Australian Invasion: Phoebe & Liam's Visit Part 2...

The day after our Australia Party, we took Phoebe and Liam to church and they were met with more introductions and people coming up to us requesting a new dance video (which is still in editing and will be done soon I hope!)... Phoebe had so much fun meeting people and feeling like a celebrity! She finally got to experience the church and community I have raved about for ages to her.

After church we went shopping at Scottsdale Fashion Square and then had family dinner with Aaron's family.

Then the next morning Phoebe and Liam left us for a few days to have adventures just the two of them in Las Vegas. I wish I could have gone, but I didn't have the PTO nor the money for a big Vegas trip. They came back that Thursday night and had family dinner with my family. We had actual dinner with my parents and Tyler. Phoebe and Liam got to try traditional American Chili and cornbread, which they loved! Then we went over to Shawn and Nicole's house to see the kiddos and spent the whole night playing Apples to Apples!

I will say I felt like a huge loser the first week because of the rain and them being gone in Las Vegas, we had so very little planned other than movies, sitting around the house and catching up, shopping and of course the Australia party. When they got back from Vegas however, we were going going going all the way up until they left!

Friday morning saw us waking up and heading out of town for the GRAND CANYON! Aaron sadly had to work, so it was just the three of us on this adventure. It was very reminiscent of our trip to Cape Tribulation in Australia... complete with Liam driving! He was keen to try his hand at driving on the other side of the road and other side of the car... so the open roads of the I-17 up to Flagstaff was the perfect time. I drove us out of town to Sunset Point, we took some pictures and then switched spots and I gave Liam a couple hours of driving on the open road!

Sunset Point

Teaching Liam to drive on the RIGHT ride of the road!

We got to Flagstaff and were ready for lunch! Their one request was to eat at a real all-American diner... so of course we picked Galaxy Diner right on historic Route 66!

Burgers, milkshakes, Americana paraphernalia all over the walls... perfection!

After lunch we set off for the Grand Canyon!

We got there just in time to a hike a couple miles down into the Canyon and then back to the rim to watch the sun set from several different look out points!

Majestic!

There was snow everywhere at the top of the Canyon! What a treat that Phoebe and Liam saw so many different Climates in our state.

Along the Bright Angel trail we met a Mule and his rider! We of course took a bunch of pictures and the ride (who worked for the National Park) told us all about the history of the Mule rides down the canyon and what exactly a mule was... education!

Liam was so bummed he hadn't planned enough time to hike all the way down to the bottom of the Canyon! He is determined to come back and conquer the Grand Canyon! Yay an excuse for another trip!

Phoebe wanted to be a real park ranger!

We literally took a million pictures of the run setting over the canyon. We drove to about 3 different look out points and waited until the sun was all the way down before we left the park. Such a beautiful sight! And now Phoebe and Liam can say they have seen a wonder of the world!

We drove back to Flagstaff for the night staying at the Little America Hotel! Love that place :) We sadly got there after the hot tub had closed, which was what we had been looking forward to! We were late because of course we grabbed dinner and had to also stop for a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

Love that they serve them to you upside down!

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and left to drive out to the Meteor Crater a few miles outside of Flagstaff! This was Liam's request and I was excited to see it again cause I hadn't been there in over 15 years!

One of the best preserved Meteor Craters in the world! Believe me, I know. The video we watched in their museum repeated it probably 15 times.

We had a lot of fun wandering around the museum and gift shop on site

American Astronaut Wall of Fame is blank... odd... "To Infinity and Beyond!"

Actual moon rock that weight several ton!

nope... can't lift it.

Quick! Call everyone!! A Meteor is headed toward earth!!!

 As you can see we had a little too much fun.

Where's Miranda? Can you see her?

Jumping shot...

Liam and the crater

This view was looking away from the Meteor Crater... so pretty!

We got our fill of the Crater and so we left and headed home through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona... literally one of the most beautiful drives in the US in my opinion. Phoebe and Liam couldn't stop "oo"-ing and "ah"-ing.

Oak Creek Canyon drive

Red Rocks in Sedona

We stopped in Sedona for a walk around the shops and Phoebe and Liam got a traditional Old Time Photo! I think this was literally the highlight of Phoebe's whole trip!

Are they not PERFECT!

It was so hard to leave Sedona! We had so much fun! But back to Phoenix we went for more Arizona/American Adventures!

Stationary

My big brother is amazing!! I could go on and on about all the many times he has been amazing throughout my 28 years of knowing him, but to save time I will focus on wedding -related amazing-ness :)

First off, Shawn is one of Aaron's best friends. When your best friend starts dating your little sister, one might be hesitant, but not Shawn. I think from the beginning Shawn has been our biggest fan! In fact, Aaron asked Shawn and Nicole the week before he asked me out if it was ok with them... not really for permission I guess, but more make sure Shawn knew how important their friendship was to Aaron and how much he wanted to protect their friendship in the midst of Aaron and I figuring stuff out. He wanted Shawn to know that even if for whatever reason Aaron and I didn't work out, that Aaron and Shawn would still be the same friends they had always been and Aaron was going to do everything he could not to hurt me.

