Matt & Meghan

Where do I start?! Well I have known Matt since he showed up at UD & our paths crossed a lot with mutual friends and interests. He has remained a friend over the years and actually has been a great friend to my husband. This will also be our 3rd wedding together that he was in & I have photographed - his first being the groom of course :)
Meghan showed up a few years later while I was working at the BSM at UD and we became fast friends. To say we have a lot in common is an understatement, but I think what we enjoy most (other than Jesus and Starbucks) is a similar sense of humor. We like to laugh at the same ridiculous sorts of things that no one else thinks is funny - "how ya derrin'?" - "I don't know whatchu wan' me to tell ya".
Matt & Meghan's story is kind of funny...their worlds were intertwined but they didn't actually meet or get to know each other for a long time. When they finally started hanging out last summer it led to an engagement on New years :) I couldn't be happier for the both of them! They are one of those couples to me that just "makes sense," like why didn't we try to set them up sooner?! But we know why, God's timing is perfect!
So this is a special post to me for a lot of reasons...being around fresh and genuine love is a fabulous thing and even better when it's people you care about. This shoot made me so excited for their wedding day this July. And I am not lying when I say that I smiled, literally laughed out loud (but won't post those pics), cried and danced in front of my computer while editing these images. And because I can't blog all 127 of them...here's a handful to share with you!

And for any of you photogs out there who care, I shot this session with an 85mm 1.8...that thing is seriously like butta' and it's mixture with the yummy early evening light...mmmmmm
Ok so that's a lot from me today but I had a lot to say.

The Garrett Family

I had a busy weekend and thankfully just got to put the finishing touches on this family & child session from last week. Teegan just turned one so we had to get lots of shots to capture this sweet little girl at this stage in her life! It just goes so stinking fast :) Here are a handful of favs to share with you all but I truly had a hard time choosing!

Sneak Peek!

Here's a sneak peek of today's shoot! More later this week :)

Katelynne Joy Bell

Katelynn Joy Bell was born last week, a tiny little thing weighing in at 4lbs 14 ozs! She is happy and healthy though, just tiny :) She is the first born to Kristen & Nick, you might even remember their maternity shoot last month. This is definitely the fun part, being there for major chapters in peoples lives and being allowed to capture those moments for them! I LOVE getting to go to the hospital for a shoot within the first 24 hours (Yes prego friends, I am available for this service, just email me, emilytroutmanphoto@gmail.com).

SO here are a few favs, welcome to the world Katelynne Joy!

Yay for great neighbors!

These pics are from a shoot last week on a gorgeous afternoon with friends. Stephanie and George are actually our neighbors and it's great to also count them as friends. It's funny how small of a world we live in, George and I were actually neighbors as kids, our parents still live in the same neighborhood. And as fate would have it, we are once again neighbors :) I had a lot of fun with these two and their little Bischon, Belle. Belle is certainly the princess and she doesn't want you to forget it! So here's to Stephanie and George as they celebrate one year together with these pics!

Friday was cold...

So all of you who live in Delaware know what I am talking about. It was seriously 90 degrees last week..until Friday that is. Of course I had a photo shoot planned for the frigidness! Anyhow, we made the most of it, hiding behind the barn and trying to stay out of the wind. Thank goodness these are my good friends and we had a warm fire to run inside and warm up to when it was all over. Luke is just precious, already 6 months old and such a little stud. Here are just a few of the pics I found myself smiling at my computer over. Hopefully you too will see why I like them!

Thankfully the weather has warmed back up a little... more shoots scheduled for later this week!

Graduation! It's that time of year

SO it's the time of year that seniors in high school and college are thinking of the future! Graduation is right around the corner and they will be pushed out into the big scary world...ok that sounds dramatic. Well this past week I had a lot of fun photographing my "baby" cousin, Anastasia, who just so happens to be beautiful & lots of fun. This shoot had me reminiscing, thinking of the day she was born. It was literally the day after I turned 6, I still remember getting snuck in to the hospital by my uncle to see her for the first time. Ok now I really feel mushy, but time does pass quickly! I was so thankful to be asked to capture these memories for our family. We were also instructed by my aunt that although the cap & gown did not have to go on - they needed to be a meaningful part of the imagery. SO readers, tell me how you think we did with capturing the senior spirit without the cheese of the fake rose & goofy head tilt! (Leave me some comment love on this one :)

Our Family Portraits

Just wanted to share with you that we had our family portraits taken this past weekend by a photographer that I have loved and followed for a while, Rae Barnes. We met at the Tyler Arboretum and it certainly helped that it was a beautiful day with everything in bloom. We had so much fun at the shoot! Check out the sneak peek at her blog.

Happy Easter!

I had fun the other day taking some shots of the kids with a few Easter props, I figured why not - it's their first Easter! They also met the bunny at the mall while we were there on some errands & they loved it by the expressions on their faces!
I know that Easter is so much more about the risen Christ and the fact that he came to give us life. We did read the Easter story throughout the week with the children's Bible. They reached for the pages and looked at the pictures although the concepts are beyond them at this point. We pray though that Easter will come to mean something very special to them as well someday! Enjoy :)

New Pastime

Our kids turn nine months old this week! I know, I know, I say it with every month that passes but it's true, time is flying! Here's a look at their favorite new pastime where they have little ride on cars that they cruise around the house in. Of course they need a push to do that but they're good little riders! This afternoon we went to Grandma's because there's more cruisin' space :)

Longboarding

SO it's great that my husband has all sorts of fun interests, including longboarding. For those of you not familiar, these are long skateboards meant for cruising. We combined his love for longboarding and my love for photography and took a family outting to the reservoir in Newark this afternoon. I am currently taking an online photo workshop and this week's assignment was dealing with capturing motion. Longboarding is fun motion to capture! Thankfully the rain held off and we got in some fun! Matt's brother Bryan came along for the ride!

