Michelle and Shane

What a wonderful time I had on Saturday photographing Michelle and Shane's wedding! The weather turned out great--only a few sprinkles, their families were awesome and their love for each other was so evident!

Take a look at all of the gorgeous details of the day!

Michelle asked me take a picture of the rings in some flowers--and while that makes a beautiful picture and I did what she asked, I couldn't help but play around a little. Check out the rocks on the rock.

I adored Michelle's dress--it looked amazing in this window light and on Michelle!

Michelle looked amazing!! Monica at Northwest Hair Design did an awesome job on her hair!

Shane looked good himself! I love the look on his face when he got to turn around and see his bride walking down the aisle towards him!

Beautiful flowers by Cathy Lan really made the ceremony sparkle.

Their reception was one of the best I've ever attended! The food was amazing! The MC, Michelle's brother, was so funny--I loved all the games and activities! And then there was the dancing! These families and friends have some serious moves--oh my goodness!

DJing by Grammaphone kept everyone on their toes--I gotta say, these guys were hilarious with their coordinating props for each song. Great entertainers!

Check out this BBQ beef! YUMMMM!

An amazing cake made by Mechealle DeVries. She does such fabulous work!

One of my favorites from the first dance...

I loved this touching moment at the end of the father-daughter dance!

Thanks again to Michelle and Shane as well as their families for making me feel like part of the family--I truly have the best clients in the world! The love, faith and joy these families have is absolutely amazing, they are such a light in this world...I was so blessed to be able to witness their devotion to the Lord and each other. THANK YOU for letting me share your special day with you! A link to their complete gallery of wedding images will be up this weekend and I will probably be posting more of my favorites from this wedding over the next couple weeks--I have so many!

Clayton and Koby Part 2

I couldn't resist showing you just a few more of my favorites from this awesome session!


Have a great weekend! I probably won't be blogging much until next week as I am shooting a wedding tomorrow (I can't wait--it sounds like a extremely beautiful and fun event!) and we're also ripping apart our kitchen and dining room from ceiling to floors--literally...it is all going bye-bye, no more ceiling, walls, flooring or kitchen cabinets. YAY! Out with the 70's, in with the new!

Father's Day Suprise!

I've been dying to share these images with you but since they were a Father's Day suprise for the Dad, I've held off until now. I had so much fun photographing Clayton, Koby and mom Sarah a couple weeks ago. I'm in love with so many images from their session--you'll have to check them all out here. We shot the session at Sarah's mom's house and I have to say this has been my favorite location yet--and it was just three houses down from mine! Now that is a short commute to work! I love all the different textures of the old barns, truck and field.

Clayton and Koby are the silliest and most adorable boys I know--I could photograph them all day long. Thanks so much for letting me play with you!

Clayton

Coby

And here is mom Sarah--her husband has got to be one of the luckiest men alive to have such a gorgeous wife and children.

I love this moment caught between poses--the connection between Sarah and her boys is so strong.

Sarah is probably going to kill me for posting this, but this has got to be the funniest picture I've ever taken...thanks for having so much fun with me!

There is a rainbow in my yard!

Check out what is blooming this week in my yard...it is so great to have some color again!

Lilacs! I love these awesome bicolor lilacs! I bought them just after they bloomed last year at a discounted price. This is the first time I've seen them bloom in person and they are amazing! Unfortunately, my darling Diesel did a little unwanted pruning on one of the lilac bushes this winter and it is just now developing leaves, so it probably won't bloom this year (though at least it isn't dead, which I thought was the case!). Can you believe that these flowers smell as good as they look? I wish my whole yard was full of these!

Strawberries! I transplanted these berry plants from my grandparents' hillside to a container by their window when my Master Gardener grandfather could no longer go outside to see what was blooming in his gardens. After he passed away I brought the container home to enjoy a little bit of his hard work year after year. I can't wait until the berries come--they are so sweet and yummy!

