Boo at the Zoo

On Sunday, we did our traditional Halloween trip to Boo at the Zoo at the Akron Zoo. I love going to Boo at the Zoo. It is nice to see the animals and it is such a safe and fun way for the kids to trick or treat. So enjoy some pictures of my little men in their Halloween costumes.

Ian wanted to be Bumblebee from The Transformers. (Funny thing though...he has never seen the movie!)

I chose a Puppy costume for Christian for several reasons.
1. He is known to walk around the house and lick things for no reason.
2. It looked super soft.
3. He knows what the Doggy says and is willing to share it with people. LOL
4. This is probably my last year where he won't have an opinion on his costume and I can still dress him up like a little one!
5. He just looks so cute in it...I am glad I did it! (Oh...and when he walks, the little tail wags! LOL

This is Ian showing me how Bumblebee transforms into a car.

Hey a family picture with all of us in it!!! (Thanks Dad for taking it for us!) Of course, neither one of my children is looking at the camera. LOL

Christian liked feeding the ducks. This one would take it right out of his fingers. Of course, I warned Shan that the sign said that they bite...and sure enough, the last one he gave the duck, the duck got a bit overzealous and nipped his fingers. No real injury though.

The boys always like this pop-up tube. If you look closely, you will see the top of my Dad's head in the bottom left corner. He is holding Christian up. LOL

I have a very similar picture to this when Ian was trick or treating when he was about 15 months old. Some things never change.

Ian and Christian rode the train together and Christian had this same somber look the whole time. Ian on the other hand, bounced around the train car like a real bumblebee! LOL Oh...but I know that Christian had a good time on it because he screamed when we took him out of it.

Of course, trick or treating is very tiring. Christian was asleep within minutes of getting in the car and was so tired, he was snoring! LOL

Congratulations Rohnda and RT!

Rohnda and RT were married on October 18th at Grant Hill Presbyterian Church in Hammondsville, OH. Their reception was across the street at Brush Creek Grange Hall. It was a very calm and low key kind of day. Rohnda and RT wanted a very small wedding and had around 40 people present. Rohnda put a lot of little touches of herself and her likes into the wedding though. She used antiques that she had collected as vases throughout the reception for flowers and used antique doilies and runners to dress up the tables. There were also a lot of hershey kisses and candies since it was a Sweetest Day wedding.

The rings are being held by RT's two sons, Gavin and Ethan. They were so cute all day long!

At the reception, RT and Rohnda had asked their guests to write down advice on cards for them and put them in the card box. Here is one of the guests showing me what his wife had written.

Not sure what is going on in this next picture, but it makes me giggle! LOL

This little girl found the veil and took it to Rohnda to give back to her. Rohnda then put the veil on the little girl and she ran around with it on for the rest of the evening.

This wedding was very laid back and fun to shoot. They didn't do a lot of the traditional wedding things like cutting the cake or a first dance, but I really enjoyed the change. It gave me a chance to focus more on the guests, who are obviously very important people in their lives.

Best wishes to you both!
Steph

Field Trip: Bauman's Orchard

As soon as I got back in town from my conference, we had a field trip with Ian's Kindergarten class. We went to Bauman's Orchard and then for a picnic and hike through the Firestone MetroPark.

It was really neat getting to ride on the hayride out into the orchard. Then we got to get off and pick a Fuji apple. (Which was delicious by the way!) Then the kids got to see them washing the apples, sorting the apples, the jugging room where they fill the apple cider jugs and the room where they fill the bags with apples for the store. They also got to go into the cooler. It was huge!

I feel very blessed that I can go on these field trips with Ian. I feel like such a part of his education and I still get to enjoy time with him even though he is at school all day now.

This is Ian hugging his friend, Mason.

Mrs. Puckett was nice enough to take a picture of Ian and I in the apple. Thank you Mrs. Puckett!

Here Ian is getting ready to go on the hike with his class.

If you get the chance to get out to Bauman Orchards, the apples are great! It is in Rittman, OH.

