WARNING!

This post will contain lots and lots of images...and just when you think there could be no more, alas there will be.

I just couldn't help myself. I loved SOOOO many pictures from our time together that I had a difficult time deciding what to share and what not to share. So, bear with me during the image overload. I swear I narrowed them down QUITE a bit.;-)

So here's the deal....if you've read my blog before you know that my awesome friend Brianne (http://www.essenceportraits.com/) flew me up to Chicago for a little bit of fun and A LOT of picture taking! Being a photographer, I can tell you that it's a darn near an impossible task to get a decent family picture without someone else taking it. Yeah, you have a tripod and you have the timer on the camera....but where's the spontaneity and fun in that? Where are those REAL moments that are shared between each other? And the likelihood of getting more than one decent image out of 20 tries of running back and forth to the camera to reset it are slim to none. Try to pull that off without looking frazzled in the picture! So...I agreed to fly up there and hang out with them for a few days and photograph this gorgeous and FUN family. We had such a blast!!! I'm so glad I went....and I absolutely LOVE the pictures!

So we went shopping at local thrift stores to try and find an old couch to use for our session but we came up empty handed. Oddly enough, when we strolled down this alley, Brianne spotted the beauty below and excitedly screamed two words "TIFF.....COUCH!" There was a couch sitting next to a dumpster that was getting thrown out. So we were in heaven. And those pictures were so meant to be...they are some of my all time faves. And yeah, the vacuum was getting thrown out as well. She couldn't resist this one....

These were taken outside a gas station bathroom where she had to change. Loved the milk crates...

Thanks Brianne and family! You guys were awesome!!!!