I posted a sneak peek of the “S” family last month. I had such a wonderful time working with them. Their daughters are so beautiful and were perfect in front of the camera. We met at Omni Tucson National Resort which was a beautiful place for pictures. I had been photographing so many Seniors these past few months that I was excited to get to capture a family again. It reminded me how much I enjoy photographing families and how excited I am for the Holiday Season this year to start photographing lots of families again!

Thanks so much “S” family for allowing me to capture your love, I look forward to working with you again in the future!

You probably recognize these cute boys from past pictures I took of them. This time they came for a session of all the kids together. They are the cutest family and did such a great job. We met at Agua Caliente park here in Tucson for their photo session. They did fabulous and I will post more adorable pictures soon!

I am now booking in June, July and August. Email me at stephanie@stephaniemoorestudios.com to book your session!

This is probably the most emotional, personal post I will ever write on my blog. I thank you for taking the time to read it, I know it’s long but it’s extremely important to me and my family. Today I am raising awareness about a neurological disorder called RETT SYNDROME. I never knew what Rett Syndrome was until 2 months ago when my sweet little niece, Oaklynn, was diagnosed at the age of 21 months. You are probably wondering what Rett Syndrome is, just as I did when I first heard the diagnosis. Imagine the symptoms of autism, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and anxiety disorder all in one. Those are the symptoms that my sister and brother in law have to watch their sweet daughter struggle with every day. The hardest thing about Rett Syndrome is that kids develop normally for the first 6-12 months of life. Oaklynn rolled over when she was suppose to, sat up, walked along the furniture, signed, used a few words, held her own bottle, everything a normal child should do. Then around 8 months she stopped doing things that she once did. She could no longer hold her own bottle, feed herself, pull to stand, didn’t respond to her name, and we started noticing that she wasn’t progressing as quickly as she should. Of course my sister and brother in law took her to several experts who couldn’t find anything wrong and thought she was just delayed. They told her to give her time, she would be fine. They finally took her to a geneticist who was able to see the defect on her X chromosome and diagnose her with Rett Syndrome. That day of my sister and brother in law telling us about sweet Oaklynn will forever be engrained in my head. We all sat around my parents table crying together as we learned of the things Oaklynn would never be able to do. Talk, control her hands, most likely never walk, use the restroom by herself, and many more things we take for granted. The hardest thing to hear about Rett Syndrome is that children with this disorder can understand you but are unable to talk back. They are prisoners in their own body. They will continue to regress as time passes. Although Oaklynn can crawl right now, she could wake up tomorrow and not be able to crawl anymore. Learning all of this was so hard for us to hear. We are such a close family and we are so close to Oaklynn, she holds such a special place in our hearts. It is so hard to watch your sister, who you love so dearly never be able to see all the accomplishments in her daughter that you see in yours. Right after Oaklynn was diagnosed, she started a blog to raise awareness and share her story. She posted THIS ANALOGY and I quickly realized how amazing my sister is. Then she posted THIS BLOG ENTRY and I realized how lucky Oaklynn is to have the parents she has. I love each of my nieces and nephews dearly, but Oaklynn holds a place in our hearts that no one can ever understand. Her smile can light us up like you wouldn’t believe, her sweet demeanor can help calm you down, she is truly a joy. Sure my sister and her husband are in for lots of struggles. Watching your child regress each day is one of the most horrible things a parent can go through. But their positive attitude and love for Oaklynn is so inspiring. You can’t tell me that these sweet photographs don’t brighten your day!

What am I hoping to do by writing this blog post? I am hoping to raise awareness about Rett Syndrome. In fact I would love to meet more sweet girls with Rett and photograph their families for them. I have the goal to continue to raise awareness through other families by offering a few free sessions a year to families with Rett and post that little girls story on my blog, along with her pictures. If you know of anyone in AZ who has a child with Rett, please have them email me at stephanie@stephaniemooorestudios.com. My niece has blessed my life in SO many ways, I would love to bless theirs with pictures of their angel. 1 in every 10,000 girls has this disorder. If you are as blessed as I am to come across one of these angels in your life, I encourage you to see what is so special about these sweet girls. Talk to them, they understand you and love to be talked to. Rett Syndrome girls are given the nickname of “silent angels” and Oaklynn fits that name perfect. I would love to finish my post with an anonymous quote that my sister recently shared “I thought I would have to teach my daughter about the world, It turns out I have to teach the world about my daughter. They see a girl who can not talk, I see a miracle who doesn’t need words.”

PS- Recently on the show “The View” they had a girl with Rett Syndrome. They did a great job at explaining Rett and was very informative, you can see THE CLIP HERE.

I am a proud Aunt to another sweet little baby in our family. My sister had a baby girl, Kynslee, last month. She is the cutest little newborn ever with the sweetest lips. I headed to Phoenix a couple weeks ago to take her newborn pictures and some family pictures for them. I had a great time with them, they are such a beautiful family and I’m so lucky to have such amazing sisters.

This is just a quick sneak peek, I will post the rest soon!!!

We celebrated Easter in Tucson this year and had a great Sunday. We have a tradition of hiding the kids baskets and they have to find them when they wake up. Then we did an Easter egg hunt in the backyard to find toys that the bunny left. After that I made a yummy breakfast of ebleskivers. Ebleskivers are a danish pancake that you make in a cast iron ebelskiver pan. My Aunt use to make them growing up, and we loved them. So my Mom bought us daughters an ebleskiver pan before we moved out. Now I get to continue my Aunts tradition of making ebelskivers, they are delicious!!! After breakfast we went to church and enjoyed a nice dinner with friends. We had a great Easter Sunday!

Now head over to the beautiful Wendy’s blog to see her post this month. Wendy Vososen | Bay Area Photographer

I posted a sneak peek of my session with Katie a few weeks ago. I had so much fun photographing her here in Tucson at La Paloma Resort. She was such a fun girl to work with, we got some great portraits. I LOVE photographing seniors and am so sad that senior season is over. I am already looking forward to 2013 senior graduates and getting to know them. Thanks to all the amazing 2012 seniors who trusted me with their pictures when I was new to Tucson. I had so much fun with all of you and look forward to a fresh new group of faces next year!

Best of luck in college next year, you have such a bright future ahead of you!

I had the chance to photograph this beautiful family last week. We met at Omni Tucson National Resort for their family pictures. The location was gorgeous and although it’s starting to heat up, the weather was just perfect. I have the best job because I get to meet wonderful new people and capture memories for them to cherish forever. Here is a sneak peek for the S family, I will post more later!

I am the luckiest aunt around. I had a new niece and nephew born only weeks apart. My older sister had a little boy, Max, that was born on leap day. You probably remember the sneak peek I posted of him and his two brothers. Then a few weeks later, my younger sister had her baby, Kynslee. I had the chance to photograph Kynslee in Phoenix last weekend and will be posting her pictures really soon. It’s so much fun adding babies, we love the sweet little spirits they add to our family!
Here is the final post of baby Max. He is seriously the best baby around. He rarely ever cries and is just so chill, even when his two older brothers try to play with him.

I am so glad that I live in Arizona now and am only a couple hours away from my family. I am now able to capture their sweet little ones for them. I will post Kynslee’s newborn pictures soon!