(and for some reason, I couldn’t get my logo to load correctly on my files, so I omitted them. Sorry!)

By far my favorite. I was a bit giddy when I got this shot!

Announcing the Bump to Baby Plan, available only for expectant mothers! With the Bump to Baby Plan, you get a maternity, newborn, 6-month and first-birthday session for $300**. That’s 4 sessions for the price of 2!

If I get 5 or more Bump to Baby bookings between now and December 24, I’ll give away a free 20×20 gallery wrap to one lucky person who takes advantage of this new package (if purchased as a gift, it will go to the mom who received the  gift). The winner will be announced on Christmas day.

Want to take advantage of this great deal? Want to purchase this as a gift for a mother-to-be? Then contact me now, as bookings are limited.

**Prints and products sold separately. Mileage up to 50 miles included.

So let’s see…big city, beautiful best friend and the services of a fab makeup artist. What to do, what to do? Photo shoot!

You may remember Jessica from this photo shoot back in July. Well, she looks a little different this time. She decided to be brave and say goodbye to her signature curls for a rockin’ new style.

Look at that attitude! Work it, girl!

Tons of fun in good ol’ Nashvegas, but I’ve been traveling a lot lately. Too much. So glad to be home!

Check back soon for more sneak peeks. I’m doing my best to get caught up.

**Makeup and hair by Joni Truxal

We shot this image at an outdoor shopping mall. I loved the backdrop, and there were so many fantastic locations here. Who would’ve thunk? Shortly hereafter, we were kicked out. Apparently, there’s some rule against shooting at an outdoor shopping mall. I always say rules were meant to be broken.

Here’s little Andy. I’m sure he’ll make a great big brother.

Mom Sandy and Dad Andrew still have it after all these years. I was in their wedding back in my college days, and it’s so awesome to see them just as happy as the day they said I do. We had some beautiful light that morning. *sigh*

I love you guys and can’t wait to meet the newest addition to your family! Scratch that, yes I can…stay in there as long as you can, little Elizabeth! Here’s praying for a smooth delivery, Sandy…you know, in a few weeks.

When the reason to use these locations fell through, I asked my sister if they’d be up to doing a quick session there. They were totally up for it, and the timing was perfect. Their fourth anniversary is this week, and what a great way to celebrate. I hope they can choose one of the images from the session to display as a big canvas print in their home.

Besides celebrating their anniversary, these sessions have been a great way to document the stages in Lillie’s life. She’s getting so big, talking like crazy and climbing on everything. As you can see here, she’s trying to climb the ladder I brought. We couldn’t keep her off of it. She’s our little monkey, that’s for sure.

This one might be my favorite. Lillie was moving so fast that it really was a lucky capture.

Picking the final images for this session (I chose 121!) made me so emotional. Such a beautiful family, and goodness that Lillie…it makes my heart so happy to see how far she’s come.

These three are it for now. More once I get more caught up on editing. To say I’ve been busy is an understatement, so thank you for all who have been patiently waiting. (P.S. This blog post comes to you from Washington DC where I’m attending a forum for the day job!)

While our original idea to use a real sailor’s uniform in the shoot didn’t completely work out, Jess was quick to improvise and come up with a back up outfit.

So, to all of the men and women who fight for the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, we salute you!

While I don’t normally process many in a vintage style, I thought it just fit this image.  Love it!

And here’s the guy who was the inspiration behind the shoot – Mr. Dane Whitley, who served in the Navy.

He taught Jessica the proper way to fold a flag.

There were MANY more awesome images from our mini shoot (we seriously had about 25 minutes) but I wanted to post this as close to the 4th of July as I could (and had my Internet not been acting up, I’d have made it!). Hope you all had a happy and safe holiday!

Saturday morning, we set out to find breakfast outside the  hotel. Not so easy. We actually ended up traveling to Clarksville, Indiana, to eat at an IHOP. Not exactly local fare like we wanted, but there was an upside to it. We found a bike shop that had a ton of road bikes at great prices. The store we went to didn’t have the size I needed, so they told us about another location, and we ended up going there the next day on our way out of town. I was excited to come away with this beauty:

It’s a 2009 Trek 1.2. I’ve ridden it twice, both 10-mile rides. I have some tweaking to do to get the seat height and angle just right, but I LOVE it. There is something so freeing about going down the road with the wind in your face, getting a great workout and being in the outdoors. I’ve been searching for one for a while now so I can do my first triathlon, which is in August. SO excited!

I’ve also enjoyed doing some reading lately. A couple of authors that I just adore now are husband-and-wife team John and Stasi Eldredge. I recently finished their most recent book on marriage called Love & War. It was so great, and for anyone who is married, I know that there is a lot of great insight in it to make your marriage better.

Right now, I’m in the middle of Waking the Dead, a book about reviving your spiritual heart. I highly recommend any book by them. (I’ve also read Stasi’s book Captivating. Totally changed my life.)

Also, last week I decided to be brave. I went from blonde to edgy red and got a short, edgy cut to match. And on top of it, I’ve been straightening it! I was in shock when I first saw it, but I must say I love it now! Here’s a pic from our visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum this weekend. My hair is not as long in the back as it looks…that’s just a shadow my point and shoot created.

Here’s another I posted on Facebook the night I got it cut and colored.

See how vibrant the red is compared to the first picture from this weekend? The red has been fading so much already, and it makes me sad. Any tips on keeping red hair red for a longer period of time?

Oh wait…you’ve already met? Well, if you’ve been following my blog for very long, you have! Meet my new assistant, Ashlie!

Ashlie is my sister, but so much more than that…my best friend, my confidant, my style guru, and my smile when I need one. It will be so wonderful to have her coming with me to local weddings to have someone to chat with and bounce ideas off of. (P.S. This one’s my faaaaaavorite!)

Ashlie just got this new haircut and color on Friday. It’s kind of become a tradition to take photos of her when she gets something new and fun done to her hair. I told her this time, the only word to describe her new style is “badass.”

Ashlie also will be helping with setting up shots, location scouting, holding and setting up my lights, etc.

We went out Saturday to take some pics of my niece and Ashlie’s daughter, Lillie, as well as to get some fun shots for this little announcement. And, well, this is how Miss Lillie felt about that….

We did manage to get a few cute ones of Lil not crying, though.

My sister is such a good momma.

And I realized when I was taking this that there is a pole directly behind Lil’s head. A total no-no in photography. We moved to avoid that, but I ended up liking her expression the best in this one. That’s how it is when you shoot kids sometimes.