I know I should reserve such a title for my own family, but I couldn’t help myself! I have had the pleasure of documenting this family’s growth since Chrissy was expecting litte Miss H. It has been such a treat to watch their family grow in size and in love. I couldn’t believe how big Miss H. has gotten since our last meeting! The cuteness was unbearable! I was eating up those smiles all morning…she is such a little heartbreaker already! I had to post a few for mom and dad, couldn’t keep her to myself :)

First of all, let me begin by saying that I hope everyone is recovering from their turkey induced coma’s after this year’s Thanksgiving feast. It was crazy here…lots of cooking, baking, 10 million trips to the store for forgotten items…the usual festivities surrounding family related holidays. We had a lovely dinner at our home surrounded by family and loved one’s. It was so nice sitting down and listening to stories of our childhood’s and relatives…it always makes me smile.

Now on to the good stuff Tonight I had the pleasure of photographing Ashley and Megan. It was a beautiful evening and the light was just fantastic. Ashley and Megan’s grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a few weeks back and I had the honor of capturing such a special occasion. When they asked if I could capture the two of them together as a gift for their parents, I was more than excited to do it!! They are two of the sweetest girls around…just plain fun and laid back and up for anything! Thank you so much girls for a fun evening Trespassing shmespassing! haha So, without further delay…introducing Miss Ashley and Miss Megan.

I am feeling very blessed right now. So completely and incredibly blessed. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it has caused me to take a moment and reflect on what it is that I am truly thankful for this year. I could be “cliche” and say EVERYTHING…and to say such a thing would in fact be the truth…but above anything else I am thankful for God’s watchful eye over my family. He has kept my Piper at arm’s length this entire year…guiding her health and well-being…and I am assured everyday by her smiling little face that he is keeping us close under his guard. He is so good. I had been waiting for ever-so-long to blog about this, but enough time has elapsed that I thought it fitting to do so now…at the time of year that we are supposed to be “Thankful”. The good Lord has decided to bless our family with another addition I am expecting the pitter patter of little feet in June and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Our biggest obstacle throughout this first stage of pregnancy has been our concern about Jonny carrying the Cystic Fibrosis gene. Knowing that I am already a carrier, it was merely the waiting to find out his test results before we could be truly settled with what was going to happen. I knew in my heart that no matter what God chose for us, that he would arm us with what we needed to raise another CF child. After many, many, MANY long hours of prayer and worry and waiting it has been revealed that Jonny is NOT a carrier of the CF gene. You can only imagine the wobble that came to my knees upon hearing this news. It was beyond explanation. I just lost it and had myself a good cry. The most difficult part of raising a child with CF is watching them suffer and it just takes a little piece of your heart every time it happens. You aren’t whole when you are sitting idly by waiting for this disease to do its dirty work. To imagine that this little one won’t have to endure all that Piper has already been through and what she has yet to experience is the biggest gift that God could have possibly afforded our family. I feel like I have had a breeze of hope flush over me and it is so welcomed. For weeks I’ve tried to decide how to tell my blog readers that I was expecting…when this happened, it was clear. We are so over-the-moon happy about this new baby and all of the love that we are going to smother it with Piper is just as thrilled and I know she will be an amazing big sister that will teach much to this new little baby…she will show him or her what strength is all about. I am so blessed. I have the most amazing husband in the world, the most incredible family…a growing family at that.

What does this mean for my photography business? I am a hard worker. I am so very dedicated to my clients. I plan on shooting until the middle of May and then  will be back to work in July. This baby is just one more reason for me to shoot even more!! Think of all the chubbiness I can capture I am still accepting weddings into May and starting again in July. You guys are important to me and I am not going anywhere I love this job TOO much!!

I hope you all have very safe and magical moments with your families this Thanksgiving. Much love from our “family” to yours!!

~Courtney

Tonight I headed out in Ocala and met up with Danny and Lindsey for their 1 year anniversary shoot! Lindsey called me and asked if I could capture some images of the two of them together to commemorate this special occasion and I, of course, was delighted to oblige! Danny claimed to  dislike taking pictures…but he was working it! Sorry to say it Danny, but your performace has gotten you in trouble! I fear Lindsey will be dragging you out for several more of these over the years Thanks so much for a wonderful evening! You were so much fun to be around, I really enjoyed you both!! Here is a little sneak peek for the two of you of some of my favorites!

I have the best clients in the world. Call me biased, but I just think they ROCK! Today, I got to meet with 3 different families…who coincendentally all know each other. It was so cool to mingle with them all today They have the most gorgeous children…all of them…but of course they do! I had such a great time getting to know these families. It was truly a pleasure! I was breezing through some of the images from today and thought I’d post a collabrative group of a few of my favorites. I have to hand it to these mom’s for being so fashion savvy. I always try to express to my clients the importance of wardrobe during a shoot. Your pictures may be great without any creativity…but just LOOK at what you get when you plan and think BIG! Thank you mom’s for being so awesome!! Thank you dad’s for being the cheering section and for lugging around all of the important stuff. It was wonderful meeting ALL of you!

Hi everyone I try with all of my heart to avoid political discussion on my blog. I, like many of you, have a very strong opinion on this particular election and the weight it has on our country’s future. That being said…I am highly disappointed by the outpouring of folks using their blog as a political platform and TELLING people to vote in their favor. It is shocking. YOU are an individual and only YOU can choose what you believe to be right. Nothing makes me more steaming mad than reading that you “just have to” vote one way or the other. Your blog should never become a place that people feel uncomfortable visiting, because you are consistently making it a place that shuns someone’s core values and beliefs. Vote because you believe in what you are voting for…not because it is popular or because someone you admire is pleading with you to vote the same as they are. I fear many people in positions of popularity and authority are using their status to sway YOUR opinion. There are many other platforms for this type of discussion…your blog should NEVER be one of these. Defend who you are voting for, discuss the important topics, but never ever tell someone that they absolutely MUST vote the same as you or you will be less of a person or lose their respect. Don’t be a victim of this. Vote for yourself. Do what you believe. Vote for YOUR future. No one can tell you otherwise. That is the glory of being an American. Do your country a favor and VOTE…vote for who you believe in, what you believe in…but most importantly VOTE! Do NOT vote because Joe Cool told you to. Be an individual…do your country proud…don’t fall prey to those people misusing and abusing their position to change who you are or what you stand for.