Christmas with Family

What a joy it is for Chris and I to be with family over the holidays. We were recently able to see much of our family at my brother's wedding. So seeing them two to three times in one month was a treat! Toby is my cousin and his wife Katie were in town for the holidays. They have two adorable children; Jacob and Sarah Grace. Sarah Grace is just a few months old and just too cute. They stopped off at the loft to check out our place. Jacob was a big fan of our place and loved the trains! He is a big Thomas the Train fan, so the fact that we have six track by our building made his day!

Here is a picture of Toby and Jacob on the ladder to see the trains.



Then the little miss Sarah Grace resting with a full tummy.



Then on Christmas eve we made our way to Chris' dad's home in Marietta. His sister Shelly was home from Chicago too. We always love it when we can all get together. It was a fun evening including Asia and Molly. We had a wonderful meal and then enjoyed watching Once and opened presents. Molly is a dog we all gave to his dad two years as a Christmas present. They just adore each other!

Miss Molly.



Chris had made some of his mother's famous pfeffernusse cookies. Basically they are rolled up gingerbread coated in powdered sugar. They were absolutely perfect and quite dangerous to be around! Great job babe!



Then we tried several times for a portrait of the four of us, but I think the self portrait ended up being the best one!



Then we headed over to my parents to wake up at on Christmas morning. I just love Christmas morning at my parent's home. It's very festive and my mother takes such joy in making the holiday special.

The two cute for words: Caroline and Doster! Is this not just the epitome of Christmas morning as a child?



Chris' mother passed away a few years ago. It's been a hard time of missing her for him. I unfortunately never met her. What I do know though is that she was an amazing woman with a big heart and a knowledge of making amazing lasagna...aided by her Italian heritage. It was a tradition for her to make lasagna every Christmas. I knew this was something Chris wanted to know how to do. He wanted to pass this tradition down to his family. I really wanted him to learn to make it more than me so it could be something from his side of the family. My mother is very sensitive to Chris and wanting to respect his traditions as well. So we decided this year to get all of the ingredients and the hand written recipes to make lasagna. We shared this idea with Chris over breakfast on Christmas morning. Although overwhelmed, he was excited for the chance to learn how to make it. We all had a fun afternoon in the kitchen making the meal. Thanks to Mom, Maggie and Elizabeth for helping the two of us pull it off as a success.

The work in progress.



Then the finished product as well as the gathering of all of our candle sticks representing our family. I love the light that we all create together. Ben and Anna, we missed you guys. Have fun with everyone today!

Movies you should see...

We want to blog about Christmas, but first I just wanted to blog about two movies Chris gave me. Once and Little Miss Sunshine. Two favorites. He gave me the soundtrack to Once as well. These are two great movies that you need to see if you have not already. : )

Merry Christmas!

As we are enjoying our celebration of Christmas with family, we wanted to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!



Love,

Chris, Katie and Asia

December = Holiday Party Season!

This year Andrew, Rachel, Chris and I decided to host a holiday party. Rachel wanted it to be a fun different theme even though we all celebrate Christmas. She was thinking of a fun and creative way to incorporate light. She came up with a Winter Solstice party. (in which she has been joked with it being a pagan party from her dad! :) ) We went to great lengths to make it a fun time of fellowship among friends. Enjoy the pictures that tell the story of our party. Thanks to Chris, Ben, Matt and Adam for all the pictures!


Each guest was to bring a candle to add to the table. This shows the light that we all create as we come together. This is also a tradition that my family holds every Christmas.




I love how this shows all of the candles and everyone enjoying time together.



The beautiful table with our fifty hanging lights.



The cooks in action!




Where would the memories be if we didn't burn the bread? : )



My handsome husband being very helpful.




Details

Maggie and Charlie

I'm sorry that it has been a few days between posting. Between making sure all of our clients receive their orders before the holidays, my brother's wedding and a holiday party we co-hosted last night....we'll let's just say we are now hoping we are not getting sick from exhaustion! :) So, I'll try to catch up on the blog in the next couple of days.

Speaking of my brother's wedding! Maggie and Charlie were married last weekend. We had such a wonderful time and loved having our family become complete. We are normally at weddings, but this last couple of years has been three in our own family! between our wedding and both my brothers getting married, it's been a year full of fun. We just love Maggie and could not be happier about her joining the family. We were happy to be in the wedding instead of documenting it. What a joy it is to be on the other side of the camera. Our friend Jerrod was the photographer. More on him soon! We'll be able to get show you some of the pictures later. We were able to do her bridal portraits. I am going to share one on the blog for now.

What a beautiful bride.

Birthday Celebrations!

This was by far my favorite birthday celebration year! Chris is such an amazing husband. He was planning surprises upon surprises. He is one to set the bar that I will never be able to compete with. My brother is getting married tomorrow, and I was expecting a very low key birthday. I knew we would be busy with wedding festivities. Well, Chris planned on it not going unnoticed. After our trip to Ft. Lauderdale, my birthday came. We had a wonderful morning at our new local coffee shop, tilt, had a great lunch with Andrew and Rachel, enjoyed fun times with a flat tire, and then we had a fun celebration with my family that night. I wish I had pictures for you of all of it, but there has not been time to get them out of the camera! I was completely content with my birthday and had a wonderful time.

