Homesick

One year ago, today, I stepped foot on foreign soil for the first time in my life.


And fell in love.


I thought I would get homesick for the States every once in a while, but it turned out to be quite the contrary...

...I'm homesick for England!

After 4 weeks in the UK (a whole year ago though it be) I still find myself craving a full English breakfast and find myself looking for exits on the left hand side of the interstate.

We visited many beautiful places including Great Stukeley (where we lived most of the time), Huntingdon, Cambridge, Oxford, St Ives Huntingdonshire, Bath, Edinburgh Scotland, Bedford, Olney, Stratford-Upon-Avon and many, many more. We spent our last week in London which was a whole adventure of its own!

We made lots of wonderful memories and took lots of pictures (several thousand in fact.)

SPECIAL thanks to my grandparents for taking us on such an exciting adventure of a lifetime. ♥

St Ives, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

I dearly hope and pray that my feet find themselves once again standing on the other side of the Pond some day. What a joy that would be.

~Emily

3wk. Baby Rhodes + Mini Session: Crider Youngsters

These little guys (and gal) were an absolute joy to photograph! They are full of personality and spunk, which made my job easy! ;) I was so excited about these photos that I just had to share a few. :) <3

I had a wonderful time with these kiddos and their momma. :)

Comment and say hi or tell me what you think of these photos!

Snap on!

~Emily

Improve Photography(.com) Presets Review: "Retro Modern" Collection

I purchased some new photo editing presets for Adobe Lightroom last night! 

It was a "Cyber Monday" discount deal. 91% off! :D

I'm having way too much fun with the "Retro Modern" edits collection. ;) Here's an example!

Guess I could'a waited for #ThrowbackThursday...but oh well ;) This is me, climbing my grandmother's pine tree (one of my favorites from my childhood) on Easter earlier this year.

Hey! It is #TransformationTuesday! ;) So here is the original photo. Using Lightroom 5.7, I added the "Pele - I.P." preset from the ImprovePhotography2015Collection and then added a radial mask in the top left corner where I adjusted exposure, temperature and inverted the mask to create a sun-flare effect. 

If you're interested in the preset collection from Improve Photography(.com) click HERE to see more info! There are over 75 presets, one-hour Lightroom training video and other bonus material in this bundle. 

Hurry and get the deal before it disappears!! 

I think it lasts through tonight...but I'm not sure on that. You'll have to check and see.

Snap on!

~Emily

Introducing: Fall Mini Sessions!

INTRODUCING FALL MINI SESSIONS!

Interested in a photo for your Christmas cards or school pictures? Then my mini sessions are for you! 

Check out the ad below for more information.

1,200 Miles From Home

Happy first day of October!! 

I am happy to have nice cool weather and pull out my scarves and boots. I love all the fall colors on the trees and in yard decorations.

What are your favorite things about the fall season? I'd love to hear them. :)


On Sunday, my paternal grandparents came to our house, from Florida, and on Monday morning we left for South Dakota. After two full days of traveling (through Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska), we finally arrived in Spearfish, SD. It almost felt like we had to regain our "sea legs" after such a long journey in the van. I didn't mind the trip so much, however...I took advantage of the down-time and read the book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It is absolutely insane, but quite entertaining. It really did make me laugh out loud!

Having never been to the Dakotas before, I'm easily excited about most things the locals are used to. Mountains. The spacious view of the sky. People wearing short-sleeved shirts in 50 degree weather....(I still think they're crazy.)


Here are a few photos from our day today.

BIG HILLS. AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL!?

Main Street, Downtown Spearfish, SD

Since we were exhausted from traveling the last two days, we spent today relaxing and going to shops downtown. One of the stores was a neat little antique-type shop called, "The Junk Drawer."

Tub turned into a couch. What an interesting idea!

I truly would love to have an old-fashioned typewriter!!

At a DIFFERENT antique store, I found this little tote full of ollllllllldddd photographs and some even printed on tin!

When I go to antique stores I always look for three things. Cameras, old cameras, and ancient cameras.

Mirror selfie!

THEY HAD SO MANY COMIC BOOKS.

Thissssss is what I was looking for. Lots of photographer gold right there. There were some really fantastic ones that would have been a wonderful addition to my collection!

I almost bought this fez. Because...fezes are cool. ;)

Clara: "Some day, you could just walk PAST a fez."
The Doctor: "Never gonna happen." 

......one does not simply go to an antique store without bringing home a beautiful, musty book. ;)
It's a copy of Shakespeare's, "Macbeth." I can't find a date on it! It also has a huuuuuge appendix and "things we know about Shakespeare" section. Now I have some good reading material for the two day ride back home next week. Ha.

Absolutely lovely tea/coffee shop in the back of a health food store. Gluten-free peanut butter pie. OHHHH my goodness.

Lots of pottery!

The Black Hills. I like this place.
(View of Spearfish from back side of town)

So thankful for the opportunity to visit my cousin as she serves the Lord in this beautiful place!

~Emily

P.S. Here's a couple pictures of the sunset we saw on the road before we arrived in Spearfish yesterday!

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." 

Psalm 19.1

Eighteen Years Ago...

Eighteen years ago, Sunday, I entered this lovely world created by our Heavenly Father. It is difficult for me to believe that the years have flown by so quickly! I had a wonderful birthday, and here are some photos with captions from my instagram feed. :)

I love these boys more than life. They make me feel so special. The world would be so less colorful without them!! <3 They call me "old" now, but then follow it up with "but you're really only like four" HAHA







At Youth Orchestra rehearsal after church, our beloved conductor started fiddling which turned into the "happy birthday" tune :D Very lovely surprise! Thank you, Mr. Schaffner!

Mexican dinner after orchestra with my "little" bro (who will be eighteen as well, in a few short weeks), missed you, Lily! So thankful for your friendship, Aaron! It's quite funny looking back over the years to when we obsessed over Switchfoot and soccer. Oh wait...we still do...HA.

Gave Autumn her birthday gift...on MY birthday. Haha! Matching "BFF" nerd glasses necklace. You are so special to me, Autumn! thanks SO much for spending part of my birthday with me :) <3

Spent some real quality time with this one today as well ^_^ Crazy how when your best friend is also another friend's best friend, and then when the best friend leaves...you and the other friend really hit it off... :) love you, Lyssa, miss you, Maky :'-)

No birthday is complete without a Books-A-Million-hat selfie!!! ;D Love these two ladies.

This totally happened. We are cool. #iseewhatyoudidthere

I can't thank these two enough, for loving me all these eighteen years. They've taught me to cherish life, and most importantly, to follow Christ. I love you, mom and dad <3

Bahahahaha just had to share this one.......for some reason it made me laugh really hard. Thanks, Timmy x'D x'D

Quite possibly my new favorite photo with Aaron.









I am insurmountably blessed with wonderful friends and family to love and be loved by.
Thank you, Lord, for another year to praise You!!
~Emily

P.A.T.C.H. Class of 2014

I once again had the wonderful opportunity to photograph the P.A.T.C.H. High School Graduation this year! It was a beautiful ceremony and funtastic reception. ;) Although as I've said before...it's kinda hard to take pictures when there's tears running down your face. I am very excited for what the Lord has in store for each of them as they move on to college, but will still miss them terribly! <3

I have created a shutterfly site for the grad photos so that it will be easier for everyone to view and share the photos. The web address is: www.PatchClassOf2014.shutterfly.com

Harvest, Kelsey, Allison, Hannah......I am so glad to have you as friends. May the Lord bless you as you continue on to this new stage of life!

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2014!!

~Emily