Weekend recap!

This weekend was a whirlwind! One thing after another, but it was all great stuff, so I didn't mind one bit!

Friday evening, after work, we headed over to Erin and Jared's for the thing we do best -- game night! We always have such a blast with them; we don't even have to be doing anything crazy elaborate. Just give us some chips and some Disney trivia and we're good to go!

Saturday we had another wedding! It was a fun change of pace from being Downtown like normal, and we got SO lucky with a gorgeous sunset. Of course, we love it when our couples trust us enough to let us sneak them out of the reception for 5 minutes to snag these golden hour shots! We think it's totally worth it!

Sunday was an awesome, productive day. I photographed the baptisms from both of our morning services and it was overwhelming, as usual. Such an amazing thing to get to witness!

Once we got home from lunch we dove right into productivity! Caleb cleaned up around the house, I did some laundry and cleaned out every inch of my car. I emptied the trunk, and even shop-vacced! It feels so good to have a clean car again!

That evening we had an end-of-summer hangout with our church and had homemade BBQ for dinner. It was so tasty! I always love hanging out with these friends of ours! I'm also really feeling some soreness today from an intense game of ultimate frisbee! We also had another baptism that night! So thankful!

Sunshine for days!

This weekend was fantastic! Other than Friday, it didn't have much structure and that's the way I like it. Friday, Caleb and I photographed a sweet family members intimate, courthouse wedding in Kentucky. Natalie is one of Caleb's many many cousins, and I'm so lucky to call her a friend, too! She's seriously beautiful, inside and out, and we were SO thankful to be part of their big day! I'm really thankful we snagged a few photos with them, too! ;)

Their ceremony took place in the cutest little town, on the stairs of the old courthouse. It was short and sweet, but their love for each other was so obvious.

I MEAN. COME ON NATALIE! GORGEOUS!

Saturday morning I photographed an Easter event that my church put on! We had over 1,000 preK-5th graders sign up for our "Chopper Drop" aka... thousands of candy filled Easter eggs being dropped from a helicopter!

We grabbed lunch with my SIL/BIL, then spent the remainder of the day being insanely productive around the house. We got rid of two huge bags of clothes to donate, made a huge dent in our never-ending laundry pile, and cleaned up the guest room a bit. We enjoyed a late dinner, and finally relaxed around 10PM.

Sunday after church, some of the youth group students stayed after to help assemble Easter egg baskets for 78 kids who are receiving life-saving treatment at Children's Hospital. We partnered with the Ronald McDonald house so their parents would have one less thing to worry about while they are staying in town. Because the only thing they should have to worry about is being there for their kiddos! We even got a quick tour of the facilities and it was really cool to see how well they love on these families while they are going through a difficult time.

Caleb and I spent the remainder of our day doing more laundry and relaxing...isn't that what Sunday's are for? I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and had a great weekend as well!

Non-stop snapping!

This weekend consisted of not putting my camera down - and I kind of loved it. Even though that basically meant working 7 days last week, it was still awesome.

We had a very low-key wedding to photograph on Saturday. It was a great time, they even had Ben & Jerry's deliver! On Sunday I had a family session, then an all-day senior session after that with one of my favorite ladies! Weddings are definitely our "specialty" but I am becoming a huge fan of lifestyle senior photography. Really showcasing these kids and letting their personalities shine...being outdoors, hitting up their favorite coffee spot, and just having a great time!

That evening our church had an "end of summer hangout" potluck event so she and I hit pause on the senior session, enjoyed dinner and company with everyone, and then when the sun started to set she and I snuck off to finish up her session! It was amazing. Isn't she stunning?! The glow of sunset is absolutely my favorite time to shoot.

Caleb and I have a mostly free week ahead of us, and we plan to spend it at home, catching up on life and just spending time together. We're so excited!

Speaking of Caleb, it was his turn to choose our weekly goal this week, and he landed on no junk food. Easier said than done, but I think I can do it! Today through Friday, no junk food. It's only 5 days, how hard can it be?! ;)

I hope you got into something fun over the weekend!

Back in action!

I'M BACK!!

Last week, Caleb and I took a break from life (and most forms of social media) to spend a week with our favorite teens at Christ in Youth (CIY) in Cleveland, TN! We had so much fun and I plan on doing a full recap soon but for now I'm going to recap my weekend since we got back on Friday.

We took a 15 hour nap (can you seriously believe that?!) when we got home Friday. So, Saturday we woke up early and headed to Dayton for a huge comic book store that Caleb found online. It proved to be everything it promised and had a little something for everyone. CD's, movies, comic books, board games and fun odds and ends!

After, we walked around then grabbed lunch at a fun Irish Pub we hadn't been to in years and it was awesome - honestly the best sweet potato fries I've ever had! We probably won't go back for a while because the menu selection was pretty tiny, but the food was definitely tasty!

