Well it has been a rough weekend in our household. The stomach virus has taken over and I am the last man standing (as of typing this blog…fingers crossed). Even little Gabriel was puking yesterday, but at least he is feeling better for his birthday today. We had to cancel his birthday party, which was a total bummer, but he seems to not mind at all.

On this day one year ago our baby Gabriel came into this world. It was 6:30 in the morning when he arrived at home. Yes, I gave birth at home ya’ll. And intentionally I might add. :) He was cute, and looked so much like his oldest brother, but with very pale skin and strawberry blonde fuzzy hair. This year seems to have flown by faster than I wanted, but I look at our amazing little guy, and thank God for each day we get with him. Lord willing this will be the first of many, many, many, birthdays we get to share together.

I just HHHAADD to post a photo tribute of his year. Yes there are a lot of photos but hey, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. ;)

This photo was on the day he was born. Scrunched up and red at first. Yes, I’m looking mighty rough. Pale, green and anemic!

These were all taken the first week of his life. Sweet little moments.

Um, yeah. We love us some Gabriel. Lots and lots of Gabie Baby. :) He is so pint size, I decided to blow him up to a 30×40.

Happy birthday my little love.

We had a beautiful evening when we met up with Julia and Josh for their engagement session. It was the first time meeting them, although Julia and I have been talking over email for months. Julia has been a fan of studio3z for a while, so it was awesome to finally meet up. I thought it was adorable when we pulled up and were looking for them, and she waved us down and said, “Hi! Knew it was you guys, from the blog!” :)

So when we were deciding on a location for our session, Julia left the decision up to me. When I mentioned my first pick, lets just say she was not exactly “feeling” it the way I was. :) Julia was looking for something a little more pretty than the urban idea I had in mind. I had heard that this *other* location was looking GORGEOUS right now, so I presented my idea to Julia and she loved it. The location? A very large, very old, very beautiful cemetery. Yes, I said a cemetery. In case you are not aware, we are not your typical photographers. :)

Throughout the session Josh mentioned being a little weary of all the gravestones, and the possibility of another figure showing up in the shots….(eeeekks) The cool thing was we were completely alone the whole time (at least in the land of the living). We were kept company by the gorgeous old trees, and lovely ponds filled with HUGE goldfish. The place was amazing.

Thanks Julia and Josh for putting up with us, and the heat! It was well worth it (in my opinion) to have that hot sun, when you see the AMAZING shots at the bottom with the sun going down.

Julia’s smile is contagious!! I couldn’t help but smile while looking through these. :)

Ok, I am a little crazy about these next two shots. Could the sun be any more perfect??