Genevieve and Mitcher: Engaged!

What fun it was to shoot Genevieve and Mitcher! Genevieve is a second cousin of mine and it was a thrill to be a part of their engagement photos. We started out in the Union Station area and ended at The Nelson Art Gallery--and had a GORGEOUS day to do it all in! The sky was absolutely spectacular.



I brought Don along--as I almost always do at on-location shoots anymore--the bottom two are his!

Did I mention we had a gorgeous sky?

Maybe my favorite?? Maybe? Tough choices with such a great couple!!

When you go to The Nelson, you have to do the cheesy shuttlecock photo! But we took it to the next level of cheese and got some fantabulous jumping shots!! :)

Don's shots!

Spring Sports!

I have new found respect for parents with several children in varying sports--it is nuts trying to keep track and make it to all the practices and games and oh my! And when the schedules overlap things get verrrry interesting!

Here are a handful of shots of my girls playing both soccer and softball this spring--it's been a little nutty trying to make it to everything, it IS fun to watch them play!

Em at bat

Run!

Carly running to first base! (Watching preschoolers play t-ball may be one of the funniest things I've ever seen!!)

Don and Carly consult one another at third base

Grandma and Carly practiced a bit before the game--a little overthrown (or undercaught--depending on how you look at it!), but it makes for a cute pic! ;)

Soccer girl Emma!

Preschool Graduation!

I really can't believe it!!! My youngest is 'graduating' from preschool this week. It's just pure craziness how fast time flies!

It really hit me this morning when I dropped her off and was walking out of her classroom--I will admit to eyes full of tears.



Carly has two preschool classes--she is a peer model for Bright Beginnings and also in a typical preschool classroom--she splits her day between the two for three days a week. Tonight was her Bright Beginnings graduation--it was really nice. It's a smaller group than the other graduation will be (which is next week) and she really loves that.



Below are some pics!

I don't think I will ever get over how pretty she is! :)

Ms Erika!


Big eyes!

Grandma!

Daddy!

Singing her heart out!

Congratulations!

Mama!

Don!

Disney World!

My mom and I took my girls to Orlando for a quick trip--we had three full days in Orlando and the plan was to spend days one and two at Disney World and day three going to the beach and winding down. It was going to be perfect and I was SO excited to take my kids to the ocean and enjoy the wonders of the park!



Of course, as it seems with most of my life (wink!), the best laid plans didn't quite work out. Upon arrival in Orlando, we spent a gross amount of time getting the rental car ( I*literally* stood in line for two hours at the Budget counter) and getting lost for a few hours trying to find our resort--it was terrible--by the end of the evening, I was feeling AWFUL but still optimistic and ready to shake the crud from the travel day for our three days of fun. We went to bed and I knew something was wrong, but was praying that a good nights sleep was all I needed.



By 1:00 AM, I had a 102 degree fever and hurt all over. I was a wreck and totally bedridden. My fever just kept climbing and I kept feeling worse--day one was a wash. My mom called around and had a Disney doctor come to our condo--several hundreds of dollars later, she said I had severe strep and she gave me meds. The next day just HAD to be better!! My mom and the kids went to the resort pool and made the most of the day while I just slept.

On day two, I was DETERMINED to make something of the day. But I got up and was still miserable and had a lingering fever--even though I'd been on antibiotics for 24 hours at this point. I was still determined and slowly got dressed. My body had a different idea and rebelled a bit and I started throwing up. I'm thinking 'Seriously?? Really?? This cannot be happening.' But, no, not even this stopped me. I finished getting dressed and we headed to Disney World. Yeah, I really went to Disney World feeling like this. We had reservations for the Disney Princess lunch and I just wasn't going to keep the kids from that unless I was unconscious! ;) Not to mention how much we'd paid for it all!!



I dragged myself through Epcot (where our lunch was), ate about two bites of my $40 lunch, and tried to enjoy watching the kids elation as they met their favorite characters. I did it. As the day went on, I kept up with my meds and Rx pain killers, and actually started feeling slightly better. We just moved slowly and tried to pace ourselves.


