Practice makes perfect

So over the past year or so I have taken on photography as a hobby. My cousin Mitchell got me started on it when he bought a Canon DSLR and let me play around with it...I was instantly hooked. Robby organized for everyone to just donate towards my camera as my birthday present and a few days before my 24th birthday we went out and bought a Canon Rebel T2i. I have had so much fun over the past year figuring out how to shoot pictures manually (and by figuring out I mean reading the books Mitch sends me as surprises in the mail and asking him tons of questions at every family get together....he may or may not deserve the "Cousin of the Year" award.). Recently I was talking about my new hobby at school and a couple of my co-workers asked if I would be interested in taking family pictures for them. While I jumped at the chance to practice more, I was incredibly nervous to actually take pictures of somebody who wasn't a family member (or one of our dogs). I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out so I thought I would share a few here on the blog!

The first family I took pictures of my friend, Van's. Van and I started at Park Hill South the same year and shared a pod office and though our friendship is based on him making fun of me for how much I love my hometown, I can't say enough nice things about him and his family. They were so easy and laid back and I appreciate them taking the time to let me "practice" my skills. :)

 Some of my favorite pictures were the candids...their little boy Louis was NOT in to posing and I secretly loved it!

Marin had some of the prettiest eyes I had ever seen...and unlike her brother...she LOVED posing for the camera.

Kamryn was the oldest and it was so fun to see how sweet she was with her younger siblings.



Yesterday I also had the chance to take some pictures of my friend Katie's family. Katie is also in our pod and a phenomenal story teller. I have heard the most hilarious stories about her two kiddos and was excited to finally meet them.Unfortunately it started raining about 20 minutes into our picture taking adventure, so we didn't get everything we wanted to. We are going to go back tomorrow to snap a few more just for good measure. Katie and Chad met while in college at William Jewell so we went up there to take the pictures...there were so many great places for pictures I'm excited to go back and take more!

Cameron....the source of many of her hilarious stories...he is just as ornery as he looks here. :) 

I love that Halle is covering her face  in embarrassment at her brother's antics.

One of my favorites from the day!

Chad played basketball at WJ and Katie was on the dance team...can you see it in this picture? :)

This is in front of Jewell Hall...I'm excited to go back and get some more with the whole building tomorrow!

Halle has the most beautiful dark blue eyes...I feel like you don't see such a dark blue very often.

Snapped this while we were trying to wait out the rain...didn't work out for us, but this pic is adorable!

I love seeing the dynamics of kids relationships with their siblings...probably because I love my own so much!

Well, that is it for now! I have taken some senior pictures and baby pictures recently as well. I'll try to post some of those before too long as well! Hope everyone enjoys their extra long weekend!

I love birthdays...

....almost more when they aren't my own! :) I love celebrating just about anything...holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, the end of school, the beginning of school, random Tuesdays...I just love to celebrate! And this weekend celebrate we will! Rob turned 28 today so we are planning a fun dinner with good friends tonight and then hope to sneak a movie date in there somewhere between all the packing and picture taking on the calendar for the rest of the weekend. There are times I am convinced he married me just for the three year age gap....I will keep him forever younger than he actually is. :) Here are a few pictures from last years "golden" birthday celebration!

We were able to take in a Royals game with Alan and friends.

And then out to a delicious steak dinner that night!



It is crazy to look back and think just a year ago we were enjoying a leisurely weekend at the baseball game and enjoying the start of summer (Robby's first not traveling in years!), while this year we are still in school for another week (thanks, snowmageddon), spending our weekend frantically trying to pack up as much of the house as possible, and anticipating the closing of our first home on Tuesday in Newton, KS!

Here goes nothing...

I have talked about starting a blog for a few months now and have decided today is as good as any to write my first post! Rob and I have a lot of exciting changes coming up with the move and the new house and I figured what better way to track all those changes and keep friends and family updated than with this blog. Also, I have recently taken up photography as a hobby so I thought this would be a great site to share some of the pictures I have taken for friends and family! And because blogs are so much more fun to read when they have pictures on them I have decided to share a few from Betsy's and my graduation this weekend!

Here we are walking down the hill! I'm pretty sure Betsy took five years just so we could do this together when I finished my Masters. I'm pretty sure that is the same reason Callie went for the Masters degree. :)

And then a few family shots after the big walk. My mom had the great idea when I graduated a few years back to do a "graduation tailgate." I can't tell you how many people walked by and commented about what a good idea it was. I'd bet you'll see a lot more graduation tailgates in the upcoming years! You can bet that almost any picture I'm in...my cousin Mitchell took. One of these days I will have to showcase some of his pictures! He is awesome!

My Grandma Bear, me, my Mimi, Momma, and Bets

My cute husband...we have a picture just like this from my undergrad graduation tailgate!

I wish I could say she was wearing heels or standing on a hill...but no...she is just that much taller than me.

I think Dad is pretty happy to have both his girls out of college! :)

Its amazing we used to have bend down for them to kiss us on the cheek...now Bets is on her tippy toes!

Family. :)

The traditional cousin pic! We were missing a few so here is our pick for  Em and Claire (and Ben...hence the minus three.)

She is just as sassy in real life as she looks in this picture.

Bets and her bff/another little sister to me, Callie

This picture cracks me up...it looks like the balloons are carrying us away!

Well, I think that is it. Here's to seeing if I can keep this blog going! :)