Documenting milestones is important and being able to photograph little L's first birthday for my friends Ranny and Pat was special. With all the craziness of preparing, setting up, and making sure everything is in place it was nice to be able to stop time and be able to give them something they can look back on and remember with fond memories. The party had to move inside because of the colder than expected temperatures but I think the theme went well with where we were. The carpet matched! Here are a few photos of how it looked before the party got started.

I probably should get out more. Any chance I get to photograph a family during my busy schedule, I enjoy discovering new locations. Since moving to Philadelphia I have gotten to see so much just in the last year and half. Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph this beautiful family in the Valley Forge National Park, which is free to get in, by the way.

Chris and I are privileged to have friends that are like family. The awesome thing about being a part of the family of God is that you literally feel like blood relatives. At least that is how I feel. Ha! Heather and Phil have been friends with us since before we got married and Saturday nights used to be our ritual hangout time before we moved.

With spring in the air, the hustle and bustle of wedding preparations are starting to unfold. During the winter, we spend our time working to stay warm and happy through the cold dark days. I, on the other hand, try to find opportunities to still get out there and photograph people despite the gloom. I look for ways to bring color and life to the otherwise gray. These two made it easy for me bring life to winter.

I am thankful that the fall and winter months are somewhat warmer here in southern Pennsylvania. With that comes more opportunities to photograph families! In the late fall of this past year (time goes by so fast!) I photographed the VinCross family again for their Christmas card.

This past fall, while I was working on revamping my site, I had the opportunity to photograph the Stones and their sweet little boy. New families are always fun to watch and see their excitement despite the change of pace.

While out in CO I got to spend some good quality time with these three. We don't get to see each other very often so I was especially thankful for these times.

Without going on and on with words, I will let you just experience the pictures themselves. These were taken during the reception of Lee and Hillary's wedding. It was a relaxed, beautiful, and memorable time of course!

If beauty and love could be visualized and talked about through one word, it would be through "simplicity." Not that being simple is plain or undermined. Not in the least. Sometimes we get carried away with the grandeur of elegance that we miss where love comes in with sweet surrender and makes two people join together with gentleness and grace.

Being a photographer has been an extreme blessing for me. Yes I get to be creative and draw your attention to beautiful things, but that is only a portion of what really brings me joy. This past Sunday I trekked out to Harvard Square in Boston Massachusetts to photograph a couple I met through my church, REACH Philadelphia. I briefly became acquainted with Anika before she headed off to New England to finish her residency, so it was a pleasure to get know both her and Bryant during this time.

I am blessed to capture beauty. It is a real test for my soul when it is my job to look for beautiful and positive things. It keeps me focused and my mind where it should be. In good things. I hope that you enjoyed seeing part 1 of Caislin and Kyle's wedding. Here are some images from the reception at the park.

When I first met Caislin and Kyle, I was in the very church they would become husband and wife. I was sitting with a group of people having lunch when Caislin immediately came up and introduced herself. After a quick introduction and a few words, I remember her saying "I think we will be good friends." She is such a sweet heart and I appreciated her assertiveness and the way that she seemed to take everyone under her "wing." Kyle as well, with his quiet personality, has a very warm heart. When Caislin was telling us about their love story, you could tell how much she adored that he was her best friend.

Probably the best description that I have heard given about adoption was told by our pastor, Tara. I wasn't adopted, so to understand the concept is kind of hard. What she explained is that we all are adopted into the family of God. Plucked out of a difficult situation and brought into the arms of Someone who can provide our every need. I know that I probably paraphrased that horribly but it spoke to me as she told the story of adopting little Josiah and being able to give him her and Caleb's last name. The power of a name never had such hope in my opinion.

Wow you guys, I am beside myself about what I have to show you. I often get anxiety about making sure that those I photograph are best portrayed the way they actually are. I wonder about my angles, framing, editing, you name it. Even though my style should take on a certain feel and consistency, I still want to show everyone the truth in front of my lens, not just behind.

I am truly blessed in this new season of our lives. Despite having to leave a clientele that was really starting to develop and become a thriving little business, I have found that things really are taking flight down here in PA. I haven't even really been focusing on photography, but more on my writing. God has made sure to keep me going and I could not be more grateful.

Since moving to Philadelphia, Chris and I have been blessed by the friends we have made in our church group. Being a part of something that strives for the good keeps us sane and full of purpose. We cannot thank God enough for what He has done for us down here in the City of Brotherly Love. What does that have to do with this lovely couple here? Well, they are two of the many friends that we have made while down here. To start off my photography endeavors, I was excited to find out from them that they wanted to take some pictures in Philadelphia. Sadly, at the time I did not know that Kelly Dr. was the place to be, but now I know that it is one of those gems in Philly that I won't ever pass up.

I am still at it posting photos from the fall. I did a lot of work for what I had going on at the time. Last year I photographed this family and had a lot of fun. This year they came with Santa hats to bring in the Christmas season. They were using them for Christmas cards for this time of year. I guess it is appropriate to show them now.

My summer was crazy. More or less I was not in a situation that was normal for me. I spent the whole season without Chris during the week and was always working to improve the look of our house while it was on the market. I had to pretty much have a clean house, constantly. At first it felt good to have things always clean but then it just didn't feel normal. Like no one actually lived where I was.