Rustic Maternity Photo Shoot

We took these photos in late December, when the weather was absolutely gorgeous here in Northern California. Only a few weeks before, we had a few inches of snow covering the ground. Despite the fact that we threw this photo shoot together extremely last minute, I absolutely adore the photos!

Pretty much the only thing I had planned ahead of time was this dress I found the day before (50% off!). An hour before sunset, we were still running around the house. I was looking for shoes and throwing makeup on, Ryan was shaving and picking out a shirt, my sister was checking to see if the chalkboard paint had dried, and we were all throwing props in a bag.

We had about 40 minutes before the sun went down. We headed up to our barn and just started shooting. My sister doesn't claim to be a photographer, but she stepped into the role with ease. She was standing on wine barrels, moving like a ninja to get different angles, props hanging out of her pockets. She was a rock star.

I sure do love chalkboard paint!

Sneak Peek: Rustic Maternity Shoot

Here's a sneak peek at our maternity photos. My sister claims to not know what she's doing, but they turned out amazing! We did both a rustic shoot up by our barn and a retro housewife shoot. For now, here's a preview of our rustic maternity photos.

Gender Reveal Baby BBQ

Here's the long overdue photos from our gender reveal baby BBQ. I blame the lack of keeping up on posts on the wee babe I'm currently cooking. That's one of the perks of being pregnant, right? Our gender reveal barbecue was only, let's see, four months ago. Forgive me.

We found out the sex of Baby Turner at our ultrasound, but decided to do a fun reveal for our family and friends. We invited everyone over to our place for tri-tip, beer, and a gender reveal. Above is the invite. Below are some of the crafty details.

As folks arrived, they had the opportunity to bet on the sex of the baby. Guests dropped a dollar in the jar and then wrote their name on a slip and circled boy or girl. We framed a list of old wives' tales used to predict gender. They turned out 50/50.

After the gender reveal, we pulled out all of the slips with the correct gender circled. While everyone was chowing down, we drew a winning slip and gave the winner a mason jar filled with all the cash.