So Lyle and I had a rough start. Mom just wanted some sweet pics of Lyle to commemorate his 3rd birthday. We met on the most gorgeous fall evening and I was ready to work the amazing sunset. And well.....Lyle had other plans.....as in not taking photos. He clung to his mom. Cried. Gave me some dirty looks. (: I pulled out all of my tricks.....my jokes (maybe that's where the dirty looks came from), my candy, my red wagon.....nope, not having it. So we hung it up and scheduled another day.

This time a sun-kissed morning at one of my new favorite locations. Lyle brought his doggie and his toy school bus to help him feel comfortable. He was still apprehensive at the beginning but we convinced him to search for dinosaurs in the tall grass and go explore. He thought that falling down in the grass and getting back up was the most hilarious thing. And we so we just went with it. I followed him around on this exploration and he laughed and giggled and was just a kid. Talk about some of the most natural and candid smiles I've ever captured. This seriously ended up being one of my favorite sessions from the fall: nothing posed - just raw uninhibited happiness. Ironic that before the session I was trying to think of what my plan was going to be if he was super shy again and didn't want me to take his photo.....and now it's one of my favs. Unexpected is always the best, right??

Thanks Ali (mom) for trusting me with Lyle's milestone pics!