Most of you have already seen this on my Facebook business page, but I always like to post my weddings on my blog so I can give credit to various venders and link to them.  So for those of you who may have missed it, Mandy and Jeff’s wedding!

Last weekend I was able to be a part of a very special day. A very dear friend married her best friend at Water’s Edge Resort in Connecticut and they honored me by asking me to take the pictures. My mom and I took a few extra days and went out early so we could take in the sites in New York City, and it was a great weekend away. I’ve been friends with Mandy since we were about 3 years old and I consider it an incredible blessing to have been a part of their day. Amanda and Jeff, you are perfect for each other. I’m so glad God has brought you together and I love you both. May He bless you both as you begin your married life together! I still think you should have had a professional photographer along with you to document Italy 🙂 Have a great time and I’ll plan on being back out to your place in a little less than a year 🙂

To see their beautiful slideshow, click here.

Today is my dad’s birthday!  He turns 59.  God has blessed me with the best father anyone could ask for and I’m so honored to call him my dad.  He’s actually given me a gift, a gift that keeps on giving every year that goes by.  My dad lives out his faith in Christ on a daily basis and always has, and I’ve been able to witness it for the past 35 (almost 36) years.  I hope and pray that when my boys are old and grey, they will look back and look at me the way I look back at my dad; that I lived my faith daily and they could see it and feel it.  That’s how I feel about my dad.  He also introduced me to every and all types of music, and I’m also so thankful for that.  Every time he posts a song video on his Facebook page I smile.  I love to watch him sing and my kids do too.  So on top of all the great stuff I’ve already written, he’s the best grandpa to my boys!  He takes them kayaking, on walks, teaches them how to collect rocks, sings with them, talk to them about Jesus and most importantly loves them for who they are.  I love him more than words can say and am so proud to call him my dad.  I love you dad!

Some of you may recognize this couple from their wedding I was able to shoot almost 18 months ago. They were back in town for a week and asked me to do some updated family pictures with their precious four month old son. What a sweet little guy!  It was raining almost all morning, but we managed to find a few minutes to squeeze in some pictures between the rain drops.  Look at this precious little boy!

I had a bunch of extra apples sitting on my counter yesterday and decided to quick throw together an apple pie for my hubby.  I found the following recipe in Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade’s September/October issue and thought I’d give it a try.  This was a very easy recipe, pretty much your typical apple pie recipe.  Enjoy!

Brandied Caramel Apple Pie:

1 refrigerated pie crust

5-8 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1 cup plus 2 T flour, divided

2 t ground cinnamon

2 cups caramel sauce

3 T apple brandy

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2/3 cup butter

1 cup instant oats

preheat oven to 375.  fit pie crust into 9″ pie plate, fluting edges.  bake for 4-5 minutes.  cool on a wire rack.  in a large bowl, toss apples with 1/4 cup plus 2 T flour and the cinnamon.

in a saucepan, heat the caramel over medium heat until warm.  remove from heat.  add 1 cup to apple mix and toss gently to coat.  stir brandy into the remaining sauce and reserve for topping pie.  spoon apple mixture into pie crust, layering apples as tightly as possible.

in a medium bowl, combine remaining flour, brown sugar and oats.  using a fork, cut butter into mix and stir until crumbly.  sprinkle over apples, pressing to adhere.

place pie on a baking sheet (to catch drips) and cover loosely with foil.  bake for 30 minutes.  remove foil and bake an additional 35-45 minutes until brown and bubbly.  enjoy!

Thought I’d post just a couple of pics from the wedding Saturday night.  These are some of my personal pics from the night, me and my good buddies.  Mandy and I grew up right down the street from each other and played together almost every day.  Mandy’s sister Erin and my sister Sara were also good friends and played together all the time.  Mandy, Jason (Erin’s husband) and I all graduated together and have known each other a long time.  I love it when I actually know the family at the weddings I shoot.  Makes for such a great day!  The actual wedding day post will come later this week!

Mandy and I

Mom getting a hug from Mandy.

Mandy and Jason, hey good buddy!

Beca and Jason

Erin and Jason

Sunset at the resort the night of the wedding

New York City: An Overview in Black and White

Tomorrow morning at this time I will be in the air on my way to New York City for the wedding of one of my dearest friends.  Mandi and her two sisters lived right down the road from us our entire childhood.  We were the same age and her sister and my sister were the same age.  Our mom’s babysat for each other often and I spent most of my younger years with Mandi.  We went to the library on our bikes, jumped on (and broke) each others beds, ate over at each others houses, had sleepovers, watched movies, sang to The Sound of Music records and went to high school together.

I am so excited that she is finally getting married to the sweetest man around.  Jeff, I’m so happy that you make my friend so happy.  I can’t wait to head out to the east coast for the next five days and be part of your very special day.  I am honored that I get to take your wedding photos!

Mandi, I love you and am so happy for you.  I will see you tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy a few old pics I found that I had already scanned into the computer.  I wish I had some older ones, but I need to dig for those!

Sometimes, when I see sunsets like these, I feel like God is giving me a glimpse into His world.  His glory was on full display last week through three nights of beautiful sunsets.  I’m finally looking at the pictures I took this morning and am reminded of a song my dad wrote years ago.  He recently posted a portion of it on my Facebook wall in response to something I said and I felt it fit these pictures perfectly:

‘He let me catch a glimpse of His holy face
and all I wanna do is to run the race
I’ve got to reach the goal by coming face to face
once again…’

Thank you Lord for giving us glimpses of your glory on a regular basis, if only we take the time to see them.  May God bless you all in your week ahead!

I thought I’d post a few pictures from the senior session I had last week.  Justin was such a sweetheart to work with, he looks tough but don’t let that fool ya.  And he has the cutest freckles!  What I have found with my guy seniors is that they do not like to smile.  They want to look rough and tough.  Inevitably, mom is standing behind me speaking words of encouragement:  “Come on!  Just smile.  No, no, no…smile with your teeth, like you really mean it.  That’s not your real smile, come on!  Just do it for me, you look so cute when you smile.”  And on and on and on it goes.  I stand there and try to catch that fleeting smile, all while trying to make the poor guy feel comfortable and not embarrassed.  Not always easy.  I’ve also found that converting some of the pics to black and white helps with the “tough” look and give the guys something different to choose from.  Here are a couple of my favorites from Justin’s shoot, enjoy!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it was perfect for fall.  I used granny smith apples and changed it up just a little.  Instead of a round cake pan, I used a square one.  I also did not put the nuts inside the batter, I sprinkled them over the apples underneath.  We ate this hot out of the oven with a cup of coffee for dessert and it was wonderful!  I also had a piece the next day, but it wasn’t quite as good.  I probably should have zapped it in the microwave to melt the caramel just a little.   To see the recipe, click here.  Enjoy!