smitten photography

i'm back!

and this sums up what a ridiculously awesome week i just spent with my high school friends at young life camp!!!  i have tons of great stories, got little-to-no-sleep, laughed until my stomach hurt, played a LOT, watched girls conquer fears, listened as they poured their hearts out, got pied in the face, soaked with freezing water, climbed 2 miles up a reallly steep mountain, and loved EVERY minute of living life this week.  

this photo sums it all up for me!  the girls nicknamed me "preggo eggo" and although there were some things i couldn't do, me & guido hung around with the best of them!  i have a lot of photos to go through & then post, & i will do that as soon as i get caught up with some things i need to do in the office.

now that i am back home & a little bit rested, i will begin catching up on over 200 emails and phone calls :)  if you are a client, THANKS for your patience this last week & i will get back to you ASAP to book photo shoots and answer questions!

hasta, la young life.

i'm leaving in the wee hours of the morning & getting on a bus with my high school friends and heading to sharptop cove, a young life camp, in georgia.  we are gonna laugh a lot & experience life the way it is meant to be lived! 

i will have some access to email, but not to the phone.  if you are a client & you email or call me this week, i may or may not have a chance to respond.  i will do what i can from camp but will definitely return all messages when i return the week of 7.20.

can't wait to share some photos & stories when i get back!  

be smitten...

family & friends...

we had such a fun young life family camp weekend at windy gap with our friends, jd & melissa, & about 7 of their friends and a whole boatload of kids! everyone drove over the mountain to spend a weekend playing & laughing together & despite some chilly rain we all had a great time! here are some pics of the kiddos:

these first 3 of elle & taylor are soooo cute:

a great one for the wedding slideshow :)

"...sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g" :)

jackson & taylor watching the funny guys:

jason pre-hokey pokey:

the slide was the hit of the weekend! trust me, this water felt like melted ice cubes:

proud jackson:

a warm up like only mom can give:

miller braved the cold, too:

ryan & elle watching the action:

elle & taylor chose the beach for their 3 hour playdate:

wrestling before dinner:

yuckity, MUCKity...

eeeeeeeewwwww.

that is the only word i have to describe the second annual, greater lake norman young life MUCK WARS!!!
by far, its the most disgusting food fight i've ever witnessed featuring: 1. soggy dog food 2. a mixture of tomato sauce, flour & baked beans 3. a pool filled with yellow gatorade & baby ruth candy bars 4. flour bombs & finally, everyones favorite...water balloons.

it was a chilly night for muck wars, but it didn't damper the fun :) take a look at some of my favorite pics below...

see for yourself

TO SEE THE SMALLER VERSION OF "THE FRONTIER MOVIE"....

******CLICK HERE******

Y to the L party

tonight rocked. it was a great ending to an awesome year of young life. awards, goodbyes, laughter & tears. it couldn't have been better.

***CLICK HERE*** to see the slideshow

windy gap

ryan, elle & i spent the weekend at windy gap for the charlotte region's family camp. it was really fun! it rained almost the whole time but it was awesome to see how it didn't really make any difference in how much fun everyone had! ryan has been wanting to take elle to ride horses at WG for a couple months & he didn't let the rain stop them this weekend :)
i love seeing ryan with elle. they have such an amazing relationship & he is the best daddy to her. i can't even measure how much he loves her. she screams everytime she sees him & gets so excited when they play together. i am so thankful for ryan & how much he adores our little girl.
here is a peek at the horsey riding...

what a blessing to grow up in young life!! elle is one lucky girl...

young life muck wars

i mean, seriously. how fun would it be to have 100 high school kids together, on a sweet farm, hurling disgusting food at one another? try wet dog food, spaghetti sauce & flour, just to name a few. it's times like these that i really love what young life is doing....showing kids that life is sweet & short and that there is no need for walls and when it comes down to it, jesus calls us to be ONE, in heart, mind & soul. some of my most fun memories in the past 26 years have been because of young life. i am so happy to be part of it & thankful that ryan and i get to be kids at times like these.