Friday, June 29, 2007

Anniversary Fun!

My wonderful husband planned a surprise anniversary getaway for our 7th... He didn't give me any clues at all, other than "Pack a swimsuit!"

Car rides make me do all kinds of things to amuse myself... lots and lots of pictures of pretty much nothing :)



We first drove to Asheville, where we went to a quickie get together with a few photographer friends... It was Michael Juliano's birthday, so we went out to celebrate with him a bit. Our dear friends Corey and Regina were there... Fun times!







Apparently, when Regina is around, we all lose our ability to take good self-portraits... this has happened two other times now! It took us about a million tries to get a decent shot! (I will claim credit for the last one though... I win :) )



Then on Saturday, I shot a wonderful wedding at the Biltmore Estate with Corey, a post on that is forthcoming...

We spent Sunday with my family, and then we left Sunday evening to start towards our destination. It was a decent drive, so we broke it up and grabbed a hotel for the night midway there...

Preparing to leave the next morning...



Arriving at the Outer Banks, we drove straight to our awesome bed and breakfast... the White Doe Inn.





We settled in, and then headed out to the Dunes. We bought a stunt kite, and had a blast playing with that!







A couple random scenery shots...





The second day of our vacation we went out on a jetski tour! It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life! We didn't take our camera out there :) but I'll just tell you that it was absolutely beautiful, as well as intense, and fun, and a million other adjectives :)





We then went home and washed up, and headed out for a delicious dinner.





The next day, we got up, and traveled back to Asheville. Our dear friends Corey and Jill invited us over for a delicious dinner, and a hysterical movie. It was like a big slumber party... Absolutely perfect ending to a brilliant trip.

We arrived at the McNabb's, and Corey pulled out his RC sailboat... we took it down to the lake, and the boys sailed it a bit. I think Nathan enjoyed himself :)







I love this shot of Carat.



Me and Jill...



As the evening went on, Corey pulled out some RC airplanes. Now that's some quality entertainment. We were having so much fun with them, that even when it got dark, we pulled the car around and used the headlights for light! So fun!





We finally did stop playing and enjoyed the amazing meal that Jill had prepared for us.





The next morning, we got up and ran to the store for more planes :) I think we might've been just a little out of control with our newfound obsession, but so so fun!





Thanks so much Corey and Jill for your awesome hospitality! See you very very soon! We love you!



Nathan and I ran over to pick up the kids and my sister from my parents house, and we rushed straight home, just in time to grab dinner with Joy and Garrett Nudd! It was so great to spend time with them, and was a perfect transition into coming home... Just a few more minutes of grownup time. So awesome!

Austen grabbed these pictures for us :) Garrett was NOT amused by the pop-up flash brightness :)





Nathan, thank you so much for planning such an amazing vacation. I had a blast. I love you!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 7th Anniversary to my amazing wife!

Amber has helped me learn to better LIVE, LAUGH, and LOVE!

Love you babe!


Friday, June 22, 2007

Brand new Baby Bolton...

I'm sure you remember Baby Barrett... well, as of last week, he's a big brother! I went over to Cam and Brandon's house yesterday morning, and grabbed a few images of the new addition to the family! It seems like this is the month for newborns! Baby Bolton was a mere 8 days old at the session, and was as sweet and quiet as could be!

He started off the day pretty alert...



So we did some fun family stuff first... knowing that both Bolton AND Barrett were probably going to tire fast.





I love these images of the two brothers. You can tell Barrett just doesn't quite know what to do with Bolton yet, but he's certainly excited about him!







Cam got Bolton to sleep, and we were able to get some amazingly beautiful sleeping baby images. I love how relaxed he is in these...





This image of Cam and Bolton is one of my favorites from the day! It's such a quiet moment.



A few baby details...





And a shot for scale... Baby Bolton is itty bitty... this chair is his nursery just dwarfed him!



Cam and Brandon, thanks for inviting me back this year! I love you guys and am excited to watch Barrett continue to grow... and to get to know new Baby Bolton!

I hope you enjoy your slideshow!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Welcome to the World, Baby Adali!

Yesterday morning, I headed over to Erlanger Hospital to hang out with Patsy and Matt to await the arrive of Baby Adali! It seems like it was just recently that I was coming home from a quickie hospital session with Adali's brother Evan! You can see images from their last family session here!

It was a crazy day! We waited for quite some time for things to progress... Patsy was a serious trooper, always in amazing spirits.



I love the images that are made during the waiting phase... That is a time of such a great range of emotion, and I enjoy those moments very much.



Patsy being attended to by her wonderful nurse friend, Brandy (who stayed up for greater than 24 hours waiting on the birth of this child).





The kids came by once things had progressed. One of my favorite images of the day is this image of Levi with his daddy.



Kaylee, waiting ever so patiently...



And Evan, as the center of attention. He wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about!



We found out that Patsy was dilated to 9.5 cm, and we pulled the curtain so the kids could stay in room and wait for Adali's arrival... I stuck my camera under the curtain to grab a couple shots of their reaction to finding out that the baby was really coming!





Patsy's delivery was super smooth, and almost too fast. I think Dr. Barker almost missed it! Check out the slideshow for delivery images!

The hustle and bustle just after a baby is born is pretty crazy.





A few Adali details...





Dr. Barker had a quick prayer with the new family.



I love these images of Matt holding Baby Adali while Patsy looks on!





The whole family!



A few final images of Baby Adali... I can't wait to see her again!



(one of my favs from the day!)



Matt, Patsy and kiddos... we love you much! Congratulations on the amazing new addition!

Enjoy your slideshow!




Oh, and I did grab a fun shot of my new ShootSac. I am so completely in love with this camera bag!