Happy First Anniversary to another wonderful couple!! I hope that today's gorgeous fall day brought back great memories of your special day one year ago!! Your day was so beautiful and I am so happy that I could be a part of it! I had such a blast getting to know you through the engagement session and your wedding day! Your love for each other was always so evident, and it was an honor to be able to capture it in photos! My favorite part of the day was going down to Main Street for pictures with the wedding party, and all the fun that was had down there. Telling Rachel to grab Craig's behind so that he would laugh, photos with the gorgeous fall leaves, and finally some pictures with Santa!!! It was an amazing day for a great couple. I hope that your first year has been wonderful!!!

Happy Anniversary to a wonderful couple!!! I apologize up front if I am rambling, this was a very special one to me! I knew Danica from OT grad school, and I was ecstatic when she chose me to be her photographer!!! It was even more amazing than most weddings because it was just two weeks after my first wedding anniversary, and it was 15-20 minutes from where I got married in Sonoma Valley!!! So, my husband and I happily flew out to California for me to shoot a wedding and also to celebrate our anniversary! It was absolutely the BEST of both worlds for me...I got to shoot a wedding, AND I was in California wine country!! We were blessed to get to meet up with the happy couple and many of their guests at one of their favorite wineries, Dutcher Crossing, where they stopped during a welcome bike tour. The night before the wedding I got to see where they were getting married, Kachina, for the rehearsal. What a gorgeous setting!! I was in heaven as I started to dream about the pictures I would take!!

The wedding day was just beautiful, at such a beautiful winery!! We started with a first look, then some family pictures before the ceremony. The ceremony was very special to me, with the officiant being another friend and also the groom of another wedding I was blessed to shoot. I can't explain how special weddings are to me, especially when I have friends that are a part of the wedding. I feel like I can't ever use enough exclamation points!!!! :) I had lots of fun catching up with friends a little, and meeting the fun guests during the reception! It was just an amazing day!!

Through all of the days, it was so awesome to see the love between these two. They are a couple that just obviously has fun together, and I hope you can feel that through the pictures. There was so much beauty through all of this, I could go one for a long time, but I will just stop and just say Happy Anniversary Danica and Matt!! I hope this day finds you extremely happy (and drinking great wine)!!

Happy Anniversary to a special couple!! Just two weeks before my first anniversary last year, I was blessed to be able to share in a very special day for Ryan and Haley. It was the day that they took their wedding vows, and it was a beautiful reminder to me of the love that I felt on my wedding day. These two showed such beautiful love that it still makes me smile when I think of them! It was impossible for me to NOT smile while taking their photos!! They have been through some major life changes in their first year, but I know that their love holds strong. I pray that these photos bring a smile to your face Ryan and Haley, and to everyone else who views them! Your wedding was beautiful and I am so thankful that I could be a part of it! I don't think you can help but see the love and joy on their faces!! Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary to this beautiful couple!! I hope that today has been a wonderful day and that you remember your wedding day with great joy!! It was a beautiful day at the Butterfly House, although no one could deny the heat!! :) We started the formal pictures at Faust Park with a first look that I thought was pretty special!! This couple has an absolutely adorable set of twins, and I thought it was just so beautiful to see their love for each other shared in that special first look moment, without anyone else watching!!! The twins definitely made for some adorable moments throughout the day, and this fun couple and their wedding party were great sports to pose for pictures in the heat! The wonderful staff of EdgeWild were awesome enough to let us seek refuge in their air conditioning to do a few pictures too! The ceremony and reception at the Butterfly House were gorgeous, and the bride and groom were patient with me as I pulled them away for another quiet moment to themselves during the reception, to capture the beautiful scenery!! Their day was a lot of fun and I feel very fortunate to have met everyone involved with this wedding! Happy Anniversary Caitlyn & Aaron!!!

