Happy Birthday JiJi! (Personal Post: Lynchburg, Virginia Photographer)

Okay y'all... Confessions of a Momma who works full-time and owns her photography business... I still have to SHOP for some Christmas presents, much less hand them out! SO thankful for my amazing family and friends who have had patience with me this season- even if that does mean we have to extend the season a little longer than normal! HA.

So, there are quite a few things that have fallen off of my radar this year- and buying birthday cards and presents is one of them! Sorry friends! Today is my own Momma's birthday (Emmie calls her JiJi) and you guessed it, her card isn't even in the mail yet! But I HAD to share some of our awesome memories with our sweet JiJi! 

Happy Birthday JiJi! We hope you have a fantastic day (and forgive us for being behind this year! HA!) Love you!! 

our 2014 round up: personal

I've been wanting to do a year recap (like every other blogger out there...) mainly because I think it is SO fun to look back over our fun memories over the past year. I am currently working on some of my favorite client shots, but wanted to share some of my favorite instagram memories too! If you don't already, you should follow me! I love instagram and the amazing ability it gives me to capture our day-to-day lives- something I'm not always so good at doing with my camera.  Being able to scroll through and remember our Tuesday afternoon trip to the library, the start of my running journey, the time Mike and Emmie made an Olaf in our front yard, lazy mornings snuggling on the couch at home- so many little things that I wouldn't normally document! We had some big moments in 2014 too- Emmie's first day of pre-school, our family vacation to Sunset Beach, Emmie turned three, finally liked Santa, and I went back to working full time after spending two years at home.  

See why I love looking back over these times so much?! SO many smiles and so much happiness- but don't worry I made sure to capture some attitude too! ;) 

I have some big goals and plans for 2015 (no, I'm not pregnant!) -- goals I'm finally sitting down to work though and evaluate and hope to be sharing with you soon! If you can't already tell- Blogging more consistently is one of those goals. I want to share more of my photography work, but also to share more with you guys personally. I love my clients and consider each bride family, so staying connected and sharing only makes sense! 

I hope you'll share your 2014 round up with me! And don't forget to check back in for some of my favorite client moments from the year! 

may your days be merry and bright...

We hope you and your have a very merry Christmas! We will be sharing photos from our holiday soon! But I'd love to hear all about yours! 

it's the most beautiful time of the year...

This post is going to be a little more random... just little shots of things going on in the day to day. And beware, there may even be some iPhone photos mixed in! ;) 

The other day I was checking all my equipment for a Photo Booth I was working, and set up in my office and Emmie was MORE than willing to be my model.  Love this girl and her sweet sweet smile so much. 

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Emmie has been super into a few consistent things here lately- drawing her name and other letters- and playing dress up. Usually her dress of choice is Elsa ;) 

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and to add to the randomness of this post.. here are some other photos I've taken over the past few weeks- Christmas jammies, Elf on the Shelf shenanigans, Meeting Santa, etc. 

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iPhone photo ;) 

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iPhone photo- Emmie's first on-stage performance! 

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yay it feels so good to catch up! so tell me, what are your plans for Christmas?! 

deck the halls...

This is going to sound cliche' but I am so excited for Christmas this year with Emmie. She is totally starting to understand the whole Christmas thing! Decorating the tree this year was no exception. Although nothing can beat the Christmas Tree reveal from last year - going through all of the ornaments with her this year- making cookies, and handing them on the tree- THE best! 

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You have to bake cookies to decorate your Christmas tree... duh! 

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Some of our special ornaments! On the left- Emmie's very first ornament, Starbucks Mug- where Mike and I first met. The Sunset Beach Vacation Chair- and on the right- the ornament Mike proposed to me with!! 

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She was first told she had to wait until we were done with the tree to eat a cookie... but she couldn't wait! 

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The finished product... well kinda- we adjusted quite a few ornaments since Emmie made it her mission to put all the ornaments together on three branches! ha. 

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Now to catch up with our christmas gift list! yikes.  Have any special ornaments? I want to hear about them!! 

Check out my post on picking out our tree out here- and be sure to check back this week for more Christmas Season Photos!