It's Carnival Time again!!!!

I really love summer carnivals. I know the food is bad for me and they are overpriced, but they scream SUMMER to me! (And I absolutely love funnel cakes and homemade lemonade...once a year won't kill me!)

We always take the boys to the carnival when it stops here in our little town. This year, Shan ended up having an engagement session on the night that we do the carnival. (We always go when they are doing the fireworks!) So I decided to be brave and take the boys for awhile by myself and then Shan could catch up with us after his session.

It actually went really well. Ian was JUST tall enough to ride the big slide by himself. Which was a good thing because I don't ride the big slide anymore after cracking or bruising my tailbone on it one year! (That thing hurt for over a year!) He really liked it, but you could see that he was a bit scared at how fast it went when he was by himself.

Christian isn't much of a ride lover, but we talked him into trying the Crazy Bus ride. It is pretty contained and just goes up and around in a circle. He got on, we got buckled in...and then he panicked and wanted off. So Ian rode that by himself.



In the meantime, Christian spotted the kiddie roller coaster, Dragon Wagon. To him, it looked like a Dragon train, one of his favorites from Thomas and no matter what I said, he was convinced that he wanted to go on it. As you can see...that didn't turn out so well...but he stayed on the whole ride!






Ian played a little skeeball. He has a wicked side-arm throw that accomplishes very little...but don't bother trying to talk him into doing it right...he will just keep doing it his way! LOL


Then we found something that Christian LOVED....the playground! Both boys played on that for a long time, which was perfectly fine for me.






Christian enjoyed some of the lemonade that is one of my favorite treats. And Ian rode the small ferris wheel.



Now while we ate our snacks, this very interesting cloud formation kept rolling in over the carnival. I really hoped it would hold out and not rain because Shan wasn't back yet and I didn't have a car. Just the boys and the stroller....and our house is about a mile from the park. I grabbed this shot just minutes before the sky opened up. Luckily, Shan was about 3 minutes away at that point, so although we got wet, it could have been much worse!


We went home for a bit, but we were very lucky and the storm passed over quickly so we went back when it was over and were able to watch the fireworks.




Ian also got a chance to ride one of the BIG rides with Shan. Once again, he was JUST tall enough. I think he was scared and loved it at the same time!




Christian got to play a tossing game...very fun for him and his ball obsession!


Ian rode the merry-go-round.



And we topped off our annual carnival trip by purchasing some color changing swords!



It was lots of fun and I was happy to keep this family tradition going!

Congratulations Jackie and Jason!

Jackie and Jason were married at St. Joan of Arc in Streetsboro. The weather was great and they were so laid back and easy to work with.

The day started at Studio Wish in Streetsboro. The girls had their hair done and Jackie's Mom even had her makeup done there.

Then I got to go with Jackie as she went to her Mom's house. Jackie and Jason's daughter, Brynn, was there and getting her hair down. (After a bribe of M&Ms and a $5 bill!)

We went to the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls to get pictures before the reception and ended up hiking down the boardwalk along the river.

The reception was at SYB Party Center in Stow. The party was great and everyone seemed to have a great time. At the end of the day, the 2 youngest flowergirls were both passed out some chairs.



























Thank you Jackie and Jason for choosing us! I really enjoyed spending the day with you and wish your family the best!

Congratulations Debra and Nick!

Debra and Nick were so much fun to work with. They were married at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in the Tea Houses. It was an amazingly beautiful day.

They had a peacock themed wedding. The flowers, designed by Neil Leeson, were amazing! The use of calla lillies and feathers was unique and refreshing.

The cake was an amazing design by The White Flower Cake Shoppe in Beachwood. The details were perfect and everyone was amazed by it.

The reception was held at The Tangier in West Akron. And a special furry friend made an appearance to break up the reception and party with the guests.























Debra and Nick...thank you so much for choosing us to capture your day. It was amazing and I had a great time!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Mother's Day this year was very special. I actually got to celebrate 2 times!

We celebrated Mother's Day a week early this year because it looked like Shan was going to be off playing paintball on the actual Mother's Day. Shan and the boys took me to Olive Garden for dinner and then we enjoyed some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. Shan and the boys also got me a heart rate monitor for Mother's Day...something I was really excited to have and has helped me tremendously in my weight loss efforts.

As it turned out, Shan wasn't able to go play paintball on Mother's Day, so he decided to take me out to dinner again! This time, we went to Macaroni Grill. (Can you tell I love Italian food?!? LOL)

Ian had made me a great card at school and brought home a flower that he had planted in a chocolate milk container.





It was a great Mother's Day and I am blessed to have 2 very sweet boys and a very loving husband!

Congratulations Erin and Eric!

Erin and Eric were married on a fine spring day. The sun was shining and it was perfect for their outdoor ceremony at Hanna Gardens.

After the ceremony, we had the privilege to spend a couple of hours taking more artistic images around Hanna Gardens, the Hay-McKinney Mansion and the Crawford Auto Museum, all on the grounds of the Western Reserve Historical Society. It allowed me to let my creative juices flow and really have fun with the portrait side of the wedding day.

Their reception was held at the City Club of Cleveland. Every details was perfect and the guests kept the dance floor full all night long!











































Thank you Erin and Eric for choosing me to capture your wedding day. I wish you the very best in married life!

Spring Music Concert

Ian's school had their Spring Music Concert in May. His class sang 3 songs. They also spoke and signed John 3:16.


It was really cute to see them all working so hard to show their families what they had learned! I am very proud of him!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

I love spring weather! The days start to get a little bit longer and a little bit warmer. It is so hard to not want to be outside all day long. And of course, the wind picks up enough to try out a bit of kite flying.

Normally, we would buy a cheap plastic kite at the store, but this year, we decided to go to the hobby shop and buy a sturdy, nylon kite. In the days after we bought the kite, it rained a lot, so it was over a week before we were able to get out to fly it.

Shan and I rode our bikes with Christian in the bike trailer and Ian rode his motorcycle to the local high school parking lot one evening. The wind was good at first, but quickly died off as the sun began to set. But we still tried our best to get the kite to fly.

It did fly a bit, but not as much as we would have liked. But it was a great way to spend a warm, spring night and we all had a lot of fun!