Goodbye 2011 & 101 in 1001 . South Central Va lifestyle photographer

This has been a crazy year, so much has happened it's insane! First of all THANK YOU to all my amazing clients, friends, family and fans that have supported me and let me into your lives to capture memories for you! Without you guys I wouldn't be able to do what I love!! I figured I'd post some of my favorite personal photos to help tell what happened this year for us :)
In January Keeley and I traveled to New Bern to photograph our friend Rachael's husband's homecoming, it snowed on the way home which was interesting to drive in :P

Keeley turned two and let us do a quick shoot of her



Katie took our family / maternity photos at Hwy 21 drive in one of our favorite places



Then we went out and did a maternity session on Mothers Day which was a ton of fun!



I loved using the quilt, stuffed animal & pillows I made him and the pedal car I got to do his month and year photos

Katie came with me to my last session before maternity leave

I was so lucky to have Katie photograph Jaxon's birth.His induction was very long but I had the birth I wanted and he was perfect, very much worth the wait :) I was nervous about being a family of 4 (well actually a family of 8 lol) but Keeley has been amazing with him and Jaxon is so laid back and awesome





We had so much fun doing his newborn photos his first two weeks :)





Katie did a quick family session in our house, except Keeley wasn't having it lol



My friend Andie came with us to do this session and snapped the photo of us 4, Keeley loves Andie lol

one of my favorites of the two, Keeley is an awesome big sister she love to play with Jaxon and help take care of him

I can't believe how big she is getting!

We spent the fourth of July on base with friends <3

Keeley loves to paint

Jaxon loves to hang out

I went to Texas to photograph a wedding and got to hang out with my best friend, it was soo much fun! and awesome because we hadn't seen each other in 2 years!

The dogs are adapting to having two little ones crawling all over them very well.

I got featured on a blog which was fun and prompted the need for new headshots by Katie of course :P

Keeley and Ally became great friends which has been heartbreaking since we've moved, it's hard explaining to a 2.5 year old why we can't go hang out with her friend like normal

more by Katie, I loved Jaxon's room, it was really a labor of love and I was so upset to take it all down when we moved :(

this was while we were packing up her room, she didn't seem to care they were having fun

Drew and I went to the SC state fair for me to photograph a couple, it was fun to have us time doing something fun



I think I'm rubbing off on her

I had to get Katie to do our family photos before we left at the drive in one last time!





packing up the truck and saying goodbye to the Marine Corps :(
Hanging out in green fields in Va

My kids are such characters, they have so much personality it's crazy!

lovely light and a fun day

Drew and I traveled to Philly to visit some friends from his first 4 years in the USMC it was a lot of fun seeing everyone!

I made two quilts this year and I've started on my third, this one for Drew and I is a lot bigger than the first two I've made. It's also very rare I can do anything to Keeley's hair, I have all these adorable bows and headbands for her but she'll never wear them, so the photo on the right is a rarity and didn't last long

<3 melts my heart

I can't believe how he is growing, wasn't he just born?!?!

little feet <3

The upside to being home is hanging out with good friends again

our most recent photos, Jax's 7 month photo and Keeley actually smiling at the camera <3 Jaxon is now low crawling everywhere and we think he'll start crawling soon, Keeley has almost mastered potty training completely and is speaking so well these days. I'm so proud of both of them and can't wait to see what the future holds for them.

melts my heart more Drew seems to be enjoying life outside of the Marine Corps with his beard :P He starts school next month and is playing football for the Virginia Storm, I'm so proud of him!

2011 has been an amazing year for us, 2012 will be a lot different than the past 8 years but I'm excited to see what it holds


Now for my Pictures for Paws update! Above is the new logo design for it, it took me forever to get the dogs to stand still long enough for me to get the photo for the silhouette but I'm very happy with it. Since Pictures for Paws started in the summer of 2010 we raised $200 which was awesome! I was able to donate $100 each to Bad Rap and Noah's Arks Rescue, so hopefully that was able to help some animals out. Right now I've decided on one rescue to donate for coming up and I'm looking for another I have some in mind but I'll post when I have made my decision. Thank you to everyone who has brought their pet to their sessions to help with this, it means a lot!

Sadly this year two of the dogs I photographed passed away Hunter and Rocco. I was sad to hear about their passing but I was happy that I was able to photograph them with the ones that loved them most so they could have those memories on film <3   Now for something different, a couple of my photographer friends have done this so I decided to jump in and try it too, I'm not quite done with my list yet but when I do I'll update it. These are things I want to accomplish in the next 1001 days. Thank you all again for your support and for reading this all if you did, I can't wait to share new sessions and ideas in the upcoming year <3 101 in 1001

1. attend a workshop (this will happen and I'm eyeing one now)

2. Shoot more seniors

3. Start a senior program

4. Shoot more for myself

5. Photograph my kids more in actual sessions

6. Keep up the 52 weeks of us project

7. Get a new blog

8. Revamp my website

9. Be featured on 5 style/inspiration blogs (0/5)

10. Travel out of state for a wedding

11. Go to D.C.

12. Go to Utah

13. Go back to Cali and visit friends

14. Get the 16-35mm

15. Finish backing up all photos to CDs (their already backed up two other places but for good measure)

16. Set up my darkroom

17. Shoot at least 5 different types of film (0/5)

18. Finish reading the Harry Potter Series (0/7)

19. Make Keeley's birthday outfit

20. Get a photo with Jax with the pups so he can have a canvas like Keeley's

21. Raise $500 for Picture for Paws

22. Volunteer at the animal shelter

23. Go to WPPI

24. Go to the antique stores I've always wanted to go to

25. Buy a house

26. Travel out of the country

27. Have my own natural light studio

28. Get a photo (or photos) published

29. Get back in shape

30. Find the perfect little black dress

31. Take boudoir photos for Drew

32. Learn to like heals

33. Get a pair of white Toms and decorate them

34. Grow a small cotton field

35. Do another painting family portrait of our family

36. Blog more

37. Keep my website up to date

38. Work out more

39. Stay organized

40. Get a skill saw and learn to use it

41. Work on my time management

42. Finish 4 quilts (0/4)

43. Learn more about off camera lighting

44. Collaborate with more artist for a session

45. Host at least two more Think outside the green box workshops

46. Photograph animals at the shelters to help get them homes

47. Be more stylish

48. Learn how to do makeup and hair better

49. Shoot a wedding with Katie :)

50. Shoot with someone I look up to

51. Do something for Wounded Warriors

52. Don't let the small things get to me

53. Take more driving photo trips like I used to

54. Get a medium format camera

55. Photograph a birth

56. Take the kids on vacation

57. Go camping

58. Knit some fingerless gloves

59. Trash my wedding dress

60. Go snowboarding

61. Have our family photos take with the dogs (and maybe the cats haha)

62. Learn more about videography

63. Have our family session videoed

64. Spend a day at a spa

65. Convince the Love Affair girls to have another workshop so I can attend

66. Make mini albums of events in our lives

67. Go on a cruise

68. Go to Vegas with Drew

69. Blog when I cross something off of this list

70. Get the tattoo I've been wanting for a long time

71. Volunteer at  Villalobos Rescue Center

72. Keep growing my hair out

73. Do 5 in home lifestyle sessions (0/5)

74. Go to Kingsdominion again

75. Do more arts and crafts projects with the kids