Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Caleb and I enjoyed an amazing few days at home together last week and I can't wait to share it all with you guys! For now, though, its HALLOWEEN! We're kind of lame and didn't plan fun costumes this year. But hey, life happens! I'm absolutely okay with passing out candy tonight and maybe throwing on a ton of Bengals gear and passing it off as a "super fan" at the last minute? ;) Then heading back inside to watch a scary movie with my man!

Once upon a time, we used to get VERY into Halloween. The first year we were together we had a huge bowling party (which doubled as Caleb's 21st party) and it was way too much fun! Everyone went all out with the creative costumes! Year after year we went to an epic family party (we're talking they rented a tent, had a huge bonfire, themed food, best dressed trophies, etc.), and just had way too much fun celebrating the day.

While this year will be a little more low key, I'm still excited about it!

Anyone dressing up with a super creative costume tonight?! I want photos!!
Happy Halloween, friends!

Happy birthday, hunk!

Today is this handsome guy's 28th birthday!!

Caleb, you're my absolute favorite person on the planet!! You constantly amaze me with how funny, kind and giving you are. I love the way you try to make everyone feel welcomed, how much you make me laugh, and that you never judge me (despite my weird flaws).

I'm so thankful that you're not only my husband, but my best friend. Life with you is such an adventure and I'm just thankful you're by my side through all the good and bad that life throws our way.

I wanted to thank you today, for ALL the little (and big) things you do for me! Thanks for...

...letting me steal the covers

...trying your hardest to stay awake during movies

...surprising me with random mountain dews

...doing our taxes every year

...always hugging me when I come home

...bringing me snickers ice cream

...not being mad on our wedding day when I shoved the cake in your face

...always pursuing me

...being down for ordering pizza at least once a month

...pushing me to be my best

...joining my photography dream team

...sending me sweet text messages

...being so darn handsome

...supporting my love of queso

...never taking life too seriously

...staying up way too late with me

...being so supportive
...constantly listening to my crazy thoughts
...loving me, and choosing me, every single day.

Basically, thanks for being the best husband EVER. You're my rock, and I'm so thankful you're mine! Have the best birthday ever. So thankful we get to spend today-and rest of the week-together on a last minute stay-cation! :)

New camera = fun weekend

Basically anytime I left the house this past weekend, my upgraded, new, amazing baby came with me; aka my new camera! So here's my weekend, with little words, through the eyes of our cameras...

Friday night we rushed home from work to get to Erin and Jared's for a little birthday celebration for Caleb and my mother-in-law! Can you tell they are brothers?! ;)

Saturday was an early morning, prepping for the wedding day ahead and cleaning the house.

Of course we had to make our usual gas-station pick up for some fuel (as in both gas AND food)... we stick to tradition.

Jessica and Scott were just the sweetest. They had THE MOST low-key, casual wedding day. It's so fun working with people who are so in love, and who love to have fun!

We drove a golf cart around for about an hour, which is always a fun part of any golf-course wedding day!

We enjoyed a delicious cup of caramel macchiato coffee at the reception...then made it home in time to watch the rest of the OSU game. It was pretty sad, so I fell asleep early.

Sunday we stayed in, watched a glorious Bengals win! Woo woo! Then we headed to my grandparents around dinnertime to enjoy some time with them. We watched the season premiere of The Walking Dead. I really HATE when people spoil/mention stuff within a day or two of the show airing, so I won't say anything except O-M-G. So good!

We took the camera (of course) and Caleb snapped the most gorgeous photo of their pup, Sophie.

I couldn't help but snag a couple photos of their new property. They are so fortunate, I truly felt like we were on vacation while walking their property! Which was nice, seeing as we planned to have a "viewing party" of the show at our Hilton Head rental last night (insert sad emojis)...but really, how lucky are they with this view?

There ya have it! Our weekend. Since Caleb and I were supposed to be in Hilton Head, soaking up the sun, and that didn't happen - we decided to take the rest of the week off. We're both working today, but will have the rest of the week off, so things might be a little quiet around here! We'll be celebrating his birthday, exploring more of our city, and honestly just doing a lot of relaxing together. We truly need it!

