Kirstin and Gino's wedding

Hello all! I know, it has been a long time since I've blogged. On the blog today are my photos from the Austwick wedding. I've had this wedding booked for over a year and I wanted to make sure to give Kirstin and Gino nothing but the best. I am pretty sure I was more nervous for their wedding than I was for my own. I drove through the pouring rain and got in Friday night. Kirstin and Gino had these adorable gift bags for their hotel guests with lots of snacks.
    Saturday morning, we started bright and early with hair and makeup. We got to the church and I started in on all the details. Kirstin had a first look with her dad, and then with Gino. I wanted to cry, it was so sweet. It was a beautiful ceremony in a cute little church. As soon as Gino read his vows, the whole room teared up. You could really tell the love that these two had for each other. They poured unity sand and gave each mother a rose. Because the weather had not cooperated lately, it was not super dry out but we were able to get a few pictures on the pavement.
   We headed to the reception after. It was at the Luna Event Center and it was very nice. They made their grand entrance and then cut the cake. Surprisingly, they did not throw it each other's face. All the guests ate and then it was time for the toasts. The bride and groom had their first dance with each other and then their parents. Then the guests danced the rest of the afternoon away. I have never been to a wedding where so many people danced before, it was great. They did an anniversary dance and the couple that had been married the longest, had been married 56 years I believe. Wow that is awesome! The flower girl followed me around for a while like my little shadow. The reception had an Italian theme. They had bread sticks and grapes on the table. Each guest also got to take home their own bottle of olive oil. How cool is that? The bride and groom had one last dance to themselves and then made their grand exit. Such a beautiful wedding! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Austwick!

UCM vs MNU

Hello all! Last night, my husband and I went to the University of Central Missouri Men's basketball game to see one of his students from last year play. He plays at Mid-America Nazarene. It was a pretty good game. Lots of fouls from both sides. The students were gone for Christmas break so it wasn't very crowded. UCM won by about 30 I believe. We sat in the middle and kind of cheered for both teams. UCM is our Alma Mater but we all wanted his old student to do well too. Here are just a few pictures I took from last night.

Vitela

On the blog this week is a few of my photos from the Vitela shoot. We were able to get a fall shoot in before it got too cold. Alexander has so much energy and loved climbing all over the rocks at Cave Hollow for pictures. Sky loved running with him. Alex's funny faces are the best. They had a read along while you walk so we read each page from the book as we took pictures. We did our best to not fall in the mud, although I'm pretty sure Alexander went home a little dirty from climbing. Boys will be boys. I'm sad for all these pretty fall colors to leave. Take a look at my photos below and leave a comment.

Pulak

Hello again! This week, I am sharing photos from my session with the Pulaks. We took these a month ago but I couldn't share them yet because they hadn't told their family that they were expecting a third child. It was such an honor. The Pulak kids are so adorable. Surprisingly for October, it was hot! Almost 90 degrees that day and super windy. Nevertheless, Knob Park was gorgeous. The leaves had started turning. I wanted to post so many of their photos but I gave you just a few. This little family is so cute and there is so much love. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Alps 2

Hello!Wow it has been a crazy week. This week on the blog, I am going to talk to you about my second ALPs class. If you have been following my blog, you know I taught a photography class at the SOMO June Athlete Leadership Program. If this is your first time on my blog, ALPs is college for Special Olympics. The athletes come with a mentor, they pick a degree and they take classes for it. It is currently offered twice a year. This ALPs was held at the Kansas City Police Academy. Great place! My class was offered one time this weekend. I had such great success during the June one, I was really excited to teach it again. Sean was my assistant at the June one but he was teaching his own videography class this time so he couldn't assist me. I had an assistant and she couldn't make it so I asked my husband and he was going to but his schedule got changed last minute so I was on my own. No worries though.

   My class was offered at 8 a.m. so I left Warrensburg, bright and early a little after 6. I got all set up for my class. I had 5 athletes with their mentors which was a perfect number  because we had a camera for everyone to use. It was a chilly day so when we went outside to shoot, everyone didn't want to stay long. I wasn't upset because I was just getting over a cold. The Kansas City Police Academy is gorgeous and being fall, the leaves were changing. The athletes genuinely seemed interested and we had a really good time. One of the athletes was so funny, he kept telling his mentor how to hold her glasses in the funny picture and he wanted to be the model every time. He took so many pictures. Another athlete told his mentor she needed to smile right. When we were going through the pictures we took, he said, "You smiled great in that picture." It was our serious picture lol. They are the best and it is truly an honor to get to teach them. All of the athletes improved so much and did a great job. 4 of the athletes going through ALPs are going to graduate as soon as they finish their capstone project. That's exciting! Sarah is doing hers about photography which makes me proud. Here are just a couple shots from the day.

fall!

Hello people! I am sorry I have been MIA from my blog. It hasn't been on purpose and I don't have a good excuse lol. Last week I did manage to get out in the midst of being sick and get some images of leaves. I love when the trees start changing color. Although this year, I feel like it is happening so fast. This tree down the street from our house is beautiful yellow and orange. I did a double exposure with this first one. I like the look it gave. The red leaves were from some trees at the KC Police Academy. Love the deep red color. There are just a few images but I hope you like them!

A Visit Back Home

Hey all. I finally got a chance to go back home this weekend and visit. I love going home and being in the country. My parents have some beautiful land. When I lived at home, I didn't truly value the beauty of the country. I decided to make this blog post about the farm. We have a soybean field and my dad fixes tractors, so there is never a moment we don't have a tractor in our yard. We also have two cows, Rocky and Everest. They're Casen and Chayten's cows so they picked the names lol. Our cats rule the roost of the farm. The cat in the picture is Chippy which is Chayten's baby. She is such a cutie.  I was able to catch a Monarch this week and I was so excited because I know we have some Milkweed on a road near our house where they hatch. I love all the wildflowers we have in our hay field and I was so glad to catch the Monarch on one. I hope you like the pictures of my home from a different perspective.