Heart

We had such a great weekend with weather, family and friends! This picture from the park with Matt & Macy pretty much captures my heart (minus Dean of course but you get the idea!)

my life :)

SO I am totally failing at just having my camera handy for all those life moments with my kids...mostly because there are two of them and one of me most of the time ;) No excuses though today! I took some pics around the house and at the park. My BFF came in town today with her husband and little boy (they live uber far away in Texas where it's pretty much Mexico)! Anyhow...today we had pretzels for our second time and bbq chips for the first time..Aunt Stacey slipped the twins their first chips when I wasn't looking. And can you tell from these pictures that her little boy Ben and my Dean are going to find trouble together?!

Baby Bell Belly (couldn't resist!)

Today was a recipe for beautifulness - spell check is telling me that's not a word but I know it is after today. This morning the sun was shining bright over head and we were heading to an over 70 degree day, which is a fabulous treat here this time of year! I met up with some friends who are expecting their first little one next month. They are waiting to be surprised by who shows up, the anticipation would KILL ME but I am so excited for them. It was great to get to capture Kristen's expectant belly and their excitement for what is to come! They even had their dog Chloe along to be a part of the action...someone should tell that dog to get all the loving she can while she still has time :) And I love when this happens but there were too many good ones to choose from so here's a few that I decided showed our shoot the best.

Naptime & my own personal Heaven

So I am working on blogging consistency to please all my readers out there :) All 5 of you will be happy to see it! Haha...OK so if you want a glimpse into what keeps a mother of 8 month old twins sane, here it is. It is my deck during naptime. The ingredients are sunshine, warmth, an iced nonfat latte from sbucks (i got hooked up with giftcards on birthday, AMEN) or a diet dr. pepper and did I mention quiet..or relative quiet, birds and bugs. If you have been a mother or know a mother, these are the moments that help you get through the rest of the day! Yes the laundry is piled up, yes there are dishes to wash, but honestly, those are always there waiting so if you can get a few minutes to yourself - my advice for your sanity is to escape for those few minutes! Let the sun shine on your face, breathe deeply and refresh because in the blink of an eye the kids will be awake & need a diaper change. And seriously... those snow shovels behind me in the picture better go into retirement because spring better be here to stay!

STILL in the works..

No I have not fallen off the face of the planet! The twins have both been taking turns being sick for the past month, add that to all the bad weather and life in general...it's has put a literal damper on my blogging! The exciting news is that Matt (my cute hubby & graphic designer) has made major headway on my custom website. I really can't wait for others to get to see it...his skills in design and just a little piece of my heart in my photos! In the meantime here are a couple shots from a short weekend trip to Florida that Matt & went on a couple weekends ago. These were all taken in St. Augustine, it's a really rad town if you've never been!

I am also now booking for Spring sessions! Contact me if you are interested, emtroutman@hotmail.com

Fun in the Snow

So these pics of my kiddos are actually from last weekend's snow storm. This one was too ridiculous to even take them outside :) Don't worry - we sat them on a towel (which you can see in some shots) but hey, it was just for the fun of it. Dean even took a bite of snow to see what it was all about. Enjoy!

Logo Reveal

My logo is here and I am very pleased with it. I think it's a playful and literal at the same time, mostly it's a good representation of the brand I am beginning to build. I am looking forward to plastering it onto paperwork, images and all sorts of fun stuff. The hubs is now moving on to creating the website, a large but exciting undertaking. Sweet dreams for now...

Happy 1st Birthday Cody!

So sometimes the most impromptu, unplanned photo shoots turn in the best results. My little friend Cody is turning one this week & his mom (my friend Hilary) had a great idea for a photo shoot with him and a birthday cake. While I was there to do the birthday cake photo shoot, I took the 1st birthday hat I had made Cody & decided to throw up a black background just to get some shots of him in it. This is just a set up in their kitchen with natural light & some fill flash. I am IN LOOOVVEE with these shots!

We proceeded to do the cake shoot after these shots & I am still working on those. Lets just say Cody was a little less excited about the cake (not sure why - it looked delicious!) So here are a few of my favs from the impromptu session & I will keep the cake shoot to myself for now :)

Crafting!

So I was bitten by the craft bug this week and I did a couple of projects tonight. One is a tutu for Macy & I got the "how to" on this from another blog (Idea Room). I think it turned out great and can't wait for a photo session with her in it! BTW, if you are local to where I am, Walmart has all of their fabric half price. This is a fabulous $3 tutu :)

And on another note, I decided to create a special birthday hat for our friend Cody who is turning one next week! I wish it had some more embellishments but the twins were OVER being in Walmart, and to be honest so was I! I need to refill my stash of crafty fabric...oh and did I mention that a sewing machine is coming my way?! Can't wait to create :)