Zoey: 5 Months

Jenafer decided to make a deal with me concerning baby pictures. She decided in exchange for me doing a photo shoot with Zoey, she would cut and color my hair for free.

Awesome!

The OSF especially likes this deal, because he'd been wanting me to go blonder for awhile now.

So we went and did Zoey's second photo shoot at the beginning of February. 

Let me tell you: that kid is cu-ute. I can't handle it. And she's soooo photogenic. It's really unfair, because it makes my part of the deal so easy. 

I mean, come on. Look at her.

Zoey seems to like the photo shoots, too. I mean, sure I have to let her suck on the camera strap every once in awhile to keep her entertained, but it's worth it to get these kind of photos.

And then, just when you think she can't get any better... Jen busts out the pink flower headband.

(which Justin finds absurd, but he wasn't home yet.)

Jen had wanted to get some shots of Zo in her I Heart Daddy shirt as a surprise to Justin for Valentine's.

(FYI: This is the look that gets you whatever. you. want. Not that I've ever tried it, of course.)

(Wink.)

But Justin came home from work right in the middle of this part of the shoot and spoiled the whole surprise. What a punk.

(FYI: This is a cute little family.)

The next weekend, Jen made my hair look amazing while we had a great conversation about the old days. I really appreciate friends like Jen and Justin, who've literally known me since elementary school. It rocks so much.

My internet has been very spotty for the last ten minutes...

So I had to go for some non-internet activities to keep me occupied. My time-wasting poison of choice lately has been pulling up Photoshop alongside my Photos folder, finding an old school picture, and messing around with textures, layers, and actions until I get something cool.

This picture came from the February 2009 folder. In fact, it was almost exactly a year ago today this was taken (this day was the 28th). I've realized, now that I'm not doing Picture of the Day this year, how fun it is to be able to go back exactly one year, and see what I was doing, or at least what I thought was interesting enough to take a picture of then.

I may be picking the project up again in March. I'm pretty dissatisfied with the lack of folders in my 2010 Pictures. I think there were only 4 days in January that I took any pictures at all.

The previous pictures of the OSF and I are from a spur of the moment, Hey! I need to get back in the habit again! He happened to have the most amazing light coming in through the window, and I started snapping pictures of him, then self-portraits of myself, which eventually led to cutesy couple pictures where only one of us is ever in focus each time.

But at least we're making pictures. That's all that really matters, right?

*Even if I'm the one who's always blurry?

All right, now that this here internet is back up and working, I'm off to finish up some to-do's for National.


* Story of my life

Bennett | 1 Month

Oh boy.

Talk about a heartbreaker. 

I mean, look at those eyes!

This kid is going to be smart, I'm pretty sure. Only one month old, and he followed my camera around the entire time. Since when are one-month-olds that alert? 

He's just so cute, I can't stand it!

Thanks to Mel and Chris Holz (my Chris' best friend from elementary and high school) for making a little cutie pie, and then letting me play photo shoot with him! Also for totally getting into the whole thing, including the Naked Baby (a necessity for any newborn photo shoot, obviously) and dashing off to find props which included a pencil and a violin. Loved hanging out with them and Bennett!

Also: Congratulations Chris Holz for getting the OSF over his anti-baby-holding stance. Turns out all you have to do is surprise him by immediately handing him a swaddled child the second he walks in the door. With no time to react, he just accepts the bundle.

 

He looks good with a kid, doesn't he?

Don't worry, OSF, I know, I know: "Don't get any ideas."

I'm just saying.

You know. Maybe for later

Way later.

Lizzie and Brad get hitched

So Lizzie asked me back in March or April if I'd help out taking pictures at her wedding, first for the guest book pics, and second as a back-up to the actual photographer, a girl from our church named Katherine. Of course I said yes; there's nothing better than getting to take pictures at a wedding without the stress of actually being the real photographer!

