A Daddy's Little Girl...

 What really stood out to me at this wedding was the relationship between the father and the bride… I loved witnessing and documenting the different emotions that the father of the bride experiences throughout the wedding day.

What a true blessing that God gives to Father’s… the responsibility to raise his daughter with love and security and then the privilege of passing his daughter on to someone that he can trust her life with.

There isn’t much more to say… his expressions really do say it all…

Tears of Joy...

Pride

                                                                            Trust

True Happiness

                                                                   Adoration

                                                               

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 

My Shoes... My Journey...

Last Spring I started coaching Track and Field and began running long distance with the team at practices.  I started to love running and decided that it was time that I train for a half marathon.  This is something that I always said I would never do, because honestly I just can't stand being alone for that long while running.  Well anyways Track season ended and I kept running.  At this point I had a goal in mind and there was nothing that was going to get in my way.  I was amazed at how far I could run without getting tired, and at just how easy it seemed to be, because of how often I was running.

 The hard part came when I had to run during vacations or while family was visiting.  My runs started to get longer as race time got closer.  If I didn't have a clear goal for the week then it was very hard for me to put other things aside and to get out and do the mileage. Sometimes it was uncomfortably hot and I would get so dehydrated or I would get blisters on my toes or a side stitch if I ate too closely to my workout, but I just did it anyways.   My dad always told me that a little pain is what lets you know that you are alive.  I truly believe this and I think that too many people these days are too comfy.  It was during these hard times that I realized that I personally was not strong enough.  My will, my determination, my body was not strong enough, but I realized that if I gave the time and the effort, God would take me the rest of the way.  Some of you may think this is silly, but I really believe that if you never push yourself to an uncomfortable place you will never grow and you will never see what is possible.  I had a few runs where the first three miles I was fine and the last six to eight I just wanted to give up and I questioned my reasoning for continuing.

A week before my race I ran my last long run before my tapering.  I was so excited to get this last run over with and to actually run this half marathon that had been in my head all summer.  During the run I felt great.  I finished tired and hot of course so I jumped in the pool and then just laid down for a while.  When I got up from my couch I could barely walk on my left foot.  I figured it was just soreness and thought that it would just go away with stretching, massaging and with time.  The week went by and I found myself in Virginia Beach for the marathon limping to pick up my race packet.  It was this moment that I decided that it wasn't worth it.  Being uncomfortable is one thing but being injured was another.  It was hard to swallow but I had to decide not to run in this race that I had trained, and sacrificed for all summer.  It hurt to think about all of the suffering I had gone through, but it just wasn't worth ruining my foot for even longer, especially because I am a Phys. Ed teacher and a coach.  

I expected to be retiring these shoes after my big hurrah in Virginia Beach. These shoes had carried me miles and miles all over Maryland, Pennsylvania, and even California.   

Things do not always turn out like we think they will.  I've had a lot of time to think about this now and although I am disappointed I have learned a lot about myself and about people in general.  We tend to place the most value on the end result and we give almost no credit to the journey.  What if I did no training and went and ran in a half marathon.  What would I have gained?  The ability to where a T-shirt that says Virginia Beach half marathon?   We learn, grow, and gain perspective through our trials and it is so important that we enjoy the journey and not just the end result, because in some cases it is all about the journey at not at all about an ending.  

So, here I sat on the beach staring at my shoes that had carried me thus far, feeling proud of myself for my mental and physical endurance throughout the summer and feeling privileged to have gained this perspective on life.  

Super Vacay!!!!

        Recently, my sister- in- law suggested that we set a date for a family vacation that will become an annual thing.  Every year we will keep the same dates open for this family vacation to ensure that we get to see each other no matter how far away we live.  Our theme name for this year's vacation was "Super Vacay" and this vacation was nothing short of that title.  We had boating, tubing, water skiing, water slides, tie dye, ping pong tournaments, dance offs, old school polaroids, hiking, s'mores, pizza on the grill, late night charades and more!

