A Pictureless Post (because I love you like that)

Life has been very busy lately with my new business, unexpected and unwelcome house repairs and near disasters (post to come) and kid activities.

This past Saturday was the first Saturday in the last few months that I didn't have any shoots to do. We took the kids to the playground and then decided to spend the afternoon and evening getting some work done around the house.

We put the kids down for their naps and got to work.

We assumed they were both sleeping.

And you know what happens sometimes when you assume.

About 3o minutes after we had put them to bed, I thought I heard a creak on the stairs and asked Mark if he heard the same.

He did.

We knew Austin was out of bed and so Mark went to get him re-situated.

A few minutes later I heard Mark say, "Hey honey. Where is the carpet cleaner?"

When I asked why he needed the carpet cleaner he said, "there's poop on the carpet."

What?

Apparently Austin had gotten out of bed, gone to the bathroom, pooped extensively, attempted to wipe himself and when those efforts failed....

He left the bathroom with his pants and underwear still down, walked to the carpeted stairs, sat down and rubbed his hiney until he was satisfied with his cleanliness.

In case you are getting a mental picture right now....yes....he rubbed his butt on the carpet like a dog.

I laughed so hard I cried, but only because Mark discovered the mess and therefore had to clean it up too.

Never a dull moment around here!!!

Wedded Bliss

This week on I <3 Faces the theme is Wedding Bells. I recently had the pleasure of shooting my cousin Emily's wedding. She and Seth are such a fun and happy couple that it made the job easy. I love the look of pure joy on their faces in this picture.

Head over here and see all the great entries this week.

A Wedding in My Future

My great friend Leah is getting married! AND, she is marrying my brother-in-law, Ian, so we will now forever be sisters (at least in law). How cool is that?

Here's their engagement story.

One Friday morning in April, Leah woke up on her day off, went downstairs to have breakfast and saw a large bouquet of roses sitting on the counter. The card attached told her to get ready because Ian was coming to pick her up.
He arrived and they took a short drive to a Wendell August, a local forge.

She wasn't sure why they were there and when she asked, he told her that he had arranged for them to go on a tour. It seemed a little odd to her, but she followed him in (albeit with low expectations). Immediately she was impressed with the beautiful work that was displayed in their show room.

They started the tour and the guide showed them how they start with a raw piece of metal, one of their artists creates a design or lettering to be printed/etched in, then it is fired where it becomes soot black and finally it is cleaned and shined. They stopped at one point and the guide showed her a little plaque that had just been fired. Finally, the tour was over and as she began to turn and leave, the guide said, "Wait, let me show you what a finished piece looks like that has just been completed. This is the little soot covered plaque that you saw before."

She grabbed the plaque and this is what she saw.

When she looked over at Ian he was down on one knee.

He proposed and of course, she accepted.

But, that wasn't the end of the story.

Ian had the whole day planned out. Leah initially told him that she needed to call and cancel lunch with a friend and coming over to play with my kids, but those were set up beforehand just to throw her off.

They went to lunch at Simon Pearce on the Brandywine River, then they went to Chadds Ford Winery for a tasting and tour and that was followed by dinner at Harry's Savoy in Wilmington, where they first got together at my wedding.

As if that wasn't enough, when Leah got home there were more roses in her room.

It was a day they will never forget!

For their engagement pictures we returned to Main Street Exton where Wendell-August is located. It was a beautiful day and that location is perfect for an array of great shots.

Congratulations Leah and Ian...can't wait for the big day!

"Take a picture of my mouth Mommy!"

Adjusting to Life

Welcome back to my poor neglected blog.

I am sure even some of my family members have by now given up on checking to see if I have posted something new.

However, I am happy to report that my lack of blogging has NOT been a result of illness, tragedy or distress of any kind.

We have been playing with friends, reacquainting ourselves with the joys of warm weather, visiting Nana and other family, working on home projects and I have been taking lots and lots of pictures.

Here is just a glimpse of some of my latest work...if you can call it that. Seriously, how can something that is so much fun be considered work?







I cannot express how much joy I receive from giving others the gift of photography. My heart smiles when I hear them describe what the pictures mean to them.

At some point while we were dating I think Mark asked me the question, "If you couldn't teach what would you do?" I answered, "Photography." At the time I had never owned a really nice camera though I had asked for one for years from my family. But, somewhere in me I knew that though I had never taken a class or been educated in any way, photography was part of who I was creatively.

My wedding gift from Mark was a "really nice" camera.

To date, I can easily say that two of the most wonderfully thoughtful gifts he has given me are my camera and the loving encouragement to pursue photography and start my own business.

I am so blessed!

I am going to try to post a few times this week and also visit a few of my favorite blog friends who are surely feeling like I don't love them anymore.

And to my family members...if you are still reading this blog...I am going to try to post a few of the 1200 pictures I took last weekend for Emily's wedding. Stay tuned.....please!