Hope everyone had a great one, and has an awesome week!

Happies!!

Happy Thursday friends! The past 24 hours have been crazy. First we had to make the decision to cancel our vacation last minute, THEN we decided to finally make an investment in our business by upgrading our cameras/gear and THEN!!!! We made the purchase of said gear and OMG we couldn't be happier. This calls for a quick post of serious happies:

-TODAY IS BECKY'S BIRTHDAY!!! I'm so thankful for blogging for bringing us together, and that first time she took a chance and hopped on a plane to spend a weekend in Cincy! Becky, thanks for being such a great friend, for your constant optimism, random snapchats and encouraing notes. Love you!! Enjoy your day, you absolutely deserve it!

-Caleb put a #wcw of me on his instagram yesterday and my mom commented and said "west coast wild?!??" and it made me laugh out loud.

-My new camera is making me so happy and I feel like Christmas came early!!! Cannot wait to show you guys some photos once we play around some more!

-Looking forward to a possible post-Christmas mini getaway in the snow with my man!

-Having only a 6 hour wedding booked Saturday. After the long year we've had, we're excited to make the most of our time on Saturday with this beautiful couple. Their bridal party is all of their children, and we're just so excited! Small weddings kind of make my heart sing.

-Speaking of weddings, only 4 more this year! I do love my brides and grooms, but man, I'm exhausted! One of them is in Nashville, which means a fun weekend away for us!!

-Finding a Kohls gift card in your purse. I know most people spend them right away, but for some reason I like to save them, which leads to kind of forgetting they are there, and being surprised all over again once I find them!

-Realizing the office reordered my favorite french vanilla coffee. YAY!

Hope everyone has a great day!!

Suck & Sweet {when vacation gets cancelled}

A while back, Shelley posted a prompt called "suck & sweet" and it was all about taking a negative, and putting a positive spin on it, and I could really use a shift in perspective today so here goes!

Suck: soooo vacation was supposed to be next week. Well, it's cancelled...for the meantime. Long story short, Hilton Head was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew and it wouldn't have been the relaxing, enjoyable, easy going vacation we'd hoped for, so unfortunately we've been forced to postpone. We're super bummed, but trying to remain positive about it!
Sweet: now Caleb and I just have some extra days off work that we get to figure out what to do with. Bonus that we weren't THERE while the hurricane hit!

Suck: not being on a beach next week
Sweet: possibly treating myself to a massage or manicure to soften the pain ;)

Suck: not getting to pack vacations bag now.
Sweet: not having to rush to finish all the laundry before this weekend.

Suck: not getting to nap on the beach
Sweet: having an excuse to post this cute picture of my man

Suck: when ALL of your cameras start acting up within a few months of each other
Sweet: justifying buying some upgraded cameras! Woo woo! This is long overdue and I am SO excited!

Suck: breaking a coffee mug at work
Sweet: finding an awesome mug and wanting to buy 20 of them to replace it

Suck: TRYING to be healthy but bagels are in the break room
Sweet: convincing myself who gives a crap and that I deserve one

Suck: feeling behind on edits
Sweet: getting a LOT of free time coming up to make up for it

Suck: having to drive an hour home after a hair appointment
Sweet: not caring because you finally feel like YOURSELF again after those ugly roots found their way out!

I hope everyone has a great day. Sure, it may not go as planned, but you've got this! Roll with the punches!

Falling for the weekend.

We had a really great weekend. Friday we had a Fall hangout with our church (aka everyone brings their best pot of chili and we all indulge), hangout with friends, then end the night with s'mores! Caleb and I mostly hung out with the youth group teenagers for whatever reason, and they kept us crazy active. Running all over the camp site, tossing football and just walking around while chatting. We've been so blessed by volunteering to help lead this group for the last (almost) 4 years, and its been fun watching these kids grow up!

So excited to finally have a photo of us that's not a close-up selfie! ;) you'd think the photographer would always have updated photos - but whats the old saying? The plumbers sink is always the last to get fixed? You get what I'm saying!

