What does Reckless Abandon mean to you?

As children of the Almighty – we must be prepared to stand up for what we believe – what is right.

For those members of RAY – I am issuing a CHALLENGE – with a contest thrown in.

Tell me what you think Reckless Abandon means to you – to the church – to the lives of teenagers. Two rules – it must be AT LEAST 100 words – it must be submitted by 8.20.2008 – which is a Wednesday – the first Wednesday OUR PowerKidz become RAY members.

The winner will get a free photo shoot of your choice – within reason.

If you haven’t figured it out already – I LOVE BABIES – they are God’s greatest miracle in my opinion. We went up to see the almost TWO MONTH old sweetie on Tuesday night and she was a doll – of course.

I love having a baby sleeping on my chest. All your worries and confusions and stress just seems to melt away in light of God’s great miracle.

Jared determined that it might possibly be the best stress relief he has found yet.

I took these shots outside of the Athens Fire Hall while we were walking back into the reception after shooting the cornfield shots. I love LOCKS.

Laura, the maid of honor, had high hopes for the dollar dance.

She was NOT happy with the results.

The best man – the groom’s brother – is on the L and the groom’s cousin is on the R. They sang Piano Man and had a GREAT time doing it.

James and Laura – two dear friends – I have known James since 2000 (which hardly seems possible) and I took his and Laura’s wedding pictures in October of 2005.

Joy has asked a few weeks ago if she could come with me to this wedding – I told her yes but it was in Athens which meant spending the night at my parents house Friday night if she was okay with that. Turns out that the Pastor who did the ceremony is a teacher at NCA – the school within our church here in Mansfield – and the guy in this picture with Joy is one of her good friends from school but also the bride’s cousin. I was so happy that Joy had some people she knew at the wedding and had a good time. She was a HUGE help – and did a GREAT job.

The Pastor and his daughter – I love daddy-daughter pictures.

Melissa and Tyler – thank you for allowing me to capture your day. May God bless the two of you in your marriage.

She’s Everything by Brad Paisley was the song that Melissa and Tyler first danced to as husband and wife. It’s a great song – and the very last picture in this series shows how much the lyrics mean to Tyler.

Melissa’s cousin-in-law was the Pastor for the wedding.

Joy, my assistant, and a sweet, sweet babe.

Love …

We were going to take all the bridal party shots at the old Waverly High School building – but it started raining HUGE drops as soon as we pulled up. God had something better in store for us – but I snapped a few of Melissa and Tyler before we ran for the cars.

The Athens Fire Hall had a beautiful cornfield as a backdrop instead of the school – which worked well with the sunflowers and the green …

Me and Joy snapping a quick picture in between shots.

I love the genuine smile on Melissa’s face.

And I love the look in Tyler’s eyes.

Melissa and I have been friends for at least 5 years – she and my sister were closer than we were – but since I hung out with Samm – I hung out with Melissa. Tyler is an AMAZING guy and I am so happy for them both. They got married in the church that I attended from 8th grade on. We know each other because of church – and it was a great JOY to photograph their wedding.

August 2, 2008 – a longtime friend of mine married a GREAT guy – I will blog about the wedding later when I post my pictures.

In the meantime – I have opened up an opportunity to RAY members to assist me at wedding shoots if they are interested in photography as a profession or hobby. My first assistant – Joy – joined me for the weekend to shoot some pictures.

GREAT JOB JOY!!

The rest of our vacation pics – again in  no certain order –

Brandon – our SCOPES guy – at work.

Goofballs …

We rescued a Marine …

Me and my beach “boyfriend” that you may have read about …

Last year we decided to do the Mafia and Flappers … this year – Pirates.

Goodbye Ocean City – see you again next year – ???

Selections from the first 250 pictures of vacation – in no particular order.

Dinner at Tony’s Pizzas – on the roof.

Dinner at Blue Fin Bar & Grill.

The gulls were very excited to be eating the leftover spicy fries from dinner.

The horrible burn …

I love this picture – it looks like mom is really giving it to him. I think she was telling him how cold the water was.