Music Monday (take 2) - Owl City

So almost immediately after posting my last post, I stumbled upon "The Christmas Song" by Owl City (best known at the moment for their super fun song Fireflies) and i HAD to add it to my blog....this is an extremely cute song, i love the lyrics, and the fun music, and pretty much everything about it...and i love playlist.com for allowing me to find and listen to entire songs just like this very one!

Favorite line....
"i believe that Jesus is truly the one way, and I celebrate Christmas because it's His birthday"


yup, that pretty much sums it up...

Love it )

Music Monday - Lenka

I had a heck of a time deciding what to post for today...but in the end I decided that sticking with a Christmas song was probably the best choice....but I had a lot of those to choose from too!!  Anyways, I ended up choosing "ALL MY BELLS ARE RINGING" by Lenka, mostly because it's been stuck in my head the past few days, and even my daughters have been singing along with it!  It's a fun christmas song, well the beat to it at least, and I think that Lenka's voice is super cute too (if a voice can be cute?)

Anyways, my favorite part is , "take my heart this Christmas, I'll wrap it in a ribbon and a bow..."  


I mean isn't that really the best gift we can give to anyone... ourselves and our love =)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday and are blessed to share it with friends and family!!
I am hoping to be able to post some pictures of my own family on here in the near future...so stay tuned =)

Merry Christmas!

Music Monday - Sufjan Stevens

So I have  been listening to Sufjan Stevens a lot lately (pronounced soof -yahn).  I had heard about him lots of times, but just never checked out his stuff for some reason.  In fact, the first reference I ever heard about him was in a Snow Patrol song, come to think of it..."put sufjan stevens on, and we'll play our favorite song. 'chicago' bursts to life, and your sweet smile remembers you." Those are the lyrics from their song, "HANDS OPEN" (which is also a really good song by the way).

In any event - he is a pretty interesting guy, with some very thoughtful lyrics and sounds.  Recently  I created a "station" on pandora based on Sufjan's Christmas CD's... it is a really really good station =)  That is where I heard the song posted for this week, "come thou fount of every blessing..." This has always been one of my favorite hymns, and he sings it just pretty perfectly!  My favorite line is, "here's my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."


I love that Stevens is a christian, but not super in your face about it...a lot of his songs have some sort of "message", but it might take a few listens to finally realize what that is.  I remember one night I was driving home from work late and listening to his song, "To Be Alone with You." and it finally hit me (after i had listened to it at least 15 times up until that point) that "oh, duh, this song is about Jesus"  It is a pretty interesting look at the life of Jesus and finally his crucifixion.  It is a super good song =)

Anyways, check him out if you are interested in some interesting music...he will not disappoint.  And, if you are in the christmas spirit, his Christmas albums are excellent.  Enjoy the song, enjoy the season, and remember why we celebrate it.

Blessings friends =)

Boys, Babies, Boxes, and Bellies =)

So I have been busy as a "B" this past week (get it...get it...all the b's...haha) Anyways... I thought I would feature some of my favorites images from the past few days....Enjoy!!!

Have a blessed week everyone =)

Music Mondays make a come back =)

Anyone who knows me knows that I REALLY REaLLY love music....all kinds of music...I always have. On my old blog, I used to have a post every monday entitled, Music Mondays where I would feature an artist and a few of their songs and a little bit about the artist and lyrics, and etc....  So, now that I have this blog, I am bringing it back.

It will take a slightly different format. I will feature ONE song on music mondays which will be played through my "player" at the bottom for the week...previous songs will remain on the playlist for the month...then I will get a new one.

Today (since I didn't have my blog up and running last week) I am featuring 2 songs.  The one you have already heard playing if you looked at it at all the past few days, and that is Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson.  It is one of those songs that I don't know how I have never heard before, since I really really like both of those artists (especially Ingrid), but in any event...I found it last week, fell in love with it, and like most songs I fall in love with... I listened to it an absurd amount of times...and pretty much liked it more each time I listened to it.

I love the piano (I always love pianos) their beautiful voices, and the lyrics are wonderful...kinda sad, but hopeful at the same time =)  It is perfect for this time of year.  My favorite part (beside the piano and the "bum bum bum's) is the line where they say,
 "my love a beacon in the night, my words will be your light, to carry you to me."