Saturday was a wedding I had really been looking forward to. The bride, Christina, felt like an old friend when we initially met for coffee over a year ago. She's a local vendor as well, and does wedding planning in the area! I just knew their day would be insanely beautiful, since she has that creative eye!

Who knew a random alley way (that smelled so terrible) could be so beautiful?!

Their ceremony was one of the most emotional we'd ever seen, and it was short and sweet! Their vows were tear-filled, and from the heart. There wasn't a dry eye in the park. Outdoor ceremonies kind of make my heart sing :)

Although our day was pretty long, it was great. The entire day was really easy, and we really had a great time. Bonus points for grabbing a selfie with this cutie!

Before we say goodbye, we always put our cameras away for a few minutes and hit the dance floor. Somehow, we always manage to slow dance when Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" comes on, then really get the dancing shoes out for some faster paced music. The bride must've liked Caleb's moves because she immediately starting imitating him and I happened to pick my camera up from the table to snag this in time - and I'm so happy I did, ha!

Sunday was pretty busy - with cleaning the house, experiencing another Bengals loss (insert all the sad faces here) - but getting to see my nephew!! Then going back home so Caleb could prep the youth group lesson for that night. He killed it! He is so great with the teens and is such a natural teacher/leader, it was fun watching him bring the Word to them!

I hope everyone has a great week. Mine is definitely JAM-PACKED, but after Saturday's short wedding day we leave for vacation and I could NOT be more excited!!! :) I'm so ready to unplug and just spend time with some of my favorite people.

FRIYAY

If every Friday started out the way today did, I wouldn't be mad. I had a new shirt ready to wear (that I bought WEEKS ago with a gift card and its just been hanging in my closet), I didn't get stuck behind any school buses on my commute, and two separate co workers surprised me with treats (a cinnamon roll donut and a mountain dew...sugar coma, anyone?).

We had a great week, it was definitely busy, but it was great. Monday and Tuesday I was able to edit my face off and relax at home on the couch. We aren't "behind" on edits, but we're trying to keep up with them so we don't consume the free time we get this holiday season with editing 24/7.

Wednesday evening we watched my brother-in-law help coach his 7th grade football team. Some of these kids are crazy talented for their age! It's always fun watching family do something they really enjoy! I've always thought the two of them (Caleb and Jared) would make an amazing team. They both seriously belong on ESPN with their own show. They know more stats than you can even imagine, and NOT just about their favorite teams; but about everyone! I always picture them getting their own talk radio show one day ;)

Some other highlights of the week;

-When my man surprised me with an order of queso last night after a long day of work.

-Caleb got instagram this week. He used to have one and hadn't touched it since last January so he decided to start one up again!

-Getting my face wash order from R&F. I used Unblemish about a year and a half ago to clear up some acne and scarring I had (high school was a blast for me... I wish there was sarcasm font), and it was amazing. When I ran out, I just never reordered, so I'm really excited to start using it again!! I always just assumed adults didn't break out as they got older, but oh, how wrong I was!

-Receiving a nice thank you card in the mail unexpectedly!

-Realizing my hair appointment is 4 days away. These roots need HELP!

-Snapchat. I may or may not have googled inappropriate pick up lines and sent them to Caleb with a ridiculous filter/voice change while he was upstairs last night. I made myself cry from laughing so hard.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned. Tonight we've got a "fall kickoff" with our church that includes a huge bonfire, tasty chili, and good company! We're excited. Tomorrow we've got our 27th wedding of the year and we're ready to rock it!

Life is short, stay up late.

Caleb and I had such a fun evening last night. We got home from work, made PB&J's and popcorn for dinner, we cuddled on the couch and watched a few episodes of The Flash before plugging away on our recent wedding edits until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. We stayed up way too late talking, and at one point laughed so hard I cried. Caleb couldn't help but laugh at my laughter and the cycle just repeated itself for a while.

Life is really all about those small, simple moments. The little moments that you wish you could bottle up and remember forever. Like when your husband comes home with a bag of candy because he was "thinking of you" on his drive. Or when you get a text from a friend that says she'd proud to know you. Or silly things like last night where you laugh so hard you cry just thinking about a hilarious meme you saw earlier that day.

