{ elyn } | historic townsite senior shoot

I got to spend a very windy afternoon with this high school senior, Elyn - what a doll!

The day didn't start off so swell because I misjudged my driving time to Bancroft, ID and really had no idea that it was literally in the middle of nowhere!  So I was late and then to top it off, the wind blows really hard in the middle of nowhere!  We definitely got our exercise in for the day running around from building to building trying to get away from the shifting wind!  Elyn chose to have her session in the Chesterfield Historic Town Site and it was an absolutely amazing place - I did a little rummaging & found some pretty cool stuff!

Check out all this cool stuff that was inside one old shed

(plus the pretty girl sittin' in the middle of it all).

The old sheds & buildings were endless & on each side of them was something new - like this wagon - I was STOKED when I came around the corner and laid my eyes on it!

And then this one had these fun, bright colors on the doors and windows,

and Elyn really brought the best out in them.

Rickety fences are one of my most favorite things!

And by Elyn's special request.....

She's a basketball chick & wanted a picture like this done.

I LOVE it when by clients have a cool idea!

Thanks, Elyn, for choosing me to make memories of your senior year!!

{ chelsea & nassri } ...gone fishin'

MEET CHELSEA & NASSRI!

Cute, huh?  I've known Chelsea since she was just a little tyke!  I absolutely adore she & her family!  Well I guess that even lil' tykes grow up and she has and now she's getting married!  The lucky man is Nassri, who is just an absolute hoot! He'd been sick for a couple of weeks but was a pretty stinkin' good sport during this shoot - even at the end of the shoot when he got a ticket from the good ol' fish and game for having live bait on his hook (restricted in this area) even though he was fake fishing just for the shoot!  Grrrrr......  

Chelsea comes from a "fishing" family & Nas loves it too, so they wanted to do their shoot on the dock below the American Falls dam, which happens to be one of their fishin' spots.

And of course we couldn't leave out their "babies," their loyal dogs!

Lots of love goin' on here!

I really do believe that I captured their true selves & the fun they have together, even though throughout the shoot I made fun of them, teasing that they act like an old married couple!

But there was no doubt in my mind that what they share together is something true & something beautiful & something that we all try to accomplish in our own relationships.

Chelsea had this fabulous idea to hang her ring from a fishin' hook, so she & I took off to the edge of the water (while the fish 'n game guy wrote Nas a citation) and put her idea into play.  I think we accomplished it!

Thanks, guys, for choosing ME to be your photographer!

I'm truly honored and also very excited for you guys!

{ a day with the girls } Aaliyah's Birthday Party

This past Sunday, the 18th of March, my oldest daughter, Aaliyah, turned 12 which I'm stilling trying to grasp onto.  The day before, we had her birthday party at our house, and I'm so blessed to be sitting here today, because it really did cross my mind that I just might not survive the day - but we had a blast, and every single one of her friends are absolutely fabulous & sweet!

We've had so much going on in our lives the past month or so that all of a sudden it was the Tuesday before her birthday and not only had I not started birthday shopping for her I hadn't started to even THINK about a birthday party and now I was going to have to throw all of this together in just 4 days!  Knowing that Aaliyah is pretty darn girly, I knew that all of her friends had to be pretty close to the same way so I decided to totally take advantage of all that girlyness (this word is not in the dictionary) and do girly things.  So I threw out the whole spa day idea to Aaliyah and she approved (yay!) and then we decided to twist it a little and have them come in their pj's (why not add relaxation to relaxation??) & then we also decided to let them get all goofy at the end for the camera.

First, the 30-minute invite:

Party day!  Had to bust out the Spring & Easter decorations!

And just who doesn't LOVE chocolate-dipped strawberries, popcorn,

cheesepuffs & lots of goodies?

FACIALS!

FOOT MASSAGES & MINI PEDIS!

 SOAK THOSE PIGGIES! (On the right is Aaliyah applying their make-up)

We were having cucumber issues, they weren't wanting to stay on the eyelids, so we cut 'em in half and put 'em below the eyes!

Chevee in awe. She had lots of fun watching & getting passed around from girl to girl, but even she got worn out!

