My sister and brother in law

I have two wonderful sisters that i've always looked up to, even if it was watching them put on makeup in the bathroom with each visit; secretly thinking, "I can't wait til i have an Esprit bag." While in Minnesota i was so blessed to be pretty close to my beautiful sister Tara and her family! Getting to see her boys grow a little too! Crissie and i haven't lived in the same state since i was little, so when i moved to Las Vegas and she was here, i was so thrilled to be able to grow even closer to her. Though they made a huge decision to move back to Arizona a while ago, it was such a perfect time to be with the two of them. I could go to her to hang out, talk for hours, go to for advice, swim, be girly, and double date with her husband Eric, and Brandon. Boy i think he's absolutely perfect for Crissie. He's in the Air Force like my husband so there always was this bond i felt. That Crissie and I could get along and the boys could too. 

It was such a great time when i moved from Minnesota and family was here, and see how happy Crissie is with Eric. Their love for one another truly is inspiring. They appreciate each other more than most couples i've ever seen, are constantly uplifting one another, encouraging and believing in their dreams. i think is just completely God-given is that their dreams align at the perfect time so that they work perfectly together. Timing is perfect with these two. I miss them like crazy now that they're gone, but even in the short time i learned so much about their relationship and through them, mine as well. There's another relationship i get to see and learn from, my mom and if you want to see her wedding photos, click here. 

Crissie and Eric got married in February and surprised everyone! But.. if you two are reading this, i still have big plans for fun photos including some awesome aircraft. be prepared. While they were here, we ventured out to a park and just took a few photos, including Eric's full of personality and excitement, daughter Anna. It was an absolute blast. Thank you two for teaching me so much, i'm so thankful for the time we had living so close. 

 

Crissie and Eric just naturally fit and love on one another. It made my job easy, and so much fun! Anna is a complete ham too, loving the camera and most of the time with absolutely no direction, she has fun and includes herself in the photos. It's a beautiful family. I love how Eric kisses and pulls Crissie in and you can see their love for each other. 

I plan on visiting these two when i get the chance, and seeing their huge fantastic home, and of course photographing them more! 

Do you have some family favorites you want to share? Or even fun new edits you've learned, i recently re-edited some of  these and giving credit to Danette who showed me light leaks i'm definitely hooked. 

Happy Tuesday! 

Five Things.

It's been an interesting week. Completely exhausted but i think i've finally been catching up on sleep so i'm feeling motivated to clean and get off the couch and do something. whoo hoo! 

At WPPI this year, i found some amazing vendors i fell in love with. One is the Rice Studio Supply. Finding the right packaging can be difficult, and expensive! You can get your own logo imprinted too. i think these are adorable and yes, i'm slightly obsessed. The prices are pretty good, and i'd say quite a few choices, check it out if you're looking for new packaging! 

Last week, i mentioned doing a smaller album for a guest book at a wedding, and got asked "what about wedding albums." The wedding albums are gorgeous, and again another product i'm sure your photographer can create. They're such an amazing keepsake, and right next to your guest book, you can have your engagement photos, and then your wedding photos! The difference i would do between the two, is your wedding album would have the thicker pages, and be more of an upgraded version. It's definitely something to check out, since a lot of brides now just get the photos on a DVD, and some never end up printing, but it's a great way to display all of those photographs and tell the story of your big day.

So I had this amazing bride the other day for an offsite shoot, and she brought her camera along. She had a cute silver glitter strap on it. I asked her where she got it, and here we go! Sizzelestrapz on Etsy sell some fantastic bling straps, so if you're looking for one that is comfortable but ultra cute, check these out. 

I purchased a cute blue mason jar a few months ago to be in my beautiful newly re-done office.. guess i'll have to showcase that soon. Anyway, i noticed it's a trend to have mason jars as part of a center piece at weddings, which i admit i love. Today i found some cute purple ones too! (and all kinds of colors!) An Affordable way to have beautiful centerpieces, and after you could resell, and even keep some! Heck if you want to send a few my way, i'd be okay with that too. Again find all sorts of colors, prices, sizes on etsy.

OH, or just ask for what color you'd like, they can customize the order! cute.

