Our "Staycation"

*update from yesterday
I went to Katie's funeral along with a ton of other people. It was awesome to see the number of lives that she touched in her almost 30 years! The family is doing good, but I can only image how tough things will get now that the funeral is over and they get back into the routine of life. Please continue to pray that God comforts them in the tough times ahead.

Yesterday was also the last day of Ray and I's 'staycation' (although I'm too cheap to make it a real staycation). He had to use his last 3 days of vacation before he lost them today, so he took off Monday through Wednesday (don't worry, he gets his vacation renewed, and even an additional week this year(!), so he can take off a full week once Isaiah decides to come). I'm still amazed at how much I enjoy just 'being with' my husband. Like I said, I'm too cheap to spend money on a lot of things (thought about going to a hotel, but why would you do that when you have a free bed at home!), but we did enjoy a dinner at Louie's on the lake Monday night and lunch at the museum yesterday (our plans to go to the museum were cut short by the funeral). Together, we cleaned the cars, cleaned the garage, and finished Isaiah's room (yay!). We slept in together (I know we will soon be losing that ability for a loooong time..). So it was nothing super exciting, but I enjoyed it all, and realized that even on Wednesday, I still wanted to spend my time with Ray (we had our separate plans from about 2-9). Then I went to a bible study last night (kinda on a whim) where one of the girls did a study on Eve. She was telling us what she learned, and pointed out how women a woman's desire for her husband is part of the curse.

¹⁶ To the woman [God] said,
'"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you." Genesis 3:16 (italics mine)

Now we were all familiar with the childbearing part of the curse (I fear I may be cursing Eve during the upcoming process...), but all of us were surprised at the desire for your husband part, although we were all too familiar with it in our own lives. When I was single, I had a friend (who is actually now my bro-in-law) call me a "femi-natzi". He was surprised after seeing me get married how much I changed (honestly, I was too!). But now I realize it is a God given desire for my husband, which I don't see as a curse much of the time, because I have a husband who does as Paul says in Ephesians 5, "²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". And I am really excited to see him love in the role of a father! It was kinda neat the way this whole lesson played out. Now Ray is back at work and we continue to wait for I-man to make his appearance (I had my second going-into-labor dream last night).

Here's a pic from lake Hefner (Ray told me switching the camera on his iphone4 to the front would be lower quality.. I just didn't realize how much lower- sorry for all the grain!)

Love you sweetie!

In memory of Katie

I want to take a moment to send my condolences to Katie Womack's family and friends.
Katie is a bride that I photographed last year at her wedding in Mexico. She passed away Sunday from heart complications, while pregnant with her and her husband's first child. This was a complete surprise, and it's hard to believe that this sweet soul isn't here anymore. I know she will be terribly missed by very loving family and many friends, but I know that she had a relationship with Christ, and the only thing that keeps running through my head are Paul's words, "To live is Christ and to die is gain". I pray that her impact on people will outlive her life, and that through this all, God the Father is glorified. Her life will be celebrated today at her funeral in Stillwater.

Here are a few of the pictures that her husband, David, selected for the funeral. I think this first one really captures Katie's spirit. As you can see, David, her husband, adored her..

I kept telling my second shooter that Katie made the perfect destination bride because she was laid-back, loving, and seemed to really know how to enjoy the moments.

She was also deeply in love

This was Katie's facebook profile picture.

Katie, thank you for living to the fullest.


This is the second client that I have shot who unexpectedly passed away. The first was a sweet baby, the youngest of the 5 generations in the pictures. And here is Katie, a healthy (she ran her first marathon in this last year) newlywed and mom-to-be. I have to step back and thank God for each day we are given. I also have to make sure that my days are directed by God, for He had the master plan, and I can only follow each step. I recently heard a quote from a missionary named Cory who said "We need to live our life in a way that demands an explanation". I couldn't agree more.

To the Womack and Reavis families, I am sorry for your loss and pray that God brings a comfort that's beyond our understanding.

Mayor's 9 Month

I have officially shot, edited, and exported/blogged my last scheduled shoot until after Isaiah comes! I have also worked my last scheduled shift at Deaconess, from here on out it's just picking up as I want/can. How exciting! For my last session, I saw my neighbor, Mayor for his 9 month pictures. I have been photographing him since his newborn pics, and we weren't sure if I would be able to do this one. But as the time neared we decided to go for it and took these sweet kiddos to Mitch park. I do have to say, shooting a 9 month old kid with a (gestationally) 9 month old in your belly isn't the easiest thing. We got some sweet pictures, but there were certainly times I felt like a beached whale after trying to get down on his level! I got some pretty shots in Isaiah's rocking chair, but I kinda want to save that for my little man to introduce.. So here's our playground pics!

Showers 3,4, & 5

So we are officially in Full Term Zone! I hit 37 weeks on Saturday, which means this kid can come anytime now, or a month from now... that's the crazy thing. I wanted to have everything completely done by last weekend, but I'm not quite there yet (and he hasn't given me any signs of coming yet, so I think we're okay). I'm still washing clothes and using gift cards to buy up the last things we need, but we were extremely blessed at our showers to get so much for this little man! Originally I wanted one big shower, but ended up with 5 different showers.. each different and fabulous! My last 3 showers happened within 4 days, so I'll share them all here.

My 3rd shower was a combined baby shower thrown by Sydnie and Nichole for Beth, Ashley, and I. We have been a close group of friends for years now, and it just happened that 3 of us are pregnant at the same time, all with boys and all within a month of each other!

These girls are party throwin' fools, so there were some very cute details at this party.



The song "You are my Sunshine" was the theme

And what's a theme without a matching shirt! We hope to get a picture of all the babies in the adorable onesies... if Isaiah isn't busting out of this newborn tee by the time the last one gets here..

