You’ve seen some of these awesome people on my blog before. They are the Williams Clan of THE Williams Tree Farm . I’ve photographed quite a few weddings and portraits for them over the years. And,  I’ve been able to use their amazing property for many other sessions. I can’t tell you how beautiful their land is right now. You’ll see in some of the photos all of the beautiful wild flowers that were blooming for us. It’s not always easy to get 11 people to cooperate in photos, but they did a great job at making it easy for me! Thanks Williams for be your wonderful selves, for all you do for our church, and for allowing me to use your beautiful property over the years! Hope you like your sneak peek.

You may remember Cory and Ashley’s Wedding Photos from this summer. As you recall, their day was produced some pretty icky weather, which impeded on photos quite a bit. We’ll they were willing to get all dolled up again so that we could get some more.

Karen really wanted some shots on this bridge. There are a whole bunch of them, but this one of her and Don stood out at me.

I could photograph this little beauty all day!

They wanted to get shots of all of the couples. Each couple had an idea of where they wanted to do them. I was happy about all of the locations because they were beautiful.

Also, the light was gorgeous!

These two humored  me so that I could get some “non rainy” shots of them.

On my way to their place, I drove by an amazing sunflower field and started praying to GOD that someone would be willing to take photos in it (I think that is a perfectly acceptable thing to pray for.) I was so excited when I got there and they had already decided on the field for a location. Yay!

Thanks Again Williams!

This is my beautiful sister-in-law Hannah and she is very soon going to bring us the 6th Henry Grandchild. We are all really excited because, as you can see, she and my brother-in-law Eddie produce the cutest babies in the world. This time she is having a girl and we cannot wait to meet her. I’m sure she is going to be gorgeous. Luckily, we were visiting Colorado at just the right time and I was able to do a little mini shoot for them before we headed home. Nothing fancy, just a some shots to document this exciting time in their lives.  Also luckily, we will visiting Colorado again not too long after the baby comes, so I will get to do baby portraits for them as well!! Here are just a few relaxed portraits that we got.

Probably my favorite!

What a hot and muggy, yet incredibly fun evening I had with the Pethtel family. Tabatha contacted me months ago saying that they were going to be in Wisconsin for a week or two and that they would like to do a photo shoot with me. Her request was that I get ONE good family shot with everyone smiling and then plenty of the kids. She said that her husband John does not smile, but that she had confidence that I could get him to. I was a little worried about that because I am not that funny, and usually am better at coaxing smiles out of children. Well, I didn’t have any trouble getting the adults to smile, but man this little cutie gave me a run for my money!

She wanted nothing to do with me at all. Did not think I was interesting or fun in the least. Hahaha.  She was just too privy to my desire for her to smile, or even look at me for that matter, and therefore was determined to do neither. Little did she know, however, that I’m a pro. If you smile for even just a second, I’ll catch it.

Also, I don’t always need or want smiles, or for  my subject to look at me.

Isn’t she a beauty? I wanted to steal all of her curls.

Now this little guy was all about having a good time and hangin’ out. He was ready to tell me his life story 2 seconds after we met! He had a lot of fascinating things to talk about and I was happy to listen. He was also happy to show me what a great reader he was.

Yes, you saw that correctly. Yes, he is reading a book called Modern Military Aircraft Anatomy. Yes, he is only six. Yes, he could actually read every word.

He was also up for exploring in the little creek.

And he was definitely up for showing me some of his hip hop moves, which I LOVED (I especially loved listening to mom and dad giggling in the distance.)

Both of the kids liked picking flowers to throw at me. I thought this shot was particularly cute.

Count them, 1, 2, 3, 4 smiles!

If you wanna have a successful photo shoot with a 4 yr old you HAVE to go on an adventure. That’s just the way it is. You have to pick flowers, climb mountains (or mounds of dirt,) pretend to be mermaids, climb ladders, blow bubbles and play with balloons. And to get some smiles while doing all of that, you have to let them scare you, making them giggle with delight when they do. Miss Carter Lily is all about adventure, so she was pretty cool with letting me take photos of her while we went on ours.  Here are some highlights from our adventure.

