Instead of doing that, because some people may find it a little odd for a grown woman to twirl in circles with a Barbie held to my chest, and falling from being dizzy isn’t as easy to recover from, I did something else. I went and got myself an ICEE. I haven’t had one in forever. I remember the joy of layering it so expertly with the red cherry, blue raspberry and the cola flavors! I did just that mix and took it home. I decided to sit in my grown up house, on my grown up couch and bask in the sugary goodness that was my icee. It totally took me back to the times when life was easy and there wasn’t a care in the world. For those 30 minutes, I didn’t let there be a care in the world. If life starts to feel run down and monotonous I suggest you too stop and grab an ICEE and just enjoy!

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I thought I’d share a wedding that we were so graciously invited to second shoot with Miss Hanh Nguyen. Could this have been one of the sweetest couples ever? I mean seriously, we didn’t meet them until the day of the wedding and by the time the ceremony was over we were joking around like we were old friends. Not only were they sweet but they had a killer wedding party. Those ladies owned Old Towne Orange in their 4″ stilettos and still rocked the fierceness. The gentlemen killed each and every photo as if they had been on multiple covers of GQ. Thank you Hanh for always thinking of us and sharing your wealth of knowledge. We are so grateful for your friendship and encouragement!!!

Each time we shoot a wedding I wake up really early with a huge burst of energy that I feel like I’m going to explode. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to document a day that is filled with hugs, kisses and sighs. I brew a huge pot of coffee and sit quietly enjoying the warm cup of joe while thinking of the space and photo ops that are available to us. Then, I go through our equipment and diligently clean each lens, charge all the camera batteries, empty and format all the cards, change out the batteries in the flashes and neatly pack our designated bags. The funny part about that last one is we start the day with such a nice clean bag and we end it with a jumbled mess of CF cards, flashes, lens caps, and granola bar wrappers. We take a moment to repack our equipment, take a small step back, and let out a nice big sigh.

Each and every wedding is such a different experience for us. That’s what makes weddings so much fun, you get to see the various personalities that bring something to the table. You get to chuckle at the uncle who’s just killing it on the dance floor. We have the chance to watch the bride and groom steal a moment away from it all to just look at each other as their husband or wife and really take it in. I get to look over at Mike standing on a ballroom chair with his shoes off trying to get the shot from above of mom and dad slowly circling on the dance floor happy that their son found the right woman. Whether we are primary or second shooters, we are so thankful for being invited to be such a huge part of a couples day. Our photos will last a lifetime and the thought of 47 years from now someone is showing that same photo to their grand kids makes my heart do cartwheels.

The amazingly colorful and culturally diverse wedding below was a wedding that I was so graciously included on by Smita Photography. I got to come along to the crazy rehearsal and the beautiful tradition filled wedding. I learned a lot of things about Indian and Chinese weddings throughout this weekend. Thank you so much Smita for allowing me to help out!

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We blinked and she was smiling. We yawned and she was able to sit on her own. We left one day and the next she was crawling. We snapped a photo and then she was walking. Somewhere in there she started to recognize us as someone special to her. And that, that right there is one of the most amazing feelings. She grins as we walk through the door and raises her chubby little arms for one of us to hold her. She is by far the world’s greatest niece.

It’s amazing the amount of love and pride that can come from just being her Aunt and Uncle. It’s so wonderful to watch this teeny little human being evolve and grow. Everything is new and special and hilarious and well you get the picture. Seeing the world through the eyes of a one year old could really do us, and I use this term loosely, “grownups” some good. The beauty of a flower (well, the taste of it at least), the wonderful texture of a rock (well, the rough feeling on your gums), and wet slobbery kisses from big dogs like Austin (those taste the best!) all seem to be a million times more breathtaking.

We want to wish Burger the happiest of all days and hope that someday she knows exactly how much we love her. We can’t wait to be there beaming with pride through her accomplishments, help soften the blow of some of her failures, be the ones to hop her up on a TON of sugar just before handing her off to mom and fill her world with more unconditional love than she can possibly know what to do with. We love you little Burger!

