First trimester symptoms are back. Oh Joy. Body aches a lot. Let’s just say I’m really excited I only have 10 weeks left! I decided to pull out the camera and do some self timer shots to document this exciting time. Even though this pregnancy has been very challenging, I’m still so blessed!
Earlier this month, I hosted my first out of state Finding Joy In Chaos Family Retreat in Gilbert, Arizona. It was everything I dreamt it to be and turned out even better than I hoped! There were 14 ladies who came and I have a deep love for each of those ladies. I spent time with them on 1:1 FaceTime calls getting to know them and their goals for 2020 and when we all met, I literally cried. It was such a wonderful group of ladies and all the friendships that were developed made my heart so insanely happy!
We did 3 sessions, 1 indoor, 2 outdoor. Here is our short indoor session! I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter family to model for us. McKenna’s love for her children and all the mundane moments are clearly seen here. I am so thankful she allowed me to use her family to teach all these ladies about the different moments in each persons lives that matter.
Hang tight, while I post more from the workshop in future posts. :)
I flew in a day early for my Finding Joy In Chaos Retreat and decided I want to test out our location and shoot a little something for myself! Rebecca Johnson with Nhiya Kaye Photography and I found some adorable models (Noel, Dan & Evaline) , had Dana with The Floral Theory create a stunning bouquet and we headed for the desert! This shoot was freezing but Noel and her family were amazing and such good sports!
I love all the Cacti so much! I feel like my heart belongs in warmer temperatures with almost year round golden sunsets. Maybe one day I’ll convince my husband to pick up and move away from Utah. ;)
I photographed this beautiful family 2 years ago when they came to Utah for a vacation and I was so excited when I remembered that Abbie and her family lived in Arizona! They were so kind to model for us on Peter’s 4th birthday! He was such a good sport about it. We made it a quick little session to play with some stunning light! I’m a little obsessed with all of them but little baby Thomas has me so excited for my baby boy to come this April!
Natalie was my second shooter in Ohio, for a couple of my weddings last summer. She scheduled a session with me prior to one of my weddings and it was seriously so magical! If I could pick mountains or open fields with gorgeous open light, I’d pick open fields with light any day! Scenery can be beautiful but bright light is something that’s not easily achieved in the mountains and when it does, it doesn’t stay for very long before dipping behind the mountain range. I love being challenged and playing with light so much! I’m hoping for lots of yummy light this year and can’t wait to play in it!
We are so excited to have another baby boy joining our family this April! Since I was a little girl, I always told myself, being the only girl in my family of 3 brothers, that I’d have all boys. So far, adding our 3rd boy and I’m totally okay with it! I love everything about being a boy mom. I was a tom boy growing up most my life and loved sports, being outside, dirt biking, etc. and I’m excited that I get to be the boy Mom on the side line cheering them on.
Here’s a little shoot I throw together within a couple hours! I woke up to beautiful sunshine and fresh snow and decided I wanted to try and get some bump pictures. I hired the amazing Tia Montgomery for makeup and was going to setup my tripod and snap some self timer pictures! I was talking to my sweet friend, Britt Cascio, about my plans and she offered to snap a few for me to save myself some headache! She’s so sweet and kind! I love her! So photo credit goes to Cascio Photography but edited by me :)
Last March, I hosted a two day workshop with the lovely and talented, Alyssa Ence Photography, in St. George, UT. We covered weddings and family photography. It was such an empowering two days and I’m blessed Alyssa was happy to host it with me. Being in Northern and Alyssa being in Southern Utah where the workshop was taking place, made it difficult to help plan all these pretty wedding shoots but she killed it with finding all the perfect vendors to help bring this beauty alive. A special thank you to her, all our attendees and our incredibly talented vendors! Vendor Info can be found at the bottom of the post.
White Space Studios: www.whitespacestudiosutah.com
Forever More Events (wedding planner): www.forevermoreevents.com
Bloomers (florals): www.bybloomers.com
Sweet Cakes by Karen: www.sweetcakesbykaren.com
25 Main (Food): www.25main.com
Bridal Closet (dress) : www.mybridalcloset.com
Domenica Domenica (Robes): www.domenicadomenica.com
Eluvia Malyurek (makeup artist) : www.beautybyluvi.com
Lindsie Graf (Hair)
Chic Gents (Tux) - www.chic-gents.com
Brecklee Gale (invites) - IG: @written.bybreck
Seven Oaks Fine Jewelers (jewelry): IG: @sevenoaksfinejewelers
In 2018, Jalene and I started our close friendship after she assisted during a wedding in New York. When she asked if I’d take their family pictures, I felt so honored and excited! We started the session with gorgeous sunshine, then these stunning clouds rolled in and off in the distance was a stunning rainbow. I started to get all teary eyed because that rainbow, it brought so many feelings of hope and joy for this family. At the beginning of 2019 they had their 3rd miscarriage that brought a lot of heartache. Each of their children are rainbow babies (a baby to follow a miscarriage) and to see that rainbow, I knew it was a sign that something big was coming for them. Sure enough, they have a baby girl coming in May of this year. I couldn’t be happier for them. Love you dear Taylor Family!
Adrienne & Tanner are my favorite kind of people. They genuinely laugh with each other, love walks to Mt. Adams, and their favorite date night: wine and ordering pizza from their fav spot! In the fall, you can catch them watching and cheering on the Ohio State Buckeyes together! They both support each other in their careers and with anyone one is passionate about.
On their wedding day, it poured off and on. More on than off! After getting caught in a huge downpour during their first look, I was brushing the water off Trevor’s tux (in hopes it wouldn’t ruin his tux) and he turned to me and said, “You totally don’t need to worry about it, this just shows and tells our story of our wedding day!” My heart burst that he was being so positive about the rain and making it a memory! They both have the biggest smiles on their faces all day. One of my favorite parts of a wedding day are during the toasts at dinner. I love hearing and learning all about my couples from everyones memories and relationships with them.
It was a perfect, rainy day! Nothing could have made it better!
Wedding Planner: Every Last Detail Ohio
First Look Location: Ault Park
Ceremony Venue: Saint Francis de Sales
Reception Venue: Renaissance Hotel Downtown Cincinnati
Florist: Robin Wood Flowers
Makeup Artist: Angela Renee Culver
Wedding Dress: Maggie Sottero
Bridesmaid Dresses: Lulu's
Groom & Groomsmen Tux’s: The Black Tux
The Young gang is one of my favorite gangs! Each time I get to photograph this family, I hold that time so dear. We laugh almost the entire time. This evening we spent the night swatting away thousands of bugs but it was worth the yummy smell of wildflowers and lush green everywhere!
There are two things I’ve developed a huge passion for in 2019, in-home family sessions and teaching. This was my 4th workshop for 2019 and it was definitely one for the books. I’ve been craving to shoot Kara’s family for sometime and once I saw their home they has started building, I knew I needed to make a shoot happen. I even based my retreat in Park City, Utah because it was somewhat close to her home so we could shoot there. Selfish? Nah!
Teaching other creatives how I see and create family imaginary is an honor and it brings me so much joy. When coming up with the name for this workshop, I wanted it to relate to how others see family sessions - chaos. I want others to see the joy in all types of chaos and not run from it. There will be so many more opportunities to attend future workshops but for now, I need to show all the pretty created.