Day three was finally better. I still didn't feel great, but we were going to make it a full day! :) We hit Magic Kingdom and all loved it! We hit the classic rides, saw the characters, and enjoyed the day! The night ended with the amazing parade and truly spectacular fireworks--Disney showed us why it's called the Magic Kingdom, for sure! We stayed until nearly 11:00 and crashed that night. We had a plane to catch in the morning--which felt so strange to me, because I'd spent half the trip in bed and felt a bit cheated. And my mom deserves some sort of award for having to deal with me and the kids by herself!!


I am so sad we didn't make it to the beach--I wanted the girls to see the ocean so badly. Despite what we didn't get to do, we had a great time and it was a blast to see the girls enjoy Disney World so much.


Below are some pics from our two days in the park!

We made it!

We saw lots and lots of characters! The girls each had their own autograph book and we filled those things up!

Meeting Donald Duck!

At the Princess Lunch! We met 5 different princesses--the girls LOVED this.

Carly

Day two in the park--All of us at the entrance of Magic Kingdom

The Castle!

One of many rides--Em and I in the first car--Carly and Mom in the one behind us

The teacup ride! Emma loved spinning us around!

And Carly loved being spun!

Pretty girl

I love this shot--they could not contain their excitement to peek inside Minnie's house (even though the front door was right next to the window)!

Another favorite shot--I actually have a series of these and they crack me up!! My mom and Emma riding one of the roller coasters!

Mickey in the parade at the end of the day!

The fireworks were truly amazing!

Fireworks finale! Spectacular!!

It's been forever!

Since I blogged! So much going on for me! I am going to try and get caught up today on most of it! I'll start with a couple personal posts.....here I go! :)

Moving Into Spring!

Don and I have been out goofing around and shooting......enjoying the warmer days (and one very snowy one) with our cameras.....some of my random favorites below!

Hopefully our last snow day!

Shadows on snow

Snow tree

Don!

Me!

Don's Shot--Bridge at Union Station

River Market Antiques

Lots of things-in-jars

Don and I!

Baby Shoes in a bin

Old camera stuff

Old cameras

Isaac at 8 months!

He's a-growin'! :) Isaac was a little hesitant to offer up those precious grins, but we managed! LOVE those chubby arms and blue eyes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made some Valentine's cards for my girls to take to school--we did some fast 30 second (literally--I so wish I had time to have done something more!) headshots for the cards.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The most serious baby....part three!

The most serious baby is 9 months old! And not quite so serious anymore! :) She started out serious, but Mom and I broke her--she even let me have it, as you'll see below. ;) Love it! Could she be any darn cuter?!

Audra and Mike Get Married!

What a FUN wedding this was!! Seriously, it's not every day that you get both antique cars and skydivers in the same day! But, alas, this one offered both and more!

And I owe a big thank you to Don, who shot this one with me. Mike towered over even him--and he's nearly 6'6"--so you know my barely 5'3" frame appreciated the help!! :)

Both Audra and Mike were stunning and a thrill to work with--thank you both for the amazing opportunity!

The rings

Could Audra be any prettier??

Ceremony


The getaway

The stowaway

The Barn

The ride in on an antique car!

Cuddling in the barn!

Having some fun!

There really were skydivers!

Cheering the plane on!

Cute two year old!

I love letting two year olds loose and you never really know what you are going to get! :) This little one gave me the whole deal--smiles, dancing, jumping, crying, frowns--all of it! But that's what makes them great, really. This was another one of those sessions where choosing what to post is hard--because they are all cute!

Dancing Queen! Check out that finger!!

Sad girl...ahhhhh......
Smiley girl!


And the whole family!

Christmas Cards!

I did a handful of new designs this year for client Christmas Cards!

Here are a few of them!

A [Belated] Happy Holidays!

Well, tomorrow it is back to the grind! The normal routine starts back--and, honestly, it's a bit of a relief. Our Holidays were great--blessed with family and friends--but this break has been filled with 'unluck', for sure! I lost my computer and all operating systems right before Christmas and I feel like I've spent every spare moment trying to get back up and running. It's been--and continues to be--a bit of a nightmare! I'll get through it! There was also a car break in and vandalism MESS.....some illness.....yeah, I'll be glad to get back into the routine! ;) (FYI: No images were lost--I have them organized and backed up so that losing images is virtually impossible. No worries!)