It was a year ago today that I was blessed to be a part of Colleen and Dino's big day! I enjoyed this beautiful couple's day so much! They got married at Chaumette Winery down in Ste. Genevieve, and it was just a great day! The wedding ceremony in the chapel was very intimate with a good friend of the couple serving as officiant. (More about him a bit later!) The day was very warm, so the hayride around the property was cut a little short, but we got some great shots among the grape vines. Just after taking a few shots of the bride and groom, I was absolutely shocked when a car stopped just as we were about to cross the road, and two of my great friends (who live in California now and were there for a different wedding) got out of the car!!! It was such a gift to get to see them in the midst of such a beautiful day! After the short hayride, the wedding party returned to a beautiful reception ceremony with great food and lots of fun!! Remember that friend who was the officiant? He is actually Dino and Colleen's neighbor and is basically family. Apparently, they had a bit of a joke going that he would wear a kilt and dance to the song the Drunken Scotsman, and boy did he! One of my absolute favorite pictures from the day is when Pat did the dance, and Colleen's reaction! ;) All in all, the day was absolutely wonderful and I feel so honored to have been able to share in it. Happy Anniversary to a great couple!!!

Happy Anniversary to this awesome couple!!! This day last year I was shooting a beautiful wedding, the day before my camp for the Disabled Athlete Sports Association started. I remember feeling so serene as I was able to be a part of such a beautiful day for two great people. I met the bride when she was a bridesmaid in another wedding that I shot, for another great couple. Courtney and Jason are just a wonderfully in love couple, so in love that I think it is obvious in the pictures. It was a blessing to be a part of their day, and I hope that this past year has been a great one for them and that these photos bring everyone a bit of their happiness!

Happy One Year Anniversary to a great couple!! Last year I was blessed to get to be a part of Jill & Shane's beautiful wedding at Chandler Hill Vineyards. It was a great day, with a beautiful ceremony blending two families. The bride and groom were full of laughter throughout the day, and I think the kids had a great time too!! The weather was a lot cooler than today's 90 degree weather, and we had just enough time to get through all the pictures before it started to rain! But the rain made for a great ring shot opportunity! I had a blast throughout the whole day because Shane is a real jokester that I have known for years, and I enjoyed giving him some trouble while we were taking pictures of him and his wonderful new bride!!  One of my favorite images is Jill looking at the camera with an "Oh geez" expression in response to something Shane did, as he is just laughing. Jill is a perfect match for Shane and his craziness, and I am so happy that I could capture some fun memories of their day for them! I have gotten to be good friends with Shane and Jill, and I feel just so lucky that I could be with them on such an awesome day, so here I am a year later finally blogging about it!!

I hope you can feel the love and joy through these photos!

I have been thinking for a while now that I should really blog again someday. Things have been really busy with lots of adorable babies and families to take pictures of these last few months, along with the winding down of the school year (which equals LOTS of meeting), and trying to plan a camp have not left a lot of downtime. However, at church this morning this portion of a blog by Amy Young written about Mother's Day was read to us, and I knew I had to share it because it is just beautiful. The whole blog post is great, but this part in particI hope that whatever meaning this day holds for you, that you have been blessed today and that you had a great day!!!

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren -yet that dream is not to be, we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

To those who placed children up for adoption — we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

- See more at: http://timewarpwife.com/?p=3120#sthash.pRZMXIr9.dpuf

I have told this awesome couple that I would write this blog for probably at least a year, so here it is finally! This is a very special family to me, and I feel extremely blessed to have gotten to know them. I met Sarah and Will at a wedding show probably in 2010, and was honored to have them pick me to take their wedding photos. I remember thinking they were going to be a fun couple from the very beginning. Then, while doing engagement pictures, I got a glimpse of truly the fun I would have with these two! Will was being silly and creeping out from behind a pillar and sneaking up on Sarah, so I told him to do it again and I set my flash up so it would look even creepier, to be funny. Needless to say, it ended up being one of my favorite shots!! Well, their wedding was a few months later and of course it was beautiful and I had a great time! When they had their daughter the next year, I was absolutely thrilled that they asked me to take her pictures!! Baby girl is absolutely adorable!! I do feel for her though, as she will have to deal with that crazy Will for a dad! ;) So, in her newborn session, we agreed that we needed to continue our tradition of creeper pics for all of her sessions as well....except I now realize that we didn't actually do one at their wedding! Oops! Regardless, this family has a fun tradition of daddy watching out for his little girl...which may look a little creepy for some pictures!! I love this family, and I look forward to seeing what our next session will bring to the table! It is always a fun time to see what we come up with and just to spend time with a great couple who now have a beautiful little girl! Enjoy the fun of these shots!

