Congratulations Emily and Tomas!

Emily and Tomas were married last Saturday and it was such a beautiful wedding! Emily was an amazing bride! She remained so calm the entire day and had everything planned so perfectly. She seems like such an incredible person, the kind you meet for 5 minutes and can imagine being lifelong friends with. Tomas' family was so much fun! They were so emotional, which showed me just how happy they were to have Emily joining their family. They were also a self-proclaimed rowdy bunch, so I definately had my share of laughs! I had a blast the entire day and it looks like they did too. Their food was incredible, and I have to find out where their cake came from because it was the best wedding cake I have ever tasted!! Here are a few from their big day. Congratulations Emily and Tomas, I wish you both a lifetime of happiness!

5 months old!

Ryleigh is already 5 months old! I cannot believe how fast she has gone from a newborn I was cradling in my arms to this sweet little baby who is quickly learning many new things! She tries very hard to sit up on her own, and gets frustrated when she can't. She loves being outdoors and loves being cuddled. She is seriously the easiest baby to make smile, you just have to talk to her. Yep, just one word to her and her whole face will light up with a smile. She is such a sweetheart and was the perfect addition to our family just 5 short months ago. Here are some pictures from last night. I hope to take a few more tonight since our timing was a little off last night and I want to lower the "clothesline" a bit. I even tried some vintage processing, what do you think?

Just a reminder

Hello! I have a lot of weddings coming up in the next couple of months, and I just wanted to give the future bride and groom a reminder! Please remember there is an exclusive photographer clause in your contract!! I recently photographed a wedding where there were a couple of guests who were also taking pictures (with professional equipment). The problem was not that they were there taking pictures, it was that they were in my way constantly! One even tried to take over a pose and I let her do it and then went about my business. I was literally tripping over them and bumping into them. It interferes with my work and makes my job very difficult when I need to try to stay out of their way and make sure they are not using a flash at the same time I am. Normally, I say the more the merrier and appreciate that there is someone else there to capture moments that I can't, but it is just plain rude to interfere and constantly be in the way. I did not want to be rude in return, so I didn't say anything, but I am wishing I would have. There were several shots that had to be deleted because of interference from them. I have had several weddings where other photographers were guests, and they usually ask if it's okay and I love to have them there, once they know what will and won't interfere with me doing my job. If you are a guest at a wedding, PLEASE be respectful for all of the people hired to perform a role at the wedding. Please respect their space and allow them to do their jobs! It will make a much more pleasant situation for everyone.

And I couldn't post without a picture! Here are a couple of Ryleigh's first time meeting my grandparents, her great grandparents!

Our trip to the park

Here are some snapshots from our trip to the park our last night camping. I was looking through old scrapbooks from when Mady was little and my husband and I were commenting on how I am so wrapped up in the "perfect" pictures of my kids that I don't take as many snapshots. I made sure to take several (or a couple hundred!) while we were camping over the 4th. Here are a few! Everyone took a turn getting their picture taken with Ryleigh:

Yes, my husband is scruffy and needs a haircut and to shave!

Ryleigh loves to pull Mady's hair!


Mady was singing a song to Ryleigh and Ryleigh was looking at her with such adoration!



And here's one Mady took of me and Ryleigh. I have 30 pounds to lose, haven't showered and don't have make up on, but I thought I'd be a good sport and post it anyways!

Leighton was too busy swinging to take a picture with his baby sister!


And because I don't want to do a whole separate post of snapshots from the same day, here are a few of Ryleigh that I fell in love with!

Boy oh boy!

I go on vacation for a few days and fall really far behind! I want to apologize for everyone who is waiting on a phone call or email from me! I hope to get all caught up by tomorrow. I have several sessions to share with everyone, but don't have enough time right now, so here are a couple of Ryleigh from the last week or two. I couldn't post without sharing some pictures! Have a wonderful day and thank you for your patience!

Summer is here!

Summer is here and the Class of 2009 is starting to get their senior portraits taken. Here is one of my first seniors this season. He was a lot of fun to work with and has a great personality. He was also very polite, which is rare for teenage boys nowadays! Here's Jacob!