The Gift That Takes Your Breath Away

Meet Brie......and her Baby!!!I am so lucky to know Brie. She is a wonderful friend of mine from my world at the hospital. We work together in the operating room. Brie and her husband are almost ready to welcome their new son into the world. If you ask her, I think that she would say that she was ready to welcome him a couple of weeks ago! I think that everyone feels pretty much the same toward the end of their pregnancy... you can hardly breath when you think about what an amazing gift will soon be in your arms, not only that, but there is usually an elbow or foot right under your rib making it difficult to take any deep breaths!Pregnancy... what a miracle...the beginning of live, the beginning of family, the beginning of parenting... the most wonderful challenge and gift that god can bless any family with. I was so excited to capture these beautiful images of Brie. I can not wait for her to look at these photos years from now or even one month from now and try to remember how if was to have that precious little one growing in her tummy.What a privilege it was to spend this time with Brie... She is so beautiful, and she is so excited to have this new addition to her family. This will be her first child, and I know she will be a wonderful mother. Her love for life, her kindness and her wonderful laugh will surely be a blessing for her as she jumps into her new adventure with her husband as parents. I can not wait to meet this new little boy. Congratulations Brie!

Oh... Sweet Baby Mae

My sister and brother-in-law welcomed a sweet baby girl to their family last week. If you do not remember my sister, click **HERE** to see a couple of photos of her family before this sweet addition. We were so lucky to spend time with her immediately after her birth. Little Mae is just the most amazing little girl ever. She is following all of the rules, and is absolutely beautiful. I am hoping to get to see them again in the next few days so that I can get some more shots of her to share with you. Here are a few from her first few hours in this great big world.

Finally... the Bride and Groom!

Here they are.... Travis and Jessi. They make such a wonderful couple. I know I have said it throughout the last two posts, but I just loved what this wedding was all about. They did not get lost in the flowers, the cake, or the program... they got lost in eachother. Now, don't get me wrong, the details were all in place, but they just did not get stressed out by them. Their relaxed attitude made everyone there smile. It made all of us realize that this couple was meant to be... that this family was finally complete... that God has blessed them with eachother. What a life they are going to have!Congratulations Travis and Jessi. What a blessing that you have found eachother. Thank you for trusting me to capture this amazing day in your life!

Mama... I am a whole handful old today!

My little Ava, she turned five in July. She woke up on her birthday and held her hand up and said, "Mama, I am a whole handful old today." It made me just melt. I can hardly believe it. She is growing up so fast. If I could stop time and just keep her like she is for a little longer I would. I know that sounds very cliche... but it is true. I am quite sure she really excited about growing up and learning new things, but she has assured me that she will not leave home... ever. I will have to remind her that again when she is 16!

I have to include a photo of her cake.... I am quite proud that I made it myself! She loved it and that made it even better. I knew that that high school job at Baskin and Robbins would pay off some day! We had a chocolate fountain with pink chocolate and a fountain of pink lemonade all thanks to Sweet Fountains. Thanks to them... I saw many many pink chocolate mustaches and smiles.

In just a few weeks Ava will be starting kindergarten. She is fine with it, I however am not. I just feel like it is the end of some special part of life, the end of really being carefree or of not having responsibility. I think that I am like the mama bird in this picture.... still feeding these babies even though they are too big to be in the nest and need to get out on their own... just like this mama bird, I am afraid to let her fly on her own.

I know I am being silly, and this is just another exciting stage in her life. I am excited to watch her learn and grow, but I will miss the innocence of being a young child. I went back and looked over a few things from when Ava was a baby and I just wanted to share them with you while I prepare myself to send my baby off to school....

This is part of a message I wrote to her when she was 13 months old...

... I love the way your hair sticks out in every direction when you sit up after a bottle, I love the way you tip your head to the side with a huge smile and hug me, I love how wobbly you walk, I love the way you say "duck", I love your cheeks, I love how happy you are in the morning, I love seeing your mind grow, I love watching you squat down to look at things, I love the way you laugh, I love the way you stuff handfuls of Cheerios in your mouth, I love finding you in a different position every time I check on you while you are sleeping, I love the way you throw food on the floor and then look at it as if you are surprised that it is there, I love the way your eyes look when they are tired, I love the touch of your hand.... Good luck to her as she starts this new and exciting time in her life.... please keep me in your thoughts as I sob when I send her off to kindergarten with her new backpack and lunch box.

