Work friends, dress for success and bribery

In my "life-before-Laken" I worked in local news. My last job was a morning reporter at News 10 here in Sac. Bill Hudson was one of my many bosses. He was and still is the 9 a.m. producer there and one of my husband's many bosses. Basically he got to tell me what to do, tell me if I did a good job or tell me if I sucked. The best part about Bill was that he never did the latter, even if I really did suck. Producers can be a real pain in the butt (producers probably think the same thing about reporters), but not Bill. He was always fair, level-headed, easy-going and nice, despite his extremely hard and sometimes frustrating job. It makes me very happy that he has such a great family to go home to every day.

His wife, Jamie, and daughter, Harper, are two extremely smart and beautiful ladies! I was super stoked to take their family photos. Jamie was on top of it from the beginning. She booked the photo shoot months in advance, asked questions, picked the location and planned their outfits according to my "what to wear" blog post. It was a special photo shoot for many reasons! Harper just turned three, wore an adorable dress made specially for the day and their favorite park was the backdrop.

I'm going to share a little secret about Bill and Jamie that might come in handy for your next photo shoot. Bribery can get you a long way! You just never know if kids are going to cooperate on picture day and Bill and Jamie didn't want to chance it. They told Harper ahead of time if she behaved she would get treats. Believe me, it's a good method! In fact, I will even bribe your kids if you ask me too. :) I can bring suckers, bubbles or whatever works to make them behave!

To be fair, Miss Harper did not need to be bribed. She was a total sweetheart the whole time. She's wise beyond her three years! I was lucky to capture some sweet moments of her loving on Mommy and Daddy and some others showing her independence. We had a fun day and it ended with Bill and Jamie bribing me with beer. Smart couple! ;)

Lots of love,

Courtney

P.S. If you're wondering about Harper's cute dress, click here to see more of Jamie's talented friend's handmade items.