Afterward, we grabbed some delicious Starbucks and walked around Barnes and Nobles for what seemed like ever. I love writing down book titles, then checking them out of the library for free ;) #cheap

We spent the rest of our evening at home, cleaning up and doing laundry from our trip.

Sunday after church, we grabbed lunch with one of my dearest friends. Ashley was a bridesmaid in our wedding and my first friend in 6th grade when I moved to my new school. She has always been there for me and she is definitely one of those friends that no matter how far away we live, we will always be there for each other. She brought along her boyfriend (he's Australian)! Caleb and I honestly loved getting to know him. He taught us a bunch of Aussie slang and the two of them were just hilarious and awesome together. It was so fun catching up!

Shortly after, I videotaped my brothers Miami University marching band audition. I feel like there's no way he WON'T get in...he just continues to amaze me with his talents!

That evening we spent it with the teens again. We headed to a local park for some outdoor fun and a lesson under the shade. We recapped CIY and just opened up about things we're dealing with. It's amazing how much these kids continue to teach ME, and I'm supposed to be a leader, ha! Funny how that works, huh?!

Hope everyone had a great week. PS - this is my first day in my new role at work. Good vibes please!

One EPIC weekend

OH. MY. WORD. You guys! We had the absolute best, OBLIGATION FREE weekend! We did whatever we felt like, ALL weekend long. I know, lots of capital letters but I just can't help myself.

I mentioned we had some unexpected car stuff to deal with, so Friday we prepared ourselves for an entire night of used car shopping. Well, turns out every single dealership closed at 6...even the small family owned ones. So instead we headed home! My brother came by and we played Frisbee Golf for an hour or two. It was awesome spending time with him! It had been too long.

Saturday we woke up early, and headed down to City Flea! We've never been and it was just awesome. We picked up two of our friends and had a fun afternoon! Probably about 100 different booths selling handmade items, vintage items, and everything in between. We left lots of fun stuff! The BEST bbq sauce ever, a Cincinnati shirt, an oversized print for our living room, a new headband, and the most delicious lemonade shake up!

We ended up heading back out a little later, and immediately found ourselves a great car. We are so thankful! God's hand was definitely in this situation. I truly didn't want to spend ANY time at all on our first weekend off car hunting, but it was a pretty quick process, thankfully!

We spent the rest of our evening at home, watching lots and lots of Psych re runs!

Sunday we heard an amazing message at church from a guest speaker. I rushed home to drop Caleb off, then go pick up my bestie! Lyndsie was in town to celebrate some family members birthdays! After lunch, we headed downtown so we could have a little photo shoot.  Lynds started a fashion account on Instagram and I wanted to make sure she had some amazing pictures that really showed her personality.

After a fun afternoon with her, we had a pool party event with the youth group that night! Caleb's phone is water resistant so we were able to get some fun shots/videos underwater!

Even after 6pm, we got all kinds of sun! It was a blast.

I truly feel refreshed and ready to head into this week! Lets rock this Monday! 

Linking up with the gorgeous Biana today!

Sports Camp 2016! AKA the coolest week ever.

I wanted to take today's post to recap my church's Sports Camp as a whole with some of my favorite shots. Basically we did the same thing every night. An insane amount of sweating, worshipping, walking and serving. It's overwhelming to see these kids sing to Jesus. It brought me to tears behind my camera more than a few times!

Sunday night was family night and we welcomed everyone into the park - this was also the night the kids got to meet all their coaches! The sports included flag football, basketball, soccer, cheerleading, backyard games and water wars. So much FUN!!

Monday was night #1 with the kids and we had the BEST time kicking off our week!

Just a few kids from our youth group!

Tuesday was yet another amazing night! Thankfully it was pretty overcast so we got a break from the sweltering heat for a night!

water wars is where its AT!

Sadly Wednesday night there was a huge storm brewing, so they had to cancel that night! But we came back Thursday and we went hard!

and Friday, we had ourselves a blast at family night! All the parents came and watched their children worship, win prizes and eat as much as ice cream as their little bellies could handle!

We gave away a brand new bike, and the boy who won already had one at home...so when no one was watching, he gave it away. I happened to catch it on camera thanks to someone noticing, and man, it really got to me! These kids are amazing, I love their generous hearts!

A huge thank you to everyone!! Every single volunteer (those who danced, those who packed snack bags for 300+ kids, those who sweat for Jesus, etc.), every parent who trusted us, everyone who donated money or gifts or supplies, and especially everyone who prayed for us, etc.! It means the world. We had the best week with these kids. Over 340 kids registered, 100+ volunteers...its always a highlight of our year!

Already looking forward to this event next year! I love my church!