Grael :: 1 Year Old!

She shrugged!

It was hilarious! Grael's mommy takes lots of pictures of her, so she's very comfortable in front of the camera. It was evident for the first scene of the day, where we parked little Grael next to a pretty lilac bush, and her face just lit up into the this big toothy grin! As far as coaxing a smile from a one year old, this was hands-down the easiest session we've ever shot. So, at the another scene, she's just a-smiling away, and we're laughing because no other little kid has done this, and out of the blue, Grael just throws us a shrug of her shoulders as if to say "You guys think this is my first rodeo, but hey I'm awesome, what do you expect!"

Cassie + Thad :: Love

Did anyone else have a crazy Memorial Day weekend? Mine seemed to come and go before I knew what happened. Next thing I know, it's Wednesday and I missed my routine Monday blog post.

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Cassie and Thad were a lot of fun to work with, seriously. Thad is a fisherman, so they wanted to theme their engagement session around fishing. Our neighbors happen to have a sweet little pond, and were happy to let us come over. Cassie + Thad, we enjoyed working with you guys, and we wish you all the best!

Then we hit the studio for some ISU vs Iowa photos... that's when the tension started rising. :)

Angie + Nick :: Love

Angie + Nick got into our mini-van with us, and our 5 year old Jackson ran outside and stopped us as we started the van. "Dad... (seeing the couple in the back of the van)... um, why do you need to make money?" I'm sure our faces turned red, and Angie + Nick started to laugh as we quickly tried to remind him that money helps buy food, pay for our cars, gas, and to live in our house. He seemed to agree, and apparently the answer satisfied him, so he shouted "bye Dad, bye Mom" and scampered off! What a kid!

Anyway, we had fun with Angie + Nick. They're having an outdoor wedding this summer and we are excited about that! Love me some outdoor weddings!

Cassie + Chad :: Forever

Last Saturday was a beautiful day in the Iowa country-side! There was a bit of a stiff breeze early on, but it wasn't too bad to work around. Chad is a firefighter for Riverside, Iowa, as were some of the guys in the wedding party. They scored a sweet old fire truck to leave the church in, which topped out at about 15 mph... so it's good they don't use it to fight fires anymore, or you'd be out of luck long before the firemen ever got to you!

Thanks for letting us be part of your big day, Cassie + Chad!! You guys were awesome to work with, especially when time was crunched and it was windy everywhere we went!

This picture took a little bit of effort to capture, because this kid was kindof shy.

The ring bearer was a riot! He was pretty excited for his uncle Chad, and couldn't wait to let him know!

I'm not sure how Jesi got the fireman's axe, but I'm not sure it was the safest idea! :) Just kidding, Jesi, it was great to see you and Nick again!

Jamie + Rusty :: Love

I now want a Sharpei dog. Jodi, however, does not appreciate the slobbery tendencies, but I think it would just add to the fun!

Jamie + Rusty have 3 sweet dogs that came along to the engagement session, and I couldn't resist the lovable Rocco and his Dachsund pals. It was interesting to try and get all 3 dogs attention at the same time, but what do you expect, right? :) Jamie + Rusty were great even though we all did some unintentional rock climbing to start the session!

Carmen + Joe :: Love

These two avid Hawkeye fans met us at our house, and we headed to Iowa City for some fun engagement shots downtown. Spring was in the beginning stages of launching an assault of color on the town, and we were lucky enough to be able to photograph some of it! I love the pink flowers on the trees this time of year. Of course, if you went looking for those trees today... it's not happening. The pink is gone, sadly.

Anyway, Carmen and Joe were awesome! They were great fun to work with, and we ended up finding a few new places with them we've never shot before.