Hayden, Ben, and I all had birthdays recently so we were able to celebrate for several weeks in a row. The best part was that I only had to make one giant cupcake. Hayden loved lighting the candles and singing Happy Birthday repeatedly, but he isn't a fan of getting messy so no cake smashing for him. When it was Ben's turn, he happily sqished icing in his hands before dumping the whole thing onto the ground and diving in.

As usual, they wouldn't cooperate for photos together. Maybe next year...













This next photograph shows my first attempt at a tent (and was obviously taken before we mowed the yard).

Congratulations to Sara and Dan on their beautiful, little girl who finally made her appearance yesterday after 39 hours of labor! Unfortunately, I don't know when I'll get to meet her since they live about 4,500 miles away in Sweden, but here are a few photographs that I took of little Emelie Madelaine while she was still inside her gorgeous momma's belly last month.

We're having a mini baby boom in my family where both of my sisters and my sister-in-law were pregnant at the same time as me. My older sister lives out of town but happened to be visiting Knoxville when she went into labor and gave birth less than half an hour after arriving at the hospital. Little Landon weighed 8lb 5oz and was only a few hours old when I took these photographs at the hospital.

I know that some people have been wondering where I've been lately, and I apologize for being MIA. For those of you who don't already know, Marcus and I are expecting another little boy this fall!

While I did photograph some weddings when pregnant with Hayden, it wasn't easy. This time I decided that I would only photograph a limited number of portrait sessions during the pregnancy. That means that there is less to put on my blog but more time to spend with my growing toddler and getting ready for baby number two.

It seems that I picked a very good time to be pregnant as several of my friends and former clients are also expecting. I'm so excited to meet the babies, and I should have some very cute newborns to share in the coming months. For now, here is a photograph from Lisa's mini maternity session. She's expecting a boy and a girl. Twins!

It's been cold lately, but it somehow doesn't really feel like it should be Christmas yet. Today I was going through some old photos on the computer and ran into a few from six years ago when Marcus and I were in Sweden for Christmas. Even though are resized jpg and not high quality, there's something about sub-zero temps, snow, and ice that really puts me in mood for the holidays so I thought I'd share a few of the photos anyway.

Swedes have a tendency to call every big, old house a slott (which translates to castle), but sometimes you find some really cool ones.


Sunsets and snow just make everything more beautiful.




It was freezing cold, but we stopped on the side of the road to get a shot of the Northern Lights.



... and then there's the ice hotel. This is a photo of us in the ice chapel and then a photo taken from outside the chapel door. The pews are made of ice covered with reindeer hides, and they do perform weddings there.





Brrr!!! I doubt you find many brides wearing strapless dresses there.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and stay warm!