Photography by Megan Sneak Peek Blog!

Afton, One Whole Year!

Wow, this year has definitely flown by!  It seems like yesterday I was taking Afton's first pictures at just seven days old!  Our last session even seems not so long ago.   She has definitely grown into a lovely little lady with tons of personality, having the most fun eating her cake and making a huge mess!  The best part is the other tradition I've started along with the cake smashing for first birthday sessions...a fun bath in the sink to get all cleaned up again and making silly hairstyles with the soapy water!

Jonathan and KariJo - 2.7.09

The winter weddings continue, this time a beautiful winter day except for the wind, so we only ran outside for a few quick shots.  Luckily the church was gorgeous and filled with light and still decorated from Christmas, which was a lovely touch for the red and black accents of Jonathan and Karijo's wedding colors.  The fun continued into the evening with a fabulous reception and dance at the Alerus center...it was a great night!

 

Evan, One Year

This happy little guy is the perfect transition back into my regularly scheduled blog posts!  Not only is Evan full of smiles and mischief, but all that fabulous color in the background just makes me think of sunshine and spring!  Even though it was a cold winter day during our session and we had to stay indoors, the sun was pouring through the windows (which I had all the shades opened up when I arrived, of course!) so you can't help but feel hopeful for warmer days.  I can't wait until the grass turns green again!

Thank You All

I'm so incredibly thankful for the amazing support and the huge response I've received since my last entry.  From the comments to the e-mails to the online chats and stories you've shared, and even many cards and letters sent, I'm just in awe of how many people were touched by our story.  I especially appreciate the kind understanding from my current clients who have been so patient with me as I have taken this little break.  I promise everything will be back up and running soon and you'll be the first to hear about it!   I also hope to put my schedule back up when I get all that ironed out. 

In the meantime, I just thought I'd share a picture of some of the nice things that were sent or given to us over the past week.  I also cherish all the wonderful e-mails and messages just as much and hope to print them all out someday to put in the memory box we have started.  It's amazing how a life so small and so short can mean so much, and I'm glad so many people understand that.  Thank you all again, from the bottom of our hearts!

The Reason I've Been Away - A Personal Post

First off, I want to thank you all for your patience.  Some of you may have noticed a lack of updates, delayed e-mail responses, and for current clients, galleries taking longer than usual.   I debated a little on coming here to explain, but after some heart and soul searching, I realized it was the best thing for me to be honest and talk about what is going on.  Also, I have found personally it a great help for me to write and share our experience.

In December my husband and I were overjoyed to find out we were expecting a baby.  We told only a few close friends and family and went through all the emotions and excitement.  I couldn't wait to come on my blog and announce our news here, but I knew it would be best to wait and make sure everything was going well first, as I did have a couple weddings around our due date that I needed to work with before then.  In the beginning I ended up having a few complications and went to the doctor several times (we even got to see our baby's beating heart and took home an ultrasound picture!), but then the problems seemed to stop and for awhile things returned to normal, although we were still being monitored with weekly blood tests.  Eventually, our news did get out more amongst a wider group of people (I live in a small town, so of course word travels fast!) and we were literally days away from officially announcing our news to the world.

 We were supposed to just have a follow up ultrasound to make sure everything was going well but unfortunately at that appointment it was discovered our baby had stopped growing and there was no heartbeat detected anymore.  Just to be on the safe side, they waited a couple more days and checked one more time, but everything was the same and we were told our baby did not make it.  We were very sad but deep down I had wondered the whole time if something might have been wrong due to my earlier complications.  We were thankful to have a little time to prepare but of course it doesn't make it any easier.

I have already had an AMAZING outpouring of support from our family and friends and it has been a great source of comfort.  We are doing fairly well right now and looking forward to the future, but at this point I am taking some time off as I need to first go through some things and heal.  I hope to get back to returning my huge backlog of e-mails and finishing up galleries as well as scheduling as soon as I feel ready to.  I have a good feeling that will definitely help for me to jump right back into work--it's a wonderful distraction!  But for now, I really just wanted to let you all know what was going on and explain why I've been so quiet lately.

On an even more personal note, I feel sharing this will let the world know our baby did exist and we ARE parents and take comfort in knowing that we are not alone and our baby is in a better place now!

Hunter and Connor

It was time for another session with Hunter and Connor!  This time we took a different approach and met up at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks for a fun and truly "on-location" session.  The whole family was dressed in bright spring colors and that seemed to go well with the great lighting and marble floors!  Although it was too cold to be outside, we headed down to the ice/stands and took some pictures there too--unlike on game nights at the Ralph, we had the whole place to ourselves!