Madi's Baptism

This girl was so excited and ready to be baptized!  I have been very proud of her this year, she has really grown up in the last 6 months and has been trying so hard to be good!  She has come so far from the fit throwing 7 year old she was a year ago!  She truly wants to choose to be good and to choose to be happy.  She is very sweet and tender and always wanting to do something to make someone else happy.  When I had her last parent/teacher conference of 2nd grade her teacher told me, "she is so compassionate."  Wow, a proud Mom moment for me!  She was such good student and always going out of her way to be kind to the kids in her class.  She had a classmate with some learning disabilities and Madi was always the one to help her and to stand up for her when the boys made fun of her.  She would finish her own work and then always help Cami do her work.  There was a little girl in our ward for a time who was in a wheelchair and Madi met her in the hall one day, she was always thinking about her after that and on Christmas Day she took a card to her.  Ellen's dad later told Ryan that she loved the card so much she carried it around in her backpack on the back of her wheelchair every day.  She also loves to make cards and write notes to her friends and especially at home for Mom and Dad, I often think, when I see a new note she has tapped up somewhere, everyone needs a little girl to bring this kind of sweetness to their life!

Before her baptism I took her to the temple to do a photo shoot in her new white dress.  She had seen me do this for 3 of her friends and so she was so excited to finally get her turn!  We had a great time, here are some favorites...

The Big Day

 Getting ready with Daddy

Our close friend and family who were there to support Madi and celebrate with us...

 The Hansens - Ash, Baby Roam, Jet, Cora and Kurt

 The Eves - Kelton, Logan, Ellie, Bridger, Thatcher, Aunt Carolyn

 The Halls - Aunt Crystal, Brooke, Ammon, Dallin, Harrison, Matthew

 Grandma

 Great Grandpa Jens - I was so grateful for my Grandpa coming down!  So nice to have someone from my Mom's family to be here, and especially to have a Grandpa here! Grandpa was so sweet and didn't hesitate to say he'd make the drive down for Madi's baptism.  He was one of the witnesses.

 Best Friend Annie

 Annie's Family, The Woodburys - Kathryn, Jack, Annie, Grant, Heidi and Dustin

 Hannah, Bowen, Aunt Deli and Jackson

The Brooks - Grandpa Sam, Joey, Julianne, Sarah, Bishop Joe, Grandma Carolyn and Tommy.  We love the Brooks family and are grateful for their friendship, Bishop Joe was the 2nd witness and we loved having their Sam and Carolyn join us, we have grown to love them as we have gotten to know them over the years of them visiting Joe and Julianne.  

 Jens was throwing a fit for our attempted family picture so this is the best we got  - Mom and Madi

Madi's friend, Aubrey, was also here for the baptism but left before we did pictures, we also had Bro. McAffee and Sis. Christensen from our ward there.

After the baptism we invited everyone over for a delicious dutch oven dinner,  it was amazing!  Kurt and Ash's brother in law cooked it for us and it was so nice to have someone else do the cooking!  Dutch oven potatoes, beans and pulled pork, they were delish!  Mom made coconut cupcakes that were pretty much the best ever and Kathryn was so nice to make these adorable and unbelievably soft and delicious sugar cookies!

We were grateful for our family and close friends that were there with us on Madi's special day.  We missed a lot of the family that didn't make it and we really missed the ones that we know were watching but we couldn't see, Grandpa and Grandma Kathy and Todd.  Madi had a wonderful, special day, she was a little sad when it was over, she told me that she just wanted to remember exactly how she felt when she was in the water!  She was beaming and so happy, we were so proud of her and so happy that she chose to be baptized!

In Loving Memory of Amelia Marie Hansen

I had the sweet opportunity to photograph Amelia's viewing and funeral for Ashley and Kurt.  I have never been so nervous about taking any pictures before!  I really wanted to do a beautiful job for them capturing some of the tender moments of this day, but I knew my tears would be flowing freely and I was worried I'd hardly be able to see through my lens.  I did manage to get a few beautiful shots of the day and I'll share some of my favorites that I feel are appropriate for me to share. 

When I first met Ashley, just last summer, she had just moved into our ward and we were assigned to be Visiting Teaching partners.  The first day we met, we went to visit Brooke.  We were having some of the usual get to know you chat and she told us how old her two babies, Amelia and Jet, were.   Amelia was just 1 1/2 and Jet was about 8 months.  I remember specifically thinking to myself, that must have been a whoops, no one in their right mind does that on purpose.  Then she said to Brooke and Me, "and I'm pregnant again actually."  I am sure my mouth about dropped open!  I thought:  this girls is either seriously  CRAZY or seriously AMAZING!  Well, she is AMAZING!  One of the most beautiful and strong women I have ever met. (Literally, I am still geeking out since I found out that before her days of pregnancy Ashley did a FULL IRON MAN!  Are you kidding me?! She told me, "it's just like a long day of exercising."  Ya, that most human beings aren't capable of!   This girl is strong in every way.  I was in complete awe  of her during Amelia's entire viewing and funeral.  It seemed that instead of everyone comforting her, she and Kurt were the ones comforting everyone else.  She has shared some of her thoughts and experiences with me and I know she has been Divinely uplifted and strengthened and I am so grateful for that.  Her faith is rock solid.  I know for sure that Amelia is such a strong little spirit that she was needed on the other side of the veil, she will be there helping her family along through this life, they will feel her love and her presence, she will keep them going when everyday life is hard.  And it will be hard.