Next was our photo shoot, and let me tell ya - these group of girls are just plain crazy, cute, fun, & wild!  I've posted the pictures on my Facebook page - CLICK HERE to see all the fun we had & to look at these gorgeous girls!

Time for cake!  Hope she wished for something good!

The Baldwin home was definitely no 5-star spa, but I think the party was a success!  The birthday girl helped do all the work & pampered her friends, so the next day she got to relax and soak her feet, get her hands & feet massaged & have her very own facial.  It's so hard being a girl and it never does get easier, so why not just have fun being one and make the very best of it!

Last but not least, group pic of the party girls being a bunch of Charlie's Angels!

{ mini sessions } just in time for Spring!

I'm pretty excited about these Spring minis!  Spring is absolutely my most favorite time of the year and I just love being outside and watching all things come back to life, plus there's just something so blissful about the smell of Spring.  Children are another thing that seem to come back to life after a long and dreary winter all cooped-up inside, which is what makes these sessions that much better!  I'll be capturing all of that excitement & fun which gives you another memory for life!  Here's more details...  (click on picture to make it bigger)

I hope that you guys are excited as I am.  To book your session, please call me at (801) 651-6990. As mentioned above, you'll need to pay for your session fee in order to reserve your spot, which will require you to have a Paypal account, but it's easy - I send you an invoice requesting the fee, you pay with nearly just one click & you're on my schedule!  Once I've posted your images in the online gallery, you'll have one week to order a print package at 20% off - what a heck of a deal!  And these are real true professional prints with the best quality that last a lifetime and then some!  Plus, Easter is coming up and there's no better gift for a grandparent than pictures of their grandkids! That's been our gift to my grandma for the past 15 years and she lights up every time!

If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to call or email me.  micah@icandymadeyousmile.com

a day in lava... with Alexis

Meet Alexis....  No wait, stop, hold up a minute, not just Alexis, but meet

the beautiful, outgoing, fun & loving, Alexis! There! That's more like it!

 

I was so excited when I scheduled this shoot because it was in

Lava Hot Springs, Idaho - one of my most favorite places in the whole wide world!

Here's some shots on the streets of Lava.

And.... she's a basketball chick! I know, she's so hot you'd think she'd be the cheerleader,

but because she's a sweaty athlete, that's makes her even hotter in my book!!

But then she puts her dress on and then KAZAM! She's a beauty queen!

And of course she's got a little country in her, she IS from Chesterfield!

Thank you, Nicole and Alexis, for making me the chosen one!

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

I have been so lucky to have been handed clients to me who are NOT ugly.

I try to limit the pictures I edit but I get so many dang good shots, but not necessarily

because I'm a good photographer but because there's just some real

darn beautiful people out there and somehow I attract them -

I'm not complaining but I might be bragging just a little bit....

{ the hair chronicles of Chevee Rae.... }

There's no denying this little lady's hair and of course, that's the first noticeable thing about her and the first thing people comment about... even if it is the ridiculous question of, "is that natural?" Hmmm.....   

So it's her locks of love that's lead me to this blog post, and showing the different stages of that mop atop her head.  

First up is this

fresh-outta-bed-from-a-good-night's-sleep picture

Wash time!  You don't know just how long her

locks are until you get 'em wet!

All clean!

Combed out!  (after much conditioner, leave-in, of course)

Tousled with mousse to hold in those curls

and to keep the static away!

All done!  And yes, I'm sure you'll notice that she's wearing a different shirt... well that's because bath time usually comes right before late morning nap time which meant picture time was totally over when this mission first started.  So these "after" pictures are way after, like the next day after!

When out and about, people ask me how old she is and when I tell them they give a surprised reaction and say that she's so big for her age!  Honestly, it offends me - if she was a boy, maybe not - but no matter the age, it's just never ever right to call a girl "big!"  But then I started thinking about it and I really do believe that people think that she is older and their first instinct for an explanation is, "she's big," but really, I think it's the "big" hair that makes her seem older since it's not as common for babies her age to have hair like this - but I'm not complaining... yet!  My 11 year old, Aaliyah, had the exact same hair at this age, but even thicker!  And today the hair is still there but her love for it is not.  Yes, it's true, girls are never happy with what they have but that's what makes us so interesting with never a dull moment - and my girls are solid proof of just that!!