        I love spending time with my family.  There is a certain sarcasm that my family has that I don't think anyone else would ever understand.  The fact that Sarah and Chris (my brother's wife and my husband) are able to just jump right into our sarcastic ways just shows that they were meant to be part of our family. Or it just means that they are crazy like we are.

        The reason I love spending time with my family is because they get me... I can totally be myself around them, and I know that they are being themselves as well.  Sometimes I think this is the whole reason that we even have family vacations.  It's time to just be your "real" self, which is usually something that people would be embarrassed of at work, church, or even the grocery store.  Sometimes being your "real" self can bring on little quarrels and disagreements but I have to say that it is refreshing.  I get tired of the passive aggressive behavior that I come across daily just because people are trying to be "nice" and not say what they really mean.  

 I love my family more than anything in the world, and I think this deep love comes from being honest with each other.  Oh, and a little forgiveness... for the little quarrels I was talking about earlier... 

 And just when you think you can't possible love anyone as much as the family you already have, another member is born.  Ha!  Not only does she fit perfectly into our family but she makes it even better! God is good.

So all that to say: Everyone should have an annual SUPER VACAY, but thats just me.

Fairy Tale come true...

I just photographed a really beautiful wedding in Georgia a week ago. Now, I love weddings for a lot of reasons. I could probably write a whole book about why, but I will spare you and just pick one topic for this post. I noticed something at this last wedding and that is that we all love just staring at the magnificent bride all day. She just looks so stunning and perfect in her white dress with her veil blowing in the wind. If you've been to a wedding you know what I'm talking about.

Of course some people are looking at her with admiration, some are looking with pride, and there are the select few that are looking at her with envy. We all know how the groom is going to look at the bride when he first sees her.

This is how the groom looked at the bride at this wedding at least. Amazing right? His face says it all. He really loves her, and he feels so blessed. I also noticed that the father of the bride only really cares about one look, and you would think it would be the groom's, but it's not. He cares a little of course, but why wouldn't the groom be smiling when he sees this princess walking towards him? That's a given. The reaction that the father of the bride cares most about is the look that his daughter has on her face when she sees the groom. Because you see, he knows that the groom is lucky to have his daughter , but does his daughter feel lucky? Does she feel like her fairy tale is coming true? Only then can he be truly happy about walking his little princess down the aisle.

Anyone that attended this wedding knows that the answer to this father's question is yes. From the way this beautiful bride looked at her groom, we could all see that she felt the same way her groom did, and of course she felt like her fairy tale was indeed coming true.

Pretty Pretty Princess...

So, I realized the other day that women pretend that dressing up like a princess is just a childhood pleasure. The reason I say they are pretending is because my niece dressed up in her princess dress the other day and yes, she was really enjoying twirling and swirling around, but there were some other girls in the room that were enjoying it even more than she was. Her mother, grandmother and I could not stop admiring her in this beautiful pink fluffy dress, hence all of the photos I took. The truth is that we all know how wonderful it would be to feel like a princess even just for a moment and we wanted her to experience that feeling. I think that secretly all women are wishing that they could dress up in that pink fluffy dress and spin around a few times in the mirror. The neat thing is that God sees us as so beautiful just like little princess Madeline felt in this picture, and we don't even need to dress up for it.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Weddings continued...

Lastly, I want to say that I also love how happy people are after the ceremony. I love capturing the smiles and the celebration.

Weddings...