For this week I am featuring the song "The Luckiest' by Ben Folds.   I have never even really listened to Ben Folds...in fact it was only recently I realized that he was the the same guy from Ben Folds Five (I liked their song BRICK, back in the day). In any event...this song was on our computer...I have no idea how it got there, because I know I didn't download it, and I know my husband wouldn't download it...so however it got there, I am super grateful =)  It is another piano song (go figure) and the lyrics are some of the most adorable I have ever heard...i love them all!  It is a toss up for what are my favorite lines of the song....either...

 "and where was I before the day that i first saw your lovely face...now I see it, everyday and I know, that I am, I am, I am the luckiest."
OR
"I love you more than I have, ever found a way to say to you..."

Whoever was the recipient of this song, or whoever it was based on is pretty lucky in my book! 

I hope you enjoy both of the songs....HaPPy listening!!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

On Saturday we enjoyed our first snowfall of the year, and I was excited!!!  First because I actually do like snow if it's not too much and hazardous....and second because I knew I had 2 photo shoots that I was doing that day...and I have been looking forward to taking some pictures in the snow this year!!  First up was a last minute photo shoot that I did for my great friend/coworker Jen and her husband Ryan. We had our work "holiday brunch" that was held at the convention center in downtown Lanc (which is pretty amazing by the way!) that morning, so we just stepped out to the square to snap a few pics afterwards.  The snow had just started then, so it wasn't laying yet, but if you look closely in some of them you can see it swirling about! Here are some of my favorites....

Every year my husband's family has a christmas party at Pheasant Run B & B...if you have ever been there you know their property is amazing anytime of year, but I was blown away when I saw how spectacular it looked yesterday with all the fresh snow that had yet to be touched or disturbed....isn't that when snow is the best, when it is all perfect and white and covers everything like a soft blanket....=)  Anyways, about a week or so ago my brother -in -law's girlfriend and good friend of mine, Kirsten, asked if I would snap a few pictures of them before the party since we were going to be there anyways that night...of course I said yes...Kirsten has blessed me over and over again with helping to watch my two little ladies...so I felt like this was the least I could do =)  The snow was really coming down pretty hard by then, and they were super troopers for putting up with the cold weather without coats...lemme tell ya!  But, in the end, it was definitely worth it...I love the images I was able to capture, and Kirsten just looked beautiful with her green sweater and wonderful red hair...it's the first thing you notice in the pictures, gauranteed (that and the beautiful snow!)  I actually LOVED photographing in the snow...the lighting just works out so perfect...and what an amazing backdrop =)  I hope you enjoy them!

**and for the record, NO, these are not engagement pictures...just wanted to clarify that =) ***

Blogs are the new websites...at least for us it is!!!

Last year I spent a great deal of  time creating a webpage through iLife on our iMac...it actually was a fairy simple procedure...but time consuming nonetheless.  I also have to pay a yearly fee for the site and domain name...and not that it is super expensive...but, I am feeling that it might not be quite necessary.  With free things like facebook and blogs, I think I should be able to "display" our work without the need for a website...which never is up to date anyways!  So, for now, this blog will become our "main website" I guess you could say??  I used to have a blog on our website we still currently have...and enjoyed having one...but it became too much of a hassle to publish it, because it always had to go through all the other photos/info/ etc...so I got rid of it (plus...I don't have much time for blogging these days anyways...but it would be nice to have one should I feel "inspired" to write something meaningful =))  I don't know if I will create a separate 'personal' blog...or just post on here....I go back and forth!  And yes, friends, I do tend to ramble when I write....should you come back to visit this site in the future...you will get used to it...I think...I HOPE =)  In any event...I am hoping this will be a good switch for us and that everyone out there in blog land will think so too!  Have a blessed day....

Camryn May - 6 Month old Sweetie!!

I had the pleasure of photographing little Camryn May a few days ago. Today is actually her 6 month birthday!  I knew her mommy while I attended Messiah College for a few years, we were both elementary ed majors.  Sometimes when I take pictures, especially of little ones, I am just hoping and praying there are some "keepers" in the bunch...since you never know what you will get with kiddos!  However, I knew that with Camryn there would be a LOT of keepers...she probably wins the award for best behaved baby while getting photographed...and I am just thrilled with how some of the pictures came out!  You can enjoy some of my favorites below!