Wallflowers! Check out these orange beauties! I have a thing for warm, bright colors (despite my current business colors...which by the way will be changing in the near future so stay tuned!). These are the only flowers I have purchased this year which is quite a change, though I also purchased four shrubs and four rose bushes :). With our remodel and busy plans this year I wasn't quite sure if I could handle more responsibility in the flowerbeds. But I couldn't just walk past these cheerful plants and leave them all at the store, so a few are now sunning themselves at my house.

Roses! I have nine rose bushes at my house that I transplanted from my Grandpa's after he passed away as they were his pride and joy and I couldn't just let a stranger take them. I've also got several bushes that came with our house, were bridal shower gifts, impulse buys etc. I think I've inherited my grandpa's love of roses! Oh, plus the four new roses I bought this summer to fill in a few gaps in the front flower beds. They are all getting some buds on them but this is the first rose to show some color. It is one of my grandpa's and one of my favorites (but I say that about all of them!). It is bright yellow with a wonderful strong scent.

Coral Bells! These little firecrackers were a leftover from our friends who lived our house just before we purchased it. These things grow in leaps and bounds each year and I'm constantly dividing them and moving them around the yard. I think in three years I've got 10x as many as I had when we moved in.

Irises and Rhodys! Both of these were leftovers when we moved into the house...they were about the only things planted in the flowerbeds. I love their bold, rich colors and enjoy their foliage year long.

There is Diesel--he likes to make my daily rounds with me in the flowerbeds.

Daisies! These were part of a wildflower seed packet that I planted last year. They are now taking over all my flowerbeds. I am trying to embrace them and not let them drive me crazy, but....it is a struggle! I enjoyed catching this little bumble bee taking a break from all his buzzing around.

Pansies! I found these in the field by our house. I moved some to the flowerbeds when we first moved in just to add some color in the corner and now they also would like to take over the entire universe. I'm begining to wonder if daisies and pansies have some sort of complex that makes them so passive aggressive...

Lupine! I love these wildflowers. Their shape is so unique! I started with one little lupine plant and these too have begun to sprout up all over...but they can stay because they add such a unique dimension to the flowerbeds.

I'll keep you posted as more exciting things bloom this year...I've got roses, several varieties of lilies, some other bulbs whose names are escaping me, butterfly bushes, perennials etc. Happy Gardening!

A Day on the Farm

Brandon's sister and her husband live on a dairy farm. They lead a busy life with milkings, feedings, calving and other dairy farm goodness! I love to go visit and check out the cows, calves and kittens!

Last weekend we ran over to their house for a quick visit in the spring sunshine and I grabbed a few shots around the farm.

In the spring and summer the cows get to go romp around in the fields and enjoy the sunshine and green grass. Here is a field of "dry" cows (in English, cows that are about ready to deliver calves and have been taken out of the milk string so that they can rest and kick their feet up for their last few weeks of pregnancy...maternity leave, if you will) and heifers (in English, first time mama cows who have no idea what they are getting into). Don't you worry if that terminology doesn't make sense to you, I think it took me about four years of dating a dairy farmer's son to figure out just those two words and I probably still have them wrong! Just be warned if you call calves, "cavies" like me because it makes them sound so much cuter, you might get a few eye rolls from the dairy farmer folks! But have you ever tried to properly pronouce "calves"--it is quite tricky to actually get the "l" sound right next to the "v" sound...so I just skip it and move right to "cavies."

ANYWAYS...back to the pictures...

Here is a lovely cow--she is my favorite type of dairy cow, a red Holstein. If I owned a dairy farm (which is highly unlikely) I would want them all to be this color. This cow has a little too much white for my taste, but I won't hold it against her, she is still lovely.

As I was photographing this lovely cow, a teeny tiny bird came visiting. This little guy was particularily charming so I took a picture.

A few farm details

There is something about barbed wire that always fascinates me...

Here is a little poppy that just happened to pop up along the gate to the field...I love the bright colors of poppies!

Have a great day!