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing my first wedding where I was the "hired photographer". So I got to be right up front, I got to tell people when they were in my way, and I also got to pose people how I wanted. It was so great, I really loved it... But those are not the only reasons that I loved photographing the wedding. There is something so special about documenting that day for people. I love seeing how excited the bride and groom are while they are getting ready for their big day. They have thought about this day for months and planned everything out as much as they can, but now none of the details matter anymore. Even if the frosting on the cake doesn't match the bridesmaids dresses, or if the bouquets arrive with lilies instead of roses, the wedding is still going to happen! Its now or never, the worrying is put aside and its just time to do up the hair and put on the dress.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was the actual ceremony. Seeing the groom's face while he was waiting for the bride to come down the aisle and then the bride's face when she gets close enough to see the tears in the groom's eyes... Its such an amazing moment, and I got a front row seat, not only that but it was my responsibility to document that moment so that they can remember exactly how they felt.

Student Teaching Comes to an End!

Well, I wasn't sure how I would feel about teaching Health and PE to 9th graders.

I had tried that before for a 20 hour practicum

that I had to do and I wasn't too happy with that experience. The kids were soooo lazy and had way too much attitude for me! But now I find myself graduated from college and finished at Liberty High School where I had 8 weeks to spend with 5 different classes of 9th graders and I have to say that I am sad and missing it

already.

Just so that you can get an idea of the kids that I was teaching, here are some group pictures that I took of them on my last few days.

It didn't take long for me to realize that I really love teaching

high school kids.

Were they lazy? Of course! Did they give me attitude? Every day! So Why do I miss my time there?

Well just look at the pictures! 9th Graders are funny! If you have a job where you can laugh a few times a day, consider yourself blessed!

It's moments like this that got me from one attitude to the next. Its moments like this that make it all worth it. The lesson planning, the teaching, the grading, its all worth it because these kids are worth it.

They deserve to have people in their lives that care about them enough to put the time and the effort in. Even when they gave me attitude and they frustrated me to the point where I felt like ripping my own hair out, I kept on planning, and teaching, and grading and smiling, because they deserve to have someone in their life that doesn't give up on them.

Photo Shoot with my Sisters

I got to go home for easter this past weekend. It was really neat because going back now I saw everything with a fresh perspective. All of the farm land looked so beautiful and unique. While I was living there I never thought the farm land was beautiful and definitely didn't think it was unique. Its funny how we take the beautiful things right around us for granted. I decided to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and plan a photo shoot with my sisters. I made Chris tag along to take some group shots of us girls. I am sure you will agree that my sisters are absolutely gorgeous, and they make for great models. It really was so much fun photographing them in the scenery that we all grew up in. The fun thing about being around my sisters is that we are always laughing so much. The only thing missing from this shoot was my other beautiful sister, Liana.

Florida Keys

So....the second part of my Christmas break was a little different than my snow days in Pennsylvania.

We were very lucky to get this campsite on the beach at Long Key State Park. This place books up months in advance, but we pulled in to the state park just to check for a cancellation. Sure enough someone had cancelled minutes before we drove up. Our tent was literally 20ft from the water!

By the way I didn't cheat and have someone take this photo for us.. I used my lovely tripod, external flash, and my 10 second timer...

The reason someone cancelled their reservation for the campsite was because of the unusually cold weather for the keys. But for us, compared to Virginia weather, this was perfect.

We left the rain fly off of our tent so that we could see the stars through the tent. In the morning we opened up the front door to see the morning light on the ocean water. What a spot! This picture here was our amazing view.

Snowed in at Grandma's house

So...It turns out that being snowed in at Grandma's house isn't so bad after all, especially when Grandma's house is in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

.

When I took this photo the snow was still coming down, so Chris was holding an umbrella over me as I tried out all different angles.

My favorite part about snowstorms is how quiet they are. The snow was coming down so hard and yet is was the quietest day of the year in Gettysburg.

At this point I was walking down the middle of a street that is usually busy and loud with tourists trying to see every monument and read every sign. Instead I was walking through a ghost town....All I could hear was the snow falling on my umbrella and the snap of my shutter button.

Big Cats

If you read my earlier post you saw that I went to Tennessee over Thanksgiving break to visit my husband's parents. While I was there in Tennessee we went to the Knoxville Zoo and I had some encounters with some of the animals that I never would have imagined possible....

