Paige & Brock {Wedding}

My cousin Paige got married last weekend and I have to say, it sure was beautiful! The wedding was held at Quarters One, at the Rock Island Armory. Quarters One is a gorgeous private residence built during the Civil War. Because of the location though, nothing is provided, hence the plates. My cousin and uncle searched for weeks buying out all the Goodwill's around of plates for dinner and cake.

  

 Paige first brought Brock around in 2007 and we've approved ever since. However, this may be the first time I've seen him in person without sunglasses upside-down on the back of his head.

So these girls could not have been cuter if they tried. 

Gah! You're so beautiful Paigey!! 

One of Paige's bridesmaid's mom made the cake - red velvet and super yummy!

We may have taken this picture for the sole reason of letting my aunt see what her hair looked like :)

 Love the heart that appeared in the lights for this picture -
it's actually two strands that just so happened to line up at this angle!

Rachel & Nick {Wedding}

So, as I was working on editing for my cousin Paige's wedding, I realized I had never posted the pictures of Rachel and Nick's wedding from earlier this summer. Oops. I have know Rachel since I was 15 and was so excited to see her get married to someone so perfect for her :)

About 15 minutes until ceremony time, it down-poured for about 10 minutes on this outdoor wedding, leaving a soggy aisle and chairs. So a quick reception venue rearrangement later, wha-la! Indoor wedding complete with lots of beautiful natural sunlight. 

Their cake smash was pretty impressive :)

By the time dinner was done, the outdoor patio space was dry enough for dancing!

I ♥ Faces: From a Distance

This one was tough for me. I generally prefer up close and personal shots, so shots from a distance are few and far between. Luckily, I took some shots while we walked a golf tournament with the McCoys. Just days after their wedding, Nate started on the Canadian Pro Golf Tour and Ashley caddied for him all summer. He came back to Iowa for a tournament in Mike's home town, so we got to go hang out with them while he played. You can see more pictures from the day here.

For more distance pictures, click the link below!

I ♥ Faces: Play

Here it is folks, the May photo challenge, PLAY!

This picture is from when I worked at EIBC and I have been waiting for a chance to use it in a challenge. Honestly, it was one of those totally lucky action shots from my point and shoot that actually turned out not blurry and I love the movement to it. It is from a game we called "crud wars". Pretty much it was Revolutionary War style battle in three rounds: 1. cups of water 2. cups of flour (in the picture) then 3. Chicken feed or some form of nasty leftover food that couldn't be served. The team the least coated in gross won. 

We would then do games like mud volleyball etc before cleaning off in the lake.

If you want to see more Play entries, click the button below!

Honeymoon - Cozumel, Mexico

Here are my favorite shots from our belated honeymoon to Cozumel over Thanksgiving 2012:

The yellow building is our resort

Relaxing in hammocks hung from palm trees on the best day of weather we had

My wonderful husband

Baby Benjamin {Infant}

With no further ado, as these are already almost 3 months old - our new nephew Ben!

 Sleepin' with Grandma

 and with Mom

 Poor guy was hooked to a UV vest for jaundice for a long time, but who can pass up a picture of those maniacal hands? I think he's already plotting something :D

We're so in love with the little guy and can't wait to get to know his personality as he gets older. 

I ♥ Faces: Best Face of 2012

Here it is folks, my favorite face photo of 2012:

Meet Angel. He is 6 and he and his two older brothers were in Iowa this July with the Kidsave: Summer Miracles program. The program brings older orphans or sets of siblings (those much less likely to be adopted) to the US to meet potential forever families. Angel and his brothers were 3 of 10 kids in the Des Moines area when they stayed with my in-laws this summer. For more pictures and information about the program, click here for my original post. We loved getting to know the goof-ball that is Angel and I love how much this picture reminds me of that - especially with the Cheetos residue on his mouth!

Click the Button for the links to other entries for the best face of 2012!

PS- Coming soon here: our new nephew Ben!
On our personal blog: Halloween, our Honeymoon, Christmas and Ben - I'm a little behind :D