During the week of Amelia's passing as Kurt and Ashley were preparing for her funeral I thought often of how grateful I was that Ashley and I had been assigned to be VT partners.  It is one of those moments when you realize how much Heavenly Father really is aware of us, I probably wouldn't have even met her yet if we hadn't been partners, since she had been teaching primary, we don't really see each other at church.  I felt over and over again during that week that Ashley and I were meant to be friends, I felt so strongly that although I have thankfully not lost a child, that because of the losses my family and I have experienced that I could at least relate to her in a way that many people can't, and that I could have a sense of how to help her and support her, I thought she needed me.  The funny thing is, that during that week I kept thinking of how much I wanted to and could help her, but by the end of  Amelia's funeral, all I could think was - she doesn't need me, I need her!  Her great faith, her strength, her goodness, her positive attitude and her gratitude for the goodness of having Amelia on Earth for the time she did, and her sure knowledge of the reality of our Savior's Atonement are extraordinary.  She has been and will always be an inspiration to me.  She was beautiful this day, truly radiant.

These pictures of Jet are my favorite and just melt my heart...

Saying Bye Bye to Sister, breaks my heart

Focal Points

So, I've mentioned I got a new lens for my camera, which I am loving.  The first few weeks I had it, I needed to play around with it quite a bit to get used to the differences and also checking the focal points to make sure they are all "on".  This particular day, Jensen was enjoying his goldfish cracker snack, and being quite content I decided I'd use his eyes to check the focal points on my lens.  I was just switching focal points, keeping whichever one I was using on one of his eyes.  You know how I love to take pictures of his eyes!  Anyway, my "test" pictures were just so stinking cute of him, they were instant keepers rather than to be deleted.  So don't mind the goldfish cracker crumbs or the lack of composition to some of  these photos...I love my baby boys eyes and the expressions on his face.  

Ok Mom, enough, I'm ready to get out!  

Please, just get me out!  

He is the cutest.  

I also just want to say THANK YOU to so many of my awesome friends for supporting me in my efforts in going somewhere with my photography!  So many of you have been so encouraging and it has helped me immensely.  Thanks to my wonderful friends, Julianne and Kathryn, for letting me practice on their cute kids, from day one, when I had no clue what I was doing!  Thanks to my wonderful (and gorgeous!)  friends who have been my "practice families", The beautiful Hancocks, Blacks and Stapleys have all been featured on my photography blog, and also my fabulous sister and bro in law, Mark and Lisa.   I had so much fun taking all of their pictures and it has helped me start a beautiful profile!  Seriously, who knew having such beautiful friends could be so helpful?!  And also a huge shout out to 3 of my far away blogging friends, who happen to be amazing photographers themselves,- Jana B., Kate and Bekah.  I admire your work so much girls, and a compliment from you on my photography means SO much!  Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments and great encouragement, again, it means so much to me!  And especially, thanks to my wonderful, awesome, fabulous husband, for not only encouraging me to learn and  work on something I love, but for being home to care for the kids so I can get out and do my photo shoots, and especially for providing me with the means to do so.  Couldn't get very far with out some good equipment, thanks so much Babe for all you do for me.  Oh AND thanks to him for designing my official "Josie Robison Photography" logo.  I love it!  Have you al noticed it on my last 2 posts?  I don't have it up on my blog header yet but I'm now officially stamping my photos with my name! He's the best.  

So thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement!   I am thrilled that I have 8 sessions scheduled for October!  Wahoo!  Bring it on!  Guess I wont be cleaning my house.  Oh well, it can wait, the dust isn't going anywhere.  

And one last thanks, to my stunningly beautiful and amazingly talented friend, the fabulous Lyndsi Houskeeper!  Lynds gave me the great opportunity to shoot her pictures for her upcoming new album! 

 If you don't know Lyndsi, visit her site, she is a beautiful inspirational singer/songwriter, writing music for the LDS church.  Anyone of Christian Faith will appreciate her beautiful music!  I will post more about her this week when I feature her beautiful photos on the photography blog.  Thank you Lynds for making me into a "real photographer"!  I was thrilled to photograph Lyndsi and am so excited that my work will be featured as her new album cover!!!!  (Not to mention, it's my first paying job, so she really did make me a "real photographer!")  Thank you Lynds, for the wonderful opportunity,  I can't wait to share your beautiful pictures!