A couple weekends ago, I cleared my calendar and we visited my family in PA for my grandma’s birthday. It was a rare 70-degree day in November so we spent most of the time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. My grandma had a ton of leaves in her yard so before the boys were instructed to rake them up, we took advantage of some last-minute fall picture-taking! My aunt wanted to grab a few of my cousin Breckin and their new dog and I of course wanted to get some of Brian, Ally and I since we definitely DO NOT have enough family pictures! There was lots of leaf-throwing involved and this is what we got… 🙂

Hhhmm interesting face…

Breckin sharing his first hockey practice video with Uncle Mark and Luke. How cute!

Breckin and Laney…

I taught my little girl right! She couldn’t resist being in the pictures, too! And I just love Breckin’s face in this one. I don’t think he was so sure about the whole picture-taking thing, but he did great!

I think Ally’s a little more into the cheesin’ than Breckin…haha!

Luke, Aunt Noelle and Mom all joined in on the leaf-throwing for the sake of good pictures! I need to have more prop masters at my future sessions!

Two things that I learned about Ally while taking these pictures: 1) She loves to throw leaves and she loves them being thrown on her! 2) Her belly sticks out…we need longer shirts.

Ava got in on the action, too! She an Laney are one year apart and are from the same breeder. Now they’re cousins. 🙂

Another attempt at family pictures, but Ally was too concerned about the rake…

I LOVE these next few!

Might be my favorite. 🙂

Ally willingly sat in this huge pile of leaves! And I thought she was afraid of getting dirty. 😉

The picture of the right…does it not make you think of the seven dwarfs from Snow White walking to work with their tools on their backs?? “Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work we go!” 🙂

Then Ally decided she wanted to try on Luke’s hockey helmet. That girl doesn’t know what she wants!

So what does all this leaf-throwing have to do with being thankful? It is in the blog post title…so I should explain. 🙂 After spending that afternoon with my family, I got super excited about the holidays because the holidays to me mean FAMILY. I get to visit with all the family members I only get to see once a year. We eat good food, have good conversation, take group pictures and just enjoy each other’s company…and I love it! It’s tradition to get together with my family and I hope that tradition never dies. I’m thankful that they enjoy getting together and I’m thankful for them.

I had planned on this post being all about my awesome clients and how thankful I am for them, so let me add that in right here. 🙂 Clients, I’m so thankful for you! Without you, JFP wouldn’t be where it is today! It’s grown by leaps and bounds over the past three and a half years and I cannot thank you enough for your continued support, business and excitement. And future clients…I’m thankful that you’ve trusted me with capturing your special moments. From newborn sessions to engagement sessions and mounds and mounds of weddings, I am truly honored and THANK YOU for asking me. I just can’t say it enough!

So on Thanksgiving Eve, what are you thankful for?? Have a Happy Thanksgiving, all!!! 🙂