courtneywestlakeblog.com http://courtneywestlakeblog.com Blog for Westlake Photography in Springfield Illinois, specializing in family, babies and children's portraits Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:49:28 +0000 en hourly 1 Our new journey http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2012/02/21/our-new-journey/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2012/02/21/our-new-journey/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:48:56 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2083 As many of you know, our daughter Brenna arrived on December 19…She was born with a rare and severe skin disease called Harlequin Ichthyosis. I have been chronicling the ups and downs of our journey since her birth at my blog, Blessed by Brenna.

I can hardly believe it, but it has been two months now since Brenna’s birth. We are so grateful for all of the support and outpouring of love and encouragement so many of you have shown us! And as we move toward the spring, I’ve gotten several inquiries about the future of our photography studio and whether we will be scheduling sessions this year.

In one word: yes. However, this year will be a huge adjustment for me, and we will be restructuring much of the way that we run our studio this year. First and foremost, my family is my priority, and my family very much needs my time, my care and my focus right now. I know that all of you can understand this!

But we are also very passionate about our business and about our clients, and we hope to continue to provide our wonderful customer service with beautiful natural light photography for all of our loyal clients! We will be taking on an extremely limited amount of sessions on select dates during the 2012 season, so please stay connected with us if you are interested in a session, as we will be opening our calendar for scheduling soon. We will be putting on hold our New Beginnings Program for this year, but we will definitely schedule all those who are already “enrolled” this year. We are also planning for our spring mini session event as usual!

Thank you so much for your loyalty to Westlake Photography and your support for our family during this time!

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2012/02/21/our-new-journey/feed/ 0 A visit from Santa http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/18/a-visit-from-santa/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/18/a-visit-from-santa/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:03:33 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2077 Connor is one lucky little boy – Santa makes a personal visit each year to our house before Christmas to see him! After last year when he was terrified of Santa, we were sure that this year would be similar. We’ve been talking about Santa a lot this past week in preparation for Connor getting to meet him…and we were so surprised when he wasn’t phased by Santa in the slightest!

He sat on his lap and told Santa that he wanted a “monster movie” (Monsters Inc) and a red tricycle (and “Big Birds and Elmos and Cookie Monsters,” whatever that means :) )

And they became good buddies, ending their meeting with a fist bump…

I think Santa was relieved there were smiles this year…

Instead of sobs like last year :)

And just for kicks…here’s Connor’s first meeting with Santa. What a sweet little nugget he was :)

One more week until Christmas!!

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/18/a-visit-from-santa/feed/ 0 My baby bump (31 weeks) http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/15/my-baby-bump-31-weeks/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/15/my-baby-bump-31-weeks/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:32:14 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2072 I thought it’d be fun to post some bump pictures that Evan took of me on my birthday weekend out at his farm. I was 31 weeks along…and I can’t believe how much more enormous I am now at 36 weeks tomorrow! Only a few more weeks to go…. :)

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/15/my-baby-bump-31-weeks/feed/ 0 Fall Mini Sessions: The Skogsbergs http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/12/fall-mini-sessions-the-skogsbergs/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/12/fall-mini-sessions-the-skogsbergs/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:40:05 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2069 More mini sessions! Another new, awesome family!

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/12/fall-mini-sessions-the-skogsbergs/feed/ 0 The Leach Family http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/08/the-leach-family/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/08/the-leach-family/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:16:44 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2051 I’m going to interrupt our schedule of mini session posts to bring you something different today…one of our all-time favorite families, the Leaches! (OK I know you’re not supposed to play favorites, but I can’t help myself with this one :) )

I first met the Leaches when I did a session for them when Connor was about 3 weeks old (I must have been crazy at the time, thinking I was ready to come to work that soon!) Good thing they were fantastic to work with, and have been at our multiple sessions since then! I will give you an example of their awesomeness – Stephanie, who had never met me before our first session in 2009, went out and bought a little gift for Connor because she knew we had just had a baby…seriously?! How sweet is that?

Their adorable girls just get cuter every time I see them!

OK and I have to mention it, because I told Stephanie this and I’m not sure she believed me, but these outfits are EXACTLY what I am talking about when I tell people to try to coordinate but not match! A coordinating scheme with fun pops of color is just perfect!

(Props to Ryan, who picked out his own shirt for the shoot ;) )

Thank you so much, Leach family, for another wonderful session!

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/08/the-leach-family/feed/ 0 Fall Mini Sessions: The Adlafs http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/07/fall-mini-sessions-the-adlafs/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/07/fall-mini-sessions-the-adlafs/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:53:05 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2043 Love this family…

Love their beautiful little girl…

And now I love their new puppy! :)

The Adlafs have come to us every year from Forsyth, by Decatur, and we very much appreciate them driving the distance for us! They are wonderful to photograph – they are such a sweet, close-knit family with a lot of love and respect for each other, which I think is evident in their images.

I enjoy this one :)

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/07/fall-mini-sessions-the-adlafs/feed/ 0 Fall Mini Sessions: The Coxes http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/06/fall-mini-sessions-the-coxes/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/06/fall-mini-sessions-the-coxes/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:44:11 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2041 See that baby bump? Baby is heeeeere! But I can’t show you just yet, so I’m going to throw up the photos from the Cox’s mini session instead :)

Sara told me how glad they were to have photos of Caleb smiling – but I give her and Brian all the credit, because they were so willing to play and have fun with him during the session, instead of trying to make him sit still and say cheese. Definitely makes a difference in getting some fun and natural images!

Gotta love the sweet, serious looks too…

Very soon, I will introduce you to Cox baby #2!

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/06/fall-mini-sessions-the-coxes/feed/ 0 Fall Mini Sessions: The Wrights http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/05/fall-mini-sessions-the-wrights/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/05/fall-mini-sessions-the-wrights/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:46:07 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2026 Life with three little ones is usually crazy, so why would we expect the photo session to be any different!?

But these are the sessions that really show the life of the family at that moment in time, of which I am a huge fan :)

I just love these natural shots…

Beautiful family!

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/05/fall-mini-sessions-the-wrights/feed/ 0 Fall Mini Sessions: The Salings http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/04/fall-mini-sessions-the-salings/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/04/fall-mini-sessions-the-salings/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:08:32 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2024 Another new and awesome family for this year’s mini sessions! Are these not the cutest little boys you’ve ever laid eyes on? I almost took them home with me :)

I have to give my husband credit for this one – he tried a little “second shooting” with my extra camera for the first time!

Love it :)

]]> http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/04/fall-mini-sessions-the-salings/feed/ 0 Fall Mini Sessions: The Zaks http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/03/fall-mini-sessions-the-zaks/ http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/2011/12/03/fall-mini-sessions-the-zaks/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:21:48 +0000 http://courtneywestlakeblog.com/?p=2015 Just as much fun as seeing repeat clients during mini session is meeting new families! Especially when they are as easy-going and cute as the Zaks!

Check out this adorable-ness…

I absolutely LOVE this :)

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