Amanda + Mike= Wedding :)

Last weekend, I traveled down to Rockingham, NC to shoot my very first wedding (!) for Mike and Amanda. I had never met them before, and really didn't quite know what to expect... BUT I had a great time and am so blessed that they allowed me to shoot their wedding!

They had these cute little wedding activity books made out for all of the kiddos! I thought it was a great idea.

A few detail shots: The bouquet. Did I mention that their colors were blue and purple? It was truly a day of firsts for me on many levels!

A friend of Amanda's made this box for her to go on her gift table.

The head table was adorned with this little guy!

Mike and Amanda's last name begins with K and they had their and all of their 6! kids' names on this K. I haven't seen that before and really liked it.

The bride getting ready:

I was able to get several fun shots with mirrors and really liked this one:

Amanda's daughter: watching her mom get ready as someone else was working on her hair. Look at those lashes! I'm jealous.

I like how you can just guess what her expression is here:

This one is priceless! This is the Matron of Honor. And that is a feather hairpiece she is trying to put in her hair... Eventually they compromised by wearing it like a boutonniere.

Amanda had such a great smile! Love it!

I was able to grab a few shots of the bride during the busy day!

Stunning!

Sweet ceremony moment.

P.S. The ceremony and the reception were in an older church with no windows, horrible light and dark wood paneling. I've never shot somewhere like that before and honestly, it was like my worst nightmare! Hah! So, hence the shadows being cast in this picture. I will definitely have to do more practice/research before shooting an indoor wedding again...

Such a sweet picture! This is one of Mike's sons holding Mike and Amanda's little boy during the ceremony. He actually drove him down the aisle in a little white wicker buggy. Possible the cutest thing I've seen in a long long time! But seriously, how sweet is this older sibling! It was evident how everyone in the family loved and cared for each other.

I think she got a little bored!

Again the shadows... but I love this sweet impromptu moment between the newlyweds as they were waiting for everyone to take pics.

First dance sweetness.

Did I mention this was a casual affair? Well, it most definitely was! Shortly after eating, I went to grab the newlyweds for a few portraits outdoors where I was more comfortable shooting and lo and behold... Mike had already changed out of his tux! So, Amanda promptly told him to go get dressed again and here she is helping him with his accessories. I love these next two! Especially Amanda's smile. I'm not sure she stopped smiling at all the entire day!

Once again, I am so jealous of those lashes!

And here is what happens when a baby gets cake! Hah!

The End! Mike and Amanda- thank you so much for letting me photograph your wedding! I had a blast... hope you like your pictures!

Baby Jacob

Ok- the last week has been PACKED, but finally, I got some pictures up on Baby Jacob on the blog to give Heather and Kevin a little sneak peak! Baby Jacob was 11 days old back when I took these pictures and Heather and Kevin were still adjusting to life with a newborn: sleepless nights, lots of hours nursing, lots of guests, and lots of snuggling. :)

On a side note, I was especially excited to go meet Baby Jacob since Heather and I have been friends since elementary school. So, of course, I had to beg her to let me come take some pictures... (I am just now trying to gain a "client base" and am trying to get as much practice in as possible!) It feels very weird to offer my "services" to a friend (or anyone really) knowing that I believe I can do a good job... but there is always a little doubt. So the entire time I'm thinking, "what if I mess up?" "What if my shots aren't good?" "Should I shoot in aperture mode instead of manual just in case?" "What if there isn't good natural light in the house?" (I don't do very well with flashes yet...) And so on and so forth... you get the idea.

So, basically I was really nervous the entire time, but also really excited to meet baby Jacob and sit with Heather and find out how the birth went and how life has been since. And, since I was so nervous and figured I would be doing most of my shooting indoors, I brought along my old pair of glasses so that I would be able to focus better. However, halfway through the shoot, Heather took a break to feed Jacob and I took the time to flip through the LCD to check out the shots I took... and realized most of them were out of focus! I was so sad! and kind of humiliated! And realized it was because of my glasses! I was so used to shooting without them that they were actually messing me up... Oh well, lesson learned. Luckily, I got plenty of great ones anyway.

Meet Baby Jacob.

And Kevin. There was a great mirror right above his changing table (which had some great light on it) and I had a lot of fun playing with the mirror! I couldn't decide which one I liked better: The one where Jacob is more in focus and Dad is smiling. Or.

