I am in Virginia Beach hanging out with my brand new (18 day old) niece, Rebecca Grace. Guess where her middle name came from??

And she is PRECIOUS. We are all seriously so in love with her. So, her photographer aunt was going to waste no time getting some pics (even though she may already have the most well-documented life of an infant thus far, when you consider the number of FB pics already attributed to her…)

She makes some seriously awesome faces. Like this one, that we call “the Elvis.”

I can assure you: there will be more. She has turned me into a crazy person.

And then I told her to lay down. Yes, yes, we know pregnant ladies aren’t supposed to lie flat on their backs. It’s fine. It wasn’t for very long.

Seriously, sister, I can only HOPE to be as gorgeous as you when I’m pregnant. GEEZ.

These last shots are completely my sister… being her ridiculous self. Here she is demonstrating that pregnant girls can still, in fact, <sort of> do our favorite yoga pose: “tree” while standing on a grassy hill.

Less than a month now til baby Becca is due to make her appearance. Can’t wait!

Love. Flowers. Sunshine. Rest. Play.

Angie and I met in my New Testament class last semester at school. (By the way, she and I are both now official Southern Seminary graduates! Whoop!) Before class one day as I was flippin’ through my Google Reader looking at photography blogs, the wedding images I was looking at caught her eye. The second time we ended up sitting next to each other, she said that she didn’t want to sound like a stalker, but she wondered what photographers I was looking at, for she was interested in getting some photos of her and her man. I said, oh well, they are mostly all these famous people out in California and elsewhere… and then, timidly… “but, I, um, I actually am, um, a photographer myself…if you might… you know… be interested in seeing my stuff?” <sheepish grin>

Well, since that time, Angie and I have been good buddies and she rejoiced with me when I got engaged to the man of my dreams… and I celebrated with her as she and Phillip began to make future plans. The two met through a mutual friend, and though Phillip lives out on the East Coast, they have made this thing work. He flew to the ‘ville to see his lady graduate, and so we were able to play around in the park and have a good ol’ time. Phillip– even though you don’t like feet– this image was too cool not to shoot. Sorry

Ever since we began talking about ideas for her shoot, Angie was totally flexible– but she would always manage to throw in something about her “cuddling with her man under a tree.” I knew we had to work a tree in somehow… and though tree shots can often be a little overdone, I found this tree which was TO DIE FOR, dontcha agree?

Girl– you SO worked it. I just kept telling Phillip what a gorgeous lady he got. And… as for this pose– it was totally HIS idea! It came out so, so fun! Way to go Phillip!

Okay seriously… does Angie not have the greatest smile EVER?!

Hee hee. Thanks for being a good sport guys… and putting up with all my crazy ideas!!

So sweet. I love love.

Looking forward to the future with you both! Thanks for such a great day.

Anyways, Katie and Shawn are a great couple… and they were totally willing to do whatever crazy thing I asked of them (like go on the other side of this wall and make fish faces!) Thanks for a super fun shoot, guys!

Kissy, kissy!!

One day my sister and I were giving my brother grief about the length of his hair. (It is quite possible that some kid will mistake him for Jesus one day soon if his hair is down.) It’s not been cut since my sister’s wedding, two and a half years ago. And I’m already settling with the fact that there is no way he is going to cut it for mine. So, in these discussions we were telling him what a hippie he is. This is, by far, not the first time we have used this term in reference to him, and I *thought* it was a term he embraced and used himself. Apparently not. We were like: “What?! You don’t think you’re a hippie?! Well, what are you then? You’ve got to be SOMEthing!” Ha. So, even though he doesn’t accept it, my brother is totally a hippie: and her are the pictures to prove it. I love you, Christopher Robert!

There is something I love so much about this next picture. I can’t pin it down. I know it is blurry. It just feels out of the 70′s and real to me.

Happy Belated 23rd Birthday to my Bro!

