it was the last thing on my mind! It actually made me a little sad to think about cutting her hair because it just confirmed a fact that I can't ignore... she's not a baby anymore.

A couple of weeks ago, Maggie, Caleb, and I were visiting Ashley and Sequoia, and I told Ashley that I needed her to cut Maggie's hair sometime soon. (Ashley is an incredibly talented stylist.) Anyway, I said sometime soon because I thought I should put the idea out there in order to get used to it. But Ashley volunteered to do it that day, and I had to accept her offer. I mean, Maggie could barely see because her hair was always in her eyes! So... the following photos are what followed...

Maggie looking a little unsure.

Ashley had just the thing to make her feel more comfortable!

I love these next two.



The final product. So cute!

Caleb and Suki are becoming best buddies.

Sweet.

Thanks for sharing your talent with us, Ashley!

baby kendall | six-months-old!

Do you remember this sweet little girl? I can't believe that Baby Kendall is already six-months-old! I actually shot Samantha and Mitch's wedding two years ago, and I've loved seeing their family grow. They're such great parents! They're also incredibly sweet... When I was about to leave, Samantha gave me a quilt that she had made for Caleb. Seriously?! I love this family. Here are just a few of my favorites from the session...




These next two CRACK.ME.UP. I'm not sure which one I like better!


sweet.


one more...

Thanks guys! I can't wait to see you again in a few months!

The Knot Best of Weddings 2010

Kristen Gardner Photography has been rated by local brides and voted into "The Knot Best of Weddings 2010"! Wow... What an honor. I feel like I should go on maternity leave more often! To all my wedding clients: Thank you so much for voting. It was a joy to photograph so many amazing events last year.

Have you checked out The Knot? Not only are they an amazing resource for brides and grooms, but they also have specific publications for newly married couples (The Nest) and new parents (The Bump). Check 'em out!

baby conner | virginia newborn photographer

This was such a treat! Last week, Tara and Eric invited me to photograph brand new Baby Conner. Believe it or not, Conner arrived FIVE WEEKS EARLY! I took these photos when he was only three weeks old, so his due date hasn't even officially arrived. I couldn't get over how small he was. (He makes Caleb seem like a baby-giant!) But, despite his small size, I can already see Conner's personality coming through. What a sweet, sweet little baby! Tara and Eric have invited me to document Conner's first year, and I can't wait to watch him grow. Here are just a few from our shoot last week...


Tara and Eric are such sweet parents. Because Conner was so early, Tara told me that she felt incredibly unprepared! None of his laundry had been washed, and they didn't even have a name picked out! It's funny how none of that really matters. Tara and Eric seem so comfortable in their new role.




sweet baby feet.


One more...

Tara and Eric: Thank you so much for inviting me to capture Conner at this age. I can't wait to watch him grow.