You can bet that every time I pull something out of the refrigerator or panty, the first thing I do it look at the expiration date. If the expiration date is even five days away, I have to seriously think if I want to eat that or not. I hope that I am not the only person who strictly adheres to these "food-will-be-moldy-and-toxic" dates, and this is something that has gotten worse over the past few years.

My mom has tried to "chat" with me about this, ever since I found a pudding package in her pantry from 1997. She claims that certain foods like hamburger, you should definitely use by the suggested date, but other things like panty items, you can be a little more lax on. My rebuttal was that if they put a date on the package, it must mean something. Otherwise, it should just say "Eat Whenever."

If I am not the one cooking, and Cat is, I always ask "did you check the expiration date" before I eat. Call me weird, but I just can't get past this.

I was just cleaning out the fridge before our trip to the grocery, and I found a few bottles that don't have a date on them, rather a few digits that make no sense. Those went in the trash promptly. I also loathe "sell by" dates, for me, that means don't eat after this date. Even though I do know you can still eat the food a few days after that, but I can't risk it.

I should also say that I have never had any sort of food-born illness, so I have no clue how or where this started. Lets just say it is one of the many things that make me perfect! :)

In other news, I have decided that if I could be an animal, I would be a kangaroo. More to come on that later.

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
Walt Disney
We sometimes focus so intently on where we are going that we forget to stop and realize where we have been and how far we have come. Just like you other couples out there, we have sat down and talked about where we wanted to go, things we wanted to accomplish, and made a list of dreams that we would like to come true. When we started our little wedding photography business, we always dreamed to be shooting weddings on the hills of Ireland and pristine beaches of some tropical destination, but we weren't really sure that would happen. In short, we thought it was just a dream.

We wanted to make sure that we tried to enjoy where we were and did things the way they needed to be done. We love a quote by a fellow photographer, Justin Marantz, that says "Slow growth equals strong roots." We have found that to be so true, yet we have also found out that by doing things the way they need to be done, following the Golden Rule, and saying your prayers, things tend to happen a little quicker than you may expect.

Little did we know that we were so close to turning our dream into a reality. Keep in mind that we turned a cattle ranching business into a wedding photography business, we both come from two of the smallest towns in the world, and we just recently joined the cool kids club by eating sushi!

We thought that by the end of our career, we would be able to say we got to shoot that international destination wedding. The good news is, we just got back from the Dominican Republic and shot a wedding there. It was wonderful! On the plane ride there, we were both shocked and giddy with what was about to happen! As the plane took off from Miami, there was nothing but ocean in front of us. I (Cat) have never flown over the ocean before. It was exhilarating!

I think back to we first got our bride's inquiry, we squealed! She said "if you will just go to the trouble of coming to Punta Cana, we would love for you guys to come with us!" Little did she know, it was no trouble for us! After we talked on the phone, we anxiously waited for her to talk to her fiance and get back with us. That same day, she called back and we were booked for her wedding! You can bet we screamed, danced, and maybe even shed a tear or two.

And soon, the trip to Punta Cana was before us. We didn't carry our big cameras around with us except for on the wedding day, but luckily, we had a great camera with us everywhere we went - our iPhones!

When we arrived to the airport at Punta Cana, we were shocked to see it was open air! This should have been our first indicator that air conditioning is really a luxury (meaning it is rare) in the Dominican Republic. As we walked thru the airport with our carry ons, we were greeted by local musicians who were playing drums and singing. We were so excited at this point!

I'm probably the only person who traveled to Punta Cana that didn't bring a sunhat or sunscreen. Oh, I also didn't bring flip flops. What a bad traveler! I had to buy all 3 at the resort gift shop. I'm wearing my Punta Cana flip flops today, by the way!

This was the view from our room. The ocean is in front of us behind all those palm trees.

The beach was my absolute favorite beach I've ever been to! The sand was white and powdery, and the chairs were spread in a perfect mix of sun and shade. For the shade seekers like me, I loved being under these huts. The ocean water was bright blue and clear - you could see your feet when you were in the ocean.

The day of the wedding rolled around and we were all greeted by a stormy day. Bummer! Most of the day the question was "Will the beach wedding happen or not?" A passerby gave us this umbrella, which was instrumental in keeping our gear dry. The housekeeping crew also gave us some huge garbage bags that we had to cover our gear with if the