I get so caught up sometimes, that life doesn't look quite like I thought it would a few years ago, but I take so much comfort in the fact that we worship a God who DOES know what our future holds.

Last night as I was editing, I realized how far Caleb and I have come together on this photography adventure. We took a look back at the FIRST wedding we shot together and cringed at the awkward posing, slightly overexposed, angled images. It's crazy how caught up I'll get when editing now if the white balance is slightly off, focus isn't razor sharp, etc., then I remember that while those things are important details to pay attention to, what's more important are your subjects. The bride and groom in the photograph itself. Their emotion, their joy, their peace in knowing they are each others forever. Photographing has been an exhausting journey, but an insanely rewarding one none the less.

I'm slightly obsessed with the sunset session we did on Alyssa and Jon's wedding day last month (see above). It's great to have clients who TRUST you when you tell them leaving their reception for 7 whole minutes will be worth it. Brides and Grooms don't get much "quiet time" on their big days, so I love when they take time to just be together, slow down, and cuddle while the sun goes down.

This whole post was so random, but basically just to say its okay to eat PB&J for dinner, its okay to be proud of yourself and how far you've come, and its okay to stay up way too late cuddling your husband. Life is short y'all! Enjoy it!

Our weekend || snap happy

I'm going to be totally honest, as this past weekend approached, I was a little nervous. We've shot plenty of double-header weddings (2 in a row in one weekend) before, but I think with it being towards the end of the year, I was just more tired than usual.

I'm happy to report that we survived! Successful wedding days both Friday and Saturday! It's always so amazing to me how unique each wedding day is. Both of them could not be more different from each other, but were still gorgeous and unique in their own ways. We really did have so much fun; especially when the bride and groom from Friday insisted we put our cameras down around the end of the night and just "have fun"! This meant a lot, they are actually photographers as well, so they totally understand what a long day can do to ya! It was much appreciated. We danced for a solid hour and just had a great time with some friends we knew at the reception!

Sunday was an incredible message at church, and then a family session for an old friend of mine. Taylor and I graduated high school together, and we have so many fun memories together. We actually reconnected when she and her man, Seth, were both in a recent wedding we shot! It prompted them to want to get some family photos done, so we all met up at a local park and hung out in the woods - which really gave us some amazing light! Fall family sessions are my favorite!

Taylor is seriously gorgeous. I was always envious of her crazy blue eyes back in school! Her baby girl, Rowen, and her son, Levi definitely both take after her with those gorgeous eyes. This photo makes me laugh; a total "motherhood" moment! Their family session was honestly a breeze with their effortless giggles and adorable outfits!

Caleb and I did groceries after the session, and since our fridge broke, our cart was FULL this trip! We got home before lunch, still, and enjoyed a MUCH needed afternoon of relaxing and napping. The Bengals game was just horrible, sadly, which lead to more napping and lounging around. We finished the night off with a quick (chilly) grill out and endless episodes of The Flash!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and has an even better week!

October goal: survive

Every October, we always have so much going on. SO many weddings, SO many photo shoots, SO many events, SO many personal things we need to get done...so basically my only goal for this month is to make it through (aka; survive). Vacation at the end of the month couldn't come at a better time, because life, for the first time in forever, will truly slow down significantly afterwards.

via

Caleb and I have been talking a lot about slowing down lately. For the majority of our marriage, life has been very go-go-go because we've hustled to try and pay off debt, book a ton of weddings, see everyone and do everything.

We realize that to get to where you want to be in life, you sometimes have to temporarily do things that you maybe don't want to do (like work two jobs, work most weekends, edit all night, etc.), but we are absolutely ready for life to slow down. After vacation, we will come home and only have THREE weddings the rest of the year. THREE! I truly can't comprehend it. By the end of the year we will have photographed 31 weddings in 2016, and approx 98 TOTAL.

