Make sure you head over to www.iheartfaces.com to check out all the other entries.

Donnel, Sylvia, Alexandra and Johanna wanted to take some nice Christmas photos… but only Johanna would look at me!

Abbey makes a lovely bride! But it was so cold outside that she had to wear Kevin’s jacket. And her veil flew over her face! Adorable.

It snowed here in Kansas, and apparently Americus did NOT like it.

So we went sledding. But Sam got snow all over his face!

Eventually he cleaned himself off and showed me his usual face. Charming, brother

Look at these beautiful faces!

SO CUTE. Sylvia was trying to get Alexandra to “behave”… but if she had, we wouldn’t have gotten this AMAZING shot!

It was great when only the baby was looking at me. Alexandra clearly loves her daddy.

Merry Christmas, Donnel, Sylvia, Alexandra, and Johanna!

At the reception, Katie and Peter had us decorate Jenga blocks for them to have – what a cool idea!

above: Katie’s mom made her AMAZING dress. K&P’s books made a perfect nerdy frame for her shoes. The flowers were all dried, and all GORGEOUS.

below: Katie getting ready, and a super-sweet first look.

What a fun portrait!

above: Kissy face! Taking advantage of the beautiful garden. And some pretty swell foot action – check out that kilt!

below: K-k-k-Katie, beautiful Katie! K&P served communion at their wedding – here’s P with K’s mom. Our dear friend Dave played guitar.

I was trying to get sweet photos of them walking down the aisle, and THIS is what Katie gave me to work with – LOVIN’ IT!!!

above: Men in kilts + some super sassy ladies = one amazingly fantastic wedding party!

below: This was Katie’s idea – loves it!

Congratulations, Katie and Peter! Blessings to you!

This is a rockin’ slam poet I heard at the Utah Arts Festival named Flora. I’m a little in love with her.

Here’s my friend Sarah who was visiting from NC. This photo was taken up at Silver Lake. She’s so pretty!

Sarah was in town to see the Indigo Girls concert with me, and this photo came from the concert.

I visited North Carolina with my family, and we went rocksliding at the Potholes. This is my brother Sam.

And this is his buddy Liam enjoying the… umm… cool? water of the mountains!

I photographed Katie’s wedding in Madison, Wisconsin – this is just a preview!

Back in NC, Kody, Jay, Aaron, Sara and I went out on the boat in Lake Toxaway. Here’s a gorgeous one of Sara. Aaron and Sara got engaged later that week! Woo hoo!

Then it was time for Solange’s wedding. This is one of my favorites of her and her stepson Marcus.

My BFF Karen on Solange’s wedding day – we stopped to pick some wildflowers that matched Solange’s wedding colors.

And just this weeken, Sarah M. and I went on a hike with the Mount Olympus Hiking Group up to Broad Forks. Utah is so gorgeous. I may actually miss it!

So that’s my summer in photos. Next… on to Berkeley!

10-day forecast has Madison rainy on Saturday… but full sun on Sunday! Verdict is still out on Brevard the next weekend.

In the meantime, behold my new beauty:

So excited to break her in at Katie K’s wedding!

Updates in the next two weeks as I can…

Be sure to head on over to I ♥ Faces and check out all the rest of the great entries.

She’s got GORGEOUS blue eyes, a beautiful smile (which she’s hiding because of her braces), and that pesky acne. So here’s the photo post-retouch.

So much better! No one wants to deny that Emily is a teenager. We’re not looking to airbrush her skin smooth. But it’s nice to take out some of those big blemishes. Also, if acne scarring has left the skin red and blotchy, we can counteract that with a (believe it or not) green tint. I cleared up Emily’s forehead and nose, evened out the tone a little on her chin, and removed a little dandruff from her hair. Then I fixed the lighting and bumped up the saturation a little bit and was done! I think this photo is one Emily will be very happy with.

The first is wedding related: Tea Length Wedding Dresses.

I love it. Summery, classic, casual. And the pockets… oh the pockets! Here are three of my favorites from the Jenny Yoo Alternative collection.

http://www.jennyyoo.com/wedding_alternatives.html

I especially love the neckline on that third dress. GORGEOUS. And who doesn’t want some pockets on her wedding day? Vows? Tissues? A little something to calm the nerves?

The second has to do with food: The Community Food Co-Op of Utah.

The mission of the Co-Op is working towards equal accessability of nutritious, affordable, fresh food for all people. Our orders come in once a month, and produce is generally 50-75% cheaper than you can find in a grocery store. This month the harvest share has peaches, plums, oranges, avocados, broccoli, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, EGGPLANTS (!!), fresh wheat bread, and red beans. YUM! I can hardly wait to pick up my order on Saturday!

My third love this week is pretty simple: MUSIC. (specifically female folk music.)

Maybe it’s just that I’m looking forward to the Indigo Girls concert in (less than!) two weeks, but here are some artists I’m really into this week:

a. b. c.

Irish singer/songwriter/all-around-stylish lady Lisa Hannigan. Check out her album “Sea Sew”, and especially the song “I don’t know”.

New York’s upcoming mistress of acoustic guitar and song is Jaymay – and she’s cool not just because we share a name. Check out her album Autumn Fallin’ and the last song ‘you are the only one I love’, which features a great line about loving me

The ever fantastic Dar Williams. I’m on another kick. Especially the song ‘Iowa’.

That’s it for this week’s Things I’m Loving! Weddings, Food, and Music. Who can complain?

Gorgeous

everyone was getting ready – not just Patty!

Thanks, Ruth, for this shot

girls all helping with the various dressing aspects – including shoes and tape.

Mom adjusting the dress

I couldn’t be any more in love with this last series. Patty was simply stunning.

Thanks again, Patty and Adam, for letting me be a part of your day!

The Aspens in Utah are GORGEOUS. They remind me of the Birches in Carolina.

Can’t resist it.

Don’t litter! And I love the sign that says ‘Drinking water may be obtained at: no water available’

Lisa Jackson and a flower

These are the mountains of Utah. We’re standing in the Wasatch mountains. The first and third photos are looking down into the valley and out towards the Oquirrhs, the second is looking up towards Park City. I love watching the storm roll in – you can see the rain starting in the third photo.

A little self portrait

There were these two adorable little girls walking in front of us on the trail – I managed to catch one of them skipping.

Melissa Hinnen takes photos of the mountains. Maybe my favorite thing about this photo? Melissa’s Church of the Village t-shirt. “A Progressive United Methodist Community” in Greenwich Village, NYC. This is where we worshiped on the first Sunday of Missionary training. During the offering, Lindsey leaned over to me and said that she’d rather tithe to her church (later my church, too) in DC, Dumbarton UMC, because she wasn’t sure this church was a reconciling church. (It is, btw.)

And one last photo from the day: Skip Strickland, Kathy Kraiza, Brian Diggs, Lisa Jackson, and Melissa Hinnen, our staff from Rocky Mountain Annual Conference, UMCOR Sager Brown in Louisiana, UMCOR West here in Salt Lake, and UMCOR in New York City. They’re showing you their elbows because we were hiking the “Elbow Fork Trail”.