Happy 2014 everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm, even in St. Louis with the "polar vortex" or "snowmageddon" or whatever you want to call it! It is way too cold for my taste! But, I have really enjoyed staying in the house and getting somewhat caught up with things!!

I have been going back and forth with myself for a while about writing this blog. I am going to raise my prices this year, and that is not a decision that is easy for me to make. I am increasing my session fee by only $25, to $150 for a session. I will continue to require a $25 print purchase before I give the DVD of images. I have been debating because, as many of you know, I love photography and I love being able to provide great pictures to my clients for a reasonable price. But, I do know that I am way undercharging for the type of photography I do. I know you can go get pictures at a studio in the mall for a lower price, but I believe that I provide a much better experience for you and your family when I bring my studio to you and really take the time to capture the personality of whomever I'm taking pictures! I treasure the relationships I have built with my clients, love seeing the babies I photograph growing up, and enjoy getting to know couples as they get engaged, married, and have a baby. It is such a huge blessing to be a part of so many lives! So, I truly hope that my price increase will not deter any of my current clients or new clients from using me as their photographer. When you look at other professional photographers, you will realize that this is a very low price, but I realize that for some it will seem expensive. I am increasing my price to cover some more of the costs of my education, my cute props, and the new camera I so desperately want!! :) All of these will help me to improve my photography, which I am always striving to do so that I can provide better service to my clients!! I love my "job" of photography, and I thank you so much for checking out my page and hope you enjoy what you see here!

 

The slideshow is a collection of some of my faves from 2013! I look forward to seeing how my photography improves in 2014, and I thank you for being a part of that!

 

Wow it has been a while since I have blogged! Life has been more than a little crazy! This is the first blog since I got married myself! So, fitting that I am blogging about a wedding! And a great wedding it was! It was a bit of a crazy day for me, as I had to go buy a new camera in the middle of the day because my camera decided it wanted to go on strike! Thankfully, I have known Caitlin for a few years and she is super laid back and was okay with me going to get a new camera while her bridesmaids got their hair done. The camera worked beautifully and I got beautiful pictures of Caitlin and Greg's amazing wedding day with both the new, and my back up cameras!! The day was perfect, with a fun wedding party, gorgeous weather, colorful leaves (including a perfect heart shaped leaf that was just waiting for me by my car!), a beautiful church, amazing reception hall, and of course a couple whose love for each other is evident in every look that they share. I was truly blessed yesterday to be a part of such a special day!!

I had the honor of capturing the memories for Alex & Melissa Hottelman on their beautiful wedding day yesterday. Melissa made and absolutely gorgeous bride, and Alex was a very handsome groom. This is a couple who is very much in love, and it was a great joy to be able to be a part of their special day. With beautiful bridesmaids in extremely cute (and dangerously high) heels, and groomsmen who were handsome and full of jokes and laughter, this was one good looking and FUN wedding party! The day was filled with awesome memories, including me entertaining the family and wedding party with my child portrait photography skills (think of me making silly sounds and playing peek-a-boo behind my camera) to get genuine smiles during formal portraits, stopping traffic in downtown St. Charles, getting the owners of a cool classic car to stop and let us take pictures with the car, many funny poses for pictures, and of course the best of all: Alex & Melissa became husband and wife! I had a blast shooting this wedding day, and I hope you will enjoy the pictures!!

Today for Mother's day I want to share some pictures and prayers...

For all mothers I pray for rest and peace and that everyday you would have renewed strength to love and care for your children.

For mothers who have lost a child, I pray that God will wrap you in His arms and hold you close and that you will know He is holding your child close too.

