5.17.19 | Documentary Family Photography

This week’s #documentfamilyfriday kicks off with one of my favorite photos I’ve taken, maybe ever.  Since moving back home to Michigan to be closer to (half of) our family, I’ve been very grateful we’ve been able to spend some time visiting with my 96 year old Grandma Vivian.  She’s an amazing woman with some fantastic stories, despite getting to the stage where her short term memory is nearly gone.  She may repeat the same phrase 2o times within a span of 10 minutes, but if you ask her to tell you about something specific from her past, she’s able to tell you about it in great detail. I especially love how knowledgeable she is about children – their habits, their temperaments, and the best ways to raise them.  Considering she birthed eight of her own, she certainly has had a lot of first hand experience. I also couldn’t help but notice that Layla was wearing one of her favorite tops with a cute little horse, since my grandparents cared for horses most of their lives.  The first few images were taken on Mother’s Day. Layla picked out the flowers and the streamer decorations, and Mike spent all day preparing and grilling a delicious barbecue meal. Basically I need to step up my game for Father’s Day this year, ya’ll.Layla is getting to the stage where she loves to make things on her own and is constantly asking to put random ingredients together.  We made a compromise this week and she made delicious (and easy!) protein balls.Gardening has been my unexpected but very enjoyable new hobby.  I spend a few hours at least every week cleaning, pulling weeds, and tending to our little plot.  I’m anxiously awaiting our peony and iris blooms! We were late getting the vegetables started but we finally have some tiny plants sprouted and hope to get them transplanted outside within a week or so.  We’ve also discovered several frogs in our tiny pond, so I’m sure it won’t be long before we see some tadpoles!I’ll end this week with my new bling I got for Mother’s Day. As much as I adore my wedding set, it still doesn’t fit very well so I’m excited to have another beauty to wear in the meantime. I couldn’t resist grabbing a couple quick photos since I don’t shoot weddings anymore and the ring shots were some of my favorite shots of the day.

Until next week!