Beckley, WV: Mpix Conference

I had the great opportunity to go teach at a photography conference in Beckley, WV with our lab Mpix. I teach a class called "The Business Side of Photography". Unfortunately (for my blog, but fortunately for them), everyone was paying so much attention to what I had to say that no one took any pictures of me teaching. LOL The one above here is one that Jessica took of me. (Thanks Jess!) Jessica is the owner of Jessica Edwards Photography in SE Kentucky. Oh well, I am going to share some of the images that I captured that weekend of our models.








Now...when a bunch of photographers get together in one place with nothing to do but socialize and learn, fun and crazy images are bound to happen! This weekend, it was elevated even more because we had a Photo Scavenger Hunt that we were doing as well, so there was plenty of craziness happening. (If you have never done a photo scavenger hunt, I HIGHLY suggest it! It was so much fun! It didn't matter if the pictures were in focus or composed right, all that mattered was that you got one for each clue!)

So here are some casual images from the weekend.

These are my friends, Debi and Cheri. They are both from here in Northern Ohio, but oddly enough I don't see them that much except at these conferences! LOL

This is Margie! She was a hoot! (And not just because I made her give me owl eyes! LOL)
She is Tricia's Roadie!

This is my friend Tricia. Talk about a hoot! LOL She is so crazy and fun. I only wish I had a picture of what she wore when we went bowling on Saturday. Her socks were black and white striped and reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the East from the Wizard of Oz. (And Tricia is far from the wicked witch...most of the time! LOL)

This is my friend Brenda. One of the clues was "We all want to be big rock stars" so I asked Bren to play air guitar for me! And she did it!!!! LOL If you have some prayers handy, say a few from Brenda. She just underwent surgery for cancer on Monday and could use all the prayers that we can spare!

These two crazy ladies are Mary and Gro. (Yes...her name is Gro!) Gro is the owner of Images by Gro in Bryn Mawr, PA. They were so fun to sit out on the porch with and just laugh! I hope that I get to see both of them again soon!

This is my new friend Jessica! She is the one that took the fab picture of me at the beginning of the post. Here she is doing her pose after bowling a frame. She told me that she was going to start posing everytime she turned around because someone was always taking her picture when she finished a frame. LOL

This is my friend Shelly! She is so much fun to hang around and a very good listener. This was Shelly striking a sexy pose for me while wrapped up in some kind of brown scarf thing that someone brought to use with the models! LOL

I put in websites for the people that have them. (At least as far as I know...if you are pictured here and have a website and I didn't post it, please let me know! And shame on you for not sharing it more! LOL)

I really love getting together at these conferences. It is a great time to catch up with friends that we have made over the years, meet new people that we haven't met before and just kick back, relax and have a great time! The next one that I am scheduled to speak at is in Oklahoma in March!

At Home: Zachary

When Zach came home, I had the honor of photographing the family at their house. I love doing sessions in the family's natural environment. Zach was in a pretty good mood, but still not smiling a whole lot yet. (At least not for the lady with the big black camera in his face! LOL)

Here is 3 week old Zach with his parents Tammy and Bill.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson!

As if the football game wasn't enough in the day, immediately afterward, we got to participate in Jackson's 3rd birthday party. I cannot believe that he is 3 years old already. I was there when he was born!

He wanted a Woo-Woo Truck cake. (That is firetruck for those of you that don't speak 3 year old! LOL) My immensely talented sister-in-law, Ashley makes all of their birthday cakes and decorates them! We hung out with them on Saturday night and I helped in any way that I could to get the party ready for Sunday. But when it came to the cake, short of mixing up the batter, it was all Ashley!

Of course I have to throw in 1 picture of my newest nephew, Tyson. He is almost 9 weeks old in this picture and he smiles up a storm and talked to me for about 3 minutes straight on Saturday! I was there for his birth too and before I know it, it will be his 3rd birthday that I am blogging! *Sniff, sniff* They grow up too fast!

