November…where did you go? Take a journey with your phoenix wedding photographers as we take a look back at our kitchen remodel, Thanksgiving, A trip to San Fransisco to photograph an engagement session, our first Flagstaff snow, and of course our photography sessions from this month!
Let’s go…
The top left picture above is what our kitchen looked like. See where the rug used to be? So do we, SICK! This was a 3 month project one of our groom’s did with us. He tore down some walls, added a huge counter top right in the middle of our new kitchen, raised a ceiling, added a pantry, and yes, we got rid of that nasty carpet! The day before Thanksgiving our AMAZING counter tops were installed and Wa-La….the bottom picture is what we get to enjoy every day now. A warm, cozy, family friendly kitchen. Thanks Travis!!!
This month we also headed to San Francisco to shoot Lelsey & Greg’s Engagement session. They booked us for their Bahamas wedding, which we will be cruising to next April, but we really wanted to meet them before cruise time. So, we hopped on a plane ( you know how I love flying-Renee) and landed in San Fran. We met up with our lovely Sarah & Matt, met Greg & Lesley over sushi & sake, and the rest is history. One dream engagement session in the books and new friends were made. Greg works at Facebook so we had one fantabulous tour. (Yes, that’s a word) Free food for all employees anytime they want it (coffee, desserts, open bars, legit food!), a room just with arcade games, a music recording studio & so much more-it was kind of like Disneyland for adults! You will see G & L’s San Fransisco engagement session below.
We landed back in Arizona and headed up to our Flagstaff house. And what to our wandering eyes did appear…SNOW! This is part of the reason we love Flagstaff. Yes its cold and you have to shovel, but seeing this amazingness out your front windows is priceless.
Thanksgiving day was all about family. Our kitchen was complete and we were excited to start cooking so we woke up at 5:30 AM to start. See that top left pic, that’s us fresh awake and ready to go 
We had our first attempt at homemade pies. The recipe was passed down by Robin’s mom and they were delicious. Ashlyn & Robin took on pie duty. Unfortunately Robin froze the butter SO what do we do??? Lay the butter on the fireplace for it to defrost. For those of you wondering, it worked! I heard so many times how they tasted just like her moms. SCORE! And for those of you that want to know what we eat, yes, we eat fake turkey. Trader Joe’s has a delicious vegan turkey with stuffing. And for the rest of you that wonder, yes, our pie was NOT vegan. We decided to go for it & follow the recipe as it was. So, 3 cans of evaporated milk and 6 eggs later we un-veganized ourselves just for those pumpkin pies.
Alright, I know this picture is random. Here’s the story. My grandma, who unexpectedly passed away 1.6.13 always watched the dog show on Thanksgiving day. This was SO incredibly annoying to us! Like really who sits and watches 2 hours worth of dogs parading around with hosts who explain every detail of some dog you’ve never heard of? Well for some weird reason I found myself watching it. Then I kept watching it. About halfway through I had a realization that it was making me feel closer to my Grandma. So with that, I sat and watched the whole entire thing with my middle daughter Ava. What started out as a joke turned into a time I was able to feel connected to my Grandma & I am so glad I have now started a new tradition for my own kids every Thanksgiving.
Christmas decorating time is designated the day after we celebrate Thanksgiving. So with kids in tow, we hiked out to our garage and grabbed our tree I totally miss the smell of a real tree, but I can re-create it from a winter candle at Bath & Body works. 2 hours later we had a cozy Christmas house complete with stockings, lights, and a tree. Now onto our sessions…yeah we photograph amazing people in our spare time also.
Brad & Sarah work for Arizona’s national state parks. So where else would Brad plan to pop the question? Right in this amazing spot! We have never shot at this particular location right on the other side of Williams so we were stoked to drive up and see this beautiful background.
Hez & Dawn flew on over to Maryland to legally get married then came back to AZ to party with family and friends. We photographed their Hotel Palomar weeding reception including their first look. Dawn chose to surprise Hez with a new dress, so we were able to capture all the emotions of their day.
Jennifer & Eirik were married at the Monorchid in Downtown Phoenix. They had such an eclectic wedding filled with songs from the Beatles, grungy art walls, and a metal staircase right in the middle of their ceremony site. Check out their wedding film that our team filmed of their day at Monorchid.
Here it is, our San Fransisco engagement session with Lelsey & Greg. This was their sneak peek and we will soon be posting more of their images. Be on the lookout because seriously, you do NOT want to miss these pictures.
Up next was Lynnzie & Matt’s wedding at the Boojum Tree. We love photographing at this venue and we couldn’t have asked for a better couple. Here is a little look into their day and more images will be up soon.
A super sick senior session is next up. Robin photographed this downtown Gilbert senior session all by her lonesome. When she came home and showed me the back of the camera I knew these pictures were going to be epic. Here are a few from Tasha’s session and a look at her senior video.
And that about wraps it up. Do you feel exhausted? So did we, but we couldn’t imagine doing anything different. We celebrated family, friends, and life! Love to you all this Holiday season.
XOXO-R2
P.S. we are taking a month off to enjoy family so we hope you take the time to enjoy yours as well.