The Wedding!!!

I shot my first wedding a couple of weeks ago. I had the direction of two friends of mine who are wonderful photographers. They've done weddings before and could show me the ropes.

Caitlin and Erik and their families were so laid back and so wonderful, so it was a great first wedding experience. The bride thought of every detail. I loved the theme, the venue, the food...everything!  I am so super excited about the images I got.

Caitlin and Erik, I am so excited for you. Your deep love for each other is so apparent. I was thrilled to be able to celebrate it with you! Thank you!

Sleep...

Dan keeps saying it's overrated. I don't think so. I'm hurting right now. I need more!

Jake gets into these weird patterns. He'll sleep through the night for months, and we think we have it all figured out. Then he gets into weird cycles where he wakes up around 3:30 in the morning. He will sometimes call out to us to lay by him, or he just shows up with his pillow and climbs in. I think it's easier just to let him in and all fall back to sleep quickly. If we go through the process of trying to get him back to his bed, we all end up wide awake.

We didn't have these issues with his sister. She was a sound sleeper. Jake, like his father, is not. He wakes up at the first distant rumble of thunder. His room is in the front of the house, so a car passing by during the night will sometimes cause a disruption, too.

When little Kate did come in during the night, we would let her rest by us for a few minutes, and then we would take her back to her bed. I guess because we are older and more laid back, we tend to just let Jake stay. We also have a king bed now instead of the queen we had when Kate was little. That makes a difference, too!

Yesterday I asked him to please stay in his bed all night. He said, "I will when I'm a big boy. Right now I'm a little boy."  I can't really argue with that, can I?

I wanted to include some pictures of Jake sleeping in my bed, but I'm just too tired... ;)

Laura...

This session was really special for me. Laura's mom, Sara, contacted me about taking her daughter's senior pictures. I hadn't seen Sara in years. I think we last ran into each other at Chuck E Cheese when Laura and Kate were little.  When we were together last week, I felt like we picked up right were we left off...years ago. I first met Sara when we were both fresh out of college...new teachers at the same school. I was so relieved to have a buddy with me to learn the ropes. We shared lots of laughs and lots of frustrations.

Laura is just as wonderful as her mom. I'm so excited for her. She's got big plans, a good head on her shoulders, and loads of talent. Enjoy your senior year, Laura! Hope it's as special as you are!!

Soccer Season!

This is where it all begins. This is the first of what I'm sure will be many, many sports seasons. My little guy now has an activity schedule. I'm not sure how this happens so quickly. Now I'm juggling swimming and soccer, and it's only the beginning. I look back on the 9 years of competitive dance for Kate, and it's like a blur. Kate and I recently sat together to look through her dance scrapbooks. It was fun to reminisce.  I remembered people and times that she didn't, and she reminded me of things I had forgotten. Now the fun begins with Jake.

I forgot to post this when I posted Izzy's birthday party. I was so proud of the card Jake made for her. I was upstairs getting ready while he was making the card, so this was done completely on his own.

The "H" is for Happy Birthday. The "I" is for Izzy. In the bottom shot you can see the pool and the sun to represent Izzy's pool party. That's my boy!!

I didn't get a chance to blog about Kate's amazing experience at CONA this year. I'm so proud of how independent and confident she is. She was asked to come back this year as a Presiding Officer to lead the convention. Here are this year's officers. I grabbed this shot from Facebook.

In the shot above she was speaking in front of 800 high school students from around the country. She amazes me! 

Colin...

Mom and Dad brought baby Colin to see me for his first of 4 shoots. Mom received four first year Gigi Wagner Photography shoots as a baby shower gift. That is such a fun gift idea! I can't wait to watch this little man grow this year. We'll blink, and it will be time for his cake smash; so enjoy every minute Katy and Scott!  Colin is a doll!  I couldn't believe all the smiles I got!

Tim, Nan, and family...

We lucked out last week and got a break in the heat for this shoot. We couldn't reschedule...Em is off to college soon! I LOVE that the family wanted to do this shoot before Em leaves. Great idea, huh?  It was a dreary evening, but we had lots of fun...lots of laughs.

Good luck, Em! I know you'll love your new school!!

I know, I know...

It feels like I haven't been here forever. I decided to take the second half of July off from any photography shoots. I wanted to spend as much time as possible just having fun with Jake. I kept him so busy!!  It's been crazy hot here, so I've been creative.

I'm doing whatever it takes...boxes, masking tape, paint, scotch tape, punches...all things I haven't resorted to before.

Jake discovered SpongeBob, too. He will actually sit and watch an entire episode. It's not exactly a great learning experience, but sometimes I need it just to occupy him.

We've also been relying on some awesome babysitters. Shout out to Livi, Walker, and Nicole! You three are awesome! Next time you are here, make sure I take your picture with Jake.

In addition to spending my time off playing with Jake, Kate and I have been working like crazy to clean out about 20 years of useless stuff. This is so long overdue. We've made countless trips to Goodwill, sold tons of stuff on ebay and craigslist, and given stuff to family and friends. What got this ball rolling was an epiphany I had one morning. I decided that my basement guest bedroom is just useless space. Very few people have stayed there, and it's normally piled with toys and junk. My photo studio was taking over our living space in the basement family room. Jake had tons of toys down there and no room to play. So...the guest bedroom will become my new studio, and I'm reclaiming the family room area for family fun. I have a flooring guy coming on Thursday to pull up the carpeting and lay hardwood in the studio. I'm still thinking about the painting. My original plan was 3 neutral walls that I could use as a backdrop and one chalkboard wall. I'm super excited about the chalk wall! Now I'm thinking I may also do one bright white wall. I'm going to keep props out, so I will be able to move lights around easily to utilize all three walls. I've been cleaning out my storage room...with Kate's help...and should have plenty of room for props and chairs.

A lot of work is done, but there is still a lot to do. I haven't taken any pictures of the process, because I'm just working too darn hard!

During this time off, we celebrated Izzy's birthday in a big way. We had lots of fun at an awesome pizza place near Izzy's house and at my sister's local pool. I was so excited to be able to score a few tables at the pizza parlor right by some awesome windows that let in the best light! No flash needed...yay!