For those who have lost their mother, I pray for peace and that God will heal your heart a little bit each day.

For those who are longing to be mothers, I pray for peace and trust in God's will for your life. I've seen in my own family how good His will can be!

For those who have adopted a child, I pray a special blessing for embracing a child who may not have been in the best of situations without you.

 

I hope that you will see these pictures and feel the same joy and love that I do when I look at them. It is an honor and a blessing to have been a part of these families lives, even if just for a day. Thank you to all my clients for allowing me to share in your family's love, and Happy Mother's Day!

Okay, here it goes. I have never written a blog like this. I have written about how blessed I am and skirted the issue of God's love, but I have never REALLY written about it. Last weekend I went on a 3 day retreat where the whole purpose was to really feel God's love. There were a small number of women attending and a lot of women serving. We were meant to feel how much God loves us, and to feel the love of other Christian women. It worked. I have never felt as much love and as many emotions as I did that weekend. I learned a lot about myself and things I need to be thankful for and what I need to do to share God's love with others. I have always felt that my photography is one way that I serve others, by providing good pictures for a reasonable price. But, this weekend I felt like I needed to do more. I need to tell people about Jesus, at the risk of turning some people off or making them think I am some kind of Bible thumper! I'm not trying to cram religion down anyone's throat, I just want to share what I feel in my heart to be true. I hope that you either already know the same, or you will find hope in hearing the "good news". I am a sinner just like everyone else. I make a TON of mistakes, say things I shouldn't ALL the time, and God STILL loves me! God sent his only son, Jesus, to die on a cross so that my sins and all of our sins would be forgiven. I cannot begin to comprehend this kind of love or understand how it is even possible, but I know that this is the only way that I can make it through life. This is my hope. Without God I don't know how someone could get through a single day, not having hope in him and hope that someday the suffering and craziness of this world will be over. Because Jesus died for me and for all of you, we are completely forgiven and God sees us as his sons and daughters if we accept this to be true. I don't know about you, but I have a really hard time forgiving myself, let alone someone else who has hurt me. But God doesn't have that problem, so that makes it a little easier to forgive and focus on the positive and hope for the future. I hope that this blog doesn't turn you off from my photography, and I hope that it can give you a better understanding of me. I am not perfect by any means, but I want to strive harder to love others and to share God's love, and this is my first step.

 

This was the Bible verse for my weekend last weekend, and I would like to share it with you. "God told them "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect Love, Love, and More Love." Jeremiah 31:3

I had the great joy and honor of shooting Alli and Colin's wedding today. The weather could not have been more fabulous, and the bride and groom were absolutely adorable. The way that they look at each other, you can just tell how much in love they are. They are so sweet! It was an eventful day complete with 18 month old twins running/pulling the flower girl in a wagon down the aisle (with dad's help), some pictures with some random renaissance characters in Forest Park, a CRAZY amount of people in Forest Park, some emergency packing tape pulled out of awesome Katy the second shooter's car, and a stop at Ted Drewe's for some ice cream! But most importantly, Colin and Alli stood before their friends and family and before God and pledged their love to each other. It was a beautiful ceremony, and a beautiful day. I feel so blessed to have been a part of it, and I wish them many blessings for their future!

I got to take pictures of my wonderful co-worker Laura's second little boy a few weeks ago. I think he is my first sibling of a baby I have photographed through the first year. I was startled by just how much I could tell that he looks JUST like his big brother!! Enjoy looking at the pictures! The only way you can really tell which ones are Aidan and which ones are Tyler is because Aidan's have a big Creative Visions logo! :)

I was blessed today to get to meet not just one sweet baby, but TWIN baby boys and their big brother and parents!  Big brother Reese greeted me at the door and was a hoot! I love the things a four year old will say!! If the twins are anything like big brother, I think mom and dad are going to have a lot of fun! Born four weeks early, and almost to their due date, these little guys were super sweet. Dean looked very concerned for most of the session, and Blake had some expressions that definitely seemed to show what he thought of my shenanigans! :) Both boys did great for their first modeling session, although they were mostly happy at different times! We finally wore them out and got both asleep at the very end. Such sweet babies, I wish mom and dad all the best. Thanks for letting me meet your special little guys!!

