Julie & Rob's Engagement Shoot

Monday night I got to spend some time with a fun couple - Julie and Rob - and shoot their engagement shoot at the Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch. Rob is a pilot for Delta and Julie is a flight attendant and they have such a great story of how they met while they were flying to Europe. Between the two of them they have 4 boys and they are getting married in June in Sedona. After spending time with them, I'm even more excited for their wedding.

Rob was a little nervous to begin with (many people are since it's not a regular occurence getting your photos taken) but he ended up having fun with it. He and Julie are SO sweet together and even kind of goofy at times :). Here's some of my favorites from our shoot:












Thanks for a fun evening guys! I'm looking forward to June!

100th POST!!

This is my 100th blog post! Woo-Hoo! I started my blog last April and I've really enjoyed chronicling my life both in business and personally. It's turned out to be a lot more fun than I originally expected. I actually expected it NOT to be fun at all but just a constant burden hanging over my head. But here I am, 10 months later and I'm so glad I started. If you haven't started a blog for yourself, you definitely should. It's been so great for my business--totally FREE marketing--and it also serves as a sort of picture journal of my life. It's fun to look back and remember so many great memories from this past year.

The two scruffy creatures in the above photo are Pebbles and Kachina, my parents' minature schnauzers. I also consider them my dogs since they are 11 and 13 years old and I've lived with them a few times after college. The past week they have been living with me while my parents are on a cruise in the Carribean. It's been an adjustment for all of us. Kachina has left me more than a few presents on the floor and I'm going to have to have my rug professionally cleaned when they leave :). They also aren't used to stairs. Pebbles is old and really CAN'T come down the stairs. She tried and slid on her face most of the way. So I take pity on her and carry her down. Kachina comes down fine but is convinced she can't make it up the stairs. She really can but she doesn't think she can.

Here's Kachina's "please carry me up the stairs" face:



Pebbles is Kachina's mother and they are really cute together. They enjoy their afternoon naps on my sofa while I work at the computer:


I don't have any dogs of my own but have been thinking about getting one lately. I go back and forth. It's an extra responsibility I'm not used to but it's also fun to have someone SO excited to see you and cuddle. So we'll see...

Kara & Bob

Last Friday I shot Kara & Bob's wedding at Villa Siena in Gilbert. For Kara & Bob, this was a destination wedding--they live in Virgina near the DC area. Nearly all of their guests flew in from elsewhere and made it to the wedding despite the ice storms that have been plaguing the eastern half of the country.

I felt bad because Friday was a rainy, drizzley day and the ceremony had to be moved from the beautiful outdoor courtyard to an indoor ballroom at Villa Siena. But Kara and Bob were both so upbeat and didn't complain once.

I didn't know this couple too well before their wedding day but they really struck me as being made for each other and as extremely kind people. I really enjoyed myself on their wedding day.

I'm putting far too many photos on my blog from this wedding, but here goes. The day started at Dolce salon.


Kara's neice, Taylor, came along to hang out:


The stylist that did Kara's hair had a fun tatoo:


A cute shot of Kara during the hair process:


Next we went to Wild Horse Pass Resort where Kara and Bob were staying, along with a number of guests. Kara and Bob are such hospitable people. They were always offering to get us something. And I thought these were cute tags that they made up to put on welcome gifts they gave to their guests:


Kara's cute even when she's on the phone:


I was impressed with Bob's ironing skills:


Next we made our way to Villa Siena for the final preparation for the ceremony. Kara's dress was beautiful:


The shoes:


Kara's dad was very handsome and fun to photograph.


Getting the dress on:


Kara and Bob saw each other before the ceremony and it was a really special time. We got some great shots:






Kara and Bob were so sweet together and so easy to shoot:


This one is shot through an outdoor fireplace:


Kara looked so stunning:


Instead of a traditional guest book, the couple set out old-fashioned post cards for guests to write well-wishes on:


I got this fun shot of some guests coming in from the rain:


Kara's dad walked her down the isle:


Although it was sad that the ceremony was moved indoors, Villa Siena's ballroom was a beautiful setting for the ceremony:


I thought this was such a sweet shot of Bob's mom after the ceremony. She couldn't stop crying:


What a great wedding! If you'd like to see a slideshow with more photos from the day, click here.


Thanks Bob and Kara for allowing me to be a part of your beautiful wedding!

My favorite Christmas Cards

So I know Christmas is long gone for this year but I was taking down some of my cards and decided I wanted to share with you some of my favorites I received this year. Every year I receive cards from people with their family picture on them and it's fun because I shot them! I love to see the creative cards that people come up with using my photos. So if you have a card with one of my photos on it--make sure to include me on your mailing list--I would love to receive one and add it to my collection!

Here's the four I received this year (all very poorly scanned in):






I guess it's time to take down the tree now...

Worden Family Portraits

I have to say this is my favorite family I've ever done family photos for. Definitely NOT the easiest. But my favorite. This is my sister, brother-in-law and two adorable nephews. We've attempted family photos numerous times throughout the years and it's always more work than usual because Noah (6) and Elijah (5) are both autistic. Noah's gotten a lot better and will hold still and try to smile at the camera. But he's easily distracted and Elijah is usually the distraction. The boy won't sit still and won't look at the camera no matter what a loud fool I make of myself :). But I love them to death so we always do our best. Even though it takes a lot of energy, we always end up with some cute photos in the end. The best thing to do is keep moving. So we do things that are fun for the boys. Noah loves swinging:


And recently he's taken up basketball:



It's pretty amazing. The basket towers over him but he ends up making his under-handed shots a good percentage of the time. Here's some more cute shots of him playing:



And a cute one of Josh and Noah. Josh is so good with the boys.


Here's my sister taking Elijah down the slide:


After some fun on the playground equipment we went on the merry-go-round. Elijah lit up.



And finally we ended our outing with a ride around Freestone park on the train.


I love this one of Elijah. Poor guy was SO cold by this point.


And one last shot of the whole clan:


I love you guys!!!