Friday night: I had an engagement session with a sweet couple who are getting married in May. They've known each other and been friends since Michelle was 15! Love and friendship like that is amazing to come across.
I made it back just in time to catch some of the 7:00 hour to light my candle in remembrance. Although I didn't start at 7:00, I pretended that I was in a different time zone. :) Thank you all for your sweet comments and especially the text messages I received from Abby and AJ and the facebook message from Abbey. They made me feel very comforted, loved and supported.
With Tony's approval I outed us on facebook on Friday, posting this:
I am one of the 2,000 faces affected by pregnancy/infant loss everyday. Today, October 15th is National Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Day and we will always remember. Please visit www.iamtheface.org and learner more about helping provide resources for women and families.
It felt amazing to write it, absolutely empowering, especially to see my same verbage reposted by several family members and friends, some who I had known of their loss and others I hadn't. It certainly was a sisterhood and opportunity to speak up, to acknowledge pain and loss.
Saturday: My shot my last wedding of the year, although I'll be assisting Gina these next two weekends before I go to Phoenix. Ashley and Tim came to me through
Fabyoulous Events after they were disappointed by their engagement session with their photographer. Normally this is a sticky situation, as it involves a high maintenance couple, but it couldn't be further from the truth with these two!
The day went well and I got to shoot with a new 2nd,
Roz. She was fun to spend the day with and helped calm me down after I backed into the bride's uncle's van . . . which was parked in the fire lane.
Oh yes, that's right. Me, the girl who thankfully has never been in an accident before, backed into a van while working a wedding. I was none too pleased as you can imagine!
The other notable incident that I can chalk up as a first at a wedding was another uncle, around 60 years old, approached me while I was covering the dance and said, "This isn't a come on, but you're a very attractive woman. I caught myself trying to take a picture of you, instead of the wedding. I just thought you should know." Um, okay. Thanks buddy! Hah!
Sunday: I missed church to squeeze in a photo session in Buffalo, which was quite the drive, but it was for the sweetest family and their daughter Ella. I wanted to high tail it back when I was done though, because we had plans to go to the apple orchard!
The day was anything but beautiful, overcast and downright chilly, but we had a fantastic time at
Nelson's Apple Farm! My family never made an annual tradition of going to an apple orchard, so we had no allegiance to a specific orchard. When the Living Social deal came out for Nelson's, I jumped right on it and marked a date on the calendar. We.
I was able to purchase my gourds and pumpkins for my wine tasting shin dig on Friday and my Mom bought some of the no sugar added apple cider butter!


Of course we had to take the opportunity for a family picture too!

There was a small pumpkin patch to play in, so of course, Isaac dug right in.



There was a little stand outside to sample which apples were our favorite. I didn't partake, choosing instead to snap away! [Notice the blood blister on Tony's hand]

I don't even know if the Cortland's were good, but pretty much everything was!

It was such a great family day.

I don't care if he won't remember it, the pictures tell the story.

Although this, combined with a short nap, and not napping on the hour drive down, created a sleepy crabby boy later in the day.


Isaac was certainly a fan of the calf and I got to hear him say "mooo" for the first time, although both my Mom and Tony insist he's said it before.


Isaac had great fun mutilating Tony's face on the shoulder ride through the field.

The trees were broken into three sections.

Looking back over the corn maze, which we didn't go into.

My boys.

Isaac's first apple! He plucked it right off, hitting Tony in the face! I, of course, laughed out loud.

He was so happy about that apple! He then dug right in for more.

Holding his prize high!

You can just imagine him thinking, two apples are better than one!

What a hunny, sharing his apple with mama.

And then, I got him to take his first bite.

There was no turning back after that!

I love the one squinty eye. You just know so much effort is going into this bite!

Another family photo opportunity. [side bar: I am not okay with my weight. These are my fat pictures and I will do something about it . . . once my photos die down]

With Grandpa and Grandma.

Within 10 minutes of each other 4 planes flew overhead, love this moment between father and son.

Back to two apples!

Everyone was full of apples, by the time we left except for me, I was just too busy to eat them with all of the pictures I was taking.

We went out to the furthest row of trees, we took the tractor for a ride. Tractor is Isaac's newest favorite word.

You can tell in this picture how tired he was, but he wouldn't sleep. His eyes would get down to slits and then suddenly fly open as he excitedly pointed and said "tractor, tractor."

Yummy golden apples:

Moments before Isaac decided that instead of pointing at the apple, he really should kick the apple lol.

Love this image:

Chowing down, again, one of both colors!

I see this laugh by Tony frequently, but I don't think I've ever seen a photo of it, so it's especially dear to me.

And with our little helper filling up the bag, we took our loot back to be picked up by the tractor.

Love this picture, it perfectly sums up our day.

Unfortunately we paid the price a little bit, as both Isaac and I were sick enough to stay home yesterday, but it was well worth it!
I'm super excited for my upcoming blog makeover with designer blogs, as I'm now in the hole and almost on deck! I'm also
still waiting on blog designs for my photography blog . . . there will not be a recommendation after services are complete.
Oh, and by the way. Tomorrow's my birthday. Writing this is kind of reminder to myself. I'm not prepared. I still think I'm 24.