When I was on my way to Imaging USA in Atlanta back in January, I read an article on the plane about "signing" your art. I realize that some may have a problem with this, but I have begun "signing" my pictures with a small logo on the lower right side. You would not expect to buy a painting without a signature. Just as the painting is the painter's artwork, my photography is my artwork and I feel like I need to sign it. You can see the logo in the pictures on this blog, it is small and in some images won't even hardly show up. I do hope that you can appreciate why I feel like I need to make this change in my business.

 

And now I want to talk about how fantastic the world of Macro Photography has been to me! I feel like it has reignited my desire to "play" with photography. Everywhere I look, I see ordinary things that will look really cool up close and personal. It has been a blast playing again, but I can't wait to use my wonderful new macro lens to get some great images for clients. Enjoy my "fun"!

Today I did my first experiment with Mini-Sessions! I was a little nervous, as these were only 30 minute sessions, and part of what I love is getting to know the kids and having fun with them. But when everything is set up, 30 minutes seems to be plenty of time to get pictures in line with a specific theme, and time to have fun!!

 

Despite a lower turnout than I had hoped (darn illness!), I count the day a great success! I had four sessions, with 6 kids and boy was it fun! Check out the pictures for yourself and you will see!

Here I am on my last day of January, writing my second blog post of the month and thus meeting my goal of blogging twice in one month! (at least for 1 month!) 

I want to talk about not only how blessed I am! I am blessed that God gave me a talent and passion for photography. And I am blessed to be able to share that with others, which is why I believe He gave me such a gift. I have been so blessed to share in so many lives through weddings, family portraits, and numerous baby sessions. The best compliment anyone can pay me and my business is by hiring me to do multiple sessions for them! The pictures in this gallery are of my little friend Alyssa. She turned 3 back in November, and I am honored to have been taking pictures of her since she was 9 days old!! It is amazing to be able to share glimpses into who this spunky little girl is growing up to be!! She has always been a hat girl courtesy of her mom and grandma (sadly I am not locating her 9 month session, the parade of hats, right now), So, I was delighted to see her put on a purple leopard print cowboy hat and the second shot I took was a perfect image of sassy! I hope you enjoy looking at some of the pictures of Miss Alyssa growing up!!

One of my goals for 2013 was to blog at least twice a month....with 6 days left in January I better get to it!!! I started out the year in an amazing way. I went to Imaging USA, a national photography conference, in Atlanta. I was very nervous the night before I left, afraid I would not find anyone to hang out with or that I would feel out of place. Turns out, God had a way different plan! My first night, a group of 6 strangers came together at a conference organized dinner. We weren't all meant to be at this particular restaurant, but we all ended up there together. The ease that I think we all felt together was amazing. For the rest of the weekend the 5 of us girls met up to go to classed we were mutually interested in, met for lunch, and for dinner. When we went out to dinner on our final evening, I know I was genuinely sad to have to say goodbye the next day. I truly felt like I made 4 new best friends. I know that my weekend in Atlanta has changed my life both personally and professionally. I learned a lot of great information to improve my photography, and I now have a solid group of great photographers to help me grow. But more importantly, I feel confident that I have made lasting friendships with people that share my love of photography. I so look forward to seeing our friendships and businesses grow!!

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have written on the blog! Things have been great, just super busy! think I had 4 sessions per weekend over the past 2 months, and I still have a full-time job!! Such a huge blessing to be able to capture memories for so many people! Yesterday I had a record FIVE sessions in one day! It was great! I stayed Friday night in Odessa and had 4 fun family sessions with some awesome families at probably the coolest location I've gotten to shoot before!  I LOVE old barns, and we were at a farm with some really neat old barns and a very rustic feel. The temperature was great! It would have been absolutely perfect if it wasn't for the crazy wind!! We didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked because we would have gotten blown away! Really though, we stayed a little more contained in an attempt to be somewhat sheltered from the wind. All 4 families in Odessa were super sweet, with adorable kids. I had a blast, and was so honored to be asked to come out there! I had a great time!!

