Richmond, Virginia Bridal Photographer

I really enjoy doing bridal sessions. The only thing about bridal sessions is you never get to blog about them. I can't put these shots up on the web for the chance of their lucky man spotting them. Then the first look wouldn't really be the first look. But then again, pictures can't always explain the love and the look in their grooms eyes when they see their bride for the first time. Photos can't explain the way the bride feels as she slips the dress on and absolutely feels like she is the only girl in whole wide world. Still, the idea behind ruining that first look wouldn't be good... so I don't blog. What I can do now that the wedding is over is finally show you what a bridal session looks like and how wonderfully gorgeous these brides look. We have lots of fun as we go out and shoot images of just her in her dress and enjoy the down time before the wave of excitement, time crunches, and awe appears. Here is Kelly. Her wedding was this past October in Richmond and it rained during this entire session. We had a few moments of wet free photography but other than that it was umbrellas and bags and running and dodging. She was a trooper to get that nice white dress out there.

Homeschool and Honoring

I've been awake since 3:30 with a sick child and haven't been back to sleep, so I thought I would take this "quiet" time to get a few things done on the computer. First off, for those of you who don't know that I homeschool... I do. This is my second year teaching my son and so far things are going good. I like the freedom of teaching him things he is interested in. He loves the ocean life, bugs and reptiles. The boy knows so much about those things. We also do a lot of art work. One, because that was my major and two, he also loves it. My husband and I had decided to homeschool him when he was going through his treatment with cancer. While on chemo, his immune system was so low that he couldn't go out of the home on some days. We felt that even now, we would give him the chance to not fight all the germs in a school, get his immune system going again and just see how this went. Two years later and here we are. I've recently started a homeschool blog to track good sites with great info and projects and so that others could see what kinds of cool things we do. A lot of it will be projects that I post about but I know a handful of homeschoolers and we are always looking for ideas. So, if you are interested you can go HERE ! Also, As most of you know, my brother was killed on Aug. 19, 2009 while serving in Afghanistan. We are currently in the process of trying to raise funds to have a playground built in his memory here in Williamsburg. If you are in the area or live somewhere near here, on January 21 and 22 we are having a Laser Tag Fundraiser at WISC. It's a great way to have fun and support a good cause. We will also be selling our "support our troops/ Honor our Fallen" apparel. So come on out and tell your friends!! The link for the shirts is HERE! and for more info on Laser Tag.. Go HERE.

new years.

For New Years we had some long time family friends come visit. They have 5 kids.. 3 girls in college and a boy and girl still at home. The oldest one couldn't make it though. We don't usually do anything for New Years and usually bring in it by sleeping through the parties. It's different now that we have kids and aren't in college ourself anymore. It doesn't bother us. This time we spent it at my parents house however playing games like Apples to Apples, the boys playing video games and the others watching TV. My two girls were asleep long before the clock struck 12. While they were all here we decided on doing some photos. It's not often that we see them and they are more like family than friends. No matter how long we go without seeing them, we can all pick up right where we left off. Oh those good old memories! Here are two for now. I will post more once I get my actual computer back. It's getting worked on because the CD drive is broke. :( sad! This one makes me laugh!

Construction ahead

Sorry if the blog has been a bit off. I'm trying to rework and redesign the layout. It will take a bit for the layout to fall into place again. Anyhow, Just thought I would post a couple of pics of the new toy that the "big boy" got. I guess you can never be too old for toys. Chris is always looking at the kids toys and playing with Montana. That's a good thing though, because Montana just loves that attention. After the girls go to bed, Montana and Chris will play in his room for about 20 min with his new Santa gifts. It's cute.

8 years and more

It's been 8 years with the love of my life today. When you get married you want to believe that it will be a cinderella story and that you will live happily ever after, that things will go smoothly, that there will be no bumps along the road, but truthfully I've yet to meet a single couple who has had it perfect. We've had many hardships, had our share of ups and downs and yet through it all, I can honestly say I love him more today than the day we said "I do". We have had three children, spent 3 years with our son battling cancer, lost 4 family members, moved 4 times, quite a few other things and I can say I did it with him by my side. He is truly my best friend. He makes me laugh so hard at times my stomach hurts, he encourages me and supports me, he holds me while I cry, picks me up when I'm down and is always there to put a smile on my face. He's an amazing husband and works hard at what he does. He's the supporter of the family and a wonderful father to our children. Oh how I adore him. I'm blessed God gave me him and fortunate to have found my soulmate. He is the prince that I was always looking for. Happy Anniversary Babe! Here's to many more. I love you forever and always!

Merry Christmas

It's been a busy month. We've had lots going on and I haven't really been doing the photo thing. I guess I have kind of taken the month off after having caught up with all the photo editing and to top it off, my computer CD drive is down. :( I guess I should get that fixed. It's been nice not feeling like I have to do photo work but I have been busy homeschooling and doing Christmas projects with the kids. There really isn't ever any down time with 3 kids and schooling but that's life. I like it. It's also a hard time with the holidays and the loss of Paul. We all feel it even more. :( Now that Christmas is over and the New Year is about to begin I will kick the fundraising for his playground into high gear. It's something very dear to my heart and I want to get this done in his memory and in his honor. He's missed and everyone should know it! I hope you all had a lovely holiday season. It's always been one of my favorites. The birth of our Savior and the festivities is brings seems to be a mood lightener. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!

Wreaths Across America

This past weekend we spent up in Arlington. It was the family and I that traveled up there to help place wreaths at headstones of our nations fallen heroes. They had 100,000 wreaths that were to be placed with thousands of volunteers helping to do it. This was my third year participating and it will probably be something we do every year. We like being the ones to place Paul's wreath. It's such an experience that can't be put into words. It's also nice to meet new people and catch up with old friends who we have come to know along this heavily traveled road. Afterwards, we ventured over to the White House where we were invited to view the Gold Star Family Christmas Tree. It was a gorgeous site of course and pretty neat to see the White House decorated for the holidays. Because we weren't allowed with cameras inside, after the tour we went back to Arlington to take some photos for friends. If you have not had the chance to view Arlington at Christmas time, you should really make a trip out there. There is nothing like viewing 1000's and 1000's of headstones with wreaths placed in front of them. It's peaceful and breathtaking... beautiful.