YAY for Christmas!!!

I LOVE Christmas!!!

I get so stoked about the decorating, the fun traditions I have started with my family, and just the celebration of Jesus' birthday :) Seriously, I could listen to Christmas music all year long. My husband and I have been battling the playlists because he has to hear Christmas music all day long at work. I'm all like...Bah Humbug to you Mr. Scrooge ;)

So I have my sister and her husband in town and tomorrow night my mom flies in! EEEEEEK! I'm SO excited! It has been awesome having my folks here together...surreal even. I took the two love birds out for the fastest shoot I think I have ever done. I would have gone longer...BUT...we had to beg him to do it in the first place so when he was done I didn't push it. It's supposed to be fun anyway right???

I wanted to post a teaser of what we did today and also some pics of my house decorated for Christmas! Look at my knock-out sis and her awkward feeling hubby..hahaha!

You know I love ya Cam :)

I decided to do a fun red black and silver tree this year for the main tree. Main tree you ask???Yes, I kind of have a Christmas tree addiction...

Our very first Christmas ornament as a hitched couple :)

It's so much fun to have my kids doing all the fun crafty things for Christmas. I'm getting so many wonderful ornaments hand made with love. I made these stockings for the boys a while back...they are replicas of a stocking my Aunt had made for me many many moons ago...when I was a wee baby...

If you walk in the foyer, you will be greeted by a sweet little purple, pink and gold

vintage tree...

This is the tree that I dolled up for the guest room...love the green, black and blue...sounds so horribly violent for a Christmas tree but I think it's pretty :)

What fun traditions does your family have for Christmas?

John & Joanna {LoVe}

When Joanna contacted me to do some fun pictures for her and John's 2 year anniversary I was ecstatic! Her and John are so wonderful for each other. When I came over to her house for our pre-session consult I saw the proposal letter that John wrote...it hangs neatly framed on the wall. Yea, I was a mess after reading it. As I looked around their home, I noticed all these sweet messages they had written back and forth to each other. Their home oozes with the love they have for each other and more importantly the love they have for the Lord. These two stole a piece of my heart I think. I'm so thankful that our paths crossed. I wanted to try some stuff out that had been rolling around in my head. These two were like, "bring it on!" We had an amazing time and I am super stoked about their images. I have to say that John was such a sweetheart and flowed with anything and everything Joanna and I threw at him :)

Happy 2 years ya'll!

Joanna said this shot reminded her of "boy likes girl"...in kindergarten :)

Joe+Amber=engaged

I am so honored to spend the BIG day with these two!  Joe contacted me a couple months ago letting me know that he and Amber wanted me to be their wedding photographer.  They are planning a gorgeous wedding in July.  Can I just be honest and say that when I'm around them...I get giddy...it's the love...it's gotta be.  They are so wonderful.  I could just miniaturize Amber and stick her in my pocket she's that awesome!  A pocket Amber...everyone needs one.  We trucked through knee high snow and braved the freakish swarms of gnats (isn't that how you spell the little buggers?).  It feels like I have a bajillion projects going on right now so it was so refreshing getting to hang out with my new friends!  Here are some of my faves:

I swear I didn't photoshop Joe's eyes...they really are that piercing!

Joe checkin' his hottie out :)

Apparently some construction workers were checkin' her out too...they were hoopin' and hollering at her...this was her reaction when I told her...

BLING!

I love how safe she looks in Joe's arms

Mr. Outdoorsy ;)  

Joe has a rep for being pretty good on the slopes of Showdown

I'm pretty sure he was whispering soft nothings in her ear during this one

My favorite!

Dan & Alie

This session broke the record for me for "The Coldest Weather."  Dan and Alie were AMAZING though...we just laughed while snot was flying out of my nose.  Yes...I'm that cool...they will tell ya.  Oh yea, I almost slipped on this ramp thing too...Dan insists that I should have a waiver for my clients so I'm not liable for any injuries :)  I should have one too it seems.  

So I met Alie at BioLife and being the talker I am, she found I was into photography.  Alot.  So, I gave her a card and she liked what she saw.  Dan had a break from his military training to visit Alie and fam for the holidays.  It was all the girl could talk about for a couple months...I was so stinkin' excited to finally meet him in person!!!  

We wrapped up the session with some pool...Dan and Alie are really into pool.  It was awesome to see them so comfortable and having fun.  He is completely mesmerized by her...I mean can you blame him???  Look at her eyes!  So beautiful!  It was such a warm ambience with these two snuggling and making the most of the precious time they  had that it didn't seem as cold as I thought it would be.  

On a more serious note, if you haven't heard of BioLife, please check them out.  There are so many folks who need the products of plasma donation.  It's a small amount of your time and you get paid!  All the while you are truly saving lives by the small sacrifice of a couple hours once or twice a week and a needle poke.  

Thanks Dan and Alie for getting me out of the house...ya'll are awesome!!!

I think this is my favorite!

Parrish Family

I met this family through one of my close friends.  She is actually the creator of these amazing hats.  I am so excited for Wendy's business.  I think she is going to be really busy in no time...So, because I LOVED the hat on my little client so much I started thinking how awesome it would be to get some for my baby shoots.  Can't you imagine a cute little baby with nothing but these adorable hats on? I called Wendy and offered to do a trade and she was really excited.  

She had two boys that were so pumped that I was taking them to a special spot.  You know how much little boys love cars...especially fire trucks!  So we had a great time hanging out and even got to see some goats and horses in the end.  Wendy was pretty impressed with my goat impression too ;)

So here are some sneak peaks for ya'll to enjoy...thanks *P* family for such a fun time!

I really need to upgrade to pro...

I deleted two duplicate images on Flickr to get Josh and Athena's pic up, but now I'm back at 199 again...Dag Nabit.  So these are gonna be small again.  Sorry Ann.  I thought you looked too awesome in the model-esque image to not share...even though we were doing our funny Zoolander stuff.  Anyhoo, hope you enjoy the rest of your sneak peeks! 

PS.  I lost a toothpick in my hair last night...good news...I found it :)