Congratulations Scott and Jessica!

It seems like just yesterday Jessica was the stubborn 4-year old who gave me SUCH a hard time... and now she is a beautiful MARRIED young woman! Last Saturday I had the honor of shooting the wedding of my little sister Jessica and her new husband Scott. And, despite the rain and cold weather, it was a fun and beautiful day. They had the wedding and reception at a home that has been built to look like a castle - it was neat and very different! And this truly was a "family wedding", as we were all involved. Of course I took the pictures, but Jessica and my stepmom Sherrie, who owns "From the Heart Flowers and Gifts" did all of the flowers; my little brother Luke, who owns "St. Johns DJ" with a friend provided all of the music and sound equipment; and Sherrie's husband Dennis cooked all of the food! It sure made for an interesting event :) But it was fun to celebrate with family and friends, including Scott's family who came all the way from New Jersey. Welcome to the family!

Scott's Father really got into the spirit of the day. Since we were at a castle, he actually dressed up as a knight to give his toast!

My little brother Luke (on the right) and his friend Ryan did a great job!

Scott's family, especially his grandparents, were great dancers! They really put us Weidners to shame!

The Lewis Clan

This weekend I also did some Christmas pictures for my sister Kristin and her family, as she wanted some pictures to send out with Christmas cards. It was interesting watching her and her husband Brian try to get all 9 kiddos dressed nicely and then cooperate for the pictures, but for the most part the kids did great. We did have to break out the lollipops though for Joy and Jane, who are the 18 month old twins :) I am not going to post any of the "final" shots here, as I don't want to ruin it for family members. But these are some of the fun "outtakes".

Here's Kristin and Brian with the newest baby, Belle.

Once we gave the twins lollipops, of course Michael had to have one as well.

Michael, Brian, and Gabe

Even Chris had his first lollipop! He wasn't quite sure what to do with it - he didn't really figure out how to suck on it and swallow at the same time, so he pretty much drooled it all out!

Dawn, Grace, and Ann

There's nothing cuter than a guy with a baby :)

It was definitely tricky getting Joy, Rose, and Jane (Joy and Jane are 18 m. old; Rose is 3 years) to all smile and look at the camera! It took a little bit of theatrics on the part of Kristin and Brian.

Mark and I about died earlier that morning, when Rose had to show us her boo-boo...

Lee Family

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take some pictures for the Lee family, who are friends of my sister Kristin. We met at a park up in Jacksonville (I was there for my little sister's wedding; more on that later) for the pictures, and they were great sports despite the fact that it started to rain. It was fun trying to get the littlest one to even look at the camera :) They are a beautiful family!

Congratulations Aaron and Kristin!

I have known Kristin ever since college; she was in a small group Bible study that I led at one point. Also, her sister Shannon was one of my closest friends as well as my roommate. So I couldn't have been more excited when she asked me to photograph her wedding!

Aaron and Kristin's wedding was such a fun celebration of what the Lord has done in their lives. There was such a sweetness, purity, and beauty to the day, as they had saved themselves for each other for that day. I don't think either one of them stopped smiling! Their families were also so excited, and so happy for them. What a special day! (I seriously cried at least 4 times!)

During the ceremony Aaron washed Kristin's feet as a symbol of his desire to serve her in marriage. While he did that, her sister Shannon signed "Immortal, Invisible" by Lisa Story

Congratulations Adam and Ingrid!

One day in June just over 6 years ago I was planning to go out to dinner with a friend of mine. A little while before we were to go she called me and explained that she had been talking to a guy friend of hers, and he had suggested that he and one of his friends join us at dinner. Of course that was fine with me. But little did I know that when my friend's car pulled up outside my apartment later on that inside was my future husband, Mark (he was the friend of the friend). I was reminiscing about that night because last Friday I got to shoot Adam and Ingrid's wedding - and Adam was the one that had suggested they join my friend and I for dinner. So if it wasn't for Adam, I may not have met Mark! I didn't really get to know Ingrid very well until recently, but they are such a fun couple and it is nice to be living close to them again.
Their wedding was at the Crowne Plaza on Melbourne Beach, and it was clear that they had worked hard to make sure it was an enjoyable evening for their friends and family. I also enjoyed having Mark there, as he was one of the groomsmen (there's even a picture of the two of us at the end of the slideshow). One of my friends Brenda was there as well, as her husband was also a groomsman. She started by offering to help me carry some of my gear, and by the end of the night she was shooting with my back-up camera! The wedding coordinator mistook her for my assistant, so she went ahead and stepped into that role. Thanks for your help, Brenda!
Ok, that's enough "talking" - here's the pictures!

