what i've been up to

wow, where's the week gone? i spent a huge time here...

for vacation bible school! i got to take pictures and help lead the songs on stage, and i had the best time with jordan and amanda. we got creative with a variety of outfits, ranging from pirate to hawaiian to swim floaties. the kids enjoyed it, though, and i got some good exercise doing all of the motions to the songs :)

one of the big moments during the week was tuesday night, when the kids (and their parents) raised enough money to help build a house for a family in haiti. we typically have until the end of the week to reach the goal for VBS, but our preacher tim was heading out for a trip on tuesday night and he'd promised that if they met their goal, he'd take a pie to the face. by the end of the session tuesday night, the money was raised and the girls got to throw the pies!

ready, set...
throw!
i decided my belly picture for the week could be in my last outfit for the week--i went with the hula skirt and lei :)

we're now at 22 weeks and getting stronger kicks every day. i got a stethoscope at one of the local medical pharmacies and get to listen to his heartbeat every now and then. and...we have a name! we've decided to go with davis, and i'm thrilled that we can start talking to him by name now :)

once we got to the weekend, we had a combination of busy days and "veg out" days. saturday was one of our more relaxing days, and since we had to be more dressed up on sunday, i got us all decked out in red, white and blue (and had to take pictures since we were so cute :) )

here's a close up of pepper's outfit. i got this for her a few weeks ago, and i will admit--there's a part of me that is excited that i can still buy cute, sparkly, ruffled outfits with bows for pepper :)

but pepper can hang with the guys, too. she loves playing football!

justin can throw it across the yard, and she fetches it and brings it back (most of the time)
unless she drags it under the porch to her hiding spot when she gets hot or tired (that's her way of letting justin know "she's done.")
(she does that with the soccer ball, too)
saturday night we went over to our friends' house, johnny and heather, for grilling out and some cheap fireworks in the backyard. i have pictures and video from the fireworks, but i'll have to put them up later because i haven't downloaded them yet.

sunday, i got up and went to the early service so that i could get on the road for kristi and joe's wedding. i was photographing it and had to be in elizabeth city in time to photograph kristi getting her make-up done. then the afternoon flew by, with them getting ready, doing the "first look," taking tons of formals, the ceremony and reception--and then back to the waterfront for fireworks (and more pictures!)

and i had a great time figuring out how to capture them and the fireworks at the same time. it was actually a really good fireworks show, and i've always loved watching them over the river.

it was a long drive back, but thankfully, justin drove and i was able to put my feet up and relax. i was hoping the animals would let me sleep in, but i was back up at 8 and have taken it easy all day. i was tempted to nap this afternoon, but ended up watching another movie and just laying on the bed. i was still pretty drained from the day before, and i'm thankful i only have a couple more weddings this summer, finishing up the first week in august. i love photographing them and being a part of the big day, but being on my feet and going strong for several hours straight takes a lot more out of me now.

(i am still doing family and individual shoots, probably up through september, if anyone's interested. the one hour-long shoots aren't bad at all--just the all day ones that get to me!)

okay, so more posts coming up this week, with backyard fireworks, some recent edited photos, and kristi's bridals (since i can share them now!)