The Lanterman Family

Last but certainly not least in the Colorado Sessions, we have the Lantermans! We managed to squeeze them in on the last evening I was in town, because they had been on vacation in Hawaii the week before (later they told me that it had either been take a vacation to Hawaii or replace the A/C in their house, and now that they were back from Hawaii and it was 100+ degrees in Denver, they kinda wish they had chosen the A/C. ha!). First we met up at Chautauqua park in Boulder, and since I got there early, I had some time to mill around. And what I discovered was entertainment that honestly I didn’t think existed outside of TV. They were hosting some sort of children’s environmental awareness show-type-thing, and it was seriously what I imagine it would be like if the Wiggles were hippies. The performers had made up all these cutesy-folksy songs, which I found to be quite pleasant until I actually listened to the lyrics. It was stuff like “Pavement is black and concrete is gray, but the trees are green, and you better enjoy the little bit of green we have left on earth before it’s all bulldozed over by Disneylands and Walmarts…. yeah!” Okay, well a little more rhyme-y than that, but you get the idea. But I mean geez, I’m 24 years old, and it was making ME depressed! Surely there’s a better way to teach kids about being environmentally responsible…. right? Right? :) Then the irony of it all is that all the families had loading up into their Subarus and driven on those black pavement roads to get to the park to listen to this… Oh Boulder, you make me giggle.

Anyway, when the Lantermans showed up, it was so funny because I introduced myself to their son Blake, but he couldn’t quite make the connection between the Morgan his parents had been telling him about and the one that was standing in front of him, because he kept asking where Morgan was for awhile after that. It was so cute. It was just great to meet Kendra and Brian too, after hearing so much about them from Megan and being facebook friends with Kendra for several months leading up to this. I’m just so honored that their whole group of friends liked my work enough to hire me when I was out there. I feel like I have a whole little community out in Colorado now whenever I go to visit!

So despite the doom-and-gloom kids concert going on, Chautauqua was gorgeous that night, with some really beautiful sunset light, and we had a great session together. Hope you enjoy!

I’m telling you what, Blake is gonna be breaking some hearts one day!

Mom’s hand… snot rag…. same thing. :)

Soooo breathtaking.

Dang, what a good-looking family! I love the blonde hair/green eyes combination.

An absolute favorite, for sure.

Next we headed back to the Lantermans’ house. I have to tell you, the drive from the park to their house, especially during that time of day, was one of the most stunning I have ever been on. Long windy roads, scattered houses and barns, the view of the mountains… oh man. Amazing.

Once we got there, Blake had to show me his planes. Adorable!

Oh, the dimples! They get me every time.

I loved their dogs too. As soon as we walked in the house, I heard a chorus of bays coming from the back deck. So cute!

Love it.

I have never met a kid who loves bedtime as much as Blake. We went in his room at the end of the evening so he could show it to me, and he wanted to get in his crib and lay down. Seriously. I can only hope my children will love bedtime as much as I do. :)

To see the whole session, watch the slideshow below! I used Anchor and Braille’s “Calm, Calm, Calm Yourself” because it’s such a good family song, I think. And Aaron Marsh from Copeland is involved. So yeah, there’s that too. :) Enjoy!