Can you imagine how amazing that was for me to know and hear?!?! That meant the WORLD to me!

So when Aaron asked me out, Shawn and Nicole (even though they were out of town and out of cell phone range) drove into town to be able to call me and hear all about it! Then when I saw them, you could see how excited Shawn was about his best friend and little sister finally together!

As we dated and then got engaged, Shawn was a huge support in asking how we were doing and checking in with both Aaron and I about wedding planning, relationship stuff, and making sure we were doing ok. It was so fun to have Shawn pop up on facebook chat during the day to chat about wedding plans :) Ha!

Shawn is also a VERY gifted media and logo designer. He has designed several websites, flyer, and promotional art for companies all over Phoenix. He has a great eye for design! His company is called Ithaca Media if you want to check it out online or look at his Facebook page! He does freelance design for nearly anything you could want!

It wasn't a question that we wanted him to do all out stationary designs.

I wanted a suite of sorts for our stationary. It was kind of like branding our wedding, I wanted a logo that would run throughout all the pieces. My parents had a picture of a boy and girl underneath a tree with the boy playing guitar on their wedding napkins and they eventually made it into an ornament... I wanted something like that. So the first thing Shawn did was design our monogram:

I took the monogram logo and turned it into a stamp for the back of the invitation envelopes and for the front of the CD favor packaging!

After the logo was ready, we worked on the invitations. I am not one for the packet of information because usually throw everything away accept the date, address, and picture, so I figured we'd keep it simple for the invitation.
A postcard with our picture on the front and the information on the back. We then had our website details for people to find out more information about the wedding day events.

Shawn also designed our wedding programs! I love the different fonts and sizes to break up all the names and order of service. I also loved the rack card format, so it was front and back and easy to hold.

Lastly Shawn is helping us with our thank you cards... you can imagine the business of the first few months of marriage can be especially when your first month included Christmas, New Years, and guests from out of the country for a couple weeks. Needless to say, they are in process and per wedding etiquette you can expect them within the first 6 months to a year :)

Engagement Photos by Pinkerton Photography

Have I told you how much fun planning my wedding has been? My favorite part is getting to do all this planning with my best friend! Seriously Aaron has been a champ throughout this whole process thus far. He constantly asks me what he can be doing to help or what planning elements he can take off my plate. He has opinions about certain things (which are for the most part the same as mine anyway), but he has allowed me to share my vision and dreams for our special day and then is instantly on board! I love that he cares, but also allows the little girl who has always dreamed of her wedding to come out and get excited about all the things I have always wanted to do. Because of this lovely balance we are creating such a wonderful day full of beauty, class, fun, and the laid back charm we are both envisioning.

All of this to say, I am incredibly thankful for my amazing fiance! Aaron is playful, kind, encouraging, thoughtful, funny, smart, witty, and makes me laugh all the time. I am so excited to be his wife and get to do life with him for forever. This last weekend, we have the joy of getting to capture some sweet moments during our engagement photo shoot!!

Now I have been friends with Kelsie Pinkerton for nearly 10 years! I knew her before she even fully considered using her amazing talent as a wedding photographer. She is literally one of the most talented wedding photographers I have every seen! But not only does she take amazing photos and capture amazing moments through the lens of her camera, she is also one of the kindest, sweetest people you will ever meet. All of the brides she works with can attest to her kind spirit and ability to instantly put a couple at ease! She is just so much fun!!

Please go check out her other amazing work on her website: www.pinkertonphotography.com and her blog www.pinkertonphotography.com/blog

In the mean time, check out some of our beautiful engagement photos!!!

We woke up at the crack of dawn... actually we woke up earlier than that because we arrived Downtown Phoenix at the crack of dawn! Phoenix summers are unbearable to be outside, so we had to start at 5:30a (when the sun rises) to be able to be done by the time the temps rise. Even with that, we were still sweating like crazy by the end of the shoot.

I love old buildings and red brick and architecture! Aaron LOVES downtown Phoenix, so we decided it would make the perfect place for our pictures. Our wedding is going to be very country and backyard feeling, so an urban backdrop for engagement photos was really fun!

Thank you Kelsie!!! Check out our slide show (turn up the volume for the music)! www.pinkertonphoto.com/slideshows/mirandat

Film Photography...

I am so excited about a new little hobby I have picked up! I am dabbling in the world of photography... but don't worry, I admit I have no natural eye and minimal talent. This is entirely for my own enjoyment and I don't expect anyone to enjoy it as much as me.

In 1981 my parents bought their first camera as a married couple - a Canon AE-1 Program. It is a really great camera with manual settings where you can adjust the apeture and shutter speeds.

When I was in high school I took a photography class and learned all about how to work my parents' camera, but have since lost the complete knowledge. It has been fun playing around and refreshing myself.

These picture were on the first rolls of film I used up in the learning process. Note the film is probably about 10 years old, so that might be why they aren't great... but its also because I didn't really know what I'm doing yet.

romantic lighting

The texture of the wood is pretty cool!

This one is overly exposed... I just really like this building

messing around with the focus

again... over exposed

 

lightrail

Anya with a jumping cactus!

Lense flare