Hope & Troy: Engagement Session

Hope and Troy are going to have a beautiful garden wedding this summer on a river, and I'm looking forward to photographing it!

Hope wanted a black & white romantic feel to her engagement photos, back dropped by some of the city and that sounded like a lot of fun to me. I'll have more from their session to share soon.

Wedding Flowers . More of Amanda's Amazing Floral Design Work

Don't you agree that she does beautiful work? I loved every minute of photographing it! It got me even more excited for the upcoming wedding season and capturing the essence of each bride's wedding! :)
























Amanda Whitman, the brains behind this floral operation. 503.805.3724

Floral Designer . Amanda Whitman

Amanda contacted me to get some current photos of her floral design work for her advertisement on theknot.com and I had a blast shooting these pictures! She is one of those down-to-earth people that you just instantly love the first time you meet them! And her floral design work is simply beautiful. Very Martha Stewartesque.

I only have two shots to put up tonight but I can't wait to show you more of her amazing work. If you're a bride looking for a great floral designer, Amanda is your woman!
Call her soon to secure your wedding date: 503.805.3724 :)

Elijah: 3 mo old

This little guy already has this precious little personality that shines and is so easy to see at only 3 months old! I love that. I'm always amazed at how quickly babies change and how much Elijah has grown since I photographed him as a newborn 3 months ago. I'm already looking forward to seeing him again at his 6 month session!




Holding hands and talking with his big sister...

Madison . Class of 2010

I love the feel of this first shot... it's a little underexposed, but I really like it that way, so I left it on purpose.
Hayley did a beautiful job with Madison's hair and make up and Madison was SO easy to photograph. The three of us had a great time and I busted up laughing a couple times.... Madison, you can be so hilarious!

Happy Monday

I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to see this video, but I wished I could be there dancing right along when I watched it! :)

Sydney

I'm currently working on some photos from baby Elijah's 3 month shoot. Man is he cute! You may remember him from his newborn shoot last January. I'll share his photos soon. I thought I'd post just two shots of his older sister Sydney. She did so good to sit and read her book while I photographed her little brother, but its hard to share the spot light for very long. :) And how could I resist this face?! Adorable! She loves to have her picture taken. And she's one of my favorite people to photograph.

You make me so, very happy, I'm so glad you, came into my life...

In honor of Jude & Selah's birthdays I thought I'd share some things about them that are true to this season of life... especially since I'm pretty bad about keeping baby books, so the internet can help me out here. :)
(I keep photo albums with little notes about life at the time, does that count?)

Jude
. Now a big 3 year old! ...with a little attitude. :)
. But with the sweetest heart. He loves to wrap his arms around me, get nose to nose and say with a smile, "I love you Mommy." {sigh.... melt my heart}
. He loves tents, tea, and his buddy bear.
. He loves to be outside
. He loves trains and stories about trains (notice the train on his shirt)
. He loves to grab a blanket, climb up on the couch and say, "Let's get cozy, TOGETHER" and then he'll request an episode of Thomas the Train with a sparkle in his eye.
. My sweet Jude bug I love you so much! I adore your passion for life, your joyful personality, your clever thinking, your amazing memory, and your sweet spirit.


(Josh was playing with Jude and was tickling him upside down here)




Our friends Kim & Ken gave Jude "sucker balls" for his birthday.


Selah
. Now a big ONE year old!
. She loves to laugh and giggles when I say, "I'm gonna get you!"
. She loves to walk as much as possible (with assistance)
. She's intrigued by everything, and loves to watch and figure things out immediately
. She loves to eat and talk
. She loves to tell me every time she sees Noah our cat by pointing and saying, "Ba-Ba!"
. My sweet Selah girl, I adore you. I love your spunky spirit, your adorably cheesy grin that radiates happiness, your unique squawk, & that you love to be close to your mommy and daddy.





I love this face

My Babies...

...are ONE & THREE this month! I couldn't be more in love with them.


I took their pictures yesterday and we had so much fun. Jude was a crack up... a total toddler! These days I feel good if I can even get him to look in my direction when I have a camera in my hands. :) I don't have time to write the post I want to right now about my Jude-e-booty and my Chica-monkey, so it will have to wait until tonight. Have a wonderful day!

Drawn from the Water

Tonight before bed I checked my google reader and my friend Erica had blogged about this little 4 min video. I love her heart, so I knew I'd most likely like the video, and I took a moment to watch it before I shut down for the night. And here I sat at my computer in my dining room and my eyes began to well with tears. So I went to the video's website and read more about the orphanage and was really impressed. What a wonderful thing they are doing! I wanted to share and help get the word out about it. It hit close to my heart, especially having little ones of my own.

Craving Growth

Josh and I spent a couple days at the beach with good friends...

...and it was wonderful. It was needed. Jude and Selah got to spend two nights with Grandma (this was a first for all of us!) and I definitely missed them, but also found it to be really rejuvenating.

I had an amazing morning curled up in the reading nook reading Crazy Love, overlooking the ocean. Amazing. This book was recommended by a dear friend of mine and I'm so glad I picked it up at Borders the other night. It has brought me to tears a couple times. I'm loving it! (If you go to the Crazy Love website click on videos and watch The Awe Factor of God)

Later that day we enjoyed a walk on the beach. Here's a photo of Ivan and Josh in the Sylvia Beach Hotel. We took a few minutes to walk through it too. I didn't take my camera with me, but thankful Hayley had her camera. After cleaning its lens it took great shots! :) I had to tease her about it.


I've been living in my head a bit these days, which is why my blogging has slowed down a bit.

I'm definitely finding myself at a place with my photography where I'm wanting to stretch myself to grow to the next level! I feel like I've been steadily climbing the past two or three years, but now I'm at this spot where I'm having some frustrations... I want to be better. I'm craving inspiration. I have these ideas in my head of what I want future shoots to look like... all in good time. :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebrating the resurrection of Jesus!

Sisters

I grew up with brothers, so I don't know what it's like to have a sister, but I can tell it's pretty special. Although, I'll share my secret, that being the only girl growing up in our family had it's upsides too. :)

Seeing these four girls together I can tell they have something so sweet. They really love each other and I know they'll grow up extra close with one another because they're all only a year apart. Isn't that awesome? I'm sure mom and dad are giving so much right now... time, energy, sleep... but what a gift of friendship these sisters will have for life! And with two parents who clearly adore them.

Wendy, thanks for allowing me to capture this little window in your girl's lives!