After the last session in Odessa, I headed back toward St. Louis and stopped in Columbia to see a friend from college and meet her adorable baby boy. It was so awesome to be able to meet her little boy and get to take some pictures of him for her, and get to hang out for a bit and catch up!

As soon as I got home I started loading pictures, and was thrilled to see so many great shots!! I hope that all of the families, and all of you, love the pictures as much as I do!!

This post is going to be about blessings. Plain and simple, I am feeling overwhelmed by how blessed I am to have been given a gift for photography! Last week I had the great honor to be let in on the secret of Elizabeth's pregnancy before her family was told. Then, I got to capture the Burford family's reaction as they were told the awesome news! To be allowed into a private moment like that, it is amazing! I was so excited for Elizabeth & Nathan!

Yesterday I had a long day of shooting, with lots of driving and craziness in between. The morning got off to a rough start with my GPS leading me down the wrong road because of construction (and yet I still haven't updated my maps!) and consequently showing up to meet the sweet Bollinger family late and flustered. Then my second stop wasn't found by GPS, but Tara walked me through getting there over the phone, thankfully! Baby girl didn't want to sleep during my 3rd session, but Amber and Thomas are wonderful parents already and we were able to get some great shots! And then the crazy scary rain came on my way to my 4th and final session of the day with 2 sisters, Natalie and Laura. They were troopers and we took pictures under an umbrella for them, and one for me to shoot under. And we got some great shots for their mom for her birthday!

All through the craziness of the whole day, and as it always does when I am taking pictures, the craziness took a back seat to the fun of capturing memories. No matter what happened surrounding the pictures, I was blessed to be trusted with capturing those moments for 4 different families yesterday.

Some people tell me I need to slow down and I need to take time for myself, and sometimes I agree because I get overwhelmed with pictures to edit and I get stressed. But then I remember that the pictures that I take are going to be treasured by others, and hopefully my pictures will be a blessing back to them. God has given me a gift for photography, and I love to share it with others!

 

 

Last night I did my second cake smash of the week. I always have fun with cake smashes, but last night was my niece Elizabeth so it was really special. It is always so cool to see a baby that I have been photographing throughout their first year destroying a cake for the first time. I can usually predict how crazy the baby (or babies) will get. I have done 2 sets of twins in the last 2 weeks, both of which have been fantastically messy and fun. Elizabeth could compete with 2 babies with cakes any day, she isn't called "Izzy Bear" for no reason! We could foresee a BIG mess and so we decided to do hers outside. Izzy did not disappoint! By the end she was dragging both hands (full of icing) over her face, laughing. I love babies making a mess (as long as I don't have to clean up!), so this blog is devoted to my favorite cake smash pictures from the past couple months. I hope this brings a smile to your face, I know it does for me!!

My poor blog probably feels terribly abandoned! I have never been good at keeping a journal or diary, so why should I think it would be different if I were to be typing my thoughts on my computer? Well, I thought it would be different because it is about my photography which I could talk about all day! But, then there is that pesky thing called life and it is crazy and I haven't felt like I had the time to stop editing in order to type! In one week I took pictures of 2 weddings and a total of 13 children (8 different sessions). I loved every minute of it, but I am still SO behind!! I wanted to take this little bit of time to write and share some of the images from my insanely busy week last week. All of the sessions were awesome and I feel so very blessed to be able to share these with you!

 

I also wanted to announce that I am going to raise my prices beginning August 1st. I am going to charge $125 for a portrait session, and require the minimum $25 print purchase before providing the DVD of images. I have been spending a lot of time in the car, and a lot of money on gas. I also feel like the quality of my work has gotten significantly better since I started and I have never changed my price.  I am going to begin offering First Year Packages for babies (Newborn, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year. For $500 you will get 5 sessions. You can pay the $500 up front or pay $125 for the first four and the fifth will be free, like a birthday present for you too!  If I have already taken pictures for you in the past, I will do one more session for $100 and then I will change my pricing for the next session. I hope that this sounds fair to everyone, and that you will continue to choose me as your photographer!