Peyton had the honor of reading all of the cards out loud to everyone. Surprisingly the kids would sit still and listen too!

The last present was a new 4 wheeler for Jack. They had it in the garage and opened the door for him to see it. He immediately jumped on and hit the gas! He knew exactly what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go. Unfortunately, the driveway was full of cars, so Uncle Shan and Daddy had to lift him over the cars to the grass before he could really get it going!

And being a true boy, he immediately headed across the street to the sand and gravel at the unfinished building sites! But the joy on his face is priceless!

Happy Birthday Jackson! Aunt Steph loves you very much and I was happy that I got to spend your birthday with you!

Love,
Aunt Steph

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!?!?!?!?

Okay...so it isn't the NFL...but let me tell you...midget league is a lot of fun!

My 7 year old nephew Peyton plays in a midget football league (1st and 2nd graders) for the Walton-Verona Bearcats in Kentucky. We went down for the weekend for a visit and got the chance to see his team playing. It was really fun watching these little guys playing and hearing the crowd cheering. They even have a cheerleading squad!

This is probably the best action shot I got of my nephew. (Unless you count the 3 I got of him getting run over by another kid! LOL) Peyton is the kid on the far right hand side getting the handoff from the Quarterback.

Of course, I had to throw in a couple of cute ones of Jackson, my 3 year old nephew and Christian.

Peyton looks so grown up to me in these pictures. It is just hard to believe how fast these kids grow up.

Can you see the pride from Dad?!? My brother-in-law, Aaron, is super proud of Peyton and how well he is doing in football.

I am so glad that we got to go to Peyton's game. If they make it to the Super Bowl, we may even be in town to see that game! I have a feeling that they will since at this point, they are undefeated and guaranteed a place in the playoffs. At this game, they crushed the other team. I think the final score was 26-0.

Go Bearcats!

Congratulations Kris and Hilary!

Kris and Hilary were married on September 26th. High school sweethearts, they really had a wonderful day full of family and friends. Their ceremony was at Rocky River Presbyterian in Rocky River, OH and the reception was at the Cleveland Yachting Club also in Rocky River.

I thought these were the coolest wedding shoes I have ever seen. They are from a company called Something Bleu and they have a blue sole on them. So you can wear those are your Something Blue.

While Hilary was getting ready, she got a text message from Kris. I don't know if you can read it in this web sized image, but it says "hey! u want to get married? Meet me at the altar, ill be the one in the white vest with a ring!"

This is the limo pulling into the Yachting Club. The funny story behind this image is that the limo was a very low to the ground limo. The driver came over the yachting club before the ceremony to make sure that he could make it over the bridge because the bridge is very angled and the car could scrape trying to go over it. When I was leaving the church to go to the reception, I asked the driver if it was going to make it and he told me that it would, but he thought he would have to ask the guys to get out and walk to lighten the car up a bit. And sure enough...they did. You can see them "escorting" the limo across the bridge. LOL


This image was taken by Shan. He was my 2nd shooter that day and I couldn't not put it in my blog. But I wanted to make sure he got credit for it. Isn't that an amazing sunset?

This is a picture of Kris holding his Dad's picture. His Dad had passed away several years ago, but they dedicated a song to him at the reception and did a shot of his favorite scotch. I wanted to make sure I got a picture of Kris with his Dad.

Kris and Hilary...thank you so much for choosing me to capture your wedding. Everything was beautiful and very heartfelt all day.

Steph

Field Trip: The Farm at Walnut Creek

Shan and I had the privilege to go on a field trip with Ian and the other Kindergartners from his school. We went to The Farm at Walnut Creek. If you have never been there, it is worth the drive to Amish country to see it. They took us on a horse drawn wagon ride and we got to feed llamas, bulls, deer, giraffes and zebras! We saw so many different kinds of animals it was like being at an interactive zoo!

It was also super fun to spend time with Ian and to get to see him around his classmates. And what could be more fun that seeing these animals with a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds? They were so excited to see all the different animals that it really made the trip fun.

