Wow wow wow.  What a whirlwind weekend.  Things still feel a little unreal.  Married the most hilarious man in the world who also happens to be my best friend on Saturday and I couldn’t be happier!  We’re off to Hawaii for some honeymoon adventures and relaxation.  I’ll be back with lots of posts and updates when we return in late May.

Thank you everyone!!!

April

I love you G!

Today’s session is featuring one of the coolest activities I’ve ever had the chance to do and I have to thank Theresa & Paul for being willing to let me photograph it for them.  Not too long ago they asked if I might be willing to go up in a hot air balloon with them for their engagement photos.  It took me about two seconds to decide that I would absolutely be down for such a unique experience:)  I actually met Theresa at Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ roller derby so it wasn’t suprising to me that she would be adventurous enough to want to capture this for her engagement photos.  I grew up near the launch site and I remember seeing a lot of hot air balloons when I was at school but I never thought I would be up there in the sky myself.  It was definitely an unforgettable experience!  There are a few things about hot air ballooning that I had no idea about.

1.) You have to get up at an un-godly hour (for me that is!) to go.

2.) When you are up in the air, it is so still.  I didn’t feel any wind even though we were definitely moving.  It’s such a surreal experience to just be floating in mid-air.  It is actually more calm and peaceful than I was expecting.

3.) You can’t really steer hot air balloons.  They sort of just go where the wind wants to take them.  Which means you basically just have to land wherever you can manage it.  And since the basket doesn’t have wheels you bounce when you land.

4.) It is tradition to have a champagne toast upon landing.  I’m not sure if this is the exact one our pilot used, but it is very similar:

“The winds have welcomed us with softness.

The sun has blessed us with its warm hands.

We have flown so high and so well

that God has set us gently back into

the loving hands of mother earth.”

Huge thanks to Life Cycle Hot Air Balloons (http://www.lifecycleballoons.com/) for keeping us safe and for the interesting landing on a sidewalk somewhere in Lafayette.  I felt like some sort of old-fashioned celebrity as dogs barked at our strange aircraft and residents came out from their houses to stare and take photos of us as we landed right in their neighborhood:)  A few of them even came over to help pack up the balloon upon landing.

Theresa & Paul,

Thank you SO MUCH for letting me tag along on that unforgetable and beautiful ride!  I hope that you can always relive that morning when you look at them:)

I will be in touch very soon so that you can see the rest!

April

Very first photo of the morning:)

All the magic gets packed away in this van!

I wanted to take advantage of that pretty sunrise light!

Had to get a shot of the happy couple in front of that tree!

This was the hot air balloon next to us that was also being prepared for a flight.

Cute:)

Haha, Theresa you are so cute!

Watching the balloon inflate

I LOVE this one!

In the basket before take-off

The balloon is almost ready for take off.

Getting ready to go!

This was taken before we got very high up

There's Niwot, where I went to High School.

Those flatirons sure are amazing!

View of Highway 287 over Lafayette, CO

What a spectacular view of Boulder from way up high!

The pilot let Paul and Theresa fire up the balloon

Longs Peak and a hot air balloon

So sweet!

That dial on the right is showing how fast we were going

Our fearless pilot:)

That's Denver in the middle way off in the distance

Wide shot of the balloon from the basket from the air:)

And a more zoomed in version...

I like that you can see our shadow in the reservoir!

We landed on the sidewalk, but moved the basket and balloon over to the street upon landing to have more room for deflation

Paul & Theresa looking good after the flight:) Here they are stabilizing the basket.

It was quite a project to get it all packed away!

Theresa releases the balloon which helps the pilot determine the wind conditions

After the flight, we munched on some food which was on this cute quilt:)

End of flight champagne toast!

I persuaded Paul & Theresa to follow me out to a trail for a few more traditional photos after the flight.

Theresa, you are one gorgeous gal!

One cute couple!

Because I am getting married here pretty soon (exactly one month from today!) I chose not to try out for the travel team at Rocky Mountain Rollergirls for the first half of 2012.  I figured I’d want to make sure I had plenty of time to get all of my planning done and not feel the pressure to attend all of the extra practices that being on the travel team requires.  But today I sure am second guessing my decision because 5280 Fight Club just left Denver to play at the Dust Devil Tournament in Tucson.  Luckily I can watch them play live on Derby News Network (http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com) but I will definitely be missing the competition (I LOVE tournaments! I love all of the adrenaline and I always try to watch all of the games.  Even the ones I know will be blow outs) and getting to spend time with some of my favorite people.  It’s hard to admit this, but I’ll even miss shacking up with 4 or 5 girls in one crappy hotel room where we all try to get some sleep on the tiniest double beds ever while doing our best not to disturb our bed partner.  Yeah, I’ll even miss that.

