This morning I woke up three hours earlier than normal. Just for a sunrise. My mom asked if we had beautiful sunrises here and I said “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out!” We certainly do. All these photos are from the Wildlife Loop Road in Custer State Park.

*Disclaimer: I am in no way shifting from weddings to nature photography. It’s just fun to experience different adventures once in a while. :-)

And of course there was wildlife on Wildlife Loop Road…this doe stared right at me for the longest time. I really wish I had seen a buck so that I could tell Lance and his dad that I ‘shot’ a buck (they are both out hunting for the ‘trophy buck’ today)!

There were also many, many buffalo. I felt like I was driving through the Roundup. Here’s one little guy:

Don’t expect many more sunrise shoots from this girl. It was fun and exhilarating and beautiful…for about 30 minutes. Before that I was half-tempted to stay in bed. After the sun was up I wanted to either go back to bed or go get a big caramel roll latte!!

I met Chris and Amy when I was in high school – we were all in the 4-H Council/Ambassador program together. Because of 4-H, Chris and Amy knew each other for a few years before they started dating in 2005.

Four years later, they go on a date for their anniversary and Chris has one place to stop before dinner – Bridal Veil Falls in Spearfish Canyon. They pull off to the side of the road, and Chris has two presents for Amy. The first, a dozen roses – eleven red, one white. Amy is excited and taking pictures of the flowers and when Chris asks her to turn around, she sees him down on one knee with a beautiful ring (which he picked out all by himself)!

She says yes. They hug. They kiss. They laugh.

Amy opens the other present – a bottle of champagne to celebrate their engagement!

Ten days later I go with them back to Bridal Veil Falls for some photos and the slope/path to the bottom is completely covered in snow. So we took photos from the road!! :-)

We thought Roughlock Falls might be plowed, but we ended up having to make our own tracks though the snow.

It was totally worth the cold, wet feet.

These two are always laughing – and I LOVE it!!

Chris + Amy – thanks for being so much fun! Walking through lots of snow, driving around the Northern Hills to find all the great locations and laughing at my ridiculous comments make you one of the coolest couples I’ve had the pleasure of photographing! CONGRATS on your engagement!! I’m so excited for the both of you!

In case you didn’t already know, I work part-time at a coffee shop.

Since I started working there I have become somewhat addicted to not only drinking lattes, but also making them look good:

I was SO excited about this heart I poured that I called everyone I was working with to come look at it – even my boss! She ran to get her camera and I was still smiling from ear to ear when I brought the drink out to the gentleman who ordered it. When I set it down in front of him on the table he shrugged and muttered a quick ‘thanks.’  He didn’t even care how good it looked!!! He totally bursted my ‘beautiful latte art’ bubble. But then later I made two other hearts and I felt better. :-)

I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve perfected the heart and moved on to the ‘rosetta latte.’

I LOVE getting mail. And more than anything I love getting PRETTY things in the mail!! I was so impressed by White Owl’s jewelry on her Etsy shop that I just had to have a pair of her earrings. And a necklace. I don’t know where I will ever wear either, but they were just too adorable to pass up!!

A large padded envelope greeted me in my mailbox when I got home from work tonight. I had already forgotten I had ordered something. What a nice surprise! :-) I simply adore cute packaging and hand-written thank-you notes:

Cute packaging makes what’s inside that much more exciting and beautiful:

My favorite kinds of jewelry are pieces that are unique and original, things that no one else has. My favorite rings are the vintage ones passed down from my mom and grandma. But now I have a new favorite necklace and pair of earrings!!

I will travel anywhere to take photos. Anywhere. Saturday I traveled to Vermillion (during USD’s homecoming) to take Lee + Nikki’s engagement photos!! It. Was. Cold. But FUN! We had great light to work with, and lots of fun areas for backdrops!

Lee + Nikki – thanks for being such troopers about the weather!! Lance and I stopped at Bomgaar’s in Yankton after your session and I was checking out the industrial-sized space heaters, wondering if that would be an option for me to bring along for fall/winter outdoor sessions. :-)