This family lives in my neighborhood and I met them at a big block party this summer. They were nice enough to let us set up chairs in their driveway to eat, drink and watch the hula hoop contest. Good stuff.

Anyway, they are a fun (and beautiful) family and I'm excited to show their sneak peek!

I love how sweet big sister Tristan is to her brother Michael. So cute!

Leaves!!

I love that last one! The fall leaves! The smiles! Perfect.

By the way, Michael cracked me UP the entire session. He is quite a ham and needs to be doing commercials or something. Plus he had lots of great ideas for poses and locations.

This past weekend I had the honor of being a volunteer photographer at the Omaha Down Syndrome Parent Network (ODSPN) Buddy Walk. Last year John and I went as participants to support our friends Chad and Tracy, whose sweet baby Bella was born with Down Syndrome.

The walk was lots of fun despite the horrible weather and it was so nice to see the large turnout. Even though I took tons of candid photos, I'm only going to include some pictures of people I know (since I don't have permission to publish photos of others).

Bella's Buddies, John and Tracy

I absoultely LOVE what the Bella's Buddies t-shirts say on the back.

Even the furry friends came out to walk.

Bella enjoys being carried around the UNO track by her friend Marty.

Bella and her friend Julie.

Laughing at goofy John jumping up and down behind me.

This is Ali, a multi-faceted Millard West senior whose interests include playing tennis and the bass guitar. It's fun seeing the individual styles of each senior I photograph, because they are all so unique.

I love the piece of red hair peeking through.

Don't mess with Ali's tennis skillz.

More senior girls to come soon, so stay tuned!

I'm so excited to post some photos of Blair's senior session. I have to say that she is a natural model and hardly needed any direction. She just knows how to strike a pose! We had fun wandering around in the Old Market finding good spots to shoot. 

It was really hard to narrow these down. But here's a small sampling from Blair's session.

Fave...

Isn't she beautiful?

Back in May I shocked myself by signing up to do the Des Moines half marathon on October 18th. I joined Team in Training, which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I am not a runner, nor am I athletic, so this has been quite an accomplishment for me so far. I am about halfway through training and have come along way since I started. I went from spending an entire winter sitting at my computer, to running 4 days a week! But the most important thing about this journey is my goal to raise $1800 for LLS. When I joined Team in Training, I was matched up with an honored hero, Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn is 8 years old and was diagnosed with T-Cell ALL two years ago. She underwent 8 months of intense chemotherapy at Children's Hospital in Omaha. Kaitlyn was so brave and strong during the treatments, sickness from the chemotherapy, and long hospital stays. Her treatments will end in December and she will have monthly follow-up visits for years to come. She just finished 2nd grade, likes dancing, playing with her friends, and is involved with her brownie troop.

I often think of Kaitlyn as I run. Imagining her going through chemo and dealing with long hospital stays motivates me to make it up a hill or deal with shin splints. I feel honored to be able to help find a cure for Kaitlyn and anyone who is affected by Leukemia and Lymphoma.

If you'd like to make a donation in honor of Kaitlyn or follow my running progress, visit my fundraising page here. Anything you can give will help me reach my goal!