We recently shot their engagement session and I adore their ease with each other and how Josh’s calm demeanor is the perfect balance to Tricia’s brimming excitement for life.  See for yourself.

I met Dustin and Stacey almost three years ago when we both moved into our new homes in Gilbert.  Over the last couple of years I have watched Stacey mow Dustin’s lawn a countless number of times and seen first hand numerous friends and family stop by to help them work on the never ending project…the backyard deck.  When they shared the news that Dustin had proposed I could not have been happier to know that Stacey could finally stop mowing the lawn would be a permanent neighbor.

It only seemed fitting to start their engagement session at their home away from home…Home Depot.

Next we moved the shoot outside to soak up some of the golden hour.

We had to include Rocky their adorable chocolate lab.  Rocky was a model of good dog behavior…most of the time!

We took advantage of every last bit of daylight for this session, but ventured out one more time.  Dustin specifically wanted to take pictures at a location he had seen while out riding his motorcycle.  On day two of shooting I had completely lost my voice (good news for my husband…right!).  I am SO grateful for my fellow photog Liz who agreed to get a last minute babysitter and join me for the second part of the session.   These next two images are from Liz.

While Liz was capturing the images above I had this adorable view.

We had a little fun with this “Wedding Parking Only” sign that we came across.

Oh…shut.the.front.door!!!  They are just TOO cute!!

I am working on re-designing my website, so you will notice that some older posts may be missing links or not loading properly. I am so sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m hoping to have the new site up in the next month or two!!

Until then I hope you are enjoying this awesome monsoon weather!

Here’s a before and after:

I started by emptying the entire contents of the drawer onto the counter top.

I have this drawer organizer that I was not fully utilizing…mostly because once the drawer started to get unorganized I gave-up and just shoved items in the drawer without looking!

Okay-so once everything was on display I broke everything into groups:

1: Paper work that needed to be sorted (I found 2 bills, one wedding invite and a check…yikes!!).

2. Gift cards: Did you know that nearly $8 Billion in gift cards never get used!  I had about $300 just waiting to become part of that $8 Billion.

3. Prenatal Vitamins…umm, I’m not pregnant and most had expired.  Trash.

4. Accessories: Including 10,000 bobby pins…because you never know when a stray hair might need pinning.

I used a binder clip to hold all of the gift cards and put a sticky note on the front to remind me what stores I had gift cards for.  Now when I am getting ready to run errands before I leave I check the list and see if I have any gift cards.

I added a second drawer organizer to keep paperwork/mail that requires an action from me (e.g. bills, wedding invites, thank yous etc).

Here’s the final product:

1. Car keys: I always dump my car keys here otherwise they will be lost.

2. Gum: I actually hardly ever chew gum, but it’s good to have around.

3. Gift cards and extra pair of sunglasses.  I ALWAYS lose my sunglasses and the sun it like kryptonite to my eyes, so extra sunglasses are a must.

4. Band-aids because there is always a blister waiting to happen or just healing when you spend 10 hours on your feet shooting a wedding.

5. Chapstick

6. Cell phone charger

7: Organized location for mail

The before and after one more time because I’m SO happy to have an organized junk drawer!!

Meet Becca and Peter..a cute couple from Tucson!!

Becca and Peter are getting married in late September here in Phoenix, but since they currently live in Tucson we decided to meet at UofA to shoot their engagement session.  Since Becca had booked me over the phone this was my first time meeting both her and Peter and I totally lucked out.  These two were SO easy going, fun and completely enjoyable to hang out with.

We discovered early in the session that Peter is a blinker…you know, as soon as the shutter clicks he blinks!  There’s usually one in every couple.  Peter was such a good sport as Becca and I joked continuously about this throughout the entire session.

Here are my favorite images (blinks included!).

Shooting on campus always has some surprises.  About 100 yards from where we were shooting there was an outdoor music festival.  Live performers and all…minus any actual attendees!  A rap du0 hit the stage and kept shouting, “Hands in the air!!”.  There was NO ONE within 200 yards of the stage…they were singing to themselves!!  As I told Becca and Peter to walk towards me for this next series of shots I also encouraged them to get their inner hip-hop dance on.

