The Deluna Family: San Antonio, TX

Last weekend I flew to San Antonio to do a very special session for my friend Donna and her daughter Brittany, who adopted five siblings. While I was there, I also managed to do a Lifestyle session for Joe and Tanya, who have a new addition to their family as well!

Meet Baby Zoe. She is obviously adored by her older siblings, Noah, Juliana and Ella:



Everyone wanted to get a turn holding her.
Big brother Noah was so gentle:


Ella almost had her asleep:


Love these cheeks:


The girls snuggled a bit on the stairs:



Then things got a little silly.


We went out to the backyard so the kids could show me their jumping skills:





We needed a break from all the jumping, so I promised them that if they did a few posed shots we would go back inside for some more baby-snuggling and a drink:





To see the slideshow, click the image below:



Deluna family, I had a great time getting to know all of you! Thanks so much for having me over!

Baby Kiana-One year old!

The first time I saw baby Kianna I couldn't get over how unbelieveably beautiful she was-and at the time she was only a few days old. Several months went by before I saw her again, but there was no change in her cutness. I was dying to photograph this little one!

I finally had the chance last week. Kiana just celebrated her first birthday, so it was the perfect time to capture her with her mom and dad as they played and cuddled at their Gilbert, AZ home.

I arrived to see Kiana already dressed and ready to play:


She looks totally relaxed here, but I don't think she held this pose for more than 2 seconds:





It's so adorable to see a dad playing with his daughter:


Kiana just started walking this week:

Love it!

So tender:


One of my favorites:

Anne and Dan are teaching Kiana sign language. Here she is saying "hey, get me out of here!"

Kiana took her first bubble bath and got a good taste of soap!

Another favorite:


Kiana was fading fast after her bath:



And she was out in less than a minute.

Anne and Dan, thank you so much for allowing me to photograph Baby Kiana! It was a perfect session and I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Until next time,
Leah

Prom Night-Portraits at The Arizona Grande Resort

Have I mentioned how much I love to take pictures of teen girls? Well, can you imaging how much fun it is for me to take pictures of my own teen daughter??!! On PROM NIGHT?!!!!!!! I know that she had a great time, but I had a BLAST. It was so fun to see the kids all dressed up.

Devon and her date, Daniel:


Dev-just beautiful:


Daniel-so handsome!


Dev and Nicole-


And this is one of my favorites. Reminds me of those 80's teen movies that I used to love:
'

Most of the parents and kids were crowded around the sun-drenched fountain trying to get good shots, but I took Dev and Daniel across the street to a little spot that had some amazing light:



Unfortunately I couldn't get their friends to follow us, so Dev and Daniel would only pose for a few before they headed back over to the fountain. Once the sun went way down I did get some in front of the fountain. My sister says this one is her favorite:


Like I said, it was a great night for me. :) And I'm pretty sure the kids had fun, too.

Until next time!
~Leah

Did you know that I have another blog that I share with my sister? We both love to paint furniture, so it's mostly about that. That's where you'll find me today...

Bloggersandsisters.com

See you over there!

Break is Over

I don't know how it happened that I haven't blogged in OVER 3 MONTHS, but somehow it did. The weird thing is that I do blog posts in my head several times a day-just about everything I see and do goes through my "blog filter."

The truth is, I've been overwhelmed with life. So much has been going on that living through it has been enough for me-the thought of trying to write it down sends me over the edge.

I think the best thing is to start from here. We've had several fresh starts in the last few weeks: new house, new school and friends for Devon, new neighbors to meet, new kids for the littles to play with. I think a fresh blog start is in order as well.

So stay tuned! I'll be back to my regularly scheduled programming very soon with a lot of new Senior work as well as my Lifestyle Baby sessions.

Oh, and look!! Soon Morgan will be getting a new tooth!

Downtown Chandler: Model Shoot for U@RBlessed

This morning, I had the opportunity to do a magazine shoot for Suzi who owns U2RBlessed, an online store that sells t-shirts, hand-stamped jewelry and hats that I absolutely adore. In fact, Suzi is the artist behind my line of portrait jewlery. What I love the most about her and her company is the positive message that Suzi has built her business upon, which is that no matter what our circumstances in life may be, we are blessed.

Suzi thought it would be a great idea to do the shoot in downtown Chandler, since that is where her business is based. She enlisted the help of her gorgeous friend Rhonda, who totally rocked the look we were after. I love how it turned out!





We are planning a bigger shoot in a few weeks using more accessories and locations. My head is already spinning with ideas for the shoot!

Feeling Inspired: PF Chang's Rock-n-Roll Marathon

Sunday morning found me up at 5:37, out the door at 5:50, and by 6:30 I was somewhere in Scottsdale prepared to cheer on the Rock-n-Roll Marathon runners with my daughter and her cheer team. I was totally dreading this day. I didn't want to go. Turns out, it was a BLAST!

The girls made posters, hung streamers, and they chalked up the street with inspiration and love for the runners:


They also decorated themselves with as much red, fru-fru and silliness they could pile on:




The mom's got into the act as well. That's me, on the right:

They cheered and cheered, for about 4 hours straight!

You could tell that the runners really appreciated it:


These two are the team coaches. Cute, huh?

These were the last runners to go by and our girls were still at it, cheering and excited:



What really amazed me was that the runners were in so many shapes, sizes and levels of fitness. I had always thought that those who ran marathons were the "fittest of the fit." But what I saw was people who looked like everyone else. Some had awesome physiques, but most were just average looking people, out there pushing themselves to be better than they were before. I started thinking that I could do it too.

So now I'm really looking forward to next years marathon, but what I'm thinking somewhere way back in my head is: Wouldn't it be cool to participate this time? Could I do it? Do I even want to try, considering I've never been a runner in my life and I will probably fail?

I think I do.