Spending the afternoon with the Shiflett family makes me want to pack up and move to Golden. Not just for the beautiful scenery (the creek! the parks! the access to trails! the historic downtown!) but for the company. The Shifletts are the kind of people that make you feel like yourself. I feel like that's probably really abstract and hard to explain -- but at the same time, I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.Christine and I worked at the Academy together, but one of my favorite memories of our friendship was actually after a yoga class when she was newly pregnant with baby Zoey who was born last August. Side note: I'm pretty sure the class we took was called "To the Windows, To the Walls" where we had to do pushups with our feet up on the mirrors, which makes us both badasses -- but mostly Christine. Standing outside in the middle of winter, freezing and sweaty from said class, Christine gave me the best advice about getting pregnant -- start taking prenatal vitamins and expect it to take a few months, maybe even a year, before it happens. So, I bought some gummy prenatals (another side note: gummy vitamins = adult candy > horse pills... Christine is a math teacher, so I had to throw in something mathy so she'll take this post seriously) and the NEXT MONTH Sophie appeared. I am fully aware of how sappy this sounds, but I'm so grateful for that  winter afternoon yoga class because Christine's advice led to Sophie's existence. I know, so sappy. But I'm so very grateful for her encouragement, for the lactation cookies she brought me that I ate every day for two weeks, and for the (precious) time she spent talking me through pregnancy pains and childbirth and nursing during her planning period. She was completely honest with me about all the highs and the lows of this whole process, and her words helped prepare me for Sophieland more than any book I read.Selfishly, I had been looking forward to photographing the Shiflett family for a while because I knew I'd walk away with gems of parenting advice (and I did). Sweet Zoey is so fun and playful, and I want Sophie to hang out with her so Z can teach her how to say "Kitty" and how to crawl and WALK (what?!). Fun fact about Zoey: she loves holding things. Her stuffed kitty, her bottle -- dead leaves. There's a photo where Zoey is holding a dead leaf with one hand and making a peace sign with the other, and it made me laugh out loud while editing. I love Zoey. I love her expressions, her eagerness to explore, and her self-awareness (she knows what she likes and what she doesn't... see the last photo for evidence).Shiftlett family, I loved our time together in Golden. Thank you!P.S. I'm super tempted to photoshop my face onto a picture of Christine so that I can pretend I have her hair. You will probably think that's creepy UNTIL you see her hair in these photos and then you will understand. Gorgeous.P.P.S. Zoey was not a fan of the swing on this particular afternoon. I get it, girl.