A Year For the Books, Fall Family Sessions, and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I cannot believe that tonight we will head into the year 2016.  I have so much to be thankful for as I reflect upon what a year it has been.  2015 was a year for the books!  A BIG thank you to everyone who made this year extra amazing!  Here are my top ten highlights of 2015 (in chronological order):

 

  • Brandon and I bought our first house and we are finally feeling a little more settled in, have finally hung some things on the walls, and are continuing to work on never-ending house projects.  We are slowly but surely turning this house into a home.  I'm lucky that my hubby is handy!
  • Finally got the brother I have always wanted.  My sister got married on June 20, 2015 and now I am so happy to say that after 25 years of life I now have a brother (well two now, but I'll get to that) and a pretty cool one at that!  Congrats to KK & Cam!!
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  • On July 11, 2015 I married my best friend.  We had a beautiful, small backyard wedding at my parent's house and it was perfect in every way.  Thank you to my friend Sharon Arnoldi for capturing such a special day!  I also gained another brother and sister (love you Jeff and Katie!) and two loving parents (Mitzie & Lou!).  A big thank you to my mom and dad for such an amazing wedding, letting us use your house as our incredible venue, and for all your love and support!
  • Honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico!  We stayed at an AMAZING resort where we had our own pool on our private "roof-top terrace" and divulged in fresh-made "Coco-Locos" on the beach everyday.
  • Emily Ann Photography grew immensely ... thank you to ALL of my amazing clients old and new.  Thank you to those who continually give my name out to friends ... I wouldn't be where I am today without YOU!  I am so lucky that I have clients who do all of my marketing and advertising for me.  And a BIG thank you to those who trusted me for the first time to capture your special moments whether it was an engagement, a wedding, a new born bundle of joy, or your family.  I am truly blessed!
  • Traveled to Ft. Lauderdale with Brandon, my brother and sister in law, and great friends where we spent time swimming in the ocean, walking on the beach, and enjoying the immense hospitality of a church that hosted a HIFR show.  That little yellow book has been a blessing in so many ways, and it was so much fun getting to see Brandon travel and play at this show.
  • Brandon and I welcomed our new fur-baby into our hearts.  If you haven't met Remington yet, here you go!  To see more pictures of this cute pup, click here.
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Wishing you all the best, good health, and an abundance of happiness in 2016!

Punta Mita, Mexico - Spring 2014

Let me start by saying how thankful I am to the O'Donnell family ... I am so blessed by everything you do for me already, and getting to go to Mexico with you guys was absolutely incredible! I was so, so blessed to get to travel to Punta Mita (a BEAUTIFUL little town just north of Puerta Vallarta) with the family that I babysit for.  I've been watching these kiddos for just about 8 years, and getting to spend the week with them on the beach was such a treat!  The six of us along with two other families spent the week swimming, surfing, exploring, building sandmen (yes, the movie Frozen was our inspiration, and lots of singing, "...do you want to build a snowman..." was involved), and soaking up the warm sun!  We couldn't have asked for better weather or for a better trip!  Everything about it was perfect including the nights that I got to spend watching Disney movies with six adorable kids!

 

Here is me with the girls ... now that is the LIFE!

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It was only natural that I would become the photographer for the week, and upon returning, I realized that I may have taken TOO many pictures, if that is even possible!  I tried to be "choosy" for this blog post, but it was hard to decide what to include so bear with me! Here we are traveling to Punta Mita!  We had to get up at 5 a.m. on the morning we left, but boy, were we excited and anxious to get there!  I sat with Emmy and Cece on the plane ride there ... we passed the time by coloring, playing games on the iPad, and reading stories

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Our first day there was spent by swimming in our villa's pool followed by meeting the other two families for dinner on the water!

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We spent a lot of time on the beach and swimming in the pool!

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One day we went to the town of Sayulita where we went surfing, ate the best fish tacos, and went shopping on the streets

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We spent many evenings watching the sunset on the beach ... can you spot the whale in a  few these?

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Just another day on the beach!  (These are some of my absolute favorite pictures!)

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This is how I spent my nights when I was babysitting while there ... CUTE!

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Our last full day there, Anna took me exploring in the tide pools ... we collected snails and hermit crabs, but we set them free a little while later!  Brady, Emily, and Cece joined us :)

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And we had a LOT of fun with my under water camera!

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Of course we took some good ol' family portraits while there too!

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This girl didn't put a book down the entire trip except to go surfing :) She even read by candle light or by the light of a friend's iPad during dinners!

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And FINALLY ... my absolute FAVORITE picture of the ENTIRE trip!

Drum roll please...

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Mountain Adventures! Vail & Beaver Creek from September

It's about time that I got around to blogging some of my fun adventures I've had in the past few months.  I know that I should really blog about these things when they happen, but it is just so hard to find the time to blog when I am so busy with everything that I do ... grad school, photography, work, etc. ... so now that I finally have a break I am happy to be getting around to the posts that aren't work related. So, near the end of September (yes, I know that was three months ago) Brandon and I headed up to Beaver Creek to stay for a fun get-away weekend.  I wanted to take pictures of the changing leaves, and just spend some time taking photos for myself, and landscapes are the way that I do that.  Although I wish we would have waited a week or two until more of the leaves had changed, I was happy with the photos that I got, and it was such a fun weekend filled with lots of hiking, laughing, picture taking, and gondola-riding :)  This was also the first time that we got to see snow for the new season, which is always my favorite!

 

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Stay tuned ... up next are photos from my fun Holiday Mini Sessions followed by my awesome trip to San Francisco and Fresno to celebrate Brandon's grandparent's 65th anniversary!

Adventure Series #1: Bulgaria

After going on a lot, and a lot, and lot of adventures in this wonderful life of mine, I realize that I am not the best at blogging about them.  Sure, I occasionally posted raw, unedited images from these adventures right after I got back from them or maybe blogged about them a long time ago, but most of you have probably never seen what came of them.  Some of these adventures, especially if they are from over-seas, were never shown on my blog after I edited them.  So I've decided to make a series of blog posts in honor of my adventures.  These blog posts may be from Africa or Europe or Mexico or might even be up the road in the Rocky Mountains or possibly even from my backyard.  Wherever they, near or far, they all tell a little story about myself and remind me of the great times I've gotten to spend exploring this incredibly world that we live in through the lens of my camera.  All these little adventures have a special place in my heart, and that is why I am going to share them with you! First up is a little country that goes by the name of Bulgaria.  Have you ever been there?  I chose to start off my Adventure Series with this beautiful country because it is one of my all time favorite places I have ever been in the entire world.  It's a place filled with beautiful landscapes, wonderful people, loving children, and lots and lots of sunflowers.  I hope you enjoy!

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I also couldn't resist posting a few photos of me while I was there.  I spent my time in Bulgaria tasting fresh honey, going on a jeep safari, playing with the beautiful, fun kiddos at the orphanage, and let's not forget, taking a MUD BATH!  Oh how I wish I could go back!

 

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