Want to mix it up a bit! Once in a while i'll drink coffee, and when i do it's either not really coffee (like chai tea, or vanilla bean frap.) or it's this delicious organic coffee i found. I've only tried the vanilla fusion, but if you know me, you know that i'm slightly obsessed with all things organic or at least i'm trying to go the route! I found this perfection at smith's (similar to a cub foods for you back in mn) also can be found at whole foods. I figure if i'm going to drink coffee once in a while, i better make something about it good. 120 calories. 

 

yum. i think i'm going to need one today. 

What did you do for centerpieces at your wedding? Did you just rent any vases needed? any cute stuff you think i'd like send me a link, i'd love to check it out!

Marriage.

Being married is an incredible thing. It pushes me, and makes me grow more than i could have ever imagined, and it's only been two years so far! From the day we got married, some things completely changed. I viewed my relationship differently. Every time in past relationships when i'd get angry, i'd hide it, i wouldn't want to "nag" or get in an uncomfortable conversation, or make him feel bad. I realized quickly that if i didn't bring it up, i'd eventually get so hurt and my heart wouldn't be in the relationship because i was unhappy, and it would ultimately hurt our relationship. I also saw it's not necessarily nagging. A lot of it is learning how to live together, learning why they do what they do, and maybe little things we could do to serve each other every day.

Recently we have hit a bump in the road. It's not an overnight fix, and it's taking more work. I've found first talking about this problem with your spouse is step one. Figuring out small goals is step two. Right now for us that looks like, reading a book that is about marriage, praying together, and doing more little things to serve each other. One thing that i need is encouragement, compliments. I've also been trying to ask Brandon what i can do each week to help him. We've decided in a couple months if things haven't changed for the better, we'll see a counselor. I also stated that even if things DO change, i want to eventually see one for a refresher.  I'm a huge believer in counseling of some sort even if things are great.  

The next thing i did was talk to my mom about it. I told her exactly what was going on, and what we were doing to help both now and in a couple months. She was so proud that we were working on it, figured out the issues, and could only tell me what we were doing to fix it was exactly what we should be doing. This is one of our first bumps in the road. I guess the real first one was right after we were married. Going from not living in the same state, to the same house was interesting to say the least. There were lots of arguments, but that was an easy bump to get through.

You you might be in your first struggle or twentieth, but these little reminders still apply. 

1- what you're feeling is common, That "lovey-dovey" feeling comes and goes, so don't depend on that. Instead put your trust in pursuing a love that is is deep, honest and true. This can only start to develop over time and seeing those hard times, and pushing through.

2- Hard times... is this your first bump in the road? How you handle these will determine what happens next. Get books, read together, get counseling, figure out how to change and better that situation together by communicating... even when it's tough to talk about. 

3- Learn to compromise, pick your battles. If you're not willing to budge on certain situations, you're being selfish. so determine if your decision is based on selfishness or actually means something. Then you're going to have to give up on some things. 

4- Don't take someone else's side over your spouse

5- i mentioned communication already, but really, you need to listen to each other's needs. Not only listen but make a change, an effort to meet some of those needs. Also understand it doesn't  necessarily even need  to be understood to be legitimate. Then figure out the root meaning to those needs. 

6-  never mention divorce again. EVER. It's not an option, instead figure out how to make life enjoyable when you consider it impossible to get a divorce. It'll make you work harder together and for your marriage. 

7- Pray. Pray all the time, for your marriage, wisdom, protection and for one another. This is how you'll gain strength and I'm sure a better appreciation for one another. 

I've suggested some helpful tools before but some books i recommend are here. And some DVDs to watch together are here.  Right now Brandon and i are reading love and war, and so far it's a great read for encouragement! If you're interested in one of those books, or DVDs, but maybe need some more insight, email me, i'd be glad to point you in the right direction and help you out. 

I believe in marriage, that it can make you stronger, love deeper, help you shine bright, and i believe that you can work out those struggles that we all face and aren't sure how to get through and come out on the other side having even more love for your spouse. 

Our Story.

