constancepohlphotography.com

I can’t believe it.  It feels like summer has just barely started!  But there they were – dark browns, purples, and greens carefully arranged in patterns as I opened the door and let the air conditioning blast over me giving instant relief from the blazing sun.  I couldn’t help but feel that wave of excitement that I get every year around this time.  How can one who hates winter as much as I do LOVE fall as much as I do?  Isn’t it the precursor to all things cold and miserable?  But it’s the cozy sweaters – the return of long sleeves, the smell of school supplies, and the view of golden leaves against an impossibly blue sky  that  makes my heart skip a beat.  It helps that my husband and I met in the fall, started dating in the fall, and were engaged in the fall.  I get warm fuzzies just thinking of it all.  SO…in light of all those spring-like twitter-patted feelings I think it’s time to run a Celebrate Life Mini Session marathon again!  Here are the details!

It’s hard to think about Christmas when we’re enjoying 30 degree weather but this would be a great way to get that family picture for your Christmas cards/letters!  These tend to book up fast so reserve your time slot today.

I am the youngest of 4.

Yup – there I am.

My parents have been married for 41 years.

Yup – there they are!

Their family has grown….alot!  There are 22 of us now…

Happy Anniversary to my parents.  41 years of bliss.  Well mostly bliss I’m sure.  Really I don’t need to know the details.  ;)

The 4 in the back produced (with help) all of these….

Scary!

My sister Lynay took this of Brian and I

I took this of our kids…aren’t they cute?

I love my family.  I’m so grateful for each and every one of them.   We spent the whole weekend/part of the week laughing till our guts ached and just enjoying each other.  I remember as a child asking my mom what she wanted for {insert special day here} birthdays, mother’s days etc.  She would always say “for you to be obedient and for my children to get along”.  I hope that gift is realized for her now.  I wish we could do this all the time – it’s rare for us to all be in one place at the same time.  Thank you to my brother Gerry and his wife Pat for hosting us all in our trailers on their property and letting us crash their pool.  Thank you to Lynay and Stan for coming out from Vancouver Island!  And everyone else who showed up bringing yummy snacks and treats and helped me to gain back 10 lbs.  ok well I dont’ thank you for that – but it was fun at the time!

July 17th always has a magic ring to it for me.  I heard it in the midwife’s office  3.5 years ago, and repeated it to anyone who asked – and everybody does.  It was my son Hunter’s predicted birthday!  Of course barely anyone is actually born on their due date but as a first time mom I obsessed over this date for nearly 9 months!  Funny enough I can’t for the life of me remember Adelle’s due date – (which she was so late to the party it wasn’t even funny…seriously…ask any overdue mama to be…not funny!) but Hunter’s I almost think of this date before I can remember his actual birthdate! 

I won’t bore you with the details (though I do love a good birthstory) but he was born a few days “early”.  July 13th is his actual birthday and we celebrated his leaving the terrible twos and entering his thriving threes with my parents and my sister and her family.  The theme was CARS.  The boy is obsessed (I don’t know where he gets that from…) – Disney cars, Opa’s car, Grandma’s car, mommy’s car, Dubby’s car (Daddy was just renamed this week – aparently now he’s “Dubby”).  I went all out and even made a CARS cake!  I am not a baker.  But at least I have pics to prove that I baked a cake.  I don’t think the cake actually tasted that great…no idea what went wrong – but the icing was good!

The day after he turned three he all of a sudden decided that the potty was not some crazy torture device made by evil beings, and we began our most successful attempt at potty training to date.  There really is something to leaving it until their ready.  But really…a birthday makes that big a difference?  Really?  If so this is going to be a great year!  Happy Birthday to my son!  Here’s to the thriving threes!

It feels so good to write those words.  “Edmonton Wedding Photographer”  I have to start out talking a little about me (I promise I’ll get back to the good stuff in a sec).  Ever since I started taking photography seriously I have wanted to be a wedding photographer.  But everything I read told me that I was not prepared – I heard “bad idea – run away – weddings = stress”.    I played the denial game for some time – answering people with “maybe someday – but it’s not really in my plans.”  And yet…when buying equipment a tiny little part in the back of my head always did a mental check about whether the purchase would work for weddings…”someday” (of course).

But this isn’t new behavior for me.  I don’t know why (and maybe someday a therapist will have a field day with this) but I do the denial thing often!  Just after Brian and I were engaged, his mom asked me what my favorite color was.  “Oh I don’t know…pink maybe?”  But I’d go shopping and see a red purse and think – oh my goodness that is the most amazing purse ever.  Or maybe I’d see a car and think “I love that car”  (Red VW Jettas were the rage I believe).  I remember my moment of truth – Brian and I were walking through the parking lot at Ikea a few weeks before our wedding.  I, of course was exclaiming over something we had seen in the store and I wanted – and wasn’t it the most perfect thing you’ve ever seen when Brian decides it’s time for an intervention.  What color was that most perfect thing ever?  Yup – Red.  It’s a sick obsession with me really – I can’t believe I denied it for so long.

Now really it’s the same with Wedding Photography – I’ve secretly obsessed about it for some time – and now I am ready to come out of the closet so to speak!

I first met Amy when she was maybe 6 or 7 – around the time my sister married her uncle!  We’ve talked in passing at various full family gatherings and she’s probably one of the sweetest girls I know!  Quick to lend a hand or get kids occupied and she is much adored by lots of children as she runs a successful business teaching Music for Young Children classes.

Adam, I had heard alot about over the years they dated but met for the first time (I think) when they came to me for engagement photos.  Right away I was impressed by his ready laugh (at my bad jokes) and obvious love for Amy.  I mean anyone who laughs at or with me is my friend for life…really.

I love that this couple gave me the chance to do something I really love.  So I thank them for that and leave you with a few moments from their day!

It’s time for a change!  Hooray!  Time for a bit of a clean sweep.   See I have this thing about ugly things.  I don’t like putting pretty things in or on or around ugly things.  The old blog was an ugly thing.  I would write my post, preview the beautiful people on my pitiful blog, shutter and die a little on the inside, close my eyes and gingerly click the “Publish” button.  Sometimes I just couldn’t do it…I couldn’t associate the post with my blog so you missed seeing all that I’ve been up to this last year.  I promise this will change.  Please bear with me – I’m doing a bit of branding change as well – but I just couldn’t bare to stay on the old blog any longer.  So I’m jumping the gun – showing you my new logo EARLY and hopefully everyone will be happier!  I know I am!!!