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Andrea and Steve: E-session

Are you sitting?  Because you'll need to be when you see how cute these pictures are.  This is a sneak peek of Andrea and Steve's engagement session which took place on her family's property in New Wilmington, PA.  When asked how they met, Andrea says that she and Steve were set up by mutual friends.  Steve was looking for a nice girl and Andrea was looking for a nice guy.  Matchmakers Todd and Corrin, made the connection in August 2010 and these two have been smitten ever since.  Andrea says she and Steve are a "go on a walk/out to eat/see a movie/hang out at home/lay in the hammock/ride bikes/visit friends/sit by the fire (although not all at once)" type of couple.  I'd like to add that they are highly competitive when it comes to Scrabble too.  As a final note about these two, when Steve proposed, he gave Andrea a twist-tie ring (she had once said she'd marry him for one) but then quickly exchanged it for the real deal.  Ummm...can we say cute?  Congratulations to Steve and Andrea!  Enjoy the pictures :)  

      

 :)

Maggie & David.

Congratulations to Maggie and David, who have decided to put an official ampersand (&) between their names in March 2012!!  Woohoo!! When I say these two are a match made in heaven, I kid you not.  They're so unbelievably cute together, I get giddy just thinking about them.  Enjoy the sneak peek of their engagement session and if you see them around town, be sure to ask them about their wedding.  (They high-five each other whenever someone says the word!!  I love it!!)         

Maggie and David - I am so happy for you two!  Everyone should be this excited to get married! :) 

Just do it.

The date was March 1st, 2009.  The Patton gang had gathered with extended family in Ohio to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of an aunt and uncle.  We enjoyed our time together, as we always do.  At the end of the afternoon, an aunt offered to snap a quick picture of us before we all headed home.  So three generations of Pattons, 14 of us in all, squeezed together and took what would turn out to be the last group photo we have.  It's not the best picture by any stretch of the imagination.  The lighting was poor, the clarity of the image a little fuzzy, and a few of us blinked or were distracted by other things when the flash went off.  But to our family this photo has become absolutely priceless.  You see, my brother-in-law, John, at the age of 48, died from cancer just five months after the photo was taken.
  

Since then, I've come to realize just how important it is to document our time together.  Life really is too short.  And our time with each other, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, is limited.  So promise me something.  Make it a priority to get moving on capturing images of you with the special people in your life.  Whether you ask a stranger to take a picture of you, use the timer setting on your point and shoot, or even go as far as calling in a professional, just promise you'll do it.  Trust me.  Someday you'll be so grateful you did.  :)  

Below are a few family images from this summer and early fall.  Enjoy! 

  

 Now get snapping!  :)

{five: how sweet it is}

Pictured above is my youngest, Sam, who will be five-years-old when he opens his eyes in the morning.  Every day for the past six months he has been asking, "Mom, how many more days until my birthday?"  And now finally {yahoo!} his day has arrived.  The pictures above were taken yesterday, and so perfectly capture what I love most about this age.  There he was, in the middle of a field of tall weeds and wild flowers, when he made the discovery.  "Mom!!!  I found the PERFECT flower for you!  Stay right there!"  And so he stumbled and marched and marched and stumbled through weeds as tall as he was, all the while holding a single, tired daisy above his head so nothing would happen to it.  By the time he finally made it to me, I was almost in tears at the sweet gesture.  When you're four {correction, almost five, sorry Sam} it makes perfect sense to do things like this...just to make your mom smile.  Love, love, love this age...maybe even more than he does!  Happy birthday, Sam!  I love you to pieces :) 

Looking good!

I must be sick.  Or maybe I like a challenge.  But I love hearing people say, "I don't look good in pictures" or "I'm just not that photogenic".  I couldn't disagree more.  In fact, I have yet to meet a single person who doesn't photograph well.  Am I a rock star of a photographer? (answer: not on your life).  But what I know is this:  once people start to relax, guess what happens?  They look like themselves.  And who doesn't look good like that? 

Not all of the following people believed they couldn't take a good picture, just a few.  And looking over the pictures, I bet you'd be hard pressed to correctly guess who those silly people were.  The following faces all have one thing in common though:  They are all members of the class of 2011.  And what an amazing bunch they are:  smart {all are heading to college, one on a full academic scholarship}, athletic {several routinely graced the local sports pages as star athletes}, brave {one climbed a barn roof for/with me}, charming, witty, graceful, fun-loving...the list goes on and on.  It was a pleasure spending time with each of you.  In life, as in your photos, continue to be yourselves.  I wish you all the best!  xoxo!   

   

Congratulations to the class of 2011!