5 years.

Today I have been married 5 years.  My, my what an exciting ride the past 6 and half years has been with Brad.

We met when we were only itty bitty kids, 18 & 19, and freshmen at Ohio University.

don't judge.  it's halloween in athens  .

We always talk about how each year of our marriage has been an entirely different journey.  And apparently an entirely different length of Brad's hair:)

honeymoon in NYC

Year 1: We lived in Athens, Ohio where we partied and attended college (most likely in that order:))

umm yea we had a pet rabbit.  his name was Reggie.

we had only the best halloween costumes

Year 2: We moved to Columbus, Ohio where I attended and graduated from OSU and Brad got a job as a web designer for NBC4.

mmm turkey

Year 3: We sold most of our belongings and packed everything we could fit into a campervan to set off across the United States in search of something different.  The van broke down 2 weeks in but we continued for 6 more months in our Chevy Cavalier.

Yellowstone

outside of Seattle

Year 4: We bought a run-down house in Columbus, found out I was pregnant & got a new puppy all within the same week.  In October we had a beautiful baby boy.

photo by MNR photography

Year 5:  We have now both successfully started our own businesses.  We continue to work on our house and I am amazed everyday at the progress we have made (and also frustrated about the progress we aren't making:)).  We get to watch our son grow and grow.  We get to spend nearly everyday together.  God has truly blessed us so much.

Honestly most days I forget how lucky I am.  Being together this long means you start to take the other one for granted.  But when I stop and think, like really stop and think about our relationship, I cannot believe that I get to spend my life with my best friend.  We make each other laugh all of the time.  We love spending as much time together as we can (we did live in a tiny car together for 6 months:)).  He understands me to a point that I cannot describe, it's probably better than I understand myself.  Never in a million years when I sat on a futon with this long haired kid in Brown Hall 6 1/2 years ago would I have dreamed he would become my life.  But he has.  I love you Brad Pauquette.  

Zak & Jennifer | 7.17.10

I got to spend the better part of the day with Zak & Jennifer as they readied themselves for their wonderful wedding.  I love being able to just hang out with the bride and groom and their family and friends before they get married and capture their day unfolding.

Zak & Jennifer held their ceremony and reception at Scioto Reserve Country Club in Powell, a perfect setting for a wedding.   It was a very warm July day for an outdoor ceremony, but Zak & Jennifer stuck it out for an intimate and beautiful ceremony.

The reception details were beautiful, I loved the bright orange and pink colors that were used throughout.  And oh my, the dancing was out of control! (in a good way:))  There were times during the reception that I couldn't stop laughing due to the dance moves being pulled out.  And did I mention Zak and his bandmates (who happened to be his groomsmen) performed?  Pretty amazing feat to pull on your own wedding day.

Thank you so much Zak & Jennifer.  Your wedding was amazing and I'm so lucky to have gotten to capture it.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day.  There are plenty more in the slideshow at the bottom of the page.

Song credit: Abscondo

Jason & Jessica | 7.10.10

You may remember Jason & Jessica from their engagement session last fall.  I had such a great time with them then and I just knew their wedding was going to be wonderful.  Their ceremony took place at BOMA, which for those of you who have never heard of it, is an old baptist church turned Bar of Modern Art.  Pretty freakin' cool.

I met Jessica at the Crowne Plaza downtown (where their reception was held) and was surprised by her calmness.  She said that the previous days had not been so calm but she had made the decision to be relaxed and let whatever happened, happen.  What a wonderful way to feel about her wedding day.

Jason got ready in the so-called "man cave" in the basement of BOMA.  They were not quite so, ahem, relaxed. They were goofing off and cracking jokes which I'm sure helped Jason keep his nerves in check.  A few minutes later, while waiting for the ceremony to start, I found Jason nervously pacing the back of the ceremony hall.

The energy between Jason & Jessica is beautiful.  They love each other so much and you can just see it in the way they treat each other.  I was so happy to be a part of their wedding day.

Here are a few of my favorite photos.  Be sure to check out the slideshow at the bottom for an extended peek.

Song credit: Marle Kani  (PS- I don't really know Spanish so I hope this song isn't an offensive song in a love song disguise:))

Want to win something????

It's been a while since I've done a contest so I thought I would give it a go again.

This time you have the opportunity to win a matted 8x10 print of this lovely photo that I took nearly 3 years ago.

I call it "Green" (it's a weird name for the photo, but if you think hard you can figure it out:))

What do you have to do to win this lovely prize????

Just leave a comment with your guess on what Theo is eating in the following photo.  You don't even have to be right,  I will pick a winner randomnly with a cool online number generator thingy.

Here's a hint: He's not a vampire, although he is Team Edward:)

Take a guess!!!  The contest ends at 8:00 PM on Tuesday, July 20th.  I will announce the winner here!

Mark | Senior 2011

Meet Mark.  He will be graduating from Westerville South this coming year. 

I had a wonderful shoot with Mark & his mom JoAnn at Inniswood Metro Park on a beautiful (but hot!) morning last week.  Mark is a kind, polite & very athletic senior.  His life is consumed by football at the moment, but we were able to find a morning where both of our schedules coordinated (even though I got him out of bed early for it!)

A lot of times I have a hard time getting guys to loosen up for their senior pictures.   Mark wasn't thrilled to be photographed either, but went along easily with all of my ideas:)

Thank you so much Mark (and JoAnn)!  I hope you have a wonderful and fun-filled senior year.

David & Emily | Engagement

Actually this isn't really their engagement session because they are already married.  We can call them pre-ceremony pictures instead:)

I had a great time with Emily, David & Emily's mom on a warm, sunny morning last week.  David is in the army (which prompted the nuptials) but was lucky enough to be able to take the day off to spend with me and my camera (oh yea, and Emily:))
 

We decided on Slate Run Historical Farm as the site of their pre-ceremony photos.  I've heard wonderful things about this metro park, and boy was everyone right.  This place is amazing, it's a working farm that sets time back to the 1880's.

Oh my goodness, I don't think I stopped laughing the entire session.  David was always keeping things light, whether through a strange face or by walking on stilts around the farm.  Emily is so sweet and puts up so well with David's antics:)  She is always laughing which is such a great quality in a person.

Doesn't Emily look so beautiful????

Thank you soooo much David & Emily, I can't wait until your October wedding!