Yesterday Don and I spent the entire day overhauling my office--and he helped me organize all of my drives so I can access everything I need. Thank goodness for his help!!


In all of this, I didn't get to post my Holiday Card, so I'm going to--even though it's a bit late! :)

I did a folding card this year--the first image is the front, the second is the inside of the card (it's bent in the middle and fills both top and bottom of the actual folded card), and the back is a quick explanation of what's in the image tree.

Enjoy! And I hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday Season!!

Family Photo Time!

It is that time of year--the time for the family photo!

I have photographed this family several times and enjoy watching the kids grow!

I couldn't decide which family image I liked better--the ornery one or the sweet one! :)

The Eye--Update

Just a quick update on the eye! Thanks for all the messages of concern--I appreciate them!

It is healing. I am still having trouble with it, however, and have to continue my meds for an entire month and go easy on it. I will be sporting my glasses most of the time for a while too. (I wore my contacts for a couple hours to a Gala last night and I'm paying for it today.)

But, as with most things, I will survive. Shorter periods on the computer (which totally stinks!!), a million eye drops, a few more trips to the doctor, and some more sleep and I'll be AOK.

Mike and Audra--Engaged!

Good gravy did we have trouble getting this session in! I think we literally scheduled and cancelled at least 4 sessions due to bad weather--the only thing left to upheave us was a tornado, I think. ;) But, we prevailed--about a week before the wedding, we pulled off a short session on a cloudy day. And fun we had!

Stay tuned! Wedding images of these gorgeous people are coming SOON! :) (And, yes, their wedding day had gorgeous weather--we got it ALL out of the way with the engagement sessions! lol)

Eye Ulcer

Greetings all--I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I have suddenly developed what seems to be an eye ulcer (exactly what it sounds like--a hole/tear of sorts in my eye), and it is wrecking havoc with my ability to work. I am visiting the computer for very short times, but have to limit my time here greatly to reduce eye strain.

My affected eye is patched (bring on the pirate jokes) and I am in a great deal of pain--thank goodness for painkillers. I've spent ALL day in bed because I can't see anything and the pain is great at times. If I'm not better quickly, I'll be bringing in help to complete all outstanding orders and cards--so no worries to current clients--but this may add a few days to original timelines.

Thanks for your patience and understanding--Kim

Great Wolf Lodge!

Don and I took my girls to The Great Wolf Lodge this week over the Thanksgiving Break--we had a blast! Especially fun for me was the chance to play with a new camera--a waterproof camera!!! I was able to get underwater shots of the girls in the pool and didn't worry a bit about my camera while we went down waterslides and walked around in the sopping wet environment. The pics are point and shoot quality, but man(!) what fun! I got some ok shots for a first time play with it--I'm looking forward to this summer with lots of natural light pouring in a pool and using some goggles to guide my composure!

Emma underwater!

Carly underwater!

The girls loved the big waterslides--Don and Emma went down and flipped over completely! It threw him off the tube mid-slide!

Carly and I heading up to a slide!

My girls!

Ol' Blue Eyes

I adore the big blue eyes on this little guy! And the cheeks.....and the smile.....and.... ;)

Fabulous Siblings

What an amazing yard and amazing kids--and I love it when they just get to be themselves....great things seem to happen!!

Played a little with this one!

My Sister!

My sister needed some professional headshots for a new website and career in motivational speaking, so we did them! We couldn't decide which we liked best, so I'm posting several. Any opinions?? :)

Fall Family!

There was such great color in these images, I had to collage them together--this gorgeous family could easily fill the pages of any trendy family magazine!

The Skater and The Gymnast

What a fun session! We truly catered this one for the kids and went 100% with their interests--it was GREAT!

We hit the skate park and then a favorite park for the kids to do their thing!

Fall Fun!

Sometimes I love a session so much that I have trouble narrowing down what I'm going to put on the blog--I've had several of those sessions lately--this one included!

There is something very special about photographing a family in their own home--there is a comfort level there that can't be achieved anywhere else! And these photos will have more meaning to this family forever!

Thank you for having me in your home--for the second time!

Lauren and Derek Get Married!

I am sooooo far behind in blogging, but I will catch up! :)

Lauren and Derek had a FUN wedding and reception at Nara in downtown KC--they were one of the most expressive couples I've ever had the pleasure to photograph!