Brandon and i met in July of 2008 In Fayetteville North Carolina. My best friend Rachelle had moved down there, and i went to visit and go on tons of adventures with her. Her boyfriend at the time lived with Brandon, and he was leaving in a couple days so they threw a going away party. At the time Brandon and i were both dating other people, but i secretly thought he was super cute. (Though i found out it was not so secret, since Rachelle had to sit me down and tell me i was flirting a little.. whoops.) So we met a couple times in passing at his house while inbetween advenures, and then the night of the party, Rachelle decided to tell people i'd sing and play guitar; so her and two of the guys that lived there.. brandon included went into a room where we just chatted and played guitar, i was super embarrassed. Below the the first picture i took of him, and all the people there celebrating! 

That was really the end of the first meeting! when i slept over, and i was on the couch, i made sure when brandon woke up and came into the room that i wasn't drooling, romantic yes? ha. 

Down the road, about 7-8 months later, he saw me writing on Rachelle's facebook wall, remembered me, thought i was cute, and since he was single now he went snooping around. I actually was recently single too so we talked, and a LOT. Looking back, i really loved how he pursued me, he kept asking if he could visit to see if we could date, but i rudely said no for a couple months. Again i found out later he almost gave up when i finally said he could visit. 

His first visit was late may or early june, and he visited a few times within a few weeks which was pretty awesome! I went to pick him up at the airport, not having seen him for almost a year and i thought he'd hug me, he came up to me and just went in for the kiss. DANG. We had tons of fun, adventures, but i was so nervous when we went out to eat, he'd sit on the same side of the table and put his arm around me. He seemed so sure of himself and us.... our first advenure to the Guthrie Theater our first dance, and fun photo session. Proof. 

Over the next couple of months we saw eachother pretty often, took lots of photos, he met my mom and i in Texas, so he met some of the family, and he completely had my heart. 

Then September came. He was graduating from pilot training, and i got to be there, all dressed up and out with his family and my mama! He seemed super nervous but i didn't think anything of it, but WOW he proposed!  

What was funny is right at the airport, Shelly baby asked me what i'd do if he proposed, i said i don't think he would, it was really soon, but i'd probably say yes! She didn't know, but just had a feeling. In a way she prepared my heart for it too!

I had another year of school, so he moved from OK, to NV and we didn't live in the same state until we were married, but it was such a great year! Being able to be with my friends, see my man and just have one last great year in Minnesota. We were married May 7, 2010 then i had finals the next week and we moved. Needless to say i was exhausted and a little crabby. i also didn't drive AT ALL from Minnesota to Nevada.

 

What i love about our story is if just one things was different, we would've never even met. I almost ended up not going so i didn't have to take off work, and i picked to visit just a few days before he left. 

If you want to see more photos of our amazingly fun wedding, stay tuned i'll blog about it sometime, and include all the things that went great, and maybe a few things i'd change too. If you're planning a wedding, it can be stressful if you're not sure what to focus on, i'm always here with any questions! 

Girl time and looking gorgeous!

Floyd Lamb Park. 

Going to this park, i always go to the VERY back. Here's a fact: i hate geese. they chase me and scare me, and i don't want to deal with the embarrassment that is me against animals, but i'm working on it! 

Tonya is a dear friend here in Las Vegas, she's one of those friends that our schedules are sometimes opposite and we don't always get a lot of time together, but when we do it's so much fun. She has two fantastic children and a husband who my husband is friends with. Her house was the first house i got to visit when i moved here, Thanksgiving 2010... and 2011

We went out on a little photoshoot time after we spent lots of time looking through old photos, just had some fun photographing this beautiful woman. (MAN mike, lucky guy.) I have tons of favorites and if you want to see more head over to my facebook page and check out this album, click here. If you do, become a fan, leave me some love! Also if you don't remember, i had the opportunity to photograph their Christmas pictures, check THOSE out here. 

two of my faves. above and below. I think her lips look absolutely perfect here! my gorgeous friend. 

Tonya, Beautiful friend.. i think it's time for new photos, a girls day followed by coffee and a double date. My place, and hopefully some pool time soon! 

Are you looking for some fun photos? Maybe family, maternity, or just some updated portraits... anyone up for new profile pics!? What a great way to update those photos, and go out and get some coffee and just hang out.