senior sneak peek - kendal!

I got to shoot Kendal's senior portraits this past weekend.  It was so much fun.  She put up with me dragging her all over town and interrogating her about what she's doing next year.  She's incredibly smart so she has tons of options for next year.  There was lots to talk about.  

And, she's obviously gorgeous!  In so many pictures I was taken aback by just how fabulous her skin is!  Seriously.  It looks photoshopped, but it's not!  It's just that awesome.  

And, at the risk of sounding old, I've gotta say this because it's so true...her heart is just as gorgeous.  

more of the family.

A few weeks ago I posted about taking family portraits of Jordan's side of the family.

The Christmas cards have been mailed, so I can share the rest of the pictures...enjoy!

Tomorrow I'll post the Scott self portraits :)

family self portraits.

over the last two weeks i've done a family photoshoot of both of my families.  i just realized when i sat down to post these of the conklin side that i never posted the scott side!  i'll do that soon.  

family self portraits are hard.  it involved me setting up the tripod, hitting the button and then sprinting to my spot in the picture.  it was a good workout for sure.  needless to say, i've already added a camera remote to my christmas list!

we did the conklin pictures last weekend but i can't really post many because i'm not sure what's going to be used for christmas cards.  so, here are the couple that i can post:

we took individual family photos as well.  but again, not sure what's going to be used for christmas cards.  i forgot to take one of our family so i snapped one really quick at the end.  this one is at the oil company on the dock.  i like that it captures jordan's job and our family all in one :)  

i'll try to remember and post the others after christmas card pictures are chosen!

happy wednesday!

project 52.26

loved.

Both of you are loved.  

By this woman and so many others.

And not only are you lucky enough to be loved by so many.  But your daddy and I are too.  When people love you well, they love us well.  It is such a blessing to watch people love you.  They want to hold you and play.  They want to spend time with you and get daily pictures or videos of you.  They want to tickle you and smother you with kisses.

They just, flat out love you and we are so grateful.

celebrating the one i love.

Okay, so it appears that all my friends have been quick to post about their Labor Day weekend.  And, I have the urge to type like two sentences.  Which is more than normal these days.  So, I better take advantage.  Keep in mind, I didn't edit any of these pictures.  I only took pictures of a fraction of the things we did this weekend and it all is going to be super sloppy.  But sloppy is better than nothing, right?

We had such a fabulous weekend.  

My whole family was under one roof for longer than 24 hours.  First time this has happened since May.  It was a sweet time.  I love them.  And they love me well.  I am blessed.

We also spent the weekend celebrating the boy.  He turned 31 on Saturday.  It was fun to spend the weekend celebrating him.  

He was super bummed because he recently broke his arm and didn't get to go dove hunting.  This was his only birthday wish.  So, since that plan was no longer an option, I came up with a new plan.  A surprise trip.  Just me and him.  We left on Saturday morning and to say that Jordan was antsy would be an understatement.  He kept trying to guess where we were going.   

Finally, we pulled up and Jordan could see this...

Since he still didn't know where we were, I finally told him we were at the Hillsville FleaMarket and GUNSHOW.  He was beside-himself-excited :)  I'm so glad the surprise worked out.

They had tons of old fun stuff.  So, I spent time taking pictures while he spent time looking at guns and knives.  He was having a ball. 

We spent the entire rest of the weekend with family.  Eating good food.  Drinking good coffee.  Playing fun games.  And having good conversation.  

We sang happy birthday multiple times to the old man :)

[thank you dad, for the reminder to be extraordinary.]

Seeing my brother and sister love the twins is one of my greatest joys.  It just makes my heart so happy.

 We had a cookout with my dad's side of the family on Sunday night and I didn't take many pictures.  In fact, I only brought one lens for my camera - big mistake.  The night time pictures were a mess.

This morning, we came back home to celebrate Jordan's birthday with his family.  It was also such a sweet time of being together with his family.  

I love celebrating the one I love.

I feel very high-on-life as I settle back on my bed tonight.  Just thankful that I am able to call all the people in this post family.  There are so many people who would kill to have what we do.  And I do not take one second for granted.  I am blessed beyond measure.  And oh, so grateful.

project 52.21

lucky.

Your daddy and I both grew up around lots of family.  There was always a birthday to celebrate or a holiday potluck.  Or just riding four wheelers on Sunday afternoon with all the cousins.  We attended each other's ballgames and dance recitals.  Birthday parties and high school graduations.  I had friends who didn't have families like that.  Their families were small or they lived too far away or they just weren't close.  I was always so glad to have such a big family. 

And so, you are lucky.  To have cousins to grow up with.  To have things like Cousin Camp every summer.  And birthdays.  And holidays. 

Do not take this for granted.  

Not everyone is so lucky.

one of my favorite things.

One night last week we did one of my favorite things during the summer.  We went to the pool and ate supper and then swam.  It was so much fun.  The weather was perfect.  The lighting was perfect.  And the company was perfect.  I took some pictures and then my sister-in-law, Gretchen, took some :)

Emma Claire learned how to swim this week.  So, she and Poppy spent time going down the slide.  He's so sweet with all his littles.

Nonny, aka - Superhero of the week, and sweet Anabelle.

Me and Tate

Jordan and Crews.  I loved his expression in all of these so I had to put them all on here :)

Me with Tate again.

An in-action shot of Poppy and Emma Claire.

Daddy and Tate :)

Anabelle and her princess float!

Jordan and his nieces.

Me and Crews.

Tate and Nonny.

sneak peek | newborn - wells.

I took maternity pictures of Joy a few months ago.  And, a couple of weeks ago I had the honor of taking pictures of their sweet new baby, Wells [Can we take a moment to notice how awesome his name is?!?].  He was such a sweetheart.  We had a great time and I realized just how much a love the squishy, newborn phase :)