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June 2001, I draped that awful itchy polyester gown over my body and walked amongst tall American flags lining the pathway to what was the end of my high school career. I sat with my best friend in the whole wide world and listened intently to the many “grownups” and scholars up on the stage speaking of the things we’d done and greater things ahead of us. We gave our undivided attention to the folks running the show. Words that could have described the back row of the graduating class one would have been something along the lines of  respectful, attentive, and maybe even angelic….

Ummm, well maybe not so much. In fact, the back row was a blur of blue and gold due to us lacking the ability to contain our excitement. We sang songs, laughed our butts off, talked about the good times that we had (you know the ones that the valedictorian would like to speak of but can’t), danced and had an overall AMAZING time.  I danced a little shimmy all the way to the podium, got my diploma and continued to shimmy to my seat. One of the greatest days of my life.  And yes my best friend in the whole wide world from way back then happens to still me my best friend in the whole wide world.

But really where did the ten years go? I was such a wide eyed innocent teenager with the world just waiting for me to conquer whatever I wanted. I look back and just wonder what did I conquer? I know people who have accomplished so many things. Some people went off to major universities and went off to work at the White house. Yeah, I know the freaking White House! Others are doctors, lawyers or military men. Some people are already on their third kid! What have I accomplished? My answer… plenty.

I may not be in an operating room but I like to think that I heal people with my words, love and kindness. I may not be defending someone’s innocence but I like to think I help defend the innocence of the rescued dogs by helping them find homes, give them a warm bed and a loving pet so they know they didn’t do anything wrong. I may not be fighting in combat to defend our freedoms and rights but I like to think that by not fighting people who don’t believe the same way as myself and accepting them as they are makes me feel as if I’m protecting those freedoms.

In ten years, I have learned to have a voice. Live my life the way I want to and not worry about what the rest of the world thinks about it. I have been loved by the greatest man in the world. I have a roof over my head that I share with him. We have two crazy dogs that make me smile daily and make me as proud as any mama when they learn not to potty inside the house! In ten years, I have been one lucky girl and I wouldn’t change the path I took at any time. There are people that went missing along that path but they’re here with us, in our hearts. I hope for each person who may actually read this is able to look back on the last ten years and feel the same way.

Please take a moment to check out the sneak peeks below from the weddings and events that we’ve been shooting along the way… more to come, I promise

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My parents were happily married for almost 30 years. They were married on November 2, 1973 and they couldn’t have been more made for each other. They stayed each other’s strength through all the hurdles life can throw at you. Let me tell you they had some major hurdles to overcome. One such was my dad discovering his body was riddled with cancer and that he probably wouldn’t last more than a couple months. My mom rarely left my dad’s side. My dad passed away a couple months later and life ceased to exist in my house. My mom’s world came crumbling down all around her in a matter of months. She thought she would never love again and years later she met Wayne.

Wayne is a heck of a guy. He reminds me of my dad in many ways. He’s loud and obnoxious, gives huge bear hugs, and loves great food. He’s been taking my mom all over the country so that she can see what this great place has to offer. She’s seen the depths of the grand canyon, the mossy covered bayous of Louisiana and felt the down home comfort of Texas. He even brought her to Arkansas while I was there to meet my dad’s family! They made their way around Thailand about a month ago and ended up buying land there to someday build a house for all of us to be able to visit.

While she’s so lucky, I have to say that my brothers and I are just as lucky. Many people dread parents remarrying, scared of the unknown and the awkward period of getting to know each other. In our case it was the opposite. The first time I met Wayne, I told my brother I was just going to stop by for 30 minutes tops. Instead, I ended up staying for 4 hours! I felt like I knew him for years. We are so blessed to have him in our lives and we love him so much!

These photos are from a BBQ we had with my family before my Mom and Wayne left for a road trip. My cousins and I went to a park nearby and just goofed around and had some good laughs. While nothing about them shows off our talents, I just thought it’d be fun to share some normal snapshots of life. Please enjoy!

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My list of things that I tend to enjoy more on a bad day…

The simple sweetness of a slobbery dog kiss. I’m not a fan of dogs licking me because well I know what they’ve been licking and I’m not down with that but on bad days, there’s something that is just so sweet behind the unconditional love hidden in that little (or in my case, big) dog kiss. I love that they feel the stress and their best reaction is loads of love paired with a snuggle session.

