I met up with the Jones family while I was visiting  my family in Missouri where I grew up.  I found this field out in the country and the little old man who owns it was so kind to let us use it.  Dawn and Austin are childhood friends of mine.  I have many happy memories going over to Dawn's house, and visiting the lake with her family.  It was so fun to see them and experience them later in life as the family they have grown into.  They have a beautiful daughter Loralie.  She is spunky and has the most fabulous hair.  Spencer is everything you would expect from a little boy...mischievious, funny, and energetic.  He also has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.  Here is his story from his mother.....

"Spencer has always kind of walked funny and I always thought I was the paranoid mom because friends, doctors, and other moms would say, "oh, he'll grow out of it."  Spencer never grew out of it.  It wasn't until I started to get him ready for pre-school that a teacher noticed.  The rest is history.  After years of going to doctors and asking what was the matter, one doctor finally decided to check a 'what-if'...  Her 'what-if ' became and 'it is'.  June 2014 Spencer was officially diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  We had no prior history in my family and yet here we are. Duchenne affects one in every 3500 boys. There is absolutely no cure....and it is 100% FATAL. It affects every single muscle in his body including his heart, because, as luck would have it, the heart is the most powerful muscle in the body.  How do you move on knowing that's your fate?  You just do.  You have to, for him.  So, for now we live life like it's normal.  We let Spencer do whatever 5 year old boys do; he runs (albiet slowly) because he won't get to later in life, he rides  his bikes, plays with cars, and dreams big dreams."   ---Dawn Jones

They sell shirts annually during his birthday month (JULY!!) to help with his medical expenses. If you would like to be a part of helping Spencer and his family, you are in luck!  Go to www.savespencerdmd.bigcartel.com and buy a cool shirt.  It's a small gesture that can go a long way. 

This Mother-daughter session is definitely one of my favorite sessions I have ever done.  The sky was beautiful, the desert was beautiful, the light was beautiful, and my subjects were beautiful!  Little Brynn was  such a trooper...it was a little chilly and windy, but she just loved on her mother happily.  I want to narrate this post with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs.  My Mother, my Daughter by Janice Kapp Perry

Then I wonder why and give thanks

that I was chosen to be your mother.

I speak your name in each tender prayer.

So reach for your dreams, for every good thing,

depending on my love, my dear daughter.

 I’ve watched you, dear mother, each day of my life;

I’ve seen how you smile through the joy and the strife.

I’ve needed your love and have known you were there.

I’ve seen how you help to bring answers to prayers.

The world that surrounds me is blind and unsure;

But with you as my mother, I’m safe and secure.

Then I wonder why and give thanks

that I was chosen to be your daughter.

We met up the night before their wedding at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  It is SOOOO beautiful!!  So green, and beautiful!  Mark and Jessica are so obviously in love and are kissing and snuggling at every possible moment...so a photoshoot where that is all we do isn't a stretch for them at all. :)  They are so cute!