During a visit to my brother and his family a week ago, I was able to spend some time with my beautiful niece, Sydney, and some of her lovely friends for a “girlfriends” session. We met up and headed downtown on this glorious winter afternoon. It was close to 50 degrees and the skies were mostly clear and delightful…talk about a perfect time to photograph some of the nicest girls…it really couldn’t have been any better!
Sydney and her friends (Allison, Brooke, Caroline, and Chelan) are seniors at The Dalles-Wahtonka High School (Oregon) and wanted to have some fun photos of all of them before life (and college) takes them all in different directions later this year. Of course, I was more than happy to do this for them, fun and beautiful young women and nice weather on top of it…and a whole new “easel” to work on…new locations and settings! Let me tell you, these girls were so sweet, kind, respectful and FUN…laughing was a HUGE part of this session (as you will see)…and how great is that. These girls are 17 or 18 and besides working hard in school, participating in school, sports and church activities and they love to get together and have fun! I’m pretty certain that they do LOTS of laughing…and like to be silly…which is great…the more your laugh and have fun with life, the happier you are and the longer you’ll live. If these girls keep this up, I foresee long and happy lives for them… We also had an extra along for the shoot, my granddaughter, Jayden, who absolutely LOVES her big cousin, Sydney, and was so excited to tag along! Jayden was a bit quiet and shy to start out, but by the end of the session, she wanted to be in all the photos and was thoroughly enjoying the attention of all the girls! Our family has a little thing we call “photo bombing” which is when someone “pops” into a photo they aren’t suppose to be in…at the last minute…and Jayden certainly has learned that well…she had fun “photo bombing” the girls during this session…and they were great to include her in many of the shots!
What a blast this was…thank you, Sydney, Allison, Brooke, Caroline and Chelan for such a fun afternoon…you are all beautiful and I wish each of you the very best for your futures!! Now…on to the photos!!
This pretty much explains how the session started and how it ended…lots of laughter…I loved it!!
There were some great locations/walls we found in downtown The Dalles…wish I had them at home!
Napa Auto Parts…made a great spot to start…loved the blue wall!!
Such beautiful young women…and in this day and age, not all girls this age are are as grounded as these girls are…it’s obvious they have had great upbringings and have good morals and goals for the future…it was a delight to meet all of them!
Chelan…what a lovely young woman with such a beautiful smile…so natural and came quite easily!
I don’t think they stopped laughing for a few minutes after attempting this…and it lasted for about 1/2 second with Allie on Caroline’s back…gotta give it to Syd to try to hold up two of them!
Caroline…she had such a sweet spirit and was very kind and thoughtful…loved her laugh!
As I mentioned, the “photo bombing” – you can see Jayden peeking her head in on the side…she thought she was very sneaky…it was quite funny!
Let me tell you, these girls know how to make some really goofy and silly faces…they had such a great time seeing who could make the craziest face!!
Brooke (left) – a happy and fun girl, who couldn’t hold a serious look for more than a second…a sure sign of a very genuine person! Allison (Allie) was quiet, but so kind and thoughtful…and although she may have been the quietest of the group…she didn’t miss a thing and was a delight to meet!
I must say, I was impressed with their balance…it’s way better than mine…they held their positions…such creative ones at that…for several seconds….obviously some “well balanced” gals!!
And, Sydney, who of course, I know quite well…such a lovely young woman, who has a great head on her shoulders, is very grounded and I know will do well in whatever she chooses to do in life! Of course, Jayden had to get in on the individual photos…and her smile says it all…she was in heaven being a part of this session…and I wish for her to grow up to be as wonderful as these gals are…
We really didn’t stop traffic for the photo on the left, but I have no doubt that it would not have been hard to do…I’m sure they would have had many stopping to watch and admire them!!
Fun, fun, fun…that was probably the theme of the session, if you asked any of them…and as you can see, they had plenty of that!!
Just in case you are wondering what was in the garbage can…it was cardboard…so it wasn’t too bad to climb in to, but plenty of giggles were heard during the whole process…and someone who worked nearby just laughed when he saw them…and it was well worth it…such fun photos!
This shows just how much LIFE these girls have in them…and how much they are willing to put into it…I know they will all be highly successful!
Couldn’t resist sharing a photo of Jayden from the session and her with Sydney…who she loves and idolizes…and I can’t think of a better person to idolize than her big cousin!!
Wednesday…the day that signals you are half way through the week…many are relieved when we hit this point, as it means the work week is close to being finished and the weekend will be here…sooner, rather than later! I enjoyed my day with my sweet granddaughter, Jayden, and let me tell you, I adore these “mimi days” as they are times that create memories and for both of us! As a child, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother and still remember clearly the times together…watching Little House on the Prairie, eating rice pudding for dinner (a real treat!) and all thetimes she had the patience with me, teaching me how to sew, knit and crochet (okay, so I don’t really remember the last two…guess I need to revisit those again someday!)…but what most stands out in my mind, is the love she had for me…and the confidence in what I could do and the encouragement to not give up…and as I sit here and type this, there are tears in my eyes, I still miss her over 26 years since she has passed away. Oh, how I would love to tell her about my days with Jayden, I know she’d love to hear all about it…but she is watching over us…and enjoying it all! So, for me, these “mimi days” are what I hope to create for Jayden…special memories that will live with her for a lifetime…and that she will hopefully, pass along someday to her own grandchildren. Now, I will admit she is my first grandchild…only one so far, but I do know that I want to create these memories with all of our (future!?!) grandchildren…because memories are priceless and will be remembered for a lifetime…of course, I’m throwing in some photos to go along with these…and that makes it all the more special for me!!
