Mike and Emily

The other week while in California we took some of these for our friends who drove down with us. It was fun to make that long drive with other people to entertain you and I barely had to drive!=)

The only downer about this trip to Cali was the bad weather. It was cold almost the entire time. lame... But awesome pics of Emily's cute belly.

ONE Year Anniversary

Can you believe it?! I can't, it's been a whole year since Bruce and I have been married in the San Diego temple for all time and eternity. What a year it's been!
To celebrate we went home (to Cali) to get some much needed R&R and to shoot Chris and Tish's wedding. It was a great time and as always, went by way too fast. Bruce hit up the beach and did about 5 surf sessions and eating at Cessy's 5 or 6 times winning him a picture for the wall!

I mostly spent my time at home hanging with my mommy and little sisters. I even went out and did THE craziest thing I've done in a long time...I cut my hair, REAL short. Bruce didn't believe I would actually do it but once I was in that chair I was like, "shorter, umm...maybe a little shorter?". To celebrate my sudden braveness my mom took me out to get cinnabon's across the street at the mall. I LOVE my hair and never want to have long hair again! Then we went out that night to dinner to celebrate our anniversary because we were going to be busy the next couple of days. We were REALLY craving SPINACH ARTICHOKE dip...we happen to have a claim jumper gift card someone had given us for our wedding and decided it would be fitting to use it on our one year anniversary dinner. The food was amazing and since they brought Bruce the wrong sandwich they didn't charge us for it. So, on a dinner we were planning to go "all out on" we only ended up spending 7.00!! Needless to say we tipped BIG because our waitress was awesome. It was a fun night.

I have LOADS of pictures to show everyone...but first here are some of Bruce and I, courtesy of Mike and Emily who took them.=)



Here are some behind the scene shot's of us taking Chris and Tish's pictures. Stay tuned for more to come.

Little Finn

So this is my new nephew, Finlay. Isn't he just so adorable? I can't get enough of him, or of Duncan for that matter...I have this joke with Holly that the only reason she got pregnant and had a baby was me, that is for me to be able to practice taking pictures I've never been able to take. She must really like me to have a baby;)
It was interesting taking these. I think they turned out fine, but I would defiantly like to try again and add more ideas and maybe during the day when we have some natural light. I think it would also be cool to have some different colors in the background and maybe some fun hats?=)

Star Mill = LOVE at first sight.

I found this awesome location in American Fork called the Star Mill, all I can say is, "I'm in LOVE".
I think I have a problem, no really, I get all giddy every time I think about being around vintage anything. You should have seen me when taking pictures of this cute couple...I was as giddy as they were just being around tons of vintage items. Something is seriously wrong with that.=)

I loved that everything was old school and dirty... the colors were awesome and the textures amazing. I really would like to visit this location again with a family session. I'm very pleased with how these turned out, I think I'm really improving and I'm gaining more confidence in myself (of course it helps to have so many subjects to experiment with).

Here is Naomi and Andrew they are getting married at the end of July. Naomi is my best friends little sister (although I think of her as practically being my little sister). Here are some of my favorites...

A Wild Blustery Day = Bad Day to Take Photos.

This was a busy weekend! Or I guess I should say, it's been a busy past couple of weeks. Whenever I have more than just a couple of moments to sit and relax and forget about all I have to do, I count myself lucky. Don't get me wrong, I still feel completely in love with my "To Do List's" (I make them when feeling particularly eager to get things done).

Lets see whats been happening in the MacDougall world...

First- Holly had her beautiful baby Finlay! All I can say is "Baby hungry" =) He is so sweet and adorable I could scream, but I'll just take some awesomely cute pictures (one of these days Holly I promise I will come over and we will make it happen...I've got loads of ideas running through my head)

Second- The job. So as many of you know I applied for the lead position at Costco. It was a tiring process with the stress of not knowing when I'd be interviewed, then being interviewed, then being let down because I was told I had to be able to work 6 Sundays in a row, withdrawing my application for the position with a sour taste in my mouth for Costco and being called back by my store manager Kevin to get re-interviewed and after the interview being offered the job. See doesn't all that just make you tired thinking about it?! Needless to say it was a hard decision I would of had to go into it thinking I'd work at least three Sundays a month (wasn't so sure about that) and saying good bye to photography for a while. Even though I love taking pictures, it's very time consuming and working as a lead full time I wouldn't leave me much time to play. In the end we decided church, family and play all were much better than a secure job with better benefits and 21.00 an hour pay (plus time an a half every Sunday).=) We are happy with the decision and glad I can pursue my photography.


Third- I changed departments at Costco. So for all you Costco regulars who are so kind to brighten my days with your hellos at the food court (you know who you are, lol), I'm sorry to say I swiched to A.M. stalking. That means I get up at 4am and work until 10 or 12:30. So chances are you wont see me anymore. It's great I love it, aside from having to go to bed early.

Aside from all of this "ON TO THE PHOTOS"=)
I was asked by Jamie to take some family photos of her family, her brother just got back from the mish and the family was together. YAY for fun family photo sessions. It makes me want to roll around and laugh (weird I know, but I love family sessions). Well this family went way above the mark...have you ever met someone for the first time and in that moment of meeting, it feels as though you've always known them? This has only happened once before and that was when I met my husband, but I felt that way around this family. Now that I look back on it I don't think we even formally introduce ourselves to one another. I say this because in the moment of finding another great photo wall I was called "Hey photographer lady..." this was followed by laughs and finally a "Oh, what's your name?" Oh, the sweet joy's.
This family was working on a tight schedule so this was the only time they could take pictures...it was pouring cats and dogs though. At the end when everyone had just about had it, I asked if they wanted to take some the next day (on Sunday) greatfully they agreed and we set a time to meet again. Just like Jamie, this family was super fun and the guys were champs! Bruce (Jamies Dad) asked if I knew of any other family who had boys agree to another day of family pictures...laughing I said NO (especally not my family).

Here are some of my very favorites. They are such a beautiful family not hard to capture that! The first are of the rainly day and the others are of the Sunday after. Sorry about the long post.