Marriage and A New Family

I was so impressed with the marriage of Jessi and Travis. They focused on being relaxed, ensuring that all of their kids were completely comfortable with the marriage, and the combination of their two families. What a fabulous job they did. These kids were wonderful. They were happy, relaxed and totally fun to be around!

This is Finnley... what a cutie. Finnley was shy for ummm about 20 seconds! I loved seeing him smile. He is just so sweet, and was so proud to be a ring bearer.

Alesia... she was ummmm not shy at all. She was so happy, thrilled to be wearing her dress, honored to be a flower girl and completely in love with her new family.

Meet Alex. I loved that Alex was able to hang out, be himself, climb trees, and just enjoy the day as he celebrated his family.

Here is Aunia, she is the teenager of the group. What a sweet girl. She helped with all of the details and the set up. I loved that she asked for a photo with her dad (what teen does that!!) She is a great girl.

These kids made this day so amazing. They were so happy and supportive of their parents, what an honor it was to be a part of this day. Photos of the bride and groom are coming soon!

Details From a Beautiful Day

I had the opportunity to shoot a beautiful wedding in Mill Creek a few weeks ago. This couple is just amazing. I am going to show you their wedding through a couple different posts. It was a privelege for me to be able to share their day with them. Anyone present at this ceremony could easily see that the most important thing about this big day was not just the bride and groom, it was the merging of their two families as one. Jessi has one fabulous little boy, and Travis has three beautiful children. As you will soon see, they have each done a beautiful job raising these kids, they are each wonderful.

Travis and Jessi were so laid back and relaxed on their big day. What a breath of fresh air they are. Imagine... a beautiful back yard, only your family and closest friends, letting your children wear clothing their are comfortable in, a white cotton dress, wearing jewelry that a close friend made...
going to the Saturday market for your flowers...

your sister as your maid of honor...
your mom to look after all of the details...

fabulous shoes...
and delicious cupcakes from Hello Cupcake...


The beauty in this wedding stretched far beyond just the bride and groom. It was amazing to watch their kids, and see the joy in their faces as they celebrated their parents and their new family. You will meet them on the next post!

Turning one can be so much fun!

Do you remember baby Adeline? I had the pleasure of taking her photo when she was five months old.

Click **HERE** to see more photos from that session. I had so much fun photographing her... I got some of my favorite baby toes photos at that shoot. Now little Adeline is one, and I was honored to have her parents invite me to capture memories for them at her first birthday party.

It was a little overwhelming at first for little Adeline... turning one can be a little stressful. She clung onto her daddy. She loves her daddy, and her daddy loves her as well. I have a photo from our first shoot of Adeline and her daddy in my Father's Day post. He was just in awe of his perfect little girl... she is one now, and nothing has changed. I love seeing little ones explore their cake. They are finally given freedom to eat sweets, often times this is a first for them... what holds them back? Some day I will have to show you a photo of my Olivia when she turned one... then the answer for her to that question is nothing! Nothing could slow her down... she ate and ate and ate until we peeled the cake out of her pudgy little hands. Little Adeline had more self control than Olivia! She seemed to explore her cake with a little more time and grace.You did not need to be one to enjoy this great party. They pulled out all of the stops for this event. They had a giant jumpy house for the bigger kids to enjoy. There was a fabulous little girl who could jump like no one I have ever seen before. Amazingly enough she said she is not a gymnast.... she should be!

How about the loot in this pinata! I have never, NEVER seen such good treats in a pinata... there was hello kitty lip gloss, toy soldiers, chocolate, confetti, chocolate, and did I mention chocolate. Notice how full the goodie bags are and how much loot is still left to be collected.Little Adeline had the most beautiful traditional Korean dress. Her grandmother had it for her, and she looked like a little doll in it.I love the details in this dress, and I love the contast of the pearls on her dark hair. It has been so much fun to watch this little girl grow. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of her day.