So here are some pictures from our adventure. I highly recommend checking out The Farm at Walnut Creek. It was a very cool place!

Talk about up close and personal with the animals! LOL I think this Zebra thought that there was food in my lens! LOL

I think Ian was kind of surprised to see a giraffe leaning over him to get to the food!

Ian's favorite animal of the day was.....the deer. He really thought they were special!

Here is Ian's whole class with his teacher Mrs. Cole in the back. In is in the back row, the 3rd from the right hand side. (Not looking at the camera...of course! LOL)

I love being able to go on field trips with him. It was so much fun and it was nice to spend the day focused on him. Now that he is in school everyday, I really miss him!

Next field trip: Apple farm and Metropark!

Welcome to the World Zachary!

Zachary's trip into this world was by far the longest and hardest I have ever seen. Tammy and Bill's journey into parenthood was never an easy one. After a successful IVF, they finally found out that they were going to be parents. But Tammy's pregnancy wasn't going to be a walk in the park either. Battling gestational diabetes, blood pressure issues and a number of other factors, Tammy had to endure a difficult pregnancy.

I got the call from Bill on Monday, September 15th that Tammy's Dr was sending them to the hospital because her amniotic fluid was low and they needed to go ahead and induce her for Zach's safety. Being only 35 weeks and not making any progress towards labor at all, they were facing a very long induction with the possibility that Tammy would end up needing a c-section if Zach wasn't tolerating the induction.

So beginning on Monday afternoon, Tammy was induced. Bill called each night to let me know what was going on. The progression was slow, but she was showing some progression and Zachary was handling the induction just fine, so they let Tammy continue with the induction since it was her desire to deliver without a c-section.

I went over to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon to find a very tired Bill, Tammy and family. After 48 hours of induction, Tammy still hadn't progressed very far, but she had been enduring contractions every few minutes. I grab a few pictures that afternoon, including some with us walking the hallways in hopes that Zach would drop some more and help the induction along.

This bear is now Zach's. I think it helped Tammy get through some of the contractions by holding on to something that helped her focus on the baby.

Last bare belly picture with Zach snuggly inside. A little to snuggly for Tammy's liking! LOL

The baby book is ready. Now we just need a baby!

I talked to Bill on Thursday afternoon and she still hadn't progressed much, but they were going to let her continue with the pitocin in hopes that she could avoid the c-section. However, by Thursday evening, Zach was no longer tolerating the induction. His heartrate had been up and down and the Dr finally made the call that they needed to do the c-section and get him delivered. So at 10:35pm on Septebmer 18th, a 5 pound 11 ounce Zachary entered our world! Tammy got to see him very briefly before they took him to the Special Care Nursery. (Being a preemie, they needed to keep a very close watch on him)

You can see them wheeling Tammy into the OR. They have the Dad's wait in the hallway until Mom is prepped and then they take him back in.

I sat in the hallway with Bill for a long time just talking and trying to help keep his mind busy. I think it is hard to be alone when you have those kinds of emotions going on and Bill seemed to appreciate the distraction. Then the nurse came to get him and I snap a few pictures as he walked into the OR. It would only be about 15-20 more minutes until he met his son.

Bill came out to the waiting room where I was (and about a dozen family and friends were) in a #1 Dad t-shirt with a huge look of relief, happiness and shock. Tammy was in recovery and they were able to take us back a few at a time to see Tammy and little Zach in the Special Care Nursery. Bill was overwhelmed with emotions and they were both so happy to finally be parents!








I stayed until about 1am and then headed toward home to get some rest. Now, normally I do a Day 2 session with my newborns, but with Zach in special care and Tammy having a hard start to her recovery, I haven't gotten to see them again since that night. Zach had to stay in the hospital for about 9 days, but he is home now. I can't wait to see him again and get more pictures of him.

Congratulations Tammy and Bill! I know you guys will be wonderful parents. Zach is a very lucky little boy to have you both.