What a blessing to have the opportunity to take the first professional pictures of a baby! Multiply that blessing by one hundred (or more!) when that baby is your brand new niece!! Yesterday Mia Elizabeth had her first of many many photo shoots to come. Miss Mia will be the newest most-photographed baby in my life, and I am so excited! With her head full of dark hair and those big brown eyes, she is just BEAUTIFUL!! And it helps that her mommy and daddy are two of my favorite people, my sister and brother-in-law. :)  I am so thrilled that I will be her aunt with a camera ever-present to capture her beauty. I am loving this sweet baby girl already and I know that just like all the other nephews and nieces I have, she will have me wrapped around her little finger in no time. Welcome Baby Mia!

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE taking photos?!?! I have taken a lot of pictures since my last post, it's been a little crazy! Adorable little babies and great families, but yesterday I was blessed to get to shoot a beautiful wedding on what I heard someone say was the hottest day of the year thus far.

I met this couple, Laura & Dan at a wedding show last year, and took their engagement pictures last fall. They are such a sweet couple, I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to shoot their wedding.

The ceremony was short and sweet and afterward we took pictures in the chapel and then loaded a bus to head out for some wedding party photos. It was a hot day, but we stayed in the shade for some outdoor shots at Faust Park and the whole wedding party were great sports! I had a blast with the whole day, especially when we got to the reception and everyone was having fun on the dance floor!

The pictures by the old barn are some of favorites that I have taken. I hope you like them too! Enjoy some of my favorite images from this beautiful wedding day!!

Wow, so it has been a REALLY long time since I posted anything to my new blog! EEK! So, there have been a LOT of sessions, a vacation, and an ENGAGEMENT since my first post!! I have been a little busy, and oh so very blessed!!! I really wanted to try and blog every week, but clearly that has not happened thus far. I wanted to say a bit about my sessions, maybe each week. But since I have waited so long, I am going to start over by just sharing a bit of personal stuff and tell you about how I got engaged on vacation!! :)

My fiance (oh how I love saying that!) Tim proposed to me in the most perfect way I can imagine for me. We were taking a private tour of our favorite winery in Healdsburg, CA in the Sonoma Valley. We were just walking around and I, of course, was taking pictures of their beautiful vineyard. Then, Tim suggested that we stop by the vines and take some pictures. We had two friends with us, Will and Carrie. So I handed my camera to Will thinking that we would take Tim and me first, then take some of Will and Carrie next. So we took some regular pics, then some silly, then Tim said "What if I pretend to propose?" and got down on one knee and held out a ring! I stared...seriously for at least a minute!! I was shocked!! Finally, I said "Seriously?!" then started crying and hugged him. Tim and Carrie both had to comment on how I hadn't actually answered before I finally yelled "Yes! Yes! Yes!!" And probably the best thing about all of  his proposal, besides the fact that I am now engaged to the man I love and that I have a GORGEOUS ring, is that I have pictures of the whole thing courtesy of Will. And I have video courtesy of Carrie. So there is my perfect proposal story in a nutshell!

 

My plan is to tell you about some of my awesome sessions that I have had lately, like the wedding I will be shooting tomorrow, and the wedding I shot two weeks ago!

This is my first blog ever and I have to say that it is a little strange! I have been wanting to start a blog forever and here I am! My photography has really taken off in the past year, and I couldn't be more excited. I feel that my photography is a wonderful gift from God, and I am thrilled to be able to share that gift with others. There is nothing that makes me feel happier than getting messages like these:

"They're adorable!!!!! wow! Tears tears tears!!!

"You must have really made an impression on my son. He's been talking about you all week and keeps telling me he wants to see Kim."

"How am I going to choose and this is not even all of them....sooo good!!"

"Thanks for everything.....can't wait for you to capture our daughter as she grows and her future siblings!"

 

I love being able to capture memories for my clients, and I look forward to watching babies and families grow!!