Gelfand-Amundson Fall Photos

..::Thinking about bright and beautiful fall leaves and warm sunshine lasting later than 4:30 at night::..

I seriously love photographing this family. They are so natural and have a blast with each other - every photo shoot is fun with them! Lifestyle photography is my most favorite, and I never 'posed' this family - I would ask them to walk or lay down, but mostly I kept my mouth shut and they just goofed around and were their normal selves  --- and these are the photos that came out of it.

Giving Thanks 2014

Thanksgiving was so peaceful and cozy this year. My siblings were off doing things with their in-laws, and my in-laws were on vacation down South, so that left my parents and us to do Thanksgiving together. Since it was just the four of us, I offered to host. Which meant my mom bringing pretty much all the food and we just made it at my house. The day started with a turkey-trot indoors, since it was about 5 degrees outside, followed by a deep-fried turkey, way too many appetizers, plenty of wine, and very good company. After our bellies were full, we waddled down to our new home movie theater in our basement, and watched the first and second Hunger Games movies. Kind of weird now that I think about it, to watch those movies on Thanksgiving. But we did. And then Chase and I went to the movie theater around 9:00 to see the third one, which we saw again the next day with Vinclie... so that puts me at three times in the theater for that movie this year. Oof-da. 

I'm thankful for movie theaters, my home, my really, really, really beautiful home that I don't ever want to move out of, my parents, my siblings and their spouses, my in-laws, my brother-in-law and his significant other, all of our friends, especially the ones who have remained close, forgiving, encouraging, and loving, our dog, Luna, our steady jobs (which I will be celebrating two years at tomorrow), the flexibility to travel and experience life when we get the opportunity, the ability to try new things and explore new places, our vehicles even if they are old and I almost got hit today cause my car wouldn't accelerate.. and I'm thankful that I made it home after that happened, for the snow, the rain, and the sunshine, that God shows up in the most craziest of ways and being able to rely on him for everything. And I'm especially thankful for this man I live with, who asked me to be his forever mate exactly two years ago from today. He's the best, even if he is sick in bed at the moment. I'm thankful that he's alive and I get to take care of him and for how much he loves me.

Ruby's Newborn Session {6 months ago}

Remember when I took Katie's maternity photos? Well her baby girl, Ruby, was born in the spring, and I was honored to be asked back to take some photos! These were done back in May, however I'm still in love with these and just have to share them {we'll just pretend that I planned it for her 6-month birthday}!!

Accepting My Family As His Family

Chase and I are heading up North to my grandma's this weekend, so Chase can go deer hunting for the first time ever. His excitement  really showed when we had some friends over for a spontaneous dinner and Wild hockey night last night, and it's all the guys could talk about. As we were sitting around the dinner table, the guys were talking all about hunting and Chase made a comment about how his uncle has guns that he could use ...or something like that... all I could remember is that he said "my uncle." The uncle he was referring to is my dad's brother... so really, MY uncle. But now he has become his uncle, too.

Hearing your spouse talk about your extended family as their own family is so incredible. It caught me off guard when I heard him say that. I feel like sometimes we can forget how sacred a marriage is... opening up your life to another person in such a rare way .. your marriage becomes your own new family, which is a portion of your whole entire extended family. It's not 'my' uncle anymore, it's 'our' uncle. And it's really special when your spouse forms such a great relationship with your extended family (even the little things like calling each other on the phone is really, really cool). Now, I only have two uncles on my dad's side of the family, so whenever we get together, it's a very intimate gathering. We really just sit around and talk, laugh, and really get to catch up on life. So relationships are a lot more solid than opposed to a bigger extended family (such as my mom's side of the family, where there's 6 aunts and uncles, 17 cousins, and many spouses and babies, where it's absolutely impossible to get everyone to commit to one weekend together). My husband has a very small family in the terms of aunts and uncles, on both his mom's and dad's sides. But whenever we get together with his relatives, every single person with their last name is invited (including grandma's brother's sister-in-law's daughter's nephew's wife's cousin). I mean seriously... there's a bazillion people and I never know how they are actually related. Just one more exciting 'challenge' that comes with marriage - to really get to know the relatives and have them become a part of your new family, along with you becoming a part of theirs.

And in honor of {some of} the people we're going to hang out with this weekend... here's a little example of the small, chaotic family reunions we have (not pictured: my brother and sister-in-law, brother-in-law, other uncle and his girlfriend, grandma, and grandma's sister). That's correct.. annual Nerf gun wars. 

My Cousin Is HOW OLD?!

Seriously... someone pinch me. I can't believe my "little" cousin is already a senior. Actually, there's two of them that will be graduating this year!! It sure is crazy how fast time flies... 

Chase and I were supposed to go up North hunting and taking my cousin's senior photos at Grandma's a few weeks ago, and Chase came down with a sickness. So I ventured up to Grandmother's house with my parents, and had an absolute blast!! It is always so relaxing to just sit around up in the Northern woods, with hot coffee and a puzzle. Even a few deer showed up, wandering around the yard while letting me snap some photos.  I've seen plenty of deer in my life, but watching them in their habit was pretty incredible... they're such a majestic animal. My uncle and I were able to sneak outside without scaring them off, and he threw an apple at one, which hit its leg, and it just looked back at the apple and then kept on with its business. It was absolutely hilarious. I'm so excited to spend another weekend up there in a few days... even though the purpose of this trip is to kill the deer. And no, I will not be partaking in the hunt.... only enjoying the peace and stillness of those Northern woods (and Grandma's cooking and company, of course).

My grandpa built a shack in the woods with the intention of bringing all of us grandkids to go hunt and have sleepovers out there. Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer took him away from us too soon. I feel like the older I get, the harder it is for me to visit this shack. But it's pretty awesome that my cousin wanted to take some photos in it... 

When you have two uncles who have been overseas fighting, you never know what they will bring out when we get to Grandma's. Sometimes it's night-vision goggles, other times it's big machine guns, and then there's this...