Beach Vacation

Haven't had a whole lot of time to pick up the camera lately, but I did take it with us on our short beach vacation this past weekend!  A few shots from our morning walks on the beach looking for shells.

I can't decide which of the following three I like the best... Help!

The K Family ~ Ashford Family Photographer

On Sunday afternoon, I had the chance to get together with the K family for some family photos. The weather cooperated (it was foggy and chilly that morning!) and it was a beautiful sunny and fairly warm afternoon for some family photos! Shannon was our doula for Adi's birth (if you're in need of a good doula, check out her website or let me know and I'll get you in touch with her -- she's AWESOME) and she and her family have become good friends of ours. One thing I love about Connecticut is that there is no shortage of fun places to take a family photo. Both of these places are right down the road from my house! Here are a few of my favorites:

I know this one isn't a "typical" good photo, but I love how each of the kids is doing something a little different and showing a bit of their own personality... So true of a large family! :) 

It's been how long??

Yeah, so just call me a slacker now. Except that I really do have good excuses... really. None of this "the dog ate my homework" type stuff either... so where have I been? Why has my blog gotten slightly dusty? Let's see... since the last blog post I have had one amazing concept shoot (put together by the lovely ladies at Anwen Elizabeth Photography, Chrissy Rose Photography and myself), have been to Connecticut and back on business, and now have some family in town. So last night, more than a week after the concept shoot, I finally had a chance to actually look through the photos I took that day. So today you get a sneak peek, just enough to pull you in and get you as excited about it as we were and still are! Meagan and Nate were awesome models, as was their adorable Basset, Frannie. So enjoy some of the eye candy and check back for more later this week!

Some of the amazing details:

Frannie was super all afternoon!

Love this shot. Totally Chrissy's idea!

 RAWR! Both of you. Seriously...

And a shot of the 3 photogs. Laugh like Julia Roberts!! 

Kelly ~ Gainesville Maternity Photographer

Yesterday morning I had the absolute pleasure of visiting with my friends Kelly and Mort for Kelly's maternity photos. Kelly is a fellow UF Animal Sciences alum and horse enthusiast. While it was a bit chilly outside and the horses were a bit too hairy (they grow thick coats here in Florida too!) to include them in the maternity photos, we did include Sierra and Otto, Kelly and Mort's two dogs. In fact, as we were starting, Otto jumped right up on the couch with Kelly and laid down with his head on her leg, right against her belly. So adorable! I had a great time taking Kelly's photos -- she definitely has that "glow!" Some of my favorites:

Otto, protecting his Mom's belly!

Love, love, love this one!

Tyler - Sneak Peek! ~ Gainesville Senior Portrait Photographer

I couldn't resist putting up a quick sneak peek of tonight's senior portrait session with Tyler. She rocked it! Stay tuned -- more to come!

Fun with Family

As you've probably noticed, I've had family visiting the past few weeks. The end of February, Jared's family was here with our niece, Emma.  This past week, my best friend was visiting, along with her boyfriend and daughter (our god daughter), Ceci.  We've made several trips to the farm to ride the horses (which both girls were thrilled with and did AWESOME riding the big horses!) and to Disney -- Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and MGM.  So in short, I got to take lots of pictures of little girls that I don't get to see NEARLY enough... and oh, how I love hearing "Aunt Sarah!" :) 

Emma got to visit the sheep in the petting zoo at Animal Kingdom.

My absolute favorite shot of Emma from the day...

Ceci is a CHAMP at hula-hooping!!

Inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Ceci and GodFather

Good friends, good wine, good times!

Jared and I went to a dinner party last night to celebrate our fried Sara's birthday and her husband John moving back to Gainesville.  It was the perfect end to a week that has been seriously less than perfect (but that's another blog...). We went to Ti Amo, a cute place hidden in downtown Gainesville.  Sitting there last night made me really think about how much I truly appreciate all of my friends and how important they are in my life.  Sara and John have both been great friends of mine through grad school. AND they invited me to Spain next year to photograph their wedding (yes, they're already officially married, just no wedding yet...).  How much luckier can a girl get? Here are some of the photos from last night. Enjoy!

Sara and her sister, Megan (aka Bunny)

Sara and John

My sadly empty glass of sangria at the end of the night.  This place has *awesome* sangria!

Horse Shows in the Park Banquet

Every year, all of us that show horses and usually look all grungy and ditry gete cleaned up, put on our best clothes, and get together for the awards banquet!  This year, the Horse Shows in the Park awards banquet was held at the beautiful Ocala Hilton. Wynfield Farm and Sundaram Farm put on a great showing, with a ton of Championships and Reserve Championships!  It was a great evening with great friends.  We all worked incredibly hard all year; it's amazing to see how well it paid off! A few photos from the evening:

Scooby's beautiful third place ribbon.

Bailey and all of her loot!

Ella and TJ

When does the show season start again??