Family of six looks down at mom's pregnant belly during family maternity session at the lake

My Lake Pleasant Family Maternity Session

Apparently, I live near a lake.

Mom, dad and four children pose on the shore of Lake Pleasant during family maternity session

I mean, I’ve kind of known that for a while. But, it took over 6 years of living in this house, approximately 20 minutes away from this lake, for me to ever actually see it. We’ve now been in this house for 9 years and I can count the number of times I’ve been to Lake Pleasant on 3 fingers.

As a midwestern girl, I’ve seen lots of lakes. Really beautiful lakes. Lake Pleasant is not exactly beautiful in the way I am use to. But it is a large body of water, in the middle of the desert. And this water-loving girl will take whatever she can get.

So, when my awesome, talented photography friend Lauren suggested a family maternity session at Lake Pleasant, I jumped at the chance.

Lauren was excited to shoot at a new location. I was excited to get photographic proof of this final pregnancy. And my kiddos were all desperate to play in the water. It ended up being a winner of a situation for all of us. Except maybe Scott. Photo sessions aren’t his favorite. But he knows how important they are to me, so he put on his smile and made it happen.

It was a beautiful night to be out at the lake. There had been threats of a monsoon, but no storm came through. Instead, we just ended up with some really amazing clouds. Lauren has a beautiful client wardrobe for her pregnant mamas to select clothing from, so I had two amazing dresses to wear during our session. My kiddos were all in a good mood. It was just the perfect night and the perfect family maternity session.

Lauren got some amazing photographs of us all together.

She also got some goofy ones of Scott and me (because that’s about all you’ll get from us). And despite really not liking solo photos of myself usually, I have to say, some of my most favorite images are of just me and my bump!

I am so glad that with a small push from Lauren, we made a family maternity session happen. I know that as this era of my life comes to an end, I will look back and really treasure these photographs of pregnant me.

Pregnant woman in blue and pink floral dress looking down at belly Mom and children in the water at Lake Pleasant posing for family maternity photo session Family of six looks down at mom's pregnant belly during family maternity session at the lake Family of six walks along the shore of lake pleasant during family maternity session Mom and two daughters with hands on mom's pregnant belly mom holding four year old son atop her pregnant belly during maternity photo session Four children standing on shore of a lake, throwing rocks in pregnant mom wearing dark blue dress standing in water at Lake Pleasant