Oh what a fun day this was!! As you may remember from the engagement photos, I’ve been friends with Bella & Todd for many years, and it was such a great pleasure to (finally!) attend their wedding!  Bella and Todd have such an amazing group of friends and family (many of which I already knew, of course) – and the whole day was just so joyful and fun.  I think the speeches and toasts were some of the funniest and most creative I’ve heard – and I’ve been to a LOT of weddings!  Bella & Todd you guys rock and your wedding was amazing and  I’m so delighted to have gotten to be your photographer!

Unfortunately I won’t be shooting Tiffany and Rico’s wedding.  Instead I’ll be one of the bridesmaids!!!!  I’ve known Tiff for nearly 8 years – we met the day she interviewed at the company I had just started at.  We’ve been good friends ever since, and I can’t wait to be there with her on her wedding day!  Of course, that didn’t stop me from shooting some engagement photos.  Love you guys!

Over the Christmas holiday (okay, I know that’s 7 months ago..) I got to see my neice Eden who had just turned 2!  She’s the cutest thing ever!  (Her parents aren’t too bad looking either!)

I went home last summer for a quick visit, and while I was there I got to photograph my neice at 18 months!  She’s grown so so much since then, but it’s fun to look back!  Isn’t she the cutest?

Awww, it was so good to finally get to meet cute little baby Kimi! Her mom, TJ, and I have been best friends since almost the day we met (which coincidently, was exactly five years to the date when I stood beside her as maid of honor at her wedding). She and her husband Paul moved to Virginia so I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I want…in fact I didn’t get to see them at all when they had their first child, a beautiful daughter! When they came to visit in January, I was thrilled, and you can bet I didn’t let them get away without me shooting some photos.

I just love this cute and bubbly little girl. I’m “Aunty Jillian” and can’t wait for many years ahead of visits and spoiling.

And here’s the mega post about my deliciously cute neice, Eden (and her parents, Katie & Thomas). Everyone once in a while I try to tempt them to move to California, but it doesn’t seem to work. Oh well, I love when I get to visit! Eden has got soooo much personality now, and it’s all smiles and curiosity. Love this little girl!

She loves “Where the Wild Things Are”…the second photo is of her howling a great howl…a couple pages early, but who cares?

And here’s what happens when I hold her for a second….zoom!

We took a few of Katie & Thomas while Eden was napping!

And when I walked in just after we heard her wake up, I got this happy face!

Today’s posts will be all about my family! It must be a hard life when your daughter/sister is photographer and continually badgers you for photos. But I love them, so I just can’t imagine not having them as subjects at least every once in a while! They all find it weird that I ask them to kiss for me, but it’s part of the job!

My brother Paul and his awesome wife, Michelle, are adorable. And so is their new “puppy” – a year old Great Dane named Sarge, who insisted on sharing the couch with me!

I’m so thankful to have such wonderful parents (and beautiful too…I like my genes)! They have always been my biggest influences and supporters.

And me too! In the rush right before I left, I handed my camera to my mom and asked her to take some portraits! I think she did a great job. Next time, I’ll change out of my gym shirt first, lol.

Next up…..Katie, Thomas, and Eden.:)

I normally do cute paper with simple bows, but this year I was feeling crafty after seeing this post from the Style Me Pretty blog http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/12/16/gift-wrapping-inspiration-from-grey-likes-weddings/ (which is a repost from a blog I now know and love, Grey Likes Weddings: http://greylikesweddings.wordpress.com)

I’m in Texas, celebrating the holidays with my family. Sunday was my Dad’s birthday, yesterday was spent taking photos of my ADORABLE neice Eden, who just turned 1, and today we’re doing chores…if you could really call package decoration a chore!

I used brown paper, various ribbons, cream thick wool yarn, craft jewels, twine, cinnamon sticks, and leaves I just picked up from the ground and painted to create a vintage feel with just a touch of sparkle. I made the guys’ packages just a touch simpler and more modern. I used an obscene amount of hot glue.

Then I took a few outside for some photos (with my handy Canon G9 point-n-shoot):

Unfortunately, now I do not want to give any of the presents away! I especially love the leaves…they were so simple to make (a coat of shiny acrylic craft paint, followed by a coat of modgepodge crafting glue) I think they would be PERFECT at a place-setting for a fall wedding, pinned in a wreath, or hung individually from the ceiling to look like leaves falling. If you do this…please take photos and send them to me!!

I love Julie and Marc to death – they are great friends of mine, and I was tickled pink when they got pregnant! Unfortunately I was in Arizona when Carson was born, but I finally got a chance to schedule a baby session with him when he was 12 weeks old…and FULL of personality! He’s such a good baby, always so happy and sleeps through the night! Oh…and way too adorable for his own good. I can’t wait to watch this little one grow up!

I went to Texas a few weeks ago to visit my family, and got to see my beautiful and oh-so-big 7 month old neice Eden!! She is just gorgeous! I hope my sister and brother-in-law are strong willed, cause I don’t think I could ever say “no” to that face. I could gush on and on about how cute she is, but I’ll just let the photos do the talking….