DESSERT! Ice cream, cake, frozen yogurt, oreo cookies, so on and so forth… none taste as good as shoveling them into your mouth on a day where nothing could go right. Dessert always taste right and you know that it’s not going to disappoint. On such days, grab your favorite dessert and the biggest spoon you can find and start shoveling. I had a group of girlfriends growing up that when one of us wasn’t having a great day we would buy a tub of Breyers Strawberry ice cream, grab 5 spoons and pop in a Friends DVD. We’d let the day melt away in each bite and just enjoy each others company.

Lastly, these type of days make me appreciate my loved ones that much more. The ones that can just grab me in a huge bear hug and not say a single word as if they’re trying to take the pain from me. Thinking of these amazing people makes me smile from ear to ear.

What better way to end a post than with some killer photos. This was a set from a wedding that we were hired as second shooter for. Petra Calling was the primary shooter on this wedding and needless to say great times were had by all. Thamer is hilarious! Thank you Thamer for inviting us along and allowing us to help you capture the day alongside you.

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Since we like to post photos with all of our post, I dug up some from our archive. This is just a handful of photos I took June 2009 when I went on a fabulous trip with two of my sisters from another mother. We went to Sydney together for 10 days and had so much fun together. The weirdest part about traveling to Australia was we had a nonexistent June 16, 2009 because of the long flight and then we had the longest June 24, 2009 ever. But when you have minimum 18 hour flights I guess those things are going to happen. It was truly a wonderful experience and I’m so glad I got to share it with these two ladies. We still laugh a ton about some of the things that went on during that trip.  I’m so extremely blessed to have them in my life. I love them both so very much!

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This weeks contest theme on I heart faces is “Smirk”. We instantly thought of this photo of our little niece, Burger. (Her real name is Kate but we call her Burger). She’s only a couple weeks old in this photo but she’s already working it for the camera! Please enjoy this photo of her and make sure to check out the other awesome entries on I heart Faces website.

Onto even better news… We shot a wedding! A few weeks ago we were invited along by Petra Calling to second shoot a wedding with him. It was an amazing experience. One of the longest work days ever. I think we clocked in about 15 hours that day but it was totally worth it. We started in LA shooting the groom and worked our way to Anaheim for the ceremony and then finished up in Newport for the reception.  We had such a great time helping document this special day for Leo and Marianna. They were an amazing couple that couldn’t have been sweeter. Thank you to them and Thamer for allowing us to come along for the day to help tell their story.

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I miss you. It’s a simple as that. You were my best friend, my confidant, the greatest man in my life. I miss having you here. In my eyes you weren’t supposed to leave yet. You missed out on some amazing things happening in my life. Things you’re supposed to be here for. It’s on these days that I miss you more and my heart has a tug-o-war going on with it because I’m happy and sad all at the same time. I miss your big bear hugs. I would give anything in the world to have one, absolutely ANYTHING. I miss you, its as simple as that.

Love, your favorite daughter

7 years ago today I had someone reach into my chest, take a piece of my heart out, crush into a million pieces and put it back in. My dad fought a good fight but lost the battle to colon cancer that day. It feels like a million years ago since I saw him but the pain feels like it was just yesterday. I was only 20 years old when he passed away and that’s an age where within the next few years you have a million accomplishments. Things that a dad should be there for.

As you read this, if anybody is reading this, please take a moment to tell someone you love them. It’s totally cliche but it’s completely necessary. Call you’re mom or dad up to just say hello. Have lunch with your brother or sister. We take it for granted that they’re always going to be there, but sometimes someone else has sick and twisted plan and then they’re gone. Just as quickly as that. Trust me, please.

Dear Mike,

I love you, its as simple as that. You’re my best friend, my confidant and the greatest man in my life. You’re the rock on which I find strength on the days when I need it the most. You still make me laugh, uncontrollably most of the time. I’m so happy to be sharing my life with you . I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m so thankful for you. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. I thank you for helping me through the tough times and celebrating through the good ones. You’re my everything. I love you, it’s as simple as that.

Love, Me

** I post these photos of Austin, my dog, because he makes me smile and I hope his goofy face can make someone else smile today.**

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