First of all, I did not realize that you could get this close to a male Lion!

He did not seem to be completely comfortable with Chris and I standing so close!

He paced back and forth and had a deep low growl that he was managing to get out without opening his large mouth. He looked a little frantic, like he was trying to hold back his frustration towards us. Chris and I were counting on that fence between us and the Lion to protect us in case of an outburst!

Once again, I did not realize that you could get this close to these big cats!

There was a sign on the fence that said, "Please NO Flash photography", the cat apparently really does not like flash. I heard a story before about a guy in the circus who had been a Bengal Tiger's trainer for many years. One night he decided to wear a silver sequins shirt and it caused his faithful tiger to attack him and kill him!! Many of you might remember this..

Well I remembered this and decided to follow the instructions on the sign and turn my flash off. Well it seemed like that tiger knew that big cameras like mine are the ones that usually produce this huge flash that he hates! He decided to try and scare me out of taking pictures of him!

He jumped up on the fence about 5 ft. in front of me and growled a big cat growl, causing me to jump and miss the picture of his huge mouth wide open! Instead I snapped a picture right after, getting a lousy closed mouth. Soooo.. Despite the fact that I didn't get that great picture, has anyone else ever been growled at by a Tiger and a Lion in one day??

A Thanksgiving Full of Firsts

This Thanksgiving break I went to Tennessee to visit my husband Chris' parents. Chris' brother Lee came with his wife Stacie and his two beautiful girls Madeline and Charlotte. We even surprised Chris' parents by picking his other brother Zach up at the Knoxville Airport. We had such a fun time visiting with everyone for the week. This Thanksgiving break was so unique because it seemed to be full of all kinds of firsts.

This is baby Charlotte meeting her Great Grandmother for the FIRST time.

She was very calm and quiet as she just stared into her great grandmothers eyes. She seemed to be trying to figure something out. It was like she recognized a similarity but she couldn't put her little finger on it. Very Precious moment...

This was Madeline's FIRST time playing in the fall leaves. Port Saint Lucie, Florida does not offer this opportunity for her very often!

At first she seemed a little shy.. she just kicked the leaves a little and dragged her fingers across them trying to figure out what we expected her to do. I sat down in the leaves and invited her to join me, from there on out she new just what to do! She would jump in and then ask her daddy for a hand to help her up!

This Thanksgiving is the FIRST holiday in 3 years that the whole McElroy family has been together. Plus this was my first holiday ever spent with all of the McElroys!

Lee, Stacie, Chris and I decided that we were going to drive to Knoxville and spend some time touring around a little. Well, little did the parents know that we were also picking up their other son Zach at the Knoxville airport. Zach snuck around back and up through the basement door. He came up behind his mother, and casually asked "Mom do you have an extra blanket I could use?" She did a double take, and then came the scream!!

The Start of My Blog...

Why the start of the blog??

Well honestly, I get tired of taking so many photos and having them sit on my hard drive with no one to see them but me. Maybe this will be motivation to just take more photographs altogether. I really love it.. documenting my experiences. Sometimes my photos are not even technically correct, but I have captured the moment and there is something that I just love about that.

So I will start with a photograph that I did not take today, but it is a picture of a moment that I captured this summer, a moment that I am missing very much right now.

I took this photograph at the Augusta Rodeo in Montana. I traveled to Augusta with a group of friends from photography school. We all had the same intentions I think.. we just wanted to experience Montana at its fullest and practice some photo skills that we had been learning so far. Wow! Places like this still exist!?! It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I have been to a rodeo before in Pennsylvania.. but that was nothing compared to a true Montana rodeo.

The streets were dusty, the smell of barbecue was in the air, and if you weren't wearing a cowboy hat you stuck out like a sore thumb! Montana is full of precious places like this... The reason I call them precious is because of how rare these places are in the world now. I felt as if I had traveled back in time, and I got to take my camera with me!