Gillian – Sedona & Flagstaff Senior Session

It is such a blessing when you have friends who are so much more than friends…they are FAMILY.  This is how I feel about my friend Lisa and her entire family. We’ve been friends for around seventeen years and Lisa loves to remind me how I avoided her for months as she pursued me for weeks.  Sounds like a romance!  Haha!  The truth is that her eldest daughter Gilllian was in preschool with my oldest daughter Mackenzie and they started to form a friendship so Lisa put a note in Mackenzie’s folder suggesting we have a playdate…and I ignored it because I was just too “busy.”  Wow!  I missed out of months without one of the most amazing people I have ever met!  Eventually I got back to her and we went to the park with the girls and a beautiful friendship began.  Such a joy, so many memories, so much love.

Although the girls are no longer close, they brought Lisa and I together and we love each other’s families and stay up to date with all four of them.  I love to spend time with her girls and when Lisa suggested we do a destination senior photo session in Sedona and Flagstaff, I jumped on that immediately!  Time with these amazing women, in a gorgeous location, with my camera in my hand…absolutely! Lisa and I kept joking that we were Thelma and Louise on our way through the desert!  Truth be told, we had a wonderful time but we were not intention in driving off a cliff!  Instead, we had a fantastic time with Gillian in Arizona walking around her campus, eating phenomenal food, staying up late in our hotel, hanging out with Gillian’s roommate, being in awe of the scenery of Sedona, having great talks, and encouraging and celebrating this beautiful girl who has really accomplished something AMAZING by graduated from college!

Gillian has always been a superstar with her academics and so she headed out to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff after high school graduation to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology with a minor in Forensics.  Going off to college was exciting, but learning to live with actual weather was a little challenging!  After living in perfect San Diego her entire life, encountering extreme cold and heat was a shock.  However, she found her way and she found some wonderful roommates and friends along the journey as well!  It was so fun to see her apartment and the college life she had established for herself.  Good times!

Lisa is beyond excited that her beautiful baby will be coming home after graduation.  She’ll be pursuing a career as a forensic investigator and  I am sure she’s not going to have a problem finding a job since she’s already proven she’s got what it takes by interning for the medical examiner in Flagstaff.  I can’t even image seeing the things she’s seen!  Gillian is one tough woman!  Gillian, we all believe in you and can’t wait to see you soar!  We love you1