So really what I'm looking forward to is some time off with my husband! As much as we absolutely love photographing weddings and love being part of these special couples/families lives, it'll be so nice to enjoy a break this Winter and relax. We haven't had time to just "breathe" much this year, and even though photography is a passion of ours, everybody needs a break! I'm so excited to actually sleep in on a Saturday, maybe go for a donut run, relax, watch college football all day and really just do whatever the heck we want! It's going to be so, so great!

What do we plan to do with some of our time off in the next few months? Basically just get our LIVES together. Organize the basement, throw old stuff away, make some personal photo books, make a yummy new meal, watch new movies, enjoy time with friends we hardly get to see. Ah, I'm genuinely feeling more relaxed just typing that all out.

I guess the point of this blog post is to say, busy isn't all its cracked up to be! Take time for YOU, you deserve it!!

Currently || October

Happy October, friends! I feel like October really makes the whole Fall season official, you know? The weather here in Ohio has finally started to dip down, and we're seeing cooler evenings and crisp mornings. I love it! One of our favorite things to do together in the Fall is take late night walks as the sun goes down. I'm also looking forward to our church's Fall kickoff next week, they always have the best bonfires!

With another new month comes one of my favorite link-ups (by Anne and her co-host Jacqui); Currently!

So, currently I'm...

Cheersing || that we leave for vacation in 17 little days. Yippee!!!

Organizing || our lives. We have a LOT going on right now! Between work, weddings, church, trying to get our budget together, yadda yadda yadda, I'm just trying to make sure the living room is clean and presentable every day, and consider that a win!

Dreaming || of upgrading our cameras/gear. We are in a tough spot because we know that upgrading our gear will change the game as far as weddings/work flow goes, but we're also trying to pay off as much debt as we can. We're currently looking at everything we own find what we can sell so we don't have to dip into regular income to make purchasing at least ONE of the cameras happen! It's exciting and tiresome all at once!

Buying || nothing. Well, I take that back. Since our fridge broke, we're having to restock our freezer with all new meat. Ugh, it's super frustrating, but I'm trying to be thankful we're renters so maintenance will just come fix it, and we don't have to buy a new fridge! #silverlining

Listening || to a lot of Elevation Worship

Hope everyone has a great week. Caleb and I are gearing up for our last "double header" (aka back to back weddings in one weekend) of the wedding season and picking back up an old devotional together. Love that man! Have a great day!

The weekend I wished would never end.

Guys, I am feeling so relaxed. This past weekend, Caleb and I were able to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. This isn't something that happens often, so for us, we were almost at a loss at what to do and ended up taking lots of naps. We weren't mad about it one bit.

Just like last Friday, we spent another fun evening with Erin and Jared while our nephew slept the night away. We laughed about everything and nothing, looked at old photos and stayed up way too late. Unfortunately we didn't get a ton of sleep, BUT woke up around sunset to help my grandparents move into their new home.

I'll be honest, it was a little emotional. This was my childhood home, where I had sleepovers with my best friends! The home I woke up in on my wedding day. I quickly reminded myself that home is where our family is, not a specific location, and I was all better. Their new ranch home is awesome, and you really can't beat the views. The family that owns the surrounding land is a family friend of ours and they have horse stables and acres of gorgeous land for miles.

After the move, Caleb and I had plans to watch the Buckeyes game, then hit up a local farm to pick pumpkins. Well, halfway through the game we took a nap and when we woke up, neither of us really felt like getting ready and driving 30 minutes to pick a pumpkin. So our "all things Fall" day was put on hold for a long nap and a late date night. I didn't mind one bit!

We got ready and hit up our favorite Mexican place in all the land. We stayed for a couple hours and just laughed the night away. We definitely ordered TWO sides of queso - you could call us wild ;) I'm so thankful for a husband who pursues me and still tries to get to know me more and more! We had so much fun together.

Sunday was amazing. So much lounging around! We made sure to have a breakfast date, watched a ton of football, got a lot of laundry done and relaxed the day away. I'm so thankful for this weekend that recharged me in so many ways. Now this upcoming weekend is packed full with two weddings and lots of football and church. I am so ready for vacation at the end of the month!!