As we started to leave campus Becca bolted to this newspaper stand and grabbed a copy.  Turns out she likes to complete the crossword puzzle while on break at work.  Since she had to work the night shift that night (she’s a nurse) Becca was pretty stoked that she had a new crossword puzzle.

I thought it would be fun to take a few pictures in this local candy shop…who doesn’t LOVE candy right?  Answer…Peter.  We moved on after a few shots!

The lighting at this outdoor cafe was soft and beautiful.  A perfect place to end a fun engagement session!

Hot dogs, cotton candy, donkey rides, face painting…best birthday party ever!  Oh and cake too!  Check out this birthday party planned by Emily with Your Heart’s Desire.

Note to self-start planning Andrew’s 1st birthday ASAP!

I haven’t eaten Pixie Tix since I was in junior high and would buy them from the ice cream truck as I rode my bike home.  Hey, at least I was burning calories as I was eating pure sugar right?

The birthday boy himself!

What’s a party without hot dogs right?  I’ve seen these little veggie cups all over Pinterest…such a great idea for parties!

I’ve never shot a senior session, so this was pretty fun!

Jamie was so sweet and soft spoken.  This outfit seemed to totally match her personality of fun and light hearted.

Then there was an outfit change and WOZA!!!  I almost fell over.

Yes, I feel old saying this.  OMG!!!!  My parents would have died if I looked like this in high school.

Jenny and Adrian are getting married later this year in Utah, but wanted to have a few engagement pictures at the Mormon Temple in Mesa.  It was easy to see from the start of our session that Jenny is completely, 100% head over heels in LOVE with Adrian.  Adrian is a little more quiet and reserved at first, but as we walked around the Temple and chatted it was clear that he was just as smitten with Jenny.

The Temple grounds are SO beautiful.  I loved all of the flower.

Oh Jenny…you are so stinking cute on the inside and out!

Jenny and Adrian it was SO much fun to meet you both and I wish you all the best for your wedding later this year!!

I have my coffee, my to do list and a super cheesy smile on my face.  I am SO VERY thankful for a supportive husband that is encouraging and allowing me to move into this next phase of our life!

Knowing that this major life change is right around the corner I have been doing a lot of soul searching (okay-part soul and part internet) on what I want my everyday life to be.  I’ve noticed that my home life has become cluttered.  As the clutter grows so does the frustration between my husband and I and it has an inverse affect on my motivation to clean-up the clutter.  I’m beginning to fell like there is SO much to do where do I even start…and so, I never start.

Example: There are a stack of various papers that need to be sorted and filed (taxes, receipts, medical, bills etc).  It’s a small stack and it should only take about 10 minutes to complete this task.  Here is how my mind works though:

I need to sort those papers, they will go in the file cabinet in the office closet, the office closet needs to be cleaned and re-organized, the file cabinet should be painted, maybe coordinated file folders with cute labels, the paint color should match my photography branding since it will be in my office, I’m thinking about re-branding so I can’t pick a paint color yet, we really should have a Legacy File like Dave Ramsey suggests, some of these papers might go into the Legacy File, some might be shredded, I should have a consistent shredding policy (shred receipts after XX years or when we no longer use the item), I’m not going to file this stack of papers right now because I really need to organize-paint-decorate-rebrand and plus I don’t have a shredding policy.

Makes total sense right??????  Obviously NO.

Somewhere thru the grace of Pinterest I found a couple of resources that have given me hope.  The first is this $5 book One Bite at a Time 52 Projects to Make Life Simpler.  How are 52 projects going to make my life simpler?  The projects seem obvious, but it’s like this book has given me permission to conquer projects in small steps (e.g. filing my stack of papers without having to redecorate the office first).  I also love the concept of “Eating your frog”.  Which means do the task that you are most dreading first thing in the morning and the rest of the day will feel so much easier.

Another blog that I just can’t get enough of right now is IHeart Organizing.  This blog is a great inspiration for organizing and decorating in one.

How do you stay organized?  I would love to hear what your “frog” is.

Further proof that I am SO thankful that this is my last week.  Here is what I have to carry in and out of the house every morning/afternoon!  (Picture taken w/my cell phone).