This past month has been full of love, relaxation, and crafty projects!!

1. Lover’s Leap Trail in Custer State Park – This February marked Lance’s and my FIFTH year of being together. We celebrated by hiking up Lover’s Leap Trail where Lance proposed just a few short months ago. :-)

2. Homemade Power Bars –  I’m always afraid to try energy bars because I have this fear that they’ll taste like cardboard. Or something way worse. So when I got my latest BCBS magazine with a recipe for homemade bars with peanut butter as the main ingredient, I had to try them. And I just made my third batch of them today.

3. Anniversary flowers. Who doesn’t love a fun, zebra-print vase?

4. Girl Scout Cookies – mmmmm Thin Mints…..

5. Teal vases – if you come visit me between now and September, we WILL have a painting party. You have been warned. And invited. :-)

It all started when my best friend Jill and I went to Sinful Things Desserts in downtown Sioux Falls just after Christmas. We shared a slice of their Red Velvet Ultimate Sin cake. Two layers of red velvet cake with a layer of cheesecake in between, covered in cream cheese frosting.

I fell in love. It was all I could talk about for the rest of the day. I had dreams about it that night. I woke up the next morning determined to find a recipe so I could make an entire layered red velvet cheesecake cake and have it ALL to myself.

I found one. But I didn’t have 9″ round pans, a spring-form pan, a roasting pan, a cake stand OR the willpower to not eat the entire cake by myself. So I decided to make them as cupcakes. Because I couldn’t just NOT make them!!

I followed the recipe as closely as possible – making the cheesecake layers one day and the red velvet cupcakes the next. Then sandwiching and frosting.

This is where my dream turned into a disaster.

Have you ever been so excited to do something that you just go ahead and do it without really thinking “is this the best way to do this?” I realized this happened when it came to frosting these little buggers. My fingers were covered in frosting for the entire assembly of these. So I used cupcake liners to cover up the ‘un-pretty’ sides and made some pink sprinkles to prettify the tops. Because something SO delicious has to look somewhat appetizing, right??

And they were so so SO delicious. And now I have two dozen of these teeny-tiny cakes to take out of the freezer whenever I want! All that work of layering and frosting was SO worth it.

Let me know if you’ll be making these for Valentine’s day! Or if you find an easier recipe! Or want to come over and take some off my hands! :-)

My favorite part about having a cold is drinking lots of Sprite + orange juice. And taking lots of naps. And eventually getting better.

After having a stuffy nose for a while, all I can think about is of how great it would be to just breathe normally. That’s all I want.

Life is so simple in those few, cold-medicine-induced days.

The day finally comes when I’m feeling better. I’m so excited to breathe through my nose again! And instead of taking a morning nap (yes, moving from the bed to the couch makes it a nap, not ‘extended sleep’) I take time to enjoy the few of inches of snow before it melts away. Because snow here has a shorter life-span than my cold. :-)

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of ‘laura loves!!!’ Now that I’ve been posting these for over a year, it’s fun to look back and see what I was enjoying this time last year. And apparently I am a new year’s workout resolution junkie… but this year I have real motivation – looking great in a wedding dress!

1. The one thing I am most loving this month is Ryan + Terra’s wedding featured in the Black Hills Bride magazine!!! I had no idea their wedding was going to be featured until I attended the BHB launch party earlier this month and saw it IN PERSON!! It was such an exciting experience to see the wedding featured AND to see several other images I had taken throughout the year scattered in the magazine. It was like a scavenger hunt – sitting there, going through the magazine page by page, recognizing images even before reading the photo credits. :-)

2. Sarah Fit videos – mmhmm I started working out. again. But this time I’m actually enjoying it! Maybe it’s because I have all those cute workout clothes from last year. Or maybe because I’m on day thirty-something and I can actually SEE that I have muscles!! Or maybe because ‘sarah fit’ is super nice in her videos, and most are workouts I can do in my apartment without bothering my neighbors by jumping around.

3. Canon Professional Services – I take every precaution I can to not get dust inside my camera, but after changing lenses so often, it’s only a matter of time before the insides need a little t.l.c. And the eyeshadow buildup on the back of my camera? It’s almost unsightly after a year!! So now that I have a bit of time between weddings, I just sent one of my two main camera bodies in to get cleaned and serviced. The exciting part? I had it back within ONE WEEK!!! I love quick turnaround – especially with my beloved camera bodies! Now, to send my other baby in to get cleaned before my next wedding!

4. Almond Milk – tastes way better than soy milk. And it makes awesome coffee drinks. :-)

The first thing my clients tell me after they’ve just seen their wedding photos is, “I love them!” – and then immediately after that they say, “How am I ever going to pick my favorites?”

And now I have an idea of how they feel. It took me HOURS to go through all my blogged wedding images to pick my top favorites. Every time I blog, I post my favorite images from the day. So picking favorites out of my favorites? It was like going to Cold Stone – wanting every single flavor and topping that will fit into my cup, but having to decide on the Coffee Lovers Only. There are SO many good flavors… um… images, but these are the ones I kept coming back to.

So here goes… my top 75 (!!!) wedding images from 2011 starting at the beginning of the year…

Dan + Kalina | February 18 | Brookings, South Dakota

Matt + Gladys | March 12 | St. Louis, Missouri

I *love* shy little flower girls! :-)

First looks are the best – even when it’s down the aisle! :-)

John + Rachel | June 12 | Rapid City, South Dakota

Brent + Laura | July 16 | Beresford, South Dakota

Ryan + Sarah | August 19 | Rapid City, South Dakota

Alan + Paige | September 16 | Brookings, South Dakota

I still get butterflies over this image. It was seriously just like a moment out of a movie. :-)

Mitch + Tawni | October 7 | Spearfish, South Dakota

Jerry + Laura | October 14 | Salem, South Dakota

Ryan + Terra | October 21 | Custer, South Dakota

Ken + Brittany | November 12 | Aberdeen, South Dakota

Darin + Michelle | November 19 | Wheaton, Minnesota

Tyler + Lindy | November 26 | Battle Lake, Minnesota

I think this was the largest AND most fun wedding party I have ever photographed. You are all awesome. :-)

Brent + Kelcey | December 30 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota

To all my wonderful couples who got married this year – THANK YOU for sharing your day with me. You guys make my job so great by being so in love! I am super excited to see where life takes you (and who will start the next round of studio lb babies. :-D) Happy 2012 and enjoy your first year as a married couple!! :-)