What can I say?!?!?  Yesterday Sonya, John and I went out to capture their engagement photos.  We lucked out, to say the least, and were blessed with gorgeous frosty trees, mild temperatures, and a bright sunny day.  We had such a fun time, I just can't wait to photograph this gorgeous couple on their wedding day!

In case you missed it, the slideshow is here.

Thanks to all the early birds out there that have booked me, and to those of you who even considered booking me.  I'm so sorry I can't take you all, but I try to keep my wedding numbers down to ensure my clients the best possible photographer I can be!  Nobody wants me showing up tired for their wedding day!  

I still have lots of room for grad, maternity, and family portraits, just send an email my way!

Thanks again, I can't wait to start sharing these 2010 weddings with you all.  

So, finally, here's a few pics from my Spring session with Jordana:

With that, I have a little announcement.  There will be more changes coming in the future, but for now, just this;  I will no longer be doing children's and newborn sessions.  It's not that I don't love a challenge, or equally love the feeling when the photos turn out great despite the struggles to get to the end result, it's just that I want to make more room for the things I really love.  I will still be doing family sessions, including family sessions with your newborns, during which I always capture a few individual shots of your children, I just won't be doing individual children or newborn sessions.  

The sessions I will be focusing on now are:

Family

Graduation

Maternity

Engagement

Wedding

Back to School

and any type of "Just for Fun" session with anyone over the age of ten.

I'm excited to take on 2010 with new energy and excitement!  Please contact me for pricing.

And, since a post is boring without a picture, here's a tiny sneak peak from my trip:

This super cute little girl shared her chips with me!

Our cabina on Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

I am the proud owner of three sisters.  Yup, one of four girls in my family, and no brothers (my poor father!).  Growing up my two older sisters were my hero's, but not exactly my friends.  They were my baby sitters, my role models, and sometimes my enemy, but as a kid I wouldn't say we were close.  Of course as we grew older that all changed and now I am blessed with not only three sisters, but three great friends.  My relationship with my sister Kendra changed when I entered highschool and she was in grade 12.  Suddenly I wasn't just her twerpy little sister, but somehow became someone she respected.  She recruited me to work on the yearbook that year, as she was the editor.  I partially credit that yearbook work to the beginning of my passion for photography.  When she moved out after highschool I spent many weekends visiting her in her Winnipeg apartment, exploring the "big city".  When I finished highschool and didn't know what to do with my life, I moved to Halifax to live with her for a year while she went to college.  We spent Christmas that year just the two of us and our two foot Christmas tree.  When I started spending my summers in Sioux Narrows, she came to visit often to spend time with me at the lake.  I spent 6 weeks in South America in 2005 and she met me in Costa Rica at the end of my trip for a week of what we called "the beach bum tour".  She moved to Toronto and I went to visit her and get a taste of real city life.  We rode the subway and she made me try sushi.  I bought a house in Winkler and she moved in so I could afford my mortgage when I went to school.  Our lives have been constantly affected by one another in so many wonderful ways.  We fight like sisters, and we love like best friends.  

These days our lives lead us in opposite directions more often than not.  Real life gets in the way, work is busy, we are constantly making plans and rescheduling them.  I miss her constantly (as I miss my other sisters as well).  We connected one gorgeous day in October for a just for fun photo session.  It was so great to just hang out, not talk about all of our problems and our busy lives, but just have fun.  We drove around in the country for a couple of hours exploring the gravel roads, seeing where they would take us.  We had such a great time we were almost late for our date with two of our favorite men, our Dad and our nephew Tristan and an evening of trick-or-treating!

Here's what we ended up with...

Life in between the milestones is 95% of the journey.  

At the end of November I photographed Terri and Walter's wedding.  It was a gorgeous day... for November.  They toughed out the chilly weather like the troopers they are, and we got some beautiful images to show for it.  

Terri and Walter may be young, but they've been together long enough to truly, truly know one another.  I believe 100% that they are going to make it, from one milestone to the next and through everything in between.  

For a HUGE slideshow of their day (I just couldn't narrow it down, I love so many of these images!) click here!  A few images in the slideshow are taken by Marcy Penner, who assisted me for the day.  

Marcy found this great location for us to take photos of Terri's dress.  Love it!

Terri and Walter chose to do photos before the ceremony, which I love! When couples choose to do this, we make sure to have a special moment, just the two of them (and my camera) when they see each other for the first time.  It's usually pretty emotional, and I love it!  These images speak to how in love Terri and Walter are...

the girls came dressed for the weather, in leg warmers and tights!  So cute!

The following image is in my top 10 for sure...

If I had to pick a favorite, this one below might be it.  Or the one above.  Or the one below the one below.  Well... who says I have to pick?!!!

For more photos of Walter & Terri, view the slideshow here. 

