I have had the pleasure of photographing Brandon and Kayla few times over the years. They have always been fun and willing to do whatever and the kids are always posing. 

This time I got to take photos of Brandon, Kayla and Brandon's sister their families and mom! The whole group was in Salmon and why not take photos while altogether? 

I have been doing so many extended family sessions this year. This is usually a mom and dad, their children and the grandchildren. These are usually 10+ people and a lot of work but I have quite a few over the past few years and have a pretty good workflow of groupings and keeping everyone moving. I am always trying to stay on step ahead to help keep the stress down. 

This was an easy extended family session. 

We did all the kids ones right out the gate well because - kids. They don't last long so we want to take advantage of the good attitudes and smiles. We got so many great photos. Every single kid was so good! We even lucked out with the weather. It wasn't too hot and didn't seem to get hot until the very end. 

I think extended family sessions are so important and special for so many different reasons. When I was photographing all of these girls who are cousins, all I could think was how these photos will be special to them one day. They will grow up with their cousins as friends and they will remember this moment. 

The moment of the entire family together. Now, my photos with my cousins and best friends are on actual Kodak paper and in a box. Ours look a little differently now because everything is digital a lot of my photos sit on a hard drive or lives on social media.  

This is why I love family sessions so much, we are literally creating time capsules. We are coming together and making memories with the most precious people in your life and they will live for hopefully centuries. Some of my favorite family portraits of black and white or sepia tone of my far long relative. There is a story there and we are writing those stories.