The Ball of Hope

The Ball of Hope is a charity event run by the American Cancer Society. This is our second year shooting this event and I always have a blast. So many inspiring stories. Hopefully some day, there will be a cure for this awful disease.

The ambassadors who helped plan the event.


The theme was "a Return to the Classics"




The Exact Change Band


This car was donated by Toyota to be raffled off at the Ball


This lovely young lady came to the Ball this year to say thank you. Because of the donations last year, she was able to go to Camp Can Do this summer. This is a camp for kids with cancer. She was able to find kids with the same fears and hopes that she has. She also told us that she is now cancer free! YAY for her! I hope there are more that are able to say that!


I cannot do a blog post about cancer and not talk about Sandy. She is the biggest supporter of the ACS that I know. This woman works two job, is a mom and a grandmother, and is a good friend to us! Every where she goes, she promotes awareness. She is usually in the background, volunteering all of her time to this cause, so I just wanted to say, thank you Sandy, for all that you do!

Models

Dayshawn is a model from Scranton who needed some new shots to build up his portfolio.

High Tea and a good cause

For those who don't know, we do some work with Teen Parents. Its run by Youth for Christ. They help teenage girls who got pregnant to learn how to take care of their babies, themselves, stay in school, provide a good life for their children, and if they are lucky, come to know the Lord in the process.

One of the girls from Youth for Christ decided to help put together their annual fundraiser for her senior project. Their fundraiser is a High Tea. This year they had formal evening gowns to auction off after the tea. There were also a couple vendors that were willing to give back a percentage of what they made that day.

Danae, Cyndi, Aylene, and the rest of the ladies did a great job putting this together!
Aylene and Cyndi, who run the Teen Parents program


Some of the dresses that were being auctioned off


Danae, who made this her senior project

Cady and Ben

We met Cady and Ben through a friend of ours (thanks Sandy)! I don't know how but we have ended up with the coolest couples! They are all ready to have fun and pretty much let us do whatever we want. Too bad my kids weren't like that!

Since they live about an hour away, I suggested they meet us at the Lehigh Zoo for their engagement session. Its a really nice little zoo tucked away in the gamelands down by Allentown. We found it one day while looking for a place to shoot for fun. If you have never heard of it, or have never been there, you should check it out! They just got some penguins this year to add to the exibits. On the way out of the property, you have the option of driving through the gamelands. This road take you to a shallow riverbed which you have to cross. All along the river, there are picnic spots for families to spend the day with the kids. Its not ususual to see kids in the river catching crayfish and having fun. After you cross the river, you drive up into the mountain, where there are elk and buffalo. At the top of the mountain, you can see the whole valley. This is what we wanted to use for the setting for Cady and Ben.

When we got there, the river was blown out from all the rain. They were not letting anyone cross, since you have to actually ford the river to get across. So, we set up camp at the river and did our session there.

They are a very playful couple and I really think it shows in their photos. I can't wait til the wedding!

Wedding Bells

This is Jackie and Ryan. We met them through our friend Jason. The day started out a little rainy, but ended up being really nice! Very fun couple. We had a blast doing this wedding! They were willing to do pretty much anything we asked them to do, including scaling a stone wall at Nay Aug! Much happiness to the two of you!

Computers! Can't live with them, can't live without them!

When did we become so dependant on computers? We didn't have them when I was growing up, but they are every where now. And when one goes down, it's like total meltdown.

This has been a bad week for computers of all kinds here. My kid's computers got infested with some kind of virus. While fixing that, I found out that my older computer could not sign onto the internet for whatever reason. My MP3 player wouldn't update. My cell phone was acting wacky. Is there a full moon? Or is it just the meteors that are shooting around us this week that are causing it? Luckily, I was able to fix them all with little swearing or yelling. But, I am done. If I hear, "Mom, my computer is acting weird" any time soon, I might lose it.

This totally random image that Im uploading here (if the program works) is a test. I tried posting some last week of my kids at sunset, but this software was acting buggy.

If it doesn't post, Im pulling the plus and giving up for a while!

Baby John turns 1!

Wow! I have really been behind on my blogging! I thought Id share a few shots from last night. I was on my way to my sister's house for my nephew's 1st birthday party.

As I drove, the sun was setting. It was turning the sky an amazingly bright orange color. I was so glad I had my camera with me! I quickly pulled over, made the kids get out to pose for a couple shots in front of the sunset! They even got along while they did it! I ended up being fashionably late for the party, but I think I got a couple cool shots of the kids.

The party was fun. My sister's kids are more energetic than I remember my kids being at that age. I don't know how she does it!

Anyway, here are a few shots from the party as well as the sunset. (all photos of the highway were taken by Jess. I didn't shoot and drive)