Baby's First Pictures

Today was a fun day: I had my first ultrasound! It was so neat to get to see the baby for the first time. And while I knew I was pregnant before, this really made it real.
I did get one surprise: my due date is apparently May 10, not May 16 like I had originally thought. So that puts me at 14 weeks 2 days, not 13 weeks 3 days. I know, that isn't a big change. But it is nice to know that I am in the second trimester now. I think I even tried to convince myself that since the 2nd trimester typically means the end of "morning sickness", that since I am now there I should be feeling normal again (even though I still felt gross as of last night). Well, it didn't so much work - I am still feeling it. (But it really isn't that bad, and it is nice to know it should be ending pretty soon.) Anyways, here's the pictures! We're so excited!

This one just shows the back of the baby; it's head is on the right.

Here's a profile shot.

This one shows the baby's face, looking between it's legs (I think!). So you can see the face on the right and it's bottom on the left. I asked the technician if she could make a guess as to the sex of the baby, and she said it's way too early for that. But I did notice that there doesn't appear to be anything between it's legs...

However, this is the same shot as above. Now is it just me, or is there a little something sticking out between the legs? I know, it very well could be the umbilical cord or something else... but it's fun to guess :)

This is probably the clearest shot of them all; it is another profile. But you can make out the eyes, nose, and mouth, and it has it's hand up by it's face.

Weekend Teasers

This weekend was one of the busiest weekends ever, as I had TWO weddings. I'll post more pictures later this week, but I wanted to give you a "teaser". Adam and Ingrid were married on Friday night, and then Kristin and Aaron were married on Saturday. Both weddings were so much fun, as they were all friends. But more on that later...

Halloween and Getting Caught Up

Today has been one of those wonderful but rare days where I just get so much done! Chris's babysitter was here this morning, which gave me a few uninterrupted hours of worktime. And now he's napping, so I get even more. And it is much needed time, as I have really been falling behind on some basic "housekeeping" stuff!
So, in my effort to get caught up, I am going through some pictures that I have taken over the past month. Some of them are pretty cute, so I thought I'd share :)

I came in the room and caught Chris like this while he was watching one of his movies. So cute!

I took this picture for two reasons: 1. I just got Chris a bunch of new clothes, and I think he looks so grown up in them! He really isn't a baby any more! 2. Since we just got our house pressure-washed and painted, and because the weather has been cooler, I have been opening up the house and letting Chris go onto our back porch. He loves having an extra "room" to play in!

Sometimes if I try to steal a few minutes of worktime when Chris is around/awake, he'll come and stand at the gate that I keep at my office door until I come out and play with him. I can't resist him!

I have no idea why he is so serious here! But I still love the picture ;)

For Halloween I had bought Chris an adorable Tigger costume. I did this because Tigger seems to be one of his favorite characters - he can imitate his noise almost perfectly. However, he seemed a bit scared of the costume! Whenever I would get it out he would tell me "no, no, no" over and over again. I did manage to get him into it anyway, but he definitely wouldn't wear the hood! But that evening I put the costume on him and let him run around outside for a little bit. I don't think he is quite ready for trick-or-treating. But next year for sure!

In these first two pictures, the only way we could get him to smile and sort of look at the camera was to sing "If you're happy and you know it," which is one of his favorites. Otherwise he just ignores the camera completely :)

I thought the belly of the costume was hysterical.

And the tail was pretty cute, too!

Edit: I still cannot figure out why Blogger will no longer let me increase the size of the pictures. So for now, you'll have to click on them to view it larger.