Mad about Madisen...

Somehow i just knew this would have to a massive session.

For as long as I've known her... if there's a BUSIER kid than Madisen Hinegardner, I'd like to know who they are.   And honestly, if that person exists, they must have found a way to add more than 24 hours to a day.

Volleyball.
Basketball.
Track.
Softball.
Dance.

And in an era where most kids are being told to specialize in one are or another.   Madi specializes in doing it all.

And before you say anything about spreading herself too thin... realize the girl has been to state in softball three times... been to state in track multiple times... she'll be a valuable cog in Coach Pieters basketball team that will contend for the NICL West title this winter... and did I mention she's the libero on the volleyball team?   I haven't checked with East Marshall student advisor Trent Taylor recently, but I'm guessing Madisen Lynn sits in the top ten percent of her class of 2015 for GPA., and in her spare time... she competes as one of KImberlee Benson's elite  dancers at The Dance Konnection in Marshalltown.

Whew.

The girl makes me tired just TALKING about her schedule.

Case and point.  Just a couple weeks ago, MAD-EE-SON (as I've called her for years) was in Wisconsin Dells for several days with Team DK and their competition dance team at Nationals and drove like a bat out of you-know-where to get to Fort Dodge at the very last minute to start for Coach Jary Hoskey's top-seeded Mustang softball team in left field.  And before you ask if she lost focus with all that running around...  How about trying on half a dozen hits including four doubles at the plate from the 9-hole against the state's best pitching?   Dang.   Maybe the girl should dance like a mad woman before EVERY game??

So with that as a background, I just knew that there was no way we were gonna be able to tell this girl's story without a myriad of images spanning nearly an entire day of shooting.

And I was right.

From sun up to sun down I hung with Miss Madisen.   covering all the aforementioned activities and that doesn't even account for the LEGIT spare time activities that we had to cover with the lake life that she grew up next to.

Did I mention she plays the adorable card on top of all this???

I can comfortably say that as I've watched this pocket sized dynamo grow up as she's been one of my daughter's very best friends from the beginning.  Sure they've had their differences over the years, but in the end the memories they've made being complete goofballs together trump any of that.

Speaking of goofballs... I was surrounded by no less than FOUR of 'em Thursday morning as Mama Jodi joined Sister Kenzie and Grandma Teddi for our epic adventure.

I go way back with all of them.   I photographed Madisen's folks' outdoor wedding back in August of 1995 on one of the hottest days in the recorded history of Earth.   Take a look at the image below of Madi with the bible verse on it... That's the very same spot her parents took their vows to each other... and just being in that location made me break out into drenching sweat all over again... and it wasn't even HOT last Thursday. morning!  :)

(Jodi KNEW that was coming... she and I still laugh about how hot day was, all these years later)

So it was the lake... then to the studio... then to the streets... then appropriately enough... finishing will all those sports that keeps Madisen running running running... and when she done with that... she runs some more.   I thought it was fitting that Grandma Teddi was there for most of the session to see her granddaughter's special day.   For you see... with two extremely busy parents, one simply cannot make all the activities that this girl has been involved in without a LOT of help getting from here to there.   For as long as I can remember... Teddi Brothers has made sure Madisen got where she needed to go on a few hundred occasions.

The sun was setting when it was time for Madi and her mom to finally leave my studio last Thursday.   I looked across the table at Mama Jodes and I thought to myself, I can't believe we just did Madisen's senior pictures.  

I'm confident she felt the same way.   But just like Madisen lives her life... we covered all our bases.

And then some.