Give Thanks!

Is it really Thanksgiving again??!?!?!??!?!!

Today, we like to pause and remember all the things we're grateful for — and there are a TON of things we're thankful for this year! So, here we go (in no particular order):

— Our wedding clients, and especially their families, who at EACH wedding have welcomed us into their family. It's so amazing to be welcomed with such open arms. :-)


— The willingness of our clients to bring us to THEM do document weddings and engagements. We've been blessed to travel to Los Angeles for a wedding and for me to go to Chicago for an engagement session this year. Next year, who knows? Maui? Paris? ;-)


— For the incredible opportunities for continuing education, especially for Mike Colon's willingness to travel from Orange County, CA to Kansas to impart his knowledge with us during the Keepin' it Fresh Workshop.

Also, to Liana for her extreme generosity in granting a scholarship to Karen to allow her to attend Photography Business Boot Camp.


And finally in education, to Angela, Kim and Kitty for all of their hard work and passion they put into Flourish Workshop.


— For amazing families who give us complete artistic freedom. That they trust me when I say "there's a nice field behind the Quick Trip and I'd like for us to go there for your family portraits" ... that they enthusiastically say "you're the artist — we want the best pictures possible and we trust you."


— For ALL of the infants we've photographed this year! Seriously, I think 2008 was the "year of the baby" here at Heartland!


— For Amy, the "graphic goddess" behind Heartland. Seriously. Have you SEEN the albums she's designed this year? And DO stay tuned, because ALL of our weddings this year have albums she's working on! :-)

— And as you can see in the above photo, our own Amy and her husband are getting ready to welcome a little girl to their family. I'm SO thankful that BOTH Amy and Mike are going to have little girls within about a month of each other (weeks, if we're lucky). It should be loads of fun, and I'm SO excited to meet these little ladies!


— To be a Heartland bride myself! Getting married and going through my OWN wedding day was SO enlightening! I've often thought "why didn't she sleep this week?" ... Well I certainly allowed ample time for sleeping before my wedding, but guess what? Sleep eluded me! It was unbelievable!

All of the tiny details to attend to the week before a wedding are just mind boggling. My head is spinning right NOW as I think of them! It makes me SO glad we work with our couples to put together a timeline so everyone knows the game plan of the day going into the wedding day.

A SUPER BIG thank you goes out to my friend and business partner, Mike, who agreed to work during Erik and I's wedding. His awesome wife, Angie, had to bring another date because Mike was working hard all day to capture the many memories we have. Thank you Mike and Angie for being so awesome!

And finally, a MASSIVE thanks to my friend, Heather Essian, for traveling all the way from Texas to help Mike capture our wedding memories.


(Heather, Erik, Karen and Mike).