The one where Dad is in focus and Jacob is looking up at him?

And then of course, there is always the one where Mom is helping her son take care of his son... LOVE her expression here! Such a mom face!

Sweet boy in the yummy light!

You might remember this pose from Grey's newborn pics... but I still love it.

Love that Heather's hands are in this one! And those scrunchy little lips!

Hah! Couldn't resist!

Mom soothing baby down for a nap.

And Jacob in his crib- love the cool bedding!

And Jacob asleep on his shelf... I thought it looked like a cool idea... And it would be better if I could figure out how to post edit it and get the glare off of the shelf walls! But alas, I will have to learn how to edit my pics later on!

Yay, I got Heather to laugh in this one!

And a semi-family portrait to end!

Thanks Heather and Kevin for letting me come up and crash your family day! I enjoyed seeing you guys and meeting Baby Jacob- he is one lucky little dude with two GREAT parents!

Baby Liam :)

The other day I met up with Heather and her youngest son, baby Liam at the park. Heather and I go way back, back to elementary school days, but had lost touch with each other from high school on. Now, thanks to FB and our moving back to G'boro, we have caught up a little bit more and spent some time together. Hence, I was really excited to take some pics of baby Liam- isn't he adorable! He has the most intense eyes ever for a baby!

And here is the face that he gave me most of the time we were together!

He tried really hard to sit upright, but just couldn't quite make it all the time!

Did I mention the raspberry face above?? Yep, here it is again from another angle. :) But how cute is it that he is studying his feet here. Or maybe the grass? Or both. Yea, let's go with both.

Love it!

My favorite kind of family portrait. You can just see how much Heather adores her little boy!

Practicing his walking skills.

And a nice little portrait.

Maybe next time we can get Liam and his older brother Evan together?? Cuteness overload anyone?

Mickey er Minnie Kitty

Last week, someone dropped off a box of four little kittens by the back door of my school... for the third time this year. I, being the sucker that I am, offered to foster the kitten who did not have a furever home by the end of the day until one was found for him. How could you not be sucked into a face like this?

Skylar was overjoyed to have this little kitty in our house and relentlessly played with him. She wanted to call him Minnie (as in Mouse), but we tried to compromise with Mickey instead. However everytime we called him Mickey, she would correct us with his real name... There is no compromise with a two-year-old!

How precious is this little face!

Mickey er Minnie really enjoyed Grey's toys, most especially his floormat with the overhanging bars. Those were great fun to climb and chew on! As you can see- he was a great little climber. When I would walk around the house he would climb up on the back of my pants leg and just stay there for the ride!

You are going to be jealous of the next two that I got on camera. I just know it. I mean, who else has a ninja kitty!

And Ken? Well, at first he was a little upset that I brought home another animal home (this would be the third? fourth? time). However, he was definitely the first one to grab up the little guy for snuggle time on the couch. And you know where Mickey slept? Curled up on the bed in between the two of us! And the best part... when I sent him a text saying that the kitty had a new home as of the next day.. his answer, "Nooo! Not my snuggle buddy!" So yea, Ken is now a kitty guy. Rock on.

Jesus loves me, this I know

Lately we have been singing a lot of songs at home. Skylar has become quite the little performer and loves to sing all day every day instead of just at night-time. Her favorite song of the moment is Jesus loves me, this I know; and it is quite possibly the cutest thing ever!

It is also very touching for me to hear her sing this song in particular because this was the song sung at my father's funeral two years ago this June.

P.S. Don't judge us for not making her put her arms through the straps of her carseat... it's an on-going battle...

Cheyanne- for real or imaginary?

This is my niece Cheyanne... not to be confused with Skylar's imaginary friend named Cheyanne. As in, "Skylar do you love Mama?" "Nope, my wove Cheyanne." Or, "Skylar did you have fun at Nana's today?" "Uh-huh, and Cheyanne too." ... Or, "Skylar did you paint that picture!?" "Uh-huh, and Cheyanne too." ... Or, "Skylar, do you want to go to the store with Mama?" "Uh-huh, and Cheyanne come too?" This last one is interesting, b/c in these type of scenarios, Skylar will actually look to her side as if Cheyanne was really there.

Really, honestly... this is how Skylar answers about 98% of questions asked of her. Oh, and she also continues to call her "Shine" most of the time. I'm not sure if I should start to worry, or just accept that Skylar loves Cheyanne more than anyone in the world.