Lovely love.

After Samantha + Mike's engagement last year they never had pictures taken, so Sam's sister Jenny (a.k.a. world's best matron of honor) wanted to surprise the bride-to-be (and her beau of course) with a session just a few weeks before the wedding. When Jenny asked me, it took me all of two seconds to answer. Hmmm, let's see...adorable couple...in love...beautiful weather...no brainer.

After the engagement shots were taken, Sam asked if I could get some images the morning of the wedding while all the girls were getting ready.

Again: no brainer.

Talk about a stunning bride!!

Makes me almost want to plan a wedding again (just kidding, Dad.)

She's alive! She's real! And she's fabulous!

This week I finally got to meet her! And by her, I mean my name sister Susan Patton. In my head I call her Florida Susan Patton, but I don't think she goes by that herself. Nearly everyone in my network of friends and family knew about our lunch date. Phone calls were coming in, "Is today the day?" and "Are you so excited?" were some of the questions I fielded the morning of our lunch date. You'd think I was meeting my mail order groom or Oprah by the way everyone was acting. Heck, you'd think that by the way I was acting. 'What am I wearing? Why can't I find my eyeliner? Oh man, I need to iron something.' were the pressing thoughts in my head. After all, I was meeting Florida Susan Patton for the first time. Even though we'd been emailing back and forth for months, we'd never had the opportunity to meet in person. (For anyone who would like a refresher on how our lives first intersected, read here.) Thanks to her western Pa roots + her extensive network of friends and family in this area {God bless each and every one of you, by the way} I got my chance!

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Okay, so let me tell you about her because there's a lot to like.

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She's the perfect mix of friendly/reserved, she's curious and sensitive, she's generous with her time and her talents, she likes to laugh, she's open to whatever you ask, she's smart and thoughtful, she's had just the right amount of life experience to make her interesting but not jaded, she loves her family and her friends, she's addicted --correction-- thoroughly enjoys all things photography-related, and she's really good at staying within two pounds of her goal weight.

You know what else I learned about her?

She likes to paint trim. And she's here until next week.

{Insert obnoxious fist pumps and a woohoo!}

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What's not to like about Florida Susan Patton?

Who knew?

My photography adventures have been picking up lately, which is great for me! But with more photography gigs comes more time away from home + more time on the computer when I am home. This would be fine except that it's cutting into my day job. My employers are getting impatient and a bit restless. Translation: My children have had a little too much down time lately. Above is one of several creative time-fillers my 4-year-old has recently come up with. Who knew that 220 kleenex could fit into a small beach bucket? I had honestly never thought of that. And now I know. You know what else I know? I need to cut back on my photography adventures!

Get your silly on.

I love being silly. I always have. And now that I'm a mom and an aunt, I have a good excuse to get my silly on. A lot. Yesterday, we spent a good chunk of time jumping in the yard. Why, you ask? Answer: Why not? Pictured above are my Boyd nephew and nieces. They are always up for being silly with me and I love them for that.

Today's silly: "Turn Your Fingers Into Small People Day".

Why not celebrate with us?

3 July 2010.

In honor of July 4th, as well as Papa's 92nd birthday on July 7th, my mom, sister, and I (and kids too) headed west to Ohio today to make sure Papa had a flag on his grave. Papa was a veteran of WWII and love, love, loved the American flag. Every morning, rain or shine, he hiked outside to hang Old Glory and salute it (or 'throw it a high ball' as he used to say). And every night, he'd head back out to lower it down again.

We stopped along the way to enjoy a picnic lunch. Papa and Bukky (she hated this nickname btw) loved picnic lunches and we imagined them smiling down on us today.

We gave thanks for all that is good...and even not so good in our lives.

And then we got to see where Papa is 'planted', as Sam says.



After this, we spent some time geocaching. Anyone ever heard of this? If not, read here.(nutshell: treasure hunting with a GPS). My sister and her kids have started doing this and they just love it. Betsy was able to find the coordinates for a geocache that was hidden in the same little cemetary where Papa is.

Once we found the container, we pulled out the treasure and the list of people who have found and replaced it with other treasures before us. This particular site had visitors starting back in 2006 and has had regular visitors since.

We replaced the treasure with a shell from Jekyll Island, GA, where Papa and Bukky spent many winters. Short of shoving an American flag into the tiny container, I can't think of a more perfect replacement for his site :)

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Hope your 4th is full of treasures of your own :)