26 years...

Yesterday I turned the big 26. At first I have to say the idea of being 26 years old was something I wasn't looking forward to by any means, but then I started thinking. This is going to be one of the best years of my life. I'm marrying the sweetest most beautiful woman on the planet in two months, we'll probably start trying to start our family within the next year, which are two things I couldn't be more excited about! And it doesn't hurt that I don't feel a day older than 16. I have so much to be thankful for and have lived some of the best 26 years that anyone could ever ask for. Looking back at all that I've done, and all that I've been able to be a part of thanks to my absolutely incredible family. There's not a better set of parents out there and I am who I am mostly because of you! You've instilled so much in me that I can't wait to pass down to my own children and know if I can be even half as good at being parents as you were our kids will turn out phenominal. I can't wait to show them the world like you've done with me. I've got an awesome older brother who's always been there for me and continues to push me to my limits to pursue my dreams. He believes in me so much, but probably doesn't realise how much that means to me. And on the flip side I'm marrying into a family that's identical in every way. My in-laws love me like their own and treat me like I've always been a part of the family and that's such a good feeling. Thinking about all that, my best years are yet to come. Plus 30's the new 20 right?

Midnight, my birthday morning we headed over to Campus Corner with some good friends to celebrate over lots of drinks. That kept Amanda and I in bed until the afternoon which was a perfect way to start the big day off. I'm all about naps! We spent the mid day watching movies, then headed to Charleston's for one of our favorite monthly meals. Filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes, ceasar salad, and a big glass of Kendal Jackson.

Then we headed to Atomic Lotus for my birthday present. PARENTAL WARNING! Amanda and I have always wanted to do this, but didn't want to just get any old thing. We wanted something that meant a lot to the both of us, and well, this couldn't be more perect.

IX V MMVIII (September 5th, 2008) a day we'll never forget, one of the happiest days of our lives.

I got in the chair first..."Does it hurt??"



I didn't think so...





Love it!



Your turn honey. How's it look?



We put the stencil on three times before settling on making it permanent.



Well...it may hurt a little.



Love it! My wide angle makes it look a little distorted. It's straight as an arrow!



Amanda's is way cute when she has her hair in a poney tail. After getting branded we headed up to Edmond to watch our little brother play in the little league state finals. They were down one in the last inning and rallied 4 runs in the top to go up two. They took the field on defense and their pitcher took over. They play today to try and make it to the finals. I'm out the door to go watch!

The night ended with an amazing surprise. Amanda got me an oreo ice cream cake from the best ice cream parlor around, Maggie Moos. Thanks for a great birthday everyone!! 26 isn't bad after all.

Engagement photos!

On June 11th Amanda and I spent the afternoon with the uber talented Candi Coffman and her husband. Not only are they incredibly talented, they're loads of fun and we hope we'll become good friends. I'm constantly taking pictures of Amanda, but seldom get behind the lens myself so we were really exciting about doing this with them. They made tons of amazing images, but I'm only going to post some of the favorites on here. You'll have to visit her link to see the rest of our session along with her large collection of creative photos. Amanda looked absolutely stunning! We couldn't keep our hands off eachother and did all kinds of crazy things.

From having local skateboarders join us...



To wearing fake mustaches in hippie record stores...





Be sure to check out her site to see the rest of them!! 5'9" and major hang time!

The Reid's!

Here are some of our favorites from our session with the Reid's. Julie, Jeb, Jordan, and Alec thank you for giving us the opportunity to spend the afternoon with you...especially on father's day! You guys are always a blast so make sure you call Amanda and I soon especially if the "Guys" are playing some where.

The Family:







Alec havin a jam session:





Jordan had some crazy sweet eyes:







My favorite shot of the day:

The Reid's sneak peak!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of photographing the totally amazing Reid family in the scorching hot OK weather. We sweated like fat guys, but had a great time walking the streets of the Paseo District. This is Jordan, Alec, Julie, and Jeb who you may recognise from my post about The Wise Guys. More to come!!

Christina and Jeremy...

Christina and Jeremy get 15,000,000 awesome points for being so awesome on their big day! I was fortunate enough to tag along side the very talented David Baxter. Christina looked stunning and Jeremy and the boys kept us entertained until the night was over. We made so many great images it's really hard to pick out some favorites, so I'm going to do my best to give you a brief overview. I hope you enjoy!





Awesome teal shoes!









Jeremy was doing a good job of trying to play it cool before he saw his bride to be. We both know he was a little anxious :)

















The flower girl was just too cute!







Mr. and Mrs!!



If you'd only seen this picture you'd think boring violin band. EHHHH (buzzer noise) WRONG! These guys flat out kicked some ass. Once dinner was over they cut right to rock music!





They stopped us from photographing any further...



Congrats to Christina and Jeremy! Thank you for letting me be a part of such a special day!

It's been windy and rainy...

60 mph+ winds don't mix when trying to shoot people. Here's Amanda getting blown away in our latest storm. Yes that tree to her right is growing straight up and down...it's just that damn windy! Hang on! I'll save you!!



Sorry for the excesive ammount of animal photos. The cat was reading the blog yesterday and noticed she hadn't made a cameo. Our last family member is Pennie aka the boss. There's no doubt who really runs the house. She gets her way every time. She either swats and hisses at the dogs to get them to back down, or puts on the look at me I'm a cute little purring kitty face which automatically makes it so you can't be mad at her. Pennie was rockin it in her high back executive chair.





See what I mean...



Dave is going to get his gallery up, so I should have some wedding pictures to blog this week! Keep your eyes peeled for that. We've got a kick ass senior shoot with Alec (weather permitting) this week, and Candi is shooting our engagement photos on Wednesday. Amanda and I hit the mall for some new duds and I'm sure between the 3 of us you're going to see the sweetest engagement session to date!

I turn 26 on the 21st. Is that old?