There’s a reason why I mention all of this in today’s blog post.  You see, today I am featuring some photos from my derby wife’s engagement session that took place inside the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and City Park.  I met Hannah (aka Anne Shank who will from here on out be referred to as Shank because it feels weird to call her Hannah) at the Dust Devil back in 2007.  Actually, that’s a lie.  I am sure that I met her at practice before we went to the Dust Devil Tournament.  But we didn’t get to know each other until we spent that weekend in Tucson.  I won’t go into specifics (mainly because they are a bit hazy at this point! haha) but we spent a lot of time hanging out together talking a lot of smack and drinking and by the end of the weekend, we had dubbed each other as wifey.  For those of you who want to know what the hell a derby wife is, you can see the Urban Dictionay definition here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Derby%20wife  I actually remember one of our teammates describing us as two little birds just chirping away at each other.

Fast forward a few years and Shank and I are still palling around only now we’re moving on with a new direction in life where we will actually find ourselves as someone’s real wife!

Shank and Andrew,

I am so excited for both of you.  It’s been a scary roller coaster kind of year for you and I am so glad that things are looking up:)  I am pretty sure you guys are the last people I need to say this to, but enjoy every moment together!

Love you,

Nonie (April)

I'm pretty sure this is the funniest place I've had the opportunity to photograph engagement photos at!

Shank used her volunteering connection to get us into the museum before opening time so we could hang with the Walruses:)

I think this one is my favorite from inside the museum:)

Shank and Andrew love their little Miniature Pinscher Ramona (who is named after Ramona Quimby which is awesome:)

That first shot is what it looked like lying under the tree when I was waiting for Shank and Andrew to meet me:)

Sigh...so romantic. And that light is lovely.

Cuddly:)

Hi Ramona!

My favorite!

Have ya’ll read the Hunger Games trilogy yet?  They’re pretty good.  But I am partial to that style of distopian future societal fiction.  If it’s your first time delving into it and you like it, you should check out Margaret Atwood, The Uglies Trilogy, & Delirium.

Bridal Guide has a neat feature with the Hunger Games wedding theme. One of Laura & Chase’s wedding centerpieces is featured there. I noticed that my wedding photographer (Yan Photography) also had a photo featured in the same post. Very cool!
http://www.bridalguide.com/blogs/bridal-buzz/hunger-games-wedding-ideas

Today’s blog post features a beautiful family who flew into Denver from all over the US to see their Grammy. They had the great idea to get some professional photos taken while they had the chance. And just a fun little fact, all three generations of this family were members of the same sorority! How cute is that?

Three generations

Sister, sister

These are my favorites. Grandma and Granpa are so adorable!

Do you remember Ashley and Jeremiah from last summer?  They wed up at the top of a mountain (at Ten Mile Station) in Breck.  I was delighted to hear that they were expecting early this year and just a day after I photographed my new nephew Cameron I found my lucky self photographing their precious baby boy Merrick who is a Leap Year baby!  And he was just so sweet.  I couldn’t believe how many different outfit changes he let Ashley and I coax him into:)

Awwww:)

So comfy:)

How adorable are those lil hands of his?

I don't know that I had a favorite since there were so many cute ones, but this one is for sure up there.

My friend Mandy who I actually know better as La La Shove You (You got that Pixies reference?  Cool, ’cause they’re awesome!)  asked me if I could do her headshots for her Lia Sophia jewelry company and of course I said yes!  Not only is she an amazing business woman and mother, but she also skates with me at Rocky Mountain Rollergirls.  She is in charge of all of our league’s events.  Talk about a woman with an insanely busy schedule.   But she somehow manages to support her family with Lia Sophia while also doing things like plan our roller derby prom on a $0 budget.  La la, you rock!  I hope you love your photos:)
Check out her Lia Sophia jewelry business here: www.facebook.com/mandymlindsay
She can also be reached at 720-474-1656

Outside of St. Mark's

My favorite:)

The past couple of days have been kind of crazy.  It’s wintertime which means things are a slower than normal in the photography world (totally ok with that since it means I can sleep in late and spend time on the wedding planning) but all of a sudden it’s been newborn baby central here.  Today’s sneak peek is for Cameron who arrived almost two weeks early to our whole familys’ delight.   I love everything about my new little nephew.  His adorable freckle, the way he and Griff have matching noses, his need for lots of cuddles, and of course how totally photogenic he is!

Love you Cam!

How cute is he holding his hands like that?!

So sweet:)

The bear outfit is too cute!

I think this one is my favorite:)

Remember these two lovebirds and their adorable 63rd St. Farm wedding in Boulder from last summer?  Laura submitted her wedding to Broke-Ass Bride and they decided to feature her wedding!

Check out her feature here: http://www.thebrokeassbride.com/2012/03/real-wedding-laura-chases-colorado-foodie-wedding-with-a-healthy-dose-of-puppy-love/

My favorite from their day.

Apparently this means our number of published features were in the top 5% of all members in 2011.  I’ll take it;)