The wedding kids trying to get a sneak peak at the bride when she came up the stairs!

Lauren and her Dad wait patiently for the word to proceed

We hit the streets outside Nara and had some fun

Portraits of the bride and groom

Flowers!

A rockin' reception--one of the best cake cuttings ever!

Halloween!

Carly the Kitty Cat and Emma the Gardener!

More Fall Families!

We did this one at the Nelson Art Gallery!

Callie and Rick's Clan

We met up for a family shoot and I'm pleased with the final result! Especially when there are four small children involved! :)

Flying Fall Children!

It wouldn't be Fall without the annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard!

Don and I took my girls this year--their favorite parts were jumping the hay bales at Pumpkins Etc. (hence the flying children) and riding the pedal cars at Aldredge Orchard! You can see the whole day in the slideshow below....and my favorites in this post.





(The images in the slideshow are resized pretty poorly--not by me--and the resolution kinda stinks--sorry! If you *really* want to see them in a higher res format, click on 'view all images' under the slideshow and they will show up better in a new window.)

My Soccer Girl!

Emma, my just-turned-seven-year-old is playing soccer this Fall! In a moment of madness, I volunteered to coach the team. (As if I didn't have enough to do already!!! I know, I know....) But watching Emma play and encouraging the other girls on the team has turned out to be a blast. Watching them improve each week and experience something completely new in their lives is so much fun. My sister-in-law, Julie, is helping me immensely and Don is stepping in when I need him to too.

Emma's official team shot and some action shots that Don took!

The Most Serious Baby

This little one's mama joked that the blog post needed to be titled 'the most serious baby'! And, so it is! :)

Serious or not, she is a sweet little cutie!

The Whole Gang!

What's it like wrangling a bunch all four and under? Hard! :)

But they're so cute!

There are soooo many I'd like to post from this session, but in the name of time, I'm only going to post my favorite for now.....but I may come back later and add to it!

Balloon Glow!

I spent several days last week in St. Louis at a Social Work conference with other Social Workers from my district--one night we made a trek to the Annual Balloon Glow. It was awesome!

Here are a few snaps!

Annabelle Turns 3!

Roadtrip!

Don and I headed out on a roadtrip throughout Missouri last weekend! We started out in Hermann and ended up roaming around allover Northeastern Missouri. We had an absolute blast and let the wind take us! We did a lot of shooting and I'll post a few favorites and a slideshow with more--this doesn't even include Don's shots--there are so many photos! That's what happens when two photographers head out, I suppose. :)

I'll post more of Don's when I get them--there are so many!

Our first B&B 'Alpenhorn Gusthaus'

Happiness seemed to follow us!
This is the little house we stayed in at the B&B--it was a 180 year old smokehouse converted into the coziest little room.
On the property of the B&B, the remains of the 180 year old brickmaker's kiln barn remained--it was falling down and fascinating
Shooting details in Hermann--one of favorites--I love the color--see the slideshow for SO many more from Hermann
Kissing in one of the vineyards!Another vineyard! We got very good at self-portraits!

First Day of School

Wednesday was the first day of school for my girls--Emma is starting first grade and Carly is in her last year of preschool! I can't believe how quickly it goes!!

Pardon these photos--they are a little rough--I'm having to work on a secondary computer, which doesn't have the programs I usually use to edit and process images on.

Emma

Carly

Both of 'em

We did the group shot with the neighbor friends in front of our house, and when they were done smiling at the moms, the funniest and cutest thing happened--proving they are definitely all-girls! The four of them started comparing and sharing their new outfits--I caught it on camera! How funny is this?!?!

Computer woes

Greetings! I am experiencing some pretty extreme computer woes right now--and am unable to connect to the internet at all--no email, no anything.

I'm trying to access on other machines and locations, if only to check email, but I may be a little delayed in replying to messages.

Thanks for understanding and keep your fingers crossed that I can get it fixed quickly!

Kim :)

New Little Guy!

Who wasn't very happy with me! :)

Mad!

Love baby feet!

This is a total out-take, but baby's big sis curled up next to the bean bag while we were shooting and I LOVE the size difference between baby's feet and big sis--they grow so fast!

Amy and Jason's Family

It's no secret that I love doing shoots for family and friends! The images are very special to me!

