Picnic Time!

Theres something about dressing up for fun, that makes life more exciting.

Throw in some make up and costume jewelry.

Some gorgeous dresses

A couple of crazy awesome girls

Some pretty little earrings

A mirror

And some food. lol

In this case, Chicken Nuggets & French Fries did it.

And a party pooper who refuses to do anything fun.

Instead she plays a game of hide and seek leaving post it notes saying "Amy Was Here"

all over the house. Thinking that I was actually looking for her..

not. 

Another beautiful girl with a pretty necklace

a picnic blanket, some ketchup and we were set!

Aren't they so cute?

And of course there was a prince, but he didn't want to dress up nice either.

Pinky up!

And the prince brought us all some water. Hero <3

Ew me.

Then of course you can't put a dress on and not have your picture taken. :D

She's the bestest baby sister in the whole wide world. :D

Sara & Chris {2011 Wedding}

If you would have asked me a little over a year ago, what kind of a photographer I wanted to be, I would have told you "Oh, just a portrait photographer. And I want to do seniors." That's it.

Quite frankly, I was scared to death to shoot weddings because I am petrified of failing. And so I just was never going to put myself in that position. I just didn't want the pressure of taking pictures on the most important day of someone's life.

But last January (2011) I was given a chance, just to see if I would enjoy it.

...and I fell in love.

What being a wedding photographer means to me is that I get to spend the most important day of two people's lives, with them, and make their memories last forever. It's the nervous bride, the teary eyed groom, the details that she spent months on, the bridal party who is there to make them laugh, the mother helping her daughter dress, the father giving her away, the declaring of vows before God and guests, their first kiss as husband and wife.

That is what makes it so special.

Sara & Chris got married 3 months ago, in December. It was the 17th wedding I helped photograph in 2011. And it was beautiful.

The wedding was at Green Gables. There was some snow on the ground, some geese trying to break through the ice on the river, and plenty of sunshine to go around.

Sara had made her own earrings for her special day. Her colors of black & white with a hint of yellow just had a very modern and classy feeling.

Her engagement ring was stunning. Her dress was fabulous.

Her bouquet of flowers was just adorable. So different from most.

When I second shoot, I always get to photograph the guys. They are usually willing to do anything. Afterall, it is Chris's day as well.

I just loved their cake servers.

They were both holding back the tears while saying their vows and exchanging their rings.

And of course, there were a few giggles in there as well.

Finally together forever, they bundled up for the cold.

Sara's smile and the reflection of Chris's face just blows my mind. Look at the love.

Dancing.

And my favorite picture for last.

They gaze into each other's eyes, so in love. Ready to spend life together, "Until death do us part."

So today, if you ask me what I want to do for the rest of my life, I will tell you..

"I want to spend my life making the memories of people last forever."

To God be the glory.

The end. :)

Memory Making From Today

Today was a little different from the usual Sunday in our house. Usually I go off to my church, the rest of my family goes off to theirs. Then we come home and sometimes eat lunch together. Then we scatter, take naps, watch movies, and play on the computer..that kind of thing. And usually don't see each other the rest of the day. So today, things were different.

I took my siblings to church with me. And let me tell you, they loved it. It was nice to go to church with my sisters and brother. It was nice to talk to them on the way home and ask them what they learned. It was nice when we sat down and ate hot dogs and baked beans, then realized we had no hot dog buns and I had to run to aldi's. It was great when I got to take them all to the park down the road and watch them roller blade and throw rocks into the water, and chase the geese. It was wonderful to take them out for ice cream and be grossed out when Stephen and Ruby both got playdough ice cream (which I think smells and tastes really bad).

So here are some pictures from the day.

Ruby throwing rocks into the water.

Steve & Emma roller blading away.

Then there were these little kids on the rocks. They were looking at something in the water, and their reflections looked so perfect.

Then the boy got up to leave, and the girls mom said "Come on honey, we're leaving." and she said "But I can't. I'm stuck. I'm too scared! I can't move I'm too scared!" It was the cutest thing with her standing there holding her bear. Reminded me of Penny from the Rescuer's, and it was just begging for a picture.

Then there were some people with this remote controlled boat. It was pretty sweet.

Ruby got tired out real fast. And can I say, only my sister could look this awesome on a park bench. lol 

Some of the geese.

And the of course the day isn't complete without some form of batman.

(yes that is Amy's belt...)

Oh my goodness. Another teenager.

I have contemplated just stopping time and never getting a day older. It was bad enough that Amy turned 16 last month. Now today, Emma is 13. 

Emma is beautiful, sweet, way more mature than any 16 year old I know *cough*amy*cough* and one thing about Emma is she loves to have her picture taken. Which of course makes me her big sissy very happy. :)

She's a very good model too. Willing to do anything I ask.

Emma is always smiling, and she's shares my fascination with movies. Sometimes, she begs to watch things that she technically isn't allowed to, and I let her. (because I am a good sister you know) Emma has a huge fascination with the Jason Bourne movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Dark Knight. (and recently twilight)

She is definitely my sister.

Emma loves to paint and draw. She's an artist. Which also makes me happy, because I hope she can get into the artisitc side of photography one day. One side of which I am slowly learning, but she would pick up very fast, I am sure.

You can usually find Emma sitting in her section of the house which holds all her art supplies. She loves spending time there, listening to audio books, and being creative.

She is also my star pupil. :) I tutor Emma in math and she does fabulous, and always makes it more fun than you'd think math would be to any 13 year old.

So here's to my beautiful grown up little sister whom I love very dearly. Happy Birthday Emma!

Coka~Cola

Someone broke a glass.

And it wasn't me.

But I decided to take advantage of it. :)

Let me just say, if the weather is ever like this again, where it doesn't snow the entire year until February, use it!

I've always liked the way that coke ads in magazines looked. 

But they always seem sooo photoshopped.

So when the coke glass broke, that lightbulb went off in my head.

I can be better than them!

So a trip to Target for some Coke

And of course the weather

And I was all set.

And of course you can't just buy coke and not drink it. (even if I did pour half the bottle on the ground)

So what do they say in the commercials? Oh yeah. Enjoy!

Before and After

I usually hate it when people post "before and after" photos, mostly because I'm jealous of their editing skills. But with so much free time on my hands now adays, I sit down and play and play. 

{with photoshop of course}

Meet Larissa & Matt.

I prefer to call them Barbie & Ken...because they are just so adorable!

This is one of my favorites from their engagement session and since I've been playing around a lot, I wanted to show you the difference in the pictures. A few free actions from "Yellow Sky Actions" on facebook {check them out!} and a curves layer can go a long way. 

I don't know about you...

I don't know about you, but for me, blogging is a difficult and time consuming task. I at awesome photographers with amazing blogs all the time, and I wish I had their charming writing skills. But there is only one place to start. So I'll start here.

Emma and I took a walk today. And whenever I go on a walk, I always take my camera. Just in case something happens or is gorgeous. But I was actually taking pictures of Emma for a school assignment this week. So I snapped a few pictures of her in the yard and we went for a walk.

We live next to a housing plan that is on a hill, and so I like to shoot up in there because the people are rich. They all have perfect landscaping. But today it wasn't the landscaping that caught my attention. As we were walking up one street, this dog started barking at us. It was right in the sun so really I couldn't even see anything but it's legs at first. Then as I walked further up the hill, the sun was setting and the dog laid down right there. Making it a perfect silhouette.

I was laughing as Emma was calling it trying to get it to look a certain direction to be a perfect profile. Eventually it did exactly what I wanted it to. And here it is.

So I'm going to try to post at least twice a week. I have so many wedding photos from 2011 that I want to put on here. So stay tuned!