Superheros and Families

So I actually have two subjects to post in the this blog. One being about Superhero's and the other about this adorable family I shot (with my camera) on Sunday afternoon.

First, because you just have to see these kids, let's talk about the Smith family. Diamond contacted me last year to do a family shoot for them. Yes and Yes. She contacted me again THIS year to do ANOTHER family shoot. Gosh, I love repeat clients. :) They make my life so happy. And it's always fun to catch up with them. I met the Smith family on the east side of the Capitol. Ok, yes, I have shot here many many many times. So I decided to do a few different things this time. The Visitor Center has great lighting and different angles and the green green grass on both sides of the Capitol are prime for good coloring.
So, further without delay, let me introduce you to ...

Will. (yes, his name is Will Smith) :) And also, how can you resist that face?!?!

or THIS face? I mean, come on. He stole my heart. He held my hand. He called me Miss Jenny. I swooned. :)

and here's William and Diamond Smith, the maker's of these squish-their-face-stinking-adorable-children.

I mean, that smile. Those eyes!! :::sigh:::

Oh! And here's Elizabeth. Another stealer of the heart! I wish I looked that cute when I was baby. (I didn't. I was fat.)

Oh and also, it's really no biggie (ok, yes it is) but the following pictures are of her FIRST STEPS!!! Will she do it?

There she goes!! Standing on her own!

LOOK! LOOK!!

STEPS! HER FIRST ONES!!

How far will she go?

Oh...uh oh...annnnnd....

Back down again. Diamond was thriilllllleeeed to see her daughter's first steps. And I was so happy that I could capture them on my camera for her. It makes me get excited to have my own kids and watch them take their first steps.

The world is now yours, Elizabeth! Go on with yourself and discover it!


(ps. did you notice something new on my pictures? Yeah, it's part of my new branding process. It's my watermark for Jenny B Photography. Hopefully soon my new blog will be up and running and I'll show you the whole logo. It's pretty.)

We took many more pictures after these, but I just wanted to give you a few to look at. We all had a really fun time on the Capitol lawn that afternoon.

Will chased me.

I chased Will.

Will held my hand.

I swooned.

Will gave me a stick.

I swooned.

Elizabeth took her first steps.

I cheered!

Elizabeth plopped back down.

I snapped a picture.

Will gave me the Gospel.

I swooned.

Will told me to pray.

I did and thanked Jesus for letting us have a fun afternoon.

:)

Diamond and William were GREAT sports too in letting me play with their children and swooning after Will. :)

Ok, on to the Superheros part of my post.

Brian is a nerd. No, really he is. I told him that I was gonna post about him being a nerd. His words were, "yeah, but I'm a cool nerd, right?" Uhh...yeah...sure. :) I'm not disrespecting him. He tells me he's a nerd all the time. And now that we are married, I see it so. much. more. But I'm a dork! No, like really, I'm a big. time. dork. Not the smart kind of dork either. I'm the awkward, not really sure what to say in situations so I'll say something totally random and not very well thought out, kind of dork. So together, our poor, poor, children will get mocked ruthlessly in the school yards. Poor kids. Pray for them. Pray for them now.

I'll try to give you a few examples of how big of a nerd Brian is. (sorry, babe, but you know I love this about you anyway!) He loves, and I mean, LOVES superhero's. He also loves math. He also loves having things that are in a row neatly lined up against each other. He also loves science. He's just a nerd...but yes, he is a HOT nerd and he's MY nerd. :) Anyway, like I said he loves Superhero's and get's really excited when he sees something superhero related. He even bought a Superman t-shirt from Old Navy. Cute. :) So when the movie Thor came out, I knew we were going to have to see it. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE superhero movies too. (it's the dork inside me. dorks like those movies too) My personal favorite is Spiderman. So I was also excited to see this movie on Saturday. Which, if I may put in a quick plug...really, really good "family-friendly" movie. No sex. No swearwords (that I can remember). Just good vs. evil.

I don't really know much about Thor. Brian can talk your ear off about Thor and the rest of the Avengers. All I know is that Thor is the god of thunder. That's it.

Anyway, it was a good movie. Go see it.

