I can’t believe it’s time already for the Year in Review!  I used to think I could narrow the year down to a top 10 or 20, but really, that’s impossible, soooo here are my “Favorite Moments of 2013!”  Enjoy!!

(Be sure to turn up the volume and make it full screen!)  ;)   If for any reason, you cannot see the video below, click HERE to view.

Thank you so much to everyone that has made this such a wonderful year!  My seniors, their parents, my friends and family.  I could never do all of this without you and I am so incredibly thankful for each of you!

Happy Holidays everyone!  I wish you all the very best and especially for the New Year!  I know it’s a bit early, but Happy New Year!  Let’s all make it even better in 2014!

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I just wanted to Thank all of my wonderful clients, friends, family and everyone else who made 2012 such a wonderful year.

I used to try to do a year end top 10, but I gave up that because I could never narrow it down.  I still can’t, so here are just a FEW favorites from this year:

I hope that 2013 brings each of you many more magical memories!  :)

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Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!

I got to spend last weekend being a little Christmas elf, spreading good cheer!

I wanted to give each of my Class of 2013 clients a little something for the holidays as a Thank You and since I LOVE storyboards, I made one for each of them!

While the weather was not so cheerful that day, I hope that I brought a little joy to each of my seniors and their families.  :)

and lastly…I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!   

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So you may be wondering why I have an Elf on the Shelf.

Well, it’s simple, I wanted one.  ;)

Seriously though, everyone knows how much I love Christmas and this year in particular I noticed so many wonderfully fun and creative photographs of everyone’s Elf on the Shelf.

My friend Beverly probably gets the most credit though.  After seeing all of her elf’s adventures, I knew that I had to have one!

Let me introduce you to our newest Christmas addition…

As you can tell, my elf is special.  My elf, like me, comes armed with a Nikon DSLR.

I can already tell you, we are going to have sooo much fun next Christmas.  ;)

So you better watch out, an Elf that reports back to Santa is one thing…but an Elf with a fancy camera, there is no telling what will happen!  With a face like this, do you doubt me??

I have always loved Halloween.  When I was a little kid, the crisp air and trudging through the leaves on the ground….the candy!  You name it, I love everything about Halloween.  As an adult, I love the scary movies, going to haunted houses and still love dressy up and decorating the house.  Since moving into our house 4 years ago, we are fortunate to have a yard big enough to decorate and lots of children who get to come by and enjoy in the fun!

This year, I added LOTS to the decorations and I only wish Halloween was more than one day, so we could enjoy the fun for longer than a few hours!

One of my new favorite additions this year – The Insane Serial Killer.  He shakes back and forth in his chair.

Nope, it’s not the guy from the movie “Legend.”   It’s my honey!  For two years in a row, he has delighted in picking his costume and I couldn’t be more happy that he enjoys all of this with me!

Until next year…..BOOOO!

It was such a busy Valentine’s Day this year.  I had been fighting a cold earlier in the week and couldn’t work ahead this year.  Sunday morning, I got up super early and got to work.  I had a card to make, bags, brownies, stickers and not a lot of time to accomplish it all.  I was able to get almost all of it done…the homemade brownies had to be sacrificed though.  That was definitely a bummer considering I made super cute bags that said “Homemade Chocolate Brownies.”  Oh well…they were homemade by someone…just not me!  :)
If you would like some Valentine inspiration….the brownie bag and fruit stickers are courtesy of Twig & Thistle.   The card is actually an idea for coffee cup wrappers that I found on eatdrinkchic.com.  There are sooo many fabulous ideas out there if you just look around a bit.

I had no idea how close to impossible picking only ten would be!  
I literally started writing down every favorite and my piece of paper is a mess because I kept writing more and more.   So many things were great about this year and the people that allowed me to photograph their lives and memories.   Picking only ten pictures was incredibly difficult, but I narrowed it down as best as I could.   I ended up with 20 instead of 10.  Honestly, it could have been 50 though.  :)
I have noticed that seldom is my favorite the same as a client favorite.   I’m not sure how or why that is, but we all have very different opinions and I’m learning that more and more as I photograph people.   Why I choose a favorite could be a number of reasons: composition, texture, a certain look caught unexpectedly, or the way I got the shot that I didn’t think that I could.  Mostly, it’s how the picture makes me feel.  What type of emotion it has…whether a person is in the picture or not.  I know that sounds strange but I have to look at a picture and have it wow me.  I hope that in the course of this year, I have wowed you a little bit through my work.  It’s been a wonderful year and I truly thank all of you who have trusted me enough to be part of capturing your memories.   


soooo here it goes…My top 20 of 2010:

I had my busiest month ever in November.  Getting ready for the holidays in general and then add in 4 sessions – it was crazy busy!  It was a good busy though for sure.   I warn you…this is going to be a long blog post, but well worth it in the end.  :)


First up is the Voykin, Sorbet, McNaught Family:

I have always enjoyed taking pictures as we decorate for the holidays.   I think it’s so important to be able to look back over the years at not only how much you and your family have changed but to document your Christmas traditions.  I also am a fan of photographing your trees and the ornaments.  Each year, we get a new ornament..if not a few.  We have two trees – a traditional one and an animal print/red and gold one.  
What are some of your favorite traditions to photograph during the holiday season?
Here are a few of our new ornaments and some older favorites, as well as some favorite decorations:

You may recognize two of these cuties from previous sessions.  The newest addition, Kyler, was born last year.  He is Jordan and Andon’s cousin.  The three of them together are ridiculously cute!  I’ll have some family pictures to share later of Kyler with his mommies, but for now, check out these adorable little guys + one cute little gal!