Amy is a counselor at the middle school where I work as a part time School Social Worker--we work very closely together and I am blessed to be a part of a great counseling staff! And, as life usually does, things have come around full circle--as I went to high school with her husband Jason! (Go Trojans!)

Enjoy!

Check out this cute little chunky monkey!

Some sisterly love

Big Sis Smilin'

The perfect family portrait

Two Year Old!

If you look hard enough, you will find this big two year old as a one year old on my blog! What a fun little guy--and an honor to watch him grow!!

He tried to take me out! ;)

My friend Laura!

I've known Laura for years and years--she is a great friend--she brought her two little ones for some photos!

4th of July!

What a great day the Fourth was!

We started the day out with family at the blueberry patch and then headed to Don's parents' home north of Kansas City. We ended the night in Parkville with the big fireworks show!

It was truly an awesome day!

I have so many favorites.....I'll post a few, but here is a slideshow with the whole day too!

Gorgeous day to pick blueberries!

Carly

Emma

At Don's parents....most handsome 'farmer' ever!

We took the tractor to see Don's sister's horses!

Don and I snuck away where I did a different kind of shooting! ;)
Poor cans!

Tractor riding! Carly drove!
Lighting snakes with Don's nieces and nephews

Here I go.....

....trying, trying, trying to catch up! :)

The blog has been neglected in favor of getting healthy (boy was I siiick!), editing, posting, ordering, emails, single mom-ness (with little backup with my mom in Costa Rica for two weeks), girlfriend, and everything else!! lol!

But, here I go....an effort to get a handful of posts up!

:)

(If you are a recent client, and don't see yours yet....don't despair....I will get there!)

SICK

Hi all--I am sick. I had about a minute between coming down from the weekend and becoming really, really sick. I'll spare you the details. I'm on some good meds now though, so fingers are crossed for feeling better QUICKLY. I will catch up.

Baby Anna!

Introducing Baby Anna!

Anna is a new baby planner, so you will get to watch her grow with me--one of the greatest parts of this job!

She was pretty darn tired during her first shoot--but we did pretty well, nonetheless! She showed off those pretty big eyes, for sure!

This is probably more accurate of what she thought of the shoot, however! Ha, ha!

Snuggling with Grandma

Snuggling with Mom and about to fall asleep

And I captured some great baby bits after she fell asleep!

She might be......

.....the most beautiful thing ever. :)

I love how parents can see something in their kids that absolutely no one else in the universe can see. I see that 'thing' in this photograph of my oldest.

FYI

Just a quick message to give everyone the head's up how crazy busy I am this week--In addition to my normally nutty life, my sister and I are hosting about 65 people for my Mom's 60th Birthday Party and I have out of town relatives in town, staying with me. In other words, I'm a couple days behind on emails.

Thanks for your patience!!

Attention sbcglobal.net and att.net email users!!

If you use an email account with sbcglobal.net or att.net, and are looking for a reply back from me from the inquiry form on my website or otherwise, please check your spam folder! However, it may not even be there as I continue to get fatal error responses that my email has been blocked by individuals using these accounts.

This is a continual issue for me--one that drives me CRAZY! So, always check your spam folders, but especially if you use one of these email addresses. Hotmail (and other generic mass email hosts) accounts often bounce too.

I try to send an email to those who I know bounce using a personal, generic gmail account, but I'm sure that I don't know every email that bounces or goes into spam folders.

:)

Saturday's Wedding

I can't help it--I'm posting a pre-preview!

What a gorgeous wedding and amazing people--so much fun--and I can't keep myself from going ahead and posting a few favorites!

Much more to come......

You may have noticed....

.....my new website!

www.kdgphotography.com

I'm not quite ready for the official announcement, but I have the 'bones' up and running. I hope to fill it in with new work over the next couple of weeks and finalize all of the wording, policies, etc.

It's complete with a new shopping cart too!! Each client will receive their own gallery after each session, and be able to use a fully functional shopping cart!

As you are going through it, if you see any glaring errors, send me an email! I appreciate the proof-reading!

It's looonnnng overdue--but I'm feeling like I have my head on a bit better these days (after a few years of personal trauma) and am ready to get it going.

So exciting!!!