Saturday night was a gorgeous night for photos at DC Ranch in North Scottsdale with one of my favorite families ever. I promised my good friend Courtney that if she would do my hair and makeup for me for my own professional photo session, I’d swap her a photo shoot this holiday season. I am so glad I did, because it was such a blast and the results are so beautiful! These are some super photogenic people, mind you, so it’s hard to get a bad photo…so I can only take partial credit. (Seriously, amazing eyes run in this family.)
Courtney and her husband Mike, who got married in March, were joined by their dog-person Wilson. Also along were Courtney’s sister Traci, and her gorgeous family Chip, Olivia, and Colt. Court and I have been friends since second grade – bonding over together in girl scouts, Younglife, road trips, weddings, job woes and boy problems. 
Now we are both happily married to guys that really like each other (hurray, go Broncos), and in recent years, we’ve gotten even closer. Court’s the kind of person that will be the first to ask how she can help in any given situation, and then actually does help. I consider myself very blessed in the friend department, and it’s because of people like Courtney. So, I am very, very happy that I could do these photos for her and her family because she’s done so, so much for me!
Mike was a pretty good sport about all the girlie romantic photos…see Mike, I told you they’d be amazing!
While I was waiting for the crew to arrive, I befriended the firemen that occupied this firehouse, to make sure I could get photos like this in front of their garage.
Wilson has more personality than most people have in their little finger. He’s HILARIOUS and a huge part of the family, so of course we had to include him in all his glorious fluffiness in this shoot!
Ahhhhh newlyweds. I wonder if next year there will be a new member of the little Barth family for Olivia and Cole to play with?
Like Wilson, Olivia’s got more personality than I’ve ever seen in a toddler. See what I mean about those eyes?
Chip and Tracy waited for a long time for their precious daughter. Worth the wait though, I think.
And now they’ve got little Colt, who has Traci’s gorgeous brown eyes.
Olivia definitely got her silliness from her daddy Chip.
This is one family filled with love and committed to each other through life’s ups and downs. It’s a blessing to call them friends and to capture these moments for them.
Thanks Barths and Carters! Enjoy!
- HBA
