This beautiful family holds a very special place in my heart. Maryah and I met in junior high and it didn’t take long for us to become besties. We did everything together throughout high school. We had countless sleepovers, inside jokes, car rides, and subway sandwiches. She was the very first person to take a chance on me and my camera. She let this crazy lady take numerous portraits for her and her family without a second thought. So when her and Tyler asked if I would photograph their gender reveal, I was so giddy I couldn’t even stand it!

As we got out of the vehicles on location, Maryah and Tyler prepped their girls, Zivaya who is 7 and Dallin who is 1. Then pulled out a giant black ballon the size of a boulder that was covered in question marks. We excitedly turned to start walking, took one step, and… POP! The ballon burst and we all froze. Tyler and I looked at Maryah. Panicking I thought “Maybe she didn’t see the cloud of blue glitter yet, maybe she doesn’t see her daughters are covered in blue sparkles, maybe this is still OK!” But soon after hearing sweet Zivaya shout “Oh no! It’s a BOY!!!” I knew there was no going back. We all saw the glitter was blue, and there was no photographic evidence.

One thing about Maryah though, is that she will always look for the good in any situation, because I mean come on, the glitter was indeed BLUE. And as parents of two girls they had been wanting to see that blue! So even while pregnant and emotional Maryah smiled and laughed as we concocted a back up plan. We darted to K-Mart, brainstormed ideas with what very little time and resources we had to work with, and called in for backup. Because if you’re going to do a gender reveal while already knowing the gender, might as well try out multiple reveals am I right?! So with silly string in hand and confetti poppers on the way, we did 2, yes 2 more gender reveals. And with each burst of blue this family got more excited than the last! Zivaya even started to be OK with the idea of a baby brother by the end! So even though the session did not exactly go as planned, I loved getting to spend time with my high school BFF, and am so stoked to meet this families newest addition! Congratulations on your baby boy Maryah and Tyler! I am so excited for you guys!

#Maternity