fall family photo shoot

I was almost finished putting together the next Blurb book of our family photos, but it was missing one thing: some nice photos of the four of us altogether:

Mom, Dad, Cooper, Weezydog, 

and the newest member of the family, Jilly 

Since the latest family album will be called, "becoming a family of four," it was pretty crucial to have the four of us documented in a few photos. This session comes from Charlotte Northrope, the lovely lady who joined Ryan and I in the labour room for Jillian's birth. I feel so lucky to know so many great photographers who can help us document our little family growing. 

I am so in love with these!!

Since the day we picked out this house, number 34, I've thought about having family photos taken on the porch. I was 5 months pregnant with Jillian when we moved in. The trees were bare but it wouldn't be long before they'd fill up and change the whole look of the front yard. The seasons were about to change and it was tough to picture a family of 4 come Fall.

And yet, somehow it happened in a blink.

four days with danielle

My best friend from Banff came to town for 4 days to celebrate my birthday :) We filled those days with fun and relaxation, and a ridiculous amount of hottubbing. This was her first time meeting my two babies so it was pretty special!!  

We took Cooper to the park :)

And got a pedicure that evening (a gift from my mom for my birthday!)

We spent the whole next day at the outlets while Cooper was in school. Danielle helped me pick out the outfits for our family photos that would happen on Sunday after she left.

There are no photos from Thursday night because there was way too much wine... Danielle met two of my girlfriends and we spent the night gabbing away and eating junk food.

Friday was the best day of all. As part of my birthday gift from Ry, he took the day off to watch the babies and Danielle and I snuck away to Le Nordik. We got there around 10:00am and had a hard time pulling ourselves away at 6:00pm. Next time she visits, we're going back for sure.

Only true friends can take makeup-free selfies.

The weather was slightly cloudy when we arrived but the sun peeked out right before our lunch. It was seriously a perfect day for spa-ing.

Our lunch was long and quite indulgent. We split a bottle, split an appetizer, each had a meal, and shared two desserts. We were in there for a crazy long time and we were dying to get back to the hot tubs.

We did have some really good chats over this pink champagne though...

I had never done the Kalla room before so this was really fun! The salt water bath looks like a basement dungeon with dead people floating in it, just like the girl at the front desk said. It was pretty cool to float around, bumping into people, and trying to keep your ears under the water. Neither of us managed to fall asleep, but we did it twice and we definitely enjoyed it.

First time at Le Nordik in the evening :) The lights were so pretty!

On Saturday morning I drove Danielle to the train station while Jilly slept in the backseat. It was such a nice little mid-week vacation and I seriously treasure every minute spent with this girl. We laughed about how it might be another 3 years since we see each other again, but we hope it will be much less.