(Sidenote: I could probably never be a wedding photographer. I'm pretty sure the stress of having someone's wedding pictures in my control would be way too much for me. I'm happy enough taking backseat pictures.)

But the very first thing I thought of when Liz asked me was, "Excellent! There's a fun wedding picture project I've been wanting to try!" (See link for project original.)

Lizzie was not impressed with wedding picture projects. "Do whatever you want," she said. "Just make sure to focus on the guest book pictures."

I assured her I could do both. In fact, the guest book pictures where what I needed for my little project anyway. She still didn't sound enthused.

Well, the project came out 10 times better than I expected; hopefully Lizzie will finally understand why I wanted to try this so badly-- it turned out so darn cute!!!

If only I could have gotten Liz and Brad against the same backdrop as everyone else, it would have been perfect. They were just too busy with the whole getting married thing to come out for a mini photo shoot. Oh well.

Since I was outside taking guest book pics for the forty-five minutes before the ceremony, I didn't get too many pre-wedding pictures other than the couple here of Liz's shoes, and her bridesmaids doing some last minutes primping.

How cute are those fans? The church has no air conditioning, so the fans were a major necessity to making it through that ceremony- for everyone involved, not just the bridesmaids. :)

Here's some of the test shots Brittany (my co-guest book photographer) and I did with our fun brick wall background and the fans.

Getting ready to go in...

The ceremony!
It was so hot in there, I couldn't handle it; I went back out to the foyer to grab shots of little things like the basket full of fans for the guests, the picture of Liz and Brad that everyone was signing, and the guest book itself. And since I was already out there, I was in a prime spot to catch the newlyweds coming out the door.

Reception time! We all headed down to the Lakeside Community Center (Britt and I stopping at McD's for 79 cent cokes along the way- did I mention it was HOT and we were DEHYDRATED?)

Here's some fun shots of guests, family members, and our gang of friends enjoying the appetizers before the wedding party arrived.

Jarrod and I. Look at him with his stylish new glasses!

Jesse and Lily. Jesse talked with me at length about the myriad of problems that could be possessing the White Demon. He's such a great friend.

Virginia with the newly-turned-one Lucy Goosey! If you can't tell, Virginia's about to have a kid herself; it's hard to tell because she's so stinking little and cute still!

DJ Jarrod rocking the tunes.

Ryan Poole... posing for a picture?

This is one of my favorites: Can't you just see the thought bubble over Lucy's head? "Get your own cracker, buddy."
Weston Stecklair, Cassie Labbe, and- look at that!- David Stuckey jumped into the frame too!

The wedding party arrives; looking stylist in sunglasses and rocking out as they are introduced. Here we've got Nathan and Genisee, who I'm sure were probably the most fun couple out there.
Jessica and Mikey wait to make their grand entrance, with flower girl Gwen waiting in the wings.

Lizzie was just the cutest bride ever. She just had this goofy smile plastered on her face for the entire reception.

The flowers...

More Lucy. (I can't help it- she's too cute not to photograph!)

Jess and Gwen at the wedding party table.

Genesee and Brandi.

Michelle, Lizzie's youngest sister, and Bethany, one of her good friends. (Can I just say it really makes me feel old that I've known Bethany since she was in fifth grade? And I was in my last years of high school at that point?)

And finally, what wedding is complete without the circle of dancing high school girls? Complete with a younger cousin in pink trying to keep up and looking adorable in her Mary Janes.

And that was Lizzie's wedding. Well, what I saw of it anyway. I had to leave right before the first dance to make it to Mandy's bridal shower in time.... which I still haven't blogged about....

Coming up next: Mandy's bridal shower!

Cute Kid Alert!

At Gwen's birthday party last month, we went out for a little photo shoot in the yard, and I've finally, finally, finally finished going through them all. The kid's just so beautifully photogenic; I can't help it if I ended up taking 200 pictures in that 45 minutes. :)

Here are just a some of my favorites from the day:

Isn't she the cutest?