Jeff & Robin... People!

If I haven't said this before.. I must give a big "THANK YOU" to Susan Miller for allowing me to second-shoot this wedding with her. Susan is a great photography encourager to me! :)

Back to the Special Day of Jeff & Robin:
I really did like the wedding party. They seemed to be a happy, smiley bunch. And laugh-ey, too. Which always makes great pictures!



If you know me at all.. you know that I love children! I think they are the funniest, cutest, most fascinating little creatures. :) (My term of affection for all kids---especially my nieces & nephew---is "small people," or in singular "small person"). As in, "hello there, small person!" Hey, it's funny to me!... Anyway, one of the greatest parts of this wedding day was catching some of the moments of these wedding small people. Their joys, frustrations and funnyness.


This little cutie was only watching the wedding, not participating.. but I loved his little blonde hair... and the fact that he played peekaboo with me as I tried to get his picture!

After the wedding, there was definitely symptoms of small-person relief.

Distracted by bubbles!

Distracted by water! :)

Distracted by...

... the bride & groom!


This was the junior bridesmaid. I've never seen someone so ridiculously excited about being in a wedding! She loved her dress, her flowers, her hair.. she pretty much loved everything about the wedding! She was a little nervous about messing up.. but nope, this bridesmaid rocked it!


And my favorite small-person image...

Jeff & Robin... Details!

It was a cool, windy autumn day. Perfect for a wedding. Of vibrant fall colors in central Pennsylvania. I adored the flowers in this wedding! More posts are to come, but here are the pretty detail shots!

Waites!

I was a homeschooler... one of the advantages of homeschooling is the lack of stilted, boring, just-stand-in-front-of-the-wall-and-give-a-fake-smile school pictures! In my very few private school years (only two), I never had a bad school picture. We're passing on the photo love...


I (heart) these family friends.. and love to look at these siblings and wonder... One blonde, one brunette, one redhead! Wow! So different, yet so similar!




Here are some sparkly eyes!



Random moments... typical Naomi-Elle photography! Funny jokes, contemplation and going a little artistic.. :)




And because their mom was along for the photo shoot, we added her in for few photos! :)

Food + Family + Football

I hosted a family gathering on Saturday afternoon/evening... because Penn State was playing Minnesota. College football rocks. And Penn State won --- which made the evening much sweeter! But in the meantime, there was funny little nieces and a nephew running around (and around and around the kitchen island!). And lots of delicious food!

Appetizers seemed appropriate, and I had a vague memory of mini-toasts with bacon and cheese from several years ago. So I thought and thought and could not remember the recipe. So one roommate and I created these little beauties! With good use of ranch dressing and Caesar dressing and CHEESE. Yummy!

Football means burgers & brats. Zeph, the 20-year-old younger brother, showed some ridiculous chef skills. Mixing meat with spices and worcestershire sauce and grilling to perfection. I was sufficiently impressed!

And I've been waiting to try this recipe for Roasted Garlic & New Potatoes... This is the "before" picture. After they were golden-brown, I was too busy burning my fingers on roasted garlic to take an "after" picture! :)


And the additional reason for this family gathering:
Celebrating my parents' 30th wedding anniversary!!!
*clapping* *yelling* *general happiness*
And so I made a cake.

Fudgy, moist chocolate cake.. with peanut butter frosting.. and dripping luscious chocolate-peanut butter ganache topping.
Confession: I'm not a real cake fan. And not really a lover of chocolate & peanut butter together, unless they are in perfect proportions.

But I really loved this cake. REALLY.

Cousins

Early this week, I hosted a birthday dinner at my little "Sunnyside Cottage" for my brother. Lots of family at my house, and since all the little people were there... we decided to have an impromptu photo shoot with the nieces and nephew! Photographing kids is interesting, to say the least. Challenging, to be honest. But I worked harder to be silly and find REAL smiles!

We had a little fun with props.

I love this picture -- it takes skill to get such varied faces of detached boredom at the same time! Hahaha :)

My favorite!!

Gettysburg

I love to travel! And sometime in August and September, I visited Gettysburg twice.. just passin' through. :) See Gettysburg through my eyes.
Monuments and dramatic clouds.





Chancing upon a few Civil War re-enactors.




The man who spoke words of freedom: Abraham Lincoln

And so we contemplate life and death, war and peace, temporary and eternal..


Random travel delights, like a little early autumn color.

An old movie theater that reminded me of a favorite movie, called "The Majestic." :)

Just because I love unique doors. It's a personal quirk.


Because this image speaks to me...

From Gettysburg