Then on Wednesday I had a shoot on my own and Chris was working in the office. When I came home we were heading out to a "birthday date." Chris actually turned the date into a surprise party! Some of my favorite people were there. We have become so close with people in the photography industry. They are some of our best friends. You could take photography away and we'd still all be close. That is the best part. Among my wonderful guests were: Andrew, Rachel, Mark, Erin and Mel (Jeremy we missed you!). As well as Matt and Melissa Yung, Adam, Jenn and Hayden Linke and non other than Joy, Garrett and Graycen Nudd. I could not have asked for a better group. We enjoyed sushi at Wasabi and then Chris surprised me with cupcakes that he made by himself! He made them while I was on my shoot. That was probably what meant the most to me. His planning and doing something out of his comfort zone. It meant the world to me. Then we headed back to our place and enjoyed more fellowship. After most left, Andrew and Rachel enjoyed riding around our scooter. Then Erin, Mark and us toured are area by Centennial Park. Erin and I even received some scooter lessons. Memories!



Thanks to Rachel and Erin for my birthday picture!

To my husband, I will never be able to out do you on this birthday. You win. You made my day and gave me my first real party. I love you for making me a priority in your life and taking time out of our busy work days to make me cupcakes. :)

All in all, I am completely moved by my friends taking time out of this busy month to make me feel loved. You are all inspirations to me and have a part of who I am. I love you all.

Katie

Birthday Greeting

OK, so I know it's not proper to "blog" about your own birthday, but I had to just share one thing with you. Today is my birthday and my girl up in Ohio sent me this greeting. You must enjoy it as much as we did. : )

Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Brandon, Lexie and Baby

Brandon and Lexie are going to be parents! I have known Lexie since college. We went through all of our art history classes and may days and nights in the dark room together. She works for a photography studio in Alabama. We were able to do some maternity pictures lately. I really love how they turned out. We had a great time Brandon and Lexie! Thanks for making the trip over!

Yadkowski Family

The Yadkowski family was fun to get to know. Their family has been growing fast. They are foster parents and we captured pictures of all the kids. To protect their identities, we are not putting those pictures on the blog. We are able to show you pictures of their natural children. What big hearts you must have to commit your life to other children. We have the utmost respect for them. Thanks for a great time with your family!

Stoever Family

We love having the honor of documenting the lives of some of the families that we admire the most. Meet the Stoever family. We have been documenting their family of the past three years. It has been such a joy to have them by our side as we have grown and to see them grown. Their family is one that is humble. Yet, we find ourselves in awe of their devotion, love and commitment to legacy. Thank you Shawn and Christina, for everything you stand for. We love you and thank you for cheering us on.

Cody with this army of support.



What a fun family. This is on the road to their house.



Doesn't this just feel like being a little kid and knowing you have your father there to protect and shelter you?



Cade, we loved seeing how caring he is.



Cody was born a year ago. We had the honor of documenting him after his birth. Now look how big he is and with such a fun personality.



Taylor is growing up so much! I just can't get over it. What a natural beauty she is.



The guys.



The girls.



The starting point of all these good looking kids.

GA to FL to GA in 24 hours

Yes, that is right from door step to door step we made a round trip to Ft. Lauderdale in 24 hours on Tuesday. My birthday is coming up soon and part of my gift was this very spontaneous trip. I've been wanting us to sell our Honda Accord and buy a Subaru Outback for some time now. We have a small loft and a small car. We do a lot of driving a we have (as many of you know) a lot of gear we take to all of our jobs. This was my case for a larger car. :) Chris was not so sure. We try to only have one car (and looking into Flex Car for emergencies). There are many reasons. A. 85% of the time we are together B. It's our way of saving on emissions and pollution. So this has been our decision to only have one. Flex Car is great and you should really look into it. So even Chris surprised me with one that he found in Florida. We made a fun day trip out of it and drove a long time to get home. What a fun memory it was.

Our job never stops. We touched ground in Ft. Lauderdale and were happy to find free wifi. I responded to email and then we were on our way.



First sites of Ft. Lauderdale.



We searched and searched for just the restaurant. We found this one and loved it. We ate right on the water and had a wonderful meal together. It's a memory we'll hold forever. Luckily we have the pictures to back it up.



Chris looking all cute.



Me enjoying the warm sun in December. It was a nice break from Georgia.



Our waiter might have missed his calling on being a photographer. He did a great job with this shot.



Me with our car, right before the very long eleven hour ride back.

Christmas Time

We've been in Rome lately as much as Atlanta. We've been doing many portrait sessions there. We are also doing Christmas Cards for WinShape Retreat. Here is a picture of the Grand Challet that I just love. They definitely have the warmth and excitement for the holidays. If you are needing a little time away and wanting some rest, definitely check them out.

Heidi and Brad

Last week I met up with Heidi and Brad. They are getting married next spring. They were such a great couple and I enjoyed good conversation on all of our walks through the city. The were great sports in the cool weather. I loved how Heidi is so playful with Brad. They seem to have such a fun relationship. We wish you both the best! Here are some of my favorites from the day.