Speaking of friendships, while in Saskatoon, I had the opportunity to do an engagement session with Mandy and Dean.  Mandy is a good friend of my sister Krista, and has been for as long as I can remember.  I remember back in the days of jean jackets, side ponytails, neon, and ripped acid wash jeans, how badly I wanted to be just like them!  Mandy is just as gorgeous now as she was then, minus the feathered bangs!  

Dean and Mandy are getting married in Saskatoon in June.  Oh how I wish I could capture their day!  Turns out I've been nearly booked up for 2010 weddings since last July, so I had to settle for doing their engagement session instead.  

Here's the gorgeous couple, and a few more in a short slideshow.  Thanks guys for braving the cold and coming out with me on this gorgeous winter morning!  

again, for the slideshow click here!

I know Chris from grade 12 at MCI, many years ago!  We stayed in touch for a few years after high school, and then lost track of each other.  I ran into him at the mall last spring, just out of the blue.  He was shopping for a gift for his wife, Katrina, who had gone somewhere warm and fabulous for a wedding shower or something.  Yes, you heard right, she was away in Palm Springs or somewhere equally fantastic (I can't remember) and he was shopping for a gift for her return.  Um... I wish!  We got to talking and ended up arranging maternity photos, as they were expecting their first child.  

I had so much fun getting to know Katrina and reconnecting with Chris.  Their little one Asher has since been born early in December, and I hope to get to meet him some day!

p.s Chris tells me this cute blue fence has been replaced since our shoot.  I'm so glad I got to photograph here, i think it's just lovely!

The days since, however, have been much more Merry!  My family has started a tradition of donating to a charity each year rather than exchanging gifts amongst the adults.  This year was my turn to choose the charity, and with the help of my brother in law we were able to arrange a gift drop for a local family.  Dwayne and I dropped the gifts off Christmas Eve before heading to our Christmas Eve gathering.   We quickly dropped off the gifts, not wanting to overstay our welcome or stand there expecting an overabundance of gratitude.  They were grateful and we were happy to help.  We had forgotten the turkey, however, and had to run home and return with it.  I quickly jumped out of the car and rang the bell.  The mother of the family came to the door, and I handed her the turkey.  Before I could run off, she looked me hard in the eye, and I could have crumbled right there on her doorstep.  She thanked me again, and I told her your welcome and ran off before I broke down.   

I'm not sure what I initially expected to feel, but I suppose I thought I would feel happy to help.  Instead, I was sad I couldn't do more.   However, when she looked at me like that, and thanked me with her eyes, I knew we had helped, and that was enough.  

I am so thankful for every blessing I have had this year.  I have been very busy with my business, and when I have needed a break I have been welcomed back to my previous part time job with open arms.  Dwayne has also been busier than ever.  We have our health, and are in the midst of building a new home.  We are also looking forward to a 3 week vacation in February.  We are so fortunate, and I'm just glad we could share that with someone.  

On to todays photos!!!  Newborn photo shoots are always so amazing.  Twila and Kris welcomed Ryder into this world in November.  He is nothing short of perfect!  They will make such wonderful parents, I can tell by the way they love him so much already!  

That's how Chris looks at Tania, like he can't figure out how he got so lucky, like she's the only woman in the world and she just so happens to have chosen him.  Every woman deserves a man that looks at her like that.  Even better... she looks at him that way too!

Here's a peek at Chris and Tania's gorgeous wedding day.  She was an absolutely stunning bride!  Their slideshow is here.

I am absolutely in LOVE with the following image:

My friend Anna Borys came along to second shoot for me again, and I'm also in love with this image she captured.  I love how it accepted my yellow tone as if it were meant to be!  

I love having a second shooter with me.  It allows for more variety in the final images.  While I was shooting a couple quick photos of Chris...

Anna grabbed this enchanting image of Tania...

For the slideshow of Tania and Chris, click here.

The class snickered and I felt extremely guilty!  I did what?!?!  I kicked her knee?  I always felt like the imperfect cousin as it was, and now I kicked her knee.... I would never live it down!  To this day, we laugh about this from time to time.   I loved having a cousin my age right in the same small town.  There was a familiar face the first day of kindergarten, and again in grade one when we all got shuffled around.  I had someone to play with at Grandma's house, and someone to have over for sleep overs.  We conspired over ways to earn money to buy slurpees at Wendy's (the local movie/ice cream/slurpee store), selling pussy willows, drawings, and even photos (out of our own family photo albums) from door to door.  

A cousin is a special gift.  I have many cousins, and I cherish them all.  This leads me to my photos. Here are two separate photo shoots, one with my niece Tessa to mark her first birthday, and one with my niece Kenley to mark 20 months (or in this case my visit to Saskatoon for her dedication at church).  These two girls are 8 months and a province apart, but I have a feeling they will bond just like Kelly and I.  They will whisper in the corner at Nanna's house about how to ambush their older siblings/cousins, they will have sleep overs and play dolls and get into all sorts of fun and trouble.  I look forward to watching them grow up and become two peas in a pod, the two muskateers, partners in crime!