Sunday morning, I got on facebook and saw my sister-in-law's status about Psalm 18 and God being the ultimate superhero. It peaked my interest since we have seen Thor just the night before and superhero's were on my mind. I didn't look up the passage right away since we were already running late to church (a usual thing I will admit). During the church service in one of the many weak moments of my A.D.D. mind (I SWEAR I was still paying attention), I wondered over the Psalm 18. I read it. I read about God being our shield, about God being our shelter, about God rescuing me from death and my enemies. What a wonderful passage this is! (Thank Sarah for saying something about it!) I'll be honest for minute here. I'm going through a spiritual drought. It's tough. I'm actually reading the book "When I Don't Desire God". It hurts to admit that. But maybe you can pray for me. I'd appreciate it! Reading this passage made me desire to stir my emotions for God. So for my Bible reading I've decided to start in the Psalms and Psalm 18 was a good place to refresh my soul a bit and remind myself that God is my ultimate hero and the one who rescued me even before I realized I needed to be rescued.

Married: Alexis & Coyle

Do you ever sit behind a dating couple in church and wonder when they are going to get engaged? No? Well I do...but maybe that's because I'm too nosey and want to know everyone's dating life. It's exciting to see people whom I know, but not really know, start to date each other. I remember back in the winter, Brian and I showed up late to church (which seems to be a pretty usual thing for us...) and we sat in the far left corner of the church slightly behind the piano. We sat behind this boy named Coyle. There was this girl named Alexis who sings in the church ensemble in the mornings and when they were finished this girl came to sit next to this boy. The next thing I knew, this boy threw his arm around this girl and her head was leaning on his arm. YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! Awesome people getting together to become a couple. love. love. love. I had no idea how long they were dating, but still wondered to myself when they would get married.

Well, I am here to say that on Saturday, May 7, I got to witness this boy and this girl who were sitting next to each other in church that one Sunday get married. What! What!! My good friend, Leslie was the main photographer for this wedding and she asked me to be her assistant. Umm..yes please! I love being a second shooter. You're not as stressed out and can have more flexability and creativity with different angles as the first shooter does their thing. It was fun!!

Saturday morning, I arrived at Leslie's house (despite my massively horrible tooth ache from my root canal 10 days ago) That's. another story. UGH! After some coffee, Leslie and I headed to CHBC to get the getting ready shots. We arrived in the Blue Room...yes, the room is actually blue...like really really very blue...hence the name, the Blue Room. Alexis was bright and ready to take on the day! She was so full of laughter. She enjoyed every minute of her day, as all brides should. She was lovely and charming and there was nothing that seemed to bother her. Such a great bride! The rest of the day was just like that. It was all so easy-going. There was really no rush for anything (except when Leslie and I got lost on the way to the reception..we blame the GPS!) Alexis and Coyle, I hope you guys are enjoying your honeymoon right now! Thanks for letting me tag along with Leslie. And seriously, you two were stinking adorable to photograph!

Ohhhhhhh her DRESS!! I feel like the theme of the wedding was from the 1950's. I just loved her dress!!

oh man, I loved her flowers! They were so simple and the color just made everything pop!

Adorable bride.

Leslie gettin it done.

Seconds before the walk down the aisle. I loved these few minutes the bride has to just get her thoughts together, pray, worship, talk with dad...such sweet times.

After all the vowing, praying, ring-exchanging, and kissing they were pronounced hubby and wifey!

(i know this picture is blurry, but I still think it's kinda cool)

I love this room. I love that at the beginning, the bride has sweet times with her dad who has been the one to care and protect and love her all her life. Then at the end the bride has sweet times with her new husband who will be the one to care and protect and lover her all her life.

and love her well, he will.

and make her smile and laugh, he will.

After the family pictures were over, we all head to the Library of Congress.

And I just loved the lighting in this hallway. it was perfect. and they made that hallway

sparkle even more.

and then we got the whole bridal party in there.

Alexis, STOP BEING SO DANG GORGEOUS!!

oh her flowers. Did I mention I loved her flowers?

I purposefully saved the best for last...HER SHOES!!!!!!! Leslie and I gushed and gushed over her shoes. Gah!! Love love love love love looooooovvveeeee.... I lust over shoes.

Ok, that was the LAST...I had to leave you with a few more pictures of this boy and girl who got married and couldn't stop smiling or keep their hands off each other. They were too sweet. :)