We picked flowers…

…and put them in this really cool basket.

This ladder was just her size. She didn’t stay on it too long, but long enough for me to get this.

Later she showed me her beautiful new dress that she was going to wear for her Birthday Party. And then her mama let her PLAY in it!!!

So we got some shots like these.

Of course, she got to keep her balloon that she affectionately named “Ballooney.”

Thought this one needed to be B&W as well.

Thank you miss Carter Lily for letting me explore with you. I had the best time!

Meet the Murrays. They happen to be one of my favorite families. When we first moved to Beloit, Janet befriended us and made an effort to introduce us to the town. One of our first attended events here was with her and Doug at Beloit College. Over the years, I have sung on stage many times with Janet (she has a beautiful voice) and I have grown to love her dearly. I had the best time hanging out with all of them in their neck of the woods (literally, they live near the woods right next to turtle creek.) As a family they love to spend time walking and exploring near the the creek, so that was what we decided to do for the shoot. It is so beautiful there right now.

The fields were just so gorgeous with wild wild flowers and phlox.

There is a stretch of pine trees that have grown into a canopy,  it made for a great spot for these next photos.

I made them explore…I love this photo because while they were walking I asked them to stop and turn and smile at me. The first time, Janet just got what I wanted and did it in this perfectly fun and spontaneous way (she’s such a good actress So then I made them all do it like her.

This one just screams “Golden Child” doesn’t it. lol.

Some photos just need to be turned to black and white.

Thank you Murrays for a fun afternoon and for trying silly things with me.

This Family is one of my favorites.  Little Avenlea is just about as cute as they come, and such a petite little doll.  She reminds me a little of my Abra at that age-little, but with big beautiful blue eyes.  Both Randy and Kelli are teachers and, with their love for art and literature, are sure to raise Avenlea to become one cultured young lady.  It was really cold for our shoot, so it wasn’t too long before Avie was done with the smiles. The ones she did give, however, were pretty adorable. Here is their peek.

 I just love this one.

 This was Randy’s childhood wagon.  It was a perfect fit for Avie.

 You simply cannot beat a cuttie sitting in an old wagon in a field.

We were getting to the end of the smiles. I was pretty much making a fool out of myself trying to get Avie to even smirk. At least mom and dad found me amusing.  I think this would make a wonderful Christmas Card!

Thanks Greenfields.  I hope Avenlea slept well for ya last night!

Ryan and Renee have been blessed by this little cutie and we e are all so happy that he is here. Don’t you think he looks like such a little man? He was so good the entire shoot. Hardly complained at all. Thank you Ryan, Renee and Baby T for being such good models. Sorry it took me a few extra days to get these up. Love you guys!

I usually do newborns indoors, but it was a really nice day,and I thought it would be fun to do some outside stuff!

Isn’t this what most parents do for the first few months? Just constantly stare at their precious gift!

Daddy and Grandpa both have a  thing for airplanes and work for Hamilton Sundstrand.

Can you imagine all the fun these two will have over the years?

Baby in a tub. Apparently this is Ryan’s favorite tin tub. At least that is what he told me.

I had a great time a couple weeks ago photographing a Mother Daughter Luncheon for Life Church. The event was held at Cliffbreakers in Rockford and the food was wonderful. I was so impressed with the atmosphere of pampering that was created for all of the women who attended.  Thanks ladies for letting me be your  photographer for the afternoon! Here is a collage of a few photos from the event. Also, here is the link where they and lots more can be ordered:  http://mandyhenry.zenfolio.com/p712912875

And congrats to Ryan and Renee on their new little boy, Teagan Ryan. Teagan was born 2 weeks ago tonight and I am so excited to photograph him very soon! Here are a few more of Renee’s Maternity photos until then.

I’m ringing in my brand new blog with a post including some of the cutest kids I know. Not only are they cute and wonderful, but their mom and dad are some of our very best friends. We have spent the past 5 days of our spring break lounging around, having laughs, and staying up way too late with them. All of our kids have been having the best time together. It has been just what our family has needed! Thanks J & R for letting us come. We love you guys. Can’t help but capture some beautiful images of these two and their amazing blue eyes!