My little sister Tressa Ann, and future brother-in-law, Matt.

We squealed and yelled and hugged when they told us they were engaged one Sunday afternoon. And soon, we were planning her engagement and bridal sessions. They love spending time in Virginia with Matt’s family at the “River Farm” so they chose that location for their engagement pictures. Tressa told me I was going to loooove it. And she was right! Our Mom went with us and we drove up on a Friday night. It was dark when we arrived but the next morning we woke and when I stepped out on the back porch - and when the fog finally lifted - I was in love with the view.

I snapped this picture with my phone…

We hopped on 2 four-wheelers and stopped and took pictures all the way down to the river. Once we got there we got in the river and had some fun. I can see why they love this place, it is beautiful…

I used my phone to snap this picture as we rode the four wheelers.. a little behind-the-scenes action for ya

Tressa and Matt… thank you. XoXo

And suddenly, she is five. My first girl, Kennedy Grace, is five years old today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

She is spunky, funny, sweet, determined and stubborn. She is smart and beautiful. She is the best big sister to her little sisters and she is her Daddy’s girl. She loves frogs (and other critters) and lip gloss and baby dolls (and barbies and dress-up and shoes and climbing tree’s and riding her bike and skirts and leggings and so much more!) She is one of a kind, and I love her dearly. Now, if we can just get all that determination and stubbornness channeled in the right direction, we’ll be good

Here she is, as a newborn baby….

And here she is a few weeks ago…

a couple more newborn pictures…

and these were taken a few days ago…

These two were taken a couple of weeks ago, she is totally into playing baby dolls lately

I found this next one looking back on her baby pictures. This is her cousin Owen kissing her for the first time. This just melts my heart and makes me all goo-goo-ga-ga. They may live 6 hours apart form each other, but they are the kind of close that only cousins can be when they are together…

Here they are back in the summer…

Ah. They grow SO fast! Excuse me while I go into doting Momma (and Aunt) mode…

I did this little ‘survey’ with her today, (the day before her Birthday) and here is what she has to say…

Favorite color: pink and blue

Favorite food: tacos

Favorite drink: not sweet tea (tea without sweet)

Favorite dessert: strawberry pie with icing (strawberry cream pie)

Best friend(s): Tori, Sienna and Kourtnie

Favorite thing to do: having birthday stuff and helping you in the kitchen and washing dishes

Favorite place: Piper and Claire’s house and Tori’s house

Favorite movie: The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. But I’ve never watched Sleeping Beauty before

Favorite toy: Barbies

Favorite book: Purplicious

When I grow up I want to be: Babysitter and a Mom, and taking photo shoots like you

I think I am good at: Tag your it! (and swimming)

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Happy Birthday girlie! We love you so much!

Six years ago today, on a perfect fall afternoon, we said “I do”.

All images taken by Kelley Clayton Photography

Tonight, as three little girls run around I think about how much has changed in these six years. I feel incredibly blessed. He is my best friend, and I love living life alongside him.

Thanks for looking And if your interested in reading a little more about how we met, you can check out this blog post…

Lane is baby brother to cute little Ally (I blogged her session yesterday), we did a few pictures to capture his sweet little self at 3 months old.
Paulette (his Mom) is so good at making sure she keeps up with pictures for all of her kids. As a Mom of five, it cannot be easy. But she makes it happen.

Paulette, thanks for asking me to do these for ya! As always, I loved having your kiddo’s in front of my camera

Monroe Baby Photographer
Charlotte Baby Photographer

I arrived a few minutes early for a photoshoot at this cute kids house. He walked around with me scoping out locations and finding the best light… He was a great little assistant

The session I was there for will be blogged soon

these next three are all very similar, but I love his expression in each one…

Linden chose the word ‘light’ as our 2nd focus for Click of the Wild. I am so excited to see what everyone posts! ‘Light’ can have so many different meanings. Light as in the natural light we have, man-made lights, a light salad or something light in the form of weight…. the possibilities are endless!
In case your wondering, we do not tell each other about - or show each other – our images before we post them. When we post the images on the Click of the Wild blog is when we all see what each other captured.

At the beach Stuart woke me up to go watch the sunrise one morning. It was absolutely beautiful and I felt was a great example of ‘light’…

As most photographers, I love me some gorgeous natural light, so I got some of Bristol playing in the afternoon sun…

But the image that I chose to use was this one. This is how I want to interpret my version of ‘Light’:

Inspiration for this shot actually came to me in church. We were reading from the Acts of the Apostles and how Paul was inspired to spread the word of Christ. That got me to thinking; how do I spread His word? And the idea for this shot started to take shape. It’s really not at all how I envisioned it, I was hoping for a shot at sunset where the sun rays were hitting the steeple just right to create beautiful, soft light with lots of sun flare. But, I quickly realized a lot of things would have to be just right for me to get that shot. So I shot from a few different angles at two different times of the day and settled on this shot. I love how the tree’s frame the steeple and cross and how it is in the ‘light’ part of the picture. And those Carolina blue skies…I love that too!

Now, head over to Click of the Wild and see how Alicia, Mallory, Linden and Molly see ‘light’

Mallory is a friend, and a photographer (you can see her work here). She is currently undergoing a lifestyle change and was in need of some “transformation” pictures as well as some new headshots for her business.
The day we did this shoot was rainy. Then sunny. Then rainy. Then sunny. And humid. But we got out there and had so much fun!

This camera is extra special to Mallory. Her “Mum” (that is what she calls her Grandmother) found this camera in a ditch beside the road when she was a young girl, she used it for years then gave it to Mallory awhile back. So it was a must that we get some pictures of her with this camera..

We had a lot of fun using an instant polaroid camera that I borrowed from my sis

the instant polaroid camera and a few shots we took with it…

We had just finished up when the sun came out again and I was all “ohhh, in 30 minutes that field is going to be gorgeous if the sun stays out!” and she was all “Oh if I were shooting I’d be out there right now!” Then we had a discussion on how I thought it was too bright and she thought it was just right. We hopped out and got a few shots and I ended up loving them!
Thanks Mal, for pushing me outside of my comfort zone….

Mallory, you rocked this shoot. And I loved having you in front of my camera! XoXo