we had our winter retreat for the high school kids this past weekend

it was a good time as we had some friends who are missionaries in costa rica speak

here are a few more

the Student Life band has been recording some stuff in order to put together a cd

the cd will consist of worship songs done by both high school and middle school bands which is pretty cool

these are just a few shots that i took during their first recording session

jenica and i went to the world of coke the other day...it was pretty fun.

we knew it would be though since it was a whole museum dedicated to the drink of the south (other than sweet tea of course)

at the end of the tour you were able to try all of the coke products that are sold worldwide at these little "world tasting stations"

they were pretty good, all except for some nasty drink called Beverly from Italy....little hint: stay away from that one...it seems fine at first and then attacks you from the inside. it's sneaky.

anywho, we had a good time and even got to walk away with our very own bottled coke that says "world of coke" on the bottle (in glass, not just a sticker) so that was pretty cool.

So i realize it's been awhile since i have posted...that's pretty much because i shot my first wedding (just the reception) the other day and i was studying up as much as i could.

Overall i think it went pretty well despite the low light. It was a great first learning experience and my hope is that i will only get better as i learn my equipement more and hopefully build up to the point of getting some other stuff.

I have also being working on some maternity pics which i was happy with. Right now i am just doing as much as possible to build up my portfolio and we will see what God decides to do with it.

Here are a couple from the maternity pics.

so i went geocaching the other day

if you don't know what that is, it's basically a worldwide treasure hunt where you find other people's "caches" with the aid of a handheld gps and then sign their log book or trade out for something someone else left in the "cache"

it's pretty fun and some are hidden in really cool locations

if you want to check it out go to www.geocaching.com

there are over 500,000 in the world so chances are there are some close to you

i have been messing around a lot with some new techniques...some of them are actually coming out better now that i have a diffuser for my flash

there is a lot coming up that i get to shoot which i am really excited about: a basketball league, wedding reception, and some maternity shots.

hopefully they all come out well

i had an awesome break.

it was so great being able to be with family and just relax for a couple weeks...not to mention finally being able to see snow

these are just a few from my time in chicago/evanston