Viva Las Vegas!

We spent last week surviving a WPPI whirlwind. And by surviving, I actually mean eating, sleeping, and breathing photographers. Notice, I did not say photography... I said, "photographers". Amazingly, there is a difference!

WPPI is a huge wedding and portrait photography convention. We looked forward to attending this convention all year. We love it! And what we love the most about it is seeing all of our friends in one place!

Okay, this is going to be the world's longest blog post, so run get a snack, and enjoy our trip with us!

Sunday was travel day. We had dropped the kiddos off with my amazing family in Asheville on Saturday night, drove on to Charlotte where we spent the night. We got up early on Sunday morning to begin our trek.



When we arrived in Vegas, we basically took off running. I had a meeting at 5:30, and we needed to get checked in before then! We managed to get everything settled, and we ran by Jessica Claire's Shootsac Booth to get a glimpse of her new camera bag! (I found out much later this week, that Nathan bought me one of these for my birthday! Woohoo!) While we were there, we took a moment to hop in Dane's Simple Photo Booth. Fun!





Then I went out to meet with my friends Me Ra and Carey to talk about the aforementioned future projects. We knew we were going to need some images of us together for promotional stuff in the future, so we had Nathan and Brian (Me Ra's husband) take some for us!

Here are a few of the images that Nathan grabbed. (As you can see, there was nothing business like about this meeting! We got very little done, but we had an absolute blast!)









Being the obsessive compulsive gal that I am, I had to self-portrait us, as well...





And then I needed one with my hottie husband!



Nathan grabbed a few pictures of Me Ra and Brian... but he used their camera, so I don't have them... I do have a couple that I took that really capture Brian's goofy side! I love watching him make his wife laugh!





And he isn't selfish with those kisses...



Carey grabbed this fun shot with my camera! Nathan and I love to make out for the camera every chance we get! (Thanks Carey!)





Okay, deep breath...

After the meeting was over, we popped into an OSP party, where it was so insane that I didn't even get out my camera. I hugged a couple of people, and we ran back out the door!

(Thanks to Corey for the only picture from that part of the night!)



On our agenda for the night was an amazing show. Kevin and his stunning wife Shel, joined Nathan and to watch a late night performance of Cirque Du Soleil's O. My amazing husband bought the tickets for me as a birthday gift, and I loved it! It was so awesome to be in the company of such incredible people, as well as enjoy such a visual feast!

I swiped a few pictures from the Cirque site, as we weren't allowed to photograph.







Thanks Kevin and Shel for coming with us, I know it was crazy late, but it meant a lot to me to be with you guys!



Now, on to Monday!

We woke up EARLY Monday morn, so that we could meet the amazing Joel and Rita Weibner for breakfast. We had not had the pleasure of hanging out with them previously, and are so excited that we took the extra time to meet with them that morning. They have an awesome spirit, and we had a fun connection with them! Check out their blog, they are amazing photographers as well!



After breakfast, we headed over to the trade show to cruise around and see who we could see :) We originally planned to actually walk the entire floor, but I don't think we ever managed to see everything! We stopped by and listened to Garrett and Joy Nudd (it's Garrett's birthday today, by the way :) Happy Birthday G!) speak at the LiveBooks booth.



Then we ran into lovely Shyla over by the Pictage booth. She was the official Pictage photographer... and I must say that she did an incredible job of it!



After a day of cruising around seeing everyone on the tradeshow floor, Nathan and I headed outside for a bit.





Then we went off to dinner with an awesome group of people at The Buffet. (I hate buffet's, but this one was way cool. They served everything from sushi to pizza, and it was all good!) The company was awesome... We hung out with Gary and Missy, Amy, David, Dane, and our new friends John and Tiffany (the offical Mrs. Lightsphere). It was a fun group, and we had loads of great conversation. We laughed so loud I am amazed they let us stay. Gary proceeded to go on a spiel about life in the future, and I'm just going to advise everyone to stock up on cat food... and gold. Good times!







The next morning, we had to say goodbye to Shel. I was so sad, because I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with her!



We had an awesome lunch that day with Jason Keifer and several amazing Pictage photographers. We did a lot of quality conversing and eating, and never managed to take any pictures at all!

That night was the Pictage party! Nathan commandeered the camera, and went around the room grabbing shots with many of people who are important to us!

">Davide



Kevin... a.k.a. Fletch.



Amy



(Thanks Corey for this picture!)




Sean Azul



The Halbergs... Tim and Cheryl



David Beckstead and Pictage's Dave Luebke.



Me Ra



Sara France and Pictage's Bibiana.



The amazing J Sandifer!



Erin... of LaCour.



Shaun and Kevin (of KISS book fame) and Eric. These guys are HYSTERICAL!



Pepper and Mitch...



Chris and Katie Torres (super HOT Atlanta photogs!)



Super Corey again...