And the food.. delicious. The menu was set off of our cravings from pregnancy.. mac and cheese, piazza, and hot sandwiches.

We toasted with virgin sangarias.

And our big craving.. Icecream!! Yum!

The 3 preggos and our 'guest books', "you are my sunshine"

Me and my big belly :c)


The next day I headed up to Tulsa for shower number 4! This was hosted by Jennifer and Summer for all my Tulsa peeps!

I really enjoyed having the people around that I grew up with and have known for years- this is a pic of my mom, sister and I with our old friends we met in Norway, Chelsea and Liz. We go way back and it was so great to have them there!

We played games..

and wrote notes to Isaiah.

The country club was decorated beautifully with some of my favorite things!

I received a cloth diaper cake.. I know how difficult these are to make (your money doesn't go nearly as far..) but my friend is an avid cloth diaperer and has given me a ton of advice! I'll let you know how it goes (Ray is still not quite sure.. but the moms I know who do it are big fans)


Shower number 5 was a surprise party at work. They actually pulled off the surprise, so I didn't have a camera or anything to document it. But it was much appreciated and enjoyed!

Thank you all! I am still blown away with how blessed Ray and I are with the people who we are surrounded with. We are truly thankful for the great Christian influence and I am thrilled to know that Isaiah will be loved by so many. Now it's just time to welcome him into this world! (well, maybe after Sunday.. we have a party planned at our house on Saturday and my doc is out of town until Sunday-)

Sara's Maternity

Sara's family is growing and she wanted to document this special time with some maternity pictures! She looked radiant in the early morning light at Will Rogers Park Tuesday morning (our shoot was originally on Saturday, but that was the day I left all my CF cards at home... thanks so much for understanding Sara!). Sara has another son, Luke, but wanted to document this pregnancy the same as she did the first time, just her and her bump. Enjoy the lovely pictures!

The Pinterest Challenge: Nursery Mobile

So for the second nursery post of the day..
I totally forgot that Young House Love was doing their Pinterest Challenge today! And because Pinterest helped to come up with the perfect DIY mobile for Isaiah's room, I thought I'd partake in this challenge.

To backtrack.. I had a lot of trouble coming up with Isaiah's mobile. At first I wanted to hang an old ceiling tile above his crib because the colors and style matched the room so well.. but then after reading about everyone's fears of art pieces falling in cribs (this is an old, rusty, heavy ceiling tile), I reluctantly changed my mind. Next I decided to do a big homemade mobile, but I wanted something that would look great from the side (for my viewing) as well as underneath (for Isaiah's viewing). I know the view from underneath is really the more important of the two, but I didn't want to compromise (I'm realizing how much I like design). Enter in Pinterest.com. I discovered this site recently, and have been hooked since. It is a totally cool way to look up and save ideas online. I started looking for mobiles that inspired me, and with Ray's assistance decided on the below.

Source: community.thebump.com via Ashley on Pinterest

But, I wasn't quite sure the pinwheels were exactly what I wanted to view from the side. So I took my search to the internet and found this lovely mobile, on the blog Anything Pretty. I really liked the thicker pinwheels and extreme contrast. It was said to be more time consuming than the pinwheels in the above photo, but I was spending the weekend at my mom's and found myself up to the challenge.


And here's my final result! (the walls always look so yellow in my pictures..)


I am really excited about the way it turned out from my view.


And from Isaiah's view.


One great thing about this mobile is that the pinwheels will spin some when the air comes on.. making it a true 'mobile'!


The other cool part: this mobile only cost me a glue stick and some of my time!

Admittedly... it took A LOT of my time, especially because I modified it some to fit the supplies I already had on hand. But like I said, I was at home hanging with my family, so since I was 'multi-tasking', I think it was totally worth it!
As for the supplies..

I had the most perfect scrapbook paper left over from when I was scrapbooking back in college. The cardstock is from my sister's wedding photobooth props. The string is something I bought for my wedding (but can't remember if I even used). I printed the design for free online. I borrowed the wire from my mom. And I already had the glue gun. The only thing I did purchase was a glue stick, which I used the entire thing. The branch that the pinwheels are hanging from fell into my backyard a couple weeks prior to me starting this project (thank you wind!). And the fishing line and hooks to hang were in my garage. Not too shabby, huh?

I am very excited about all of the DIY projects we did in the nursery. I will do a full review as I get things cleaned up and put in place (we had the last of our showers and were blessed with a ton of goodies for Isaiah.. I just need to get them put up!). But I thought that this Pinterest Challenge was great because it's easy to pin a bunch of good ideas, but never do anything with them...so here's my 'doing something' with a pinwheel mobile! :c)

"Buy Fish"

Awhile ago I decided that Isaiah could have his first pet (yes, before he is even born).
When I was cleaning out his closet that held my left over decorating items, I came across my fishbowl (a vase I turned into a fishbowl and used for the dinner I made Ray and I for our first anniversary, complete with rocks form our wedding, seaweed thing from our honeymoon, and betta fish like the ones at our resort). So I thought.. Isaiah would enjoy watching some fish! Or if he doesn't- I can enjoy them while I rock and feed him (If I'm not totally absorbed in my sweet little baby) :c)

You can see here where they fit into the room (with the "Buy Fish" label)

So last Friday I stopped at the pet store for food for Honey, and walked out with a couple of gold fish as well. Here they are active and swimming-

This is how I found them last night. Not so entertaining for Isaiah or me.


So please just tell me that my ability to care for fish is not an indication of my mothering abilities. (on a sidenote- the plants I bought the same day are still alive, so that's a good thing!)