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!