Jessica Strickland and her faithful sidekick Lauren! (these girls are smokin'!)





Kevin and Jessica... (stole this one from Kev)




After the Pictage party had taken it's toll on us, we decided to sneak out and grab a bite to eat. After waiting for a table, we realized we didn't quite have enough room for everyone. So Nathan and a couple of other guys ran off and had some sushi, and I stayed and hung out with Corey, Amy, David, and Mike among others. It was a fun and relaxing dinner!









After dinner, Amy and I met up with Nathan at the Becker party... Everyone was there!

Davina...



Amy and Sara France...



The Nudds... Again!



Hottie Mike...



Our illustrious host... Becker



A few shots from the Simple Photo Booth...

8 girls all piled in... I don't even know some of these gals! We actually piled 10 girls in at first, but apparently some of them bailed out after the first round.



The Lacour girls and the Chattanooga girls!



We woke up EARLY Wednesday morning in order to hang out with Matt and Theresa. They had won the auction for a mentoring session with us during the Thirst Relief Auction, and we were excited about hanging out with them over breakfast!



Later that morning, Nathan and I spent an hour hanging out in the Pictage booth. We shared a session with Pepper and Mitch, and had the opportunity to answer questions for Pictage members! It was loads of fun to sit and chat, and we look forward to the next opportunity to do so!

(Thanks to Mark at LaCour for these images!)





Wednesday was actually my real birthday, and my wonderful friend Janey flew in from Santa Barbara to hang out with me. It was SO awesome to spend some time with her!



For my birthday celebration, we had planned a little lunch with a few of the people that I love. Everyone knows that I LOVE my birthday, and it was a perfect treat to be able to spend time with all of these people that I love! I wish I had something better than words to express how much you guys mean to me! Thank you so much for being there, and know that I am so proud to call myself your friend!







(thanks for this shot Fletch!)



Almost the whole group... courtesy of our very patient waitress... (thanks Mark for the picture!)



Later that day, we went out to see Bodies, The Exhibition. I am not even going to try to describe it, but it was amazing. Thanks loads to Nathan and Kevin for indulging my desire to go and see it! I was completely fascinated!



Then Nathan and Kevin went to watch a movie... Kevin grabbed this shot of Nathan and I on the way to the theater.



I ran and met up with the girls and Gary for a snack, and then met back up with Nathan for dinner at The Foundation Room. Again, the food was amazing and the company was superb! Sadly, we took very few pictures! I had a blast hanging out with Bob and Dawn Davis (by the way Dawn, I did LOVE my book!).

We did grab one quick snap with the amazing Pepper and Mitch...



The night wrapped up hanging out with Kevin, finally learning how to play Cosmic Wimpout. (I won my first game, by the way!)

Okay, if you've made it this far, I am more than impressed. If you make it to the end, I'll know you love us!

Thursday, we had the opportunity to serve as members of the Pictage Advisory Board. It was a privilege to be able to spend some time with the amazing photographers sitting around the table (check out the link to see everyone that was in attendance). We are proud to be able to be a part of what Pictage is doing in the industry!

(Thanks to Shyla for grabbing these images for us during the meeting!)







After the meeting concluded, we said a few goodbyes, and headed over to the Bellagio to spend some final time with Amy, Janey, Gary and Melissa. We ended up at Breathe, the Oxygen Bar. We spent 20 minutes inhaling pure oxygen and receiving some relaxing scalp and shoulder massage. I think these images can speak for themselves!

















A quick snap of Janey looking all cute while chatting with her man :)



The view when we left the mall...



A fun shot of Gary and Missy from dinner...



After dinner, we went back to Gary and Missy's to send the girls off. They dressed up in their super slick KISS gear! I love these girls!









As we were getting ready to leave, the fountains came on, one last time... We all rushed to the window to watch, and I think we might've been just a little teary-eyed. I hate goodbyes!



I saw Janey, Amy, and Shyla off in their taxi, and I grabbed one of my own. I met back up with Nathan, who was having dinner with a group of amazing husband and wife photography teams (headed up by the Weibners). Joel Weibner grabbed an amazing self portrait of the entire group...



Nathan and I ended up not getting a hotel for the night, we had to be at the airport at 4 am the next day, so we just hung around, and finally spent a little time together. By the next day, we were completely exhausted! This is us in the St. Louis airport, during what felt like the longest layover of all time! We'd been awake forEVER by this point!





Finally, we arrived in Charlotte. We drove madly home, slept a bit, got up on Saturday and shot an amazing wedding (more on that later!), slept again, got up, drove to Asheville, picked up our kids, slept a tiny bit, drove home.

Here are my amazing children upon our arrival...at last...









Wow. If you made it to the end of this, you win true friend of the year award! I am so excited to have spent my week with such amazing people. I wish I could be with you guys so much more often! Let's make it a habit to get together whenever we can!

Lots of love and giant hugs to you all!