Rah Rah Rah!!

My stepdaughter Lindsey is in competetive cheer for Shelby High School and since pictures are sooo expensive through the school, I offered to take her photos...they'd be way cooler anyway!! So we took a little drive around the block and had a bit of fun along the way...enjoy!

Cousins and leaves...a cute combo!

My sister and her two children recently spent the night at our house and the next morning the cousins went out to play in the leaves that had fallen from our giant maple. There is nothing better than seeing children play in the leaves! I can remember as a child making huge piles of leaves, running and jumping in them...loving the smell and the sound....mmmmm, fun!!!! I also love that my sis lives close enough that our children can grow up together, there's nothing better!

Kathy and Jason

Last month I had the pleasure of photographing Kathy and Jason's wedding at the Mona Lake Yacht Club..what a beautiful place!!! We took photos before the wedding at Kruse Park, and if you've never been there, it is an awesome place for pictures. Here's just a few..

Steppin' through the sunflowers..

A little over the month ago I had a photo shoot with my husband's cousin's children. They are so much fun!!! The youngest, Ella, wasn't too sure about having her picture taken at first..she was watching my every move and hiding from me, but by the time we were just about to wrap things up, then she warmed up and "allowed" me to capture her beauty.

We really had stunning night as far as lighting goes and it was a blast photographing these kiddos...can't wait to do it again!

Who has the cutest boys on the planet??!!

Absolutely adorable...that's my little men, super cuties!! Yes, I'm partial, but hey! Can you blame me??!! Here are some candids I just dug up..enjoy!

This is one of the funniest photos of Aiden...a face only a mother could love....I love how those darn swim goggles distort his eyes like that...and holy smokes, that dirty face!!!

This is Aiden at the Oceana County Fair...Piggy, in his arms, was dirtier than the fair pigs.

I love close-ups of these guys...handsome!!!

JJ showing that rootbeer rocks!

Football Frenzy...

I had a great time photographing the VanderLeest brothers and their sister Michelle at the Montague football field about a month ago...Mark and Brandon play Pee-Wee football for Montague and Michelle is a cheerleading coach. What a great family....we had a great time!

Art Prize

My mom and I went to downtown Grand Rapids today to experience Art Prize before it
officially opens and how incredible!!

So many different ways of expressing artistic views and so much time taken in each exhibit...we
were "oohing" and "aahing" around every turn!

From Loch Ness in the Grand River to a huge table and chairs over a pedestrian bridge, it was soo much fun to just wander and wonder...don't miss it!!!

I love dandelion puffs and this one was about 5ft tall and was showcased in a storefront window.

This silicone doll was made by an artist from Whitehall...

My laptop archeological dig....

Like many of us, I have literally THOUSANDS of photos sitting on my laptop. You would think I would've learned my lesson the first time in leaving photos there...when my last laptop crashed it took all the photos with it! I spent a little time this afternoon paging through them and found a few from this past summer...enjoy!

This was a triathlete at Interlochen earlier this summer..

This little man was battling cancer..I thought the saying on the door was fitting to him.

Taken out in Scholl's field when my son and I were picking strawberries..


And my two little men and their favorite pasttime at Shupac Lake in Northern Lower Michigan.

More from Don and Jessica's wedding...

These are some candids from Don and Jessica's wedding..

I think Jessica is absolutely stunning in this photo...

The bridesmaids had a ball with Don!

They chose to have cupcakes for their guests, but this was their cake to cut....very pretty!

More Mergener Photos...

I was sooo nervous to look at these photos because it was my very first wedding. I put it off for a few days because I was doubting myself and hopeful that I did get the shots requested.

I am really happy with my first wedding shots, as I hope that the newlyweds will be when I meet with them this week.

I love wedding pics in black and white...I think they really make the

photo content stand out more.

As I said before, Don and Jessica share something very special and I wish them all the best...

Inspite of the crazy weather, it was beautiful...

Blowing sand, 7-foot waves, and drizzling rain didn't stop Jessica and Don Mergener from getting married on the Grand Haven City Beach August 22nd. And if anyone remembers that day, it wasn't the warmest! But the wedding party were troopers and Jessica was absolutely beautiful!! Don might look tough on the outside, but he has a heart as big as you've ever seen and he certainly loves his new bride, Jessica. It was truly an honor to witness two great people that are so in love bringing their two families together, and the incredible friendship with everyone in the wedding party was really wonderful. These are just a few photos of their day...I will upload more soon...thank you to Jessica and Don for letting me capture the wedded bliss!

What's the chance??

A little over a year ago, our beloved cat Smokey didn't come home after his usual nightly ritual of being out. He used to meow at our bedroom window at about 6am to be let in, then sleep all day. After a few weeks of being hopeful, we came to the fact that he wasn't coming home.

Yesterday, my stepdaughter called from her grandmother's house about six miles away and said that there was a cat sleeping on her grandmother's porch and she swears it's our long, lost cat Smokey! I brought an old photo with me and......I swear it's our kitty (although my husband has his doubts)!!! He's much skinnier, but he has the same mannerisms as good ol' Smokey did. Once we get his fleas off and get him neutured, he's coming inside! God works in mysterious ways!!!