Nashville here we come!!

I have so, so much blogging to catch up on. In the first 3 years of my business I was so slow during the beginning of the year, as well as during the summer. Not. This. Year. I am so incredibly grateful for all of the work that I have had this year and it seems to only be getting busier!!

Fortunately and unfortunately I will be moving my business to Nashville, TN this fall. My husband took a job there and we are sad and excited for this next chapter in our lives. We hate to leave family and a home town that we know and love, but we know that God has good things for us in Nashville. Though I'm sad to leaving for personal reasons I am SO excited about getting to explore and photograph in a new city. Being a native Florida girl, if you get me in rolling hills I'm excited. HAHA! I may miss the leaves changing this year, but I am can't wait to do fall portraits with the colors of Fall. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach and Florida's flat lands, but it will be fun to do something different!

In preparation of our move I have HAD to get my website up and running. I have primarily depended on local fans and word of mouth for the past three years being in my hometown, but Nashville will be a whole new ball game. Thankfully we have connections and friends already there, but I am so nervous about starting all over! I hope that if you're reading this and are in Music City you will take a look at my website and current blog posts and consider booking me for your next shoot! Get ready for some blog overload, because I have about 6 months worth of posts to catch up on ;)

Gabe 2.75 yrs. an imperfect perfect picture

This is very possibly one of my all time favorite shots. On top of the natural light that I LOVE, Gabe's messy hair, his worn pj's and his monster truck... it's perfectly him. Not much more to say about it other than that. This will be blown up, possibly a gallery wrap. It's timeless and imperfectly perfect. This way when I'm ready to pull my hair out on the days that he's driving me bonkers I can glance at this picture and remember the sweet innocence of my tot. Love. This. Boy!

Ayda Jean : One month

 My goodness how time flies! Ayda Jean had her "one month birthday" on the 9th and I can't believe it! I never believed people or never understood what they meant when they said time speeds up as you get older, but that is finally starting to sink in!

Here are just a few highlights of Ayda Jean's first month.

- Mommy was in labor after being induced for about 9.5 hrs and when Ayda was ready to come out... it took one push, literally.

-She weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 21 inches long

-She was back to exactly her birth weight at her 2 week check up.

-She grew .75 inches in the first 2 weeks.

-I have had to wake her to eat in the middle of the night since she was 3 days old.

-She sleeps 8 hours almost every night.

-Her eyes are already turning blue and she seems to have blonde hair. (with my dark eyes and super dark hair I would almost think she wasn't mine, haha!)

-She loves the sound of her Daddy's voice and smiles almost every time he speaks.

-She has been consistently holding her head up since about 2 weeks after she was born.

-She is soo soo alert and always seems to be taking everything in.

-She loves music. (yay!)

-She doesn't mind the car unless it stops, even for a second.

-Her big brother is absolutely in love with her and asks for her every morning

-She may hate me by the time she's 3 because we play dress up all the time!

-She went through a phase of ridiculous amounts of spit up... not her finest moment, but definitely a big part of the first month.

-I think she looks like her Daddy and her Aunt Maci most of the time.

-She has captured our hearts and we can't imagine life with out her!!

That's just a list of the highlights mainly to help me remember. :) This is something I didn't do every month with Gabe and I wish I would have. We did pictures and I have all of his firsts, but I didn't write down the little things. :(

Here are just a few shots I got last Saturday in her bedroom. Her room lets in the most beautiful light and I am in love with these pictures!!

Will, Shannon and Eli

Will is my older brother. He has a beautiful wife, Shannon, and an amazingly sweet little boy, my nephew, Eli! I love them all and wished they lived closer so we could see them more often. They live in Miami, Fl which isn't too terrible but it's definitely more than a day trip!

This sweet family is going to be growing from a family of 3 to a family of 4 in January! We are so excited to be welcoming a new baby to play with Ayda Jean and to make it even better it's going to be another sweet baby girl!! I can already see Gabe and Eli (who are 6 weeks apart) and Ayda Jean and Lillian running at our Mom and Dad's farm, pure sweetness! The only downside to this sweet bundle's arrival date is that it puts it so close to Christmas that Shannon's dr. has told her no traveling for the holidays. BOO! Of course we all want the safest option for Lillian and Shannon's health so we of course are complaining too much. With the news of them not getting to come for Christmas, they decided to make a long weekend trip 2 weeks ago to see everyone and make one last trip before Lillian is born.

While they were here we all had a great time but I'd say Gabe and Eli took the cake! They ran and played and rode their matching tricycles all over the place! We went for a visit to our Grandparents house where they chased the ducks and saw the chickens, which I have to say is a 2 year old little boys' heaven! On Saturday they went fishing with their dad's while the ladies threw a shower in honor of Miss Lily and Saturday night they got to go on a hay ride at our towns fall festival. Needless to say, by Sunday they were worn slap out! It is such a sweet thing to get to watch our kids run and play just like we did (without the bickering of siblings, of course).

Sunday afternoon I too the annual family pictures of Will, Shannon and Eli. Our Dad is a hay farmer and has about 80 acres of land to choose from when we get the urge to do pictures and that's the beautiful landscape you will see in these photo's. I love getting to be the photographer for these guys and capture the playful and curious nature of my sweet nephew. They are a beautiful family and it's so easy to capture great shots of them. I hope you enjoy their photo's on the farm!

Aren't they beautiful?!? I can't wait to make the trip to Miami to see that beautiful baby girl!!

Ayda Jean ~ Newborn session #1 ;)

I am absolutely in love with having a baby girl. All the frills and fun is AMAZING! Not that that's the only reason, but it sure is fun :) There are so many things I have already imagined getting to do with her and teach her and I can't wait! well... I can wait. I know how fast our Gabe has grown so I'm trying to savor every moment of 'baby'. I find myself letting the small things go more than I did with him and taking things in stride because I know that it all goes by too fast. With all that being said... I thought I would share some of the newborn shots Tim and I snapped on a beautiful Fall Sunday afternoon of our sweet baby girl. One of the perks of living in North Florida during the fall is that October produces perfect weather for an outdoor shoot :)

Can you handle the cuteness???

Being that Ayda Jean was born on October, 9th I couldn't resist incorporating some baby pumpkins!

Tim is a huge outdoors man and loves to hunt. Gabe had some newborn shots done in a camo beanie... well, We had to make a compromise and "girly" it up some. So in comes the tutu and antlers.

Those are just a few that we were able to snap during big brothers nap time but we've already captured some other precious shots with Gabe that I can't wait to share!