Most of these images were shot at a couple of different gatherings for my new church: The Avenue. Maybe I’ll post some more “normal” pics soon… but tonight, I love these

The one below is Peyton dancing around in a dark room with a long exposure and her light up shoes

It poses a bit of a challenge, however, to take family photos when you need to be *in* the family photos. So, all the photos that I am in either Lee or my mom had to take for us. Usually I would set up a shot, get everything fixed in the camera, tell Lee what I was envisioning for the shot, and have him click it. However, it was really hard for me to know how to arrange people when I had to stick myself in the mix as well.

I made everybody get *under* the boardwalk for individual/couple shots. It was the only shade around that I could find! They were great sports and climbed on under!

Isn’t my brother so cute??

This is our attempt at a serious, sassy family pic. Pretty ridiculous.

It’s kinda next to impossible to get *everybody* acting normal at the same time. We are only halfway there in the pic below.

Oh, Amy Rebecca.

My siblings. I love them.

This is what I mean about the group arranging thing. Eeeeh… awkward.

We are walking and swinging our hands. This prolly looks kinda funny if you don’t know that. Ha.

The Outtakes: Okay, because this is my family, I can do this. We are all pretty ridiculous, and this is reflected in some of the “outtakes” that were captured.

So, the day we shot… I thought the sun was going to be perfect. It was cloudy and was being diffused nicely. And then, as soon as we got ready to shoot, it came out again. Sun + the glare off the white sand= not ideal for pictures. It was reaaallly bright. Check out our faces in the next few pics (especially my sister– haha!)

I have no excuse for the ugly face. I dunno.

This next series is totally my dad being my dad… and my mom saying “Bob, quit it!”

I promise you, Adam’s eyes are probably crossed. This is his standard “make a face” face.

My extended family convened on the house for Thanksgiving this year, and mom decided, since we were all there, that a beach photoshoot was in order. We dressed in our blue jeans and white shirts, and headed down. Since I needed to be in some of the pictures, I would have to set up the shot for Lee, get everything set on the camera and then position myself among the group while he shot. More of those photos to come soon, but here is one of my favorites from the shoot. I think its just perfect.

So, what do I dip my french fries in? Mmmmm… my condiment of choice is nearly always honey mustard Yum.

How did this aversion of ketchup come to be, you ask? Well… I already disliked it in middle school… and then my wonderful friends preyed upon this fact. It was a slumber party in my basement, probably in about 8th grade. And no girly slumber party is complete without painting your nails, talking about boys, eating chocolate, and TRUTH OR DARE!  So, my wonderful friends dared me (and you can’t not do a dare!) to go up to the fridge, get a bottle of ketchup and dump it in my mouth. And… <shudder>… I did it. And they took a picture. And they kept that picture for several years, throwing it in my face unexpectedly from time to time. I have a grimace on my face right now just thinking about it.

Well, that story had absolutely nothing to do with the pics I’m about to post. Except that I’m trying to “ketchup” from the last few months. So, you’ll hopefully be seeing a lot of entries here soon to make up for my little hiatus.

Back in November Lee and I and some of my dear friends from college who also live here in Louisville made the drive back to Columbia, MO where I went to school (M-I-Z!!) Friends from all over flew in and convened on the city for the weekend and we had a reunion and caught an unseasonably warm football game. It was so great to have 20+ of my closest college friends back together. Many have spouses, several have kids… we’re adults now! Too weird!

My dear friends the Malloys let five us crash at their place for the weekend. I was pretty stoked because it meant a bit of time with their two babies: Asante and Alethea. These kids are near and dear to me… their parents were my roommates for awhile and I was even invited into the delivery room for Asante’s birth (but the booger came early and I couldn’t get back in time!) The next two pictures aren’t very good quality… but I just loved the motion and pictures of Lee and I snugglin these sweet babies.

This next one makes me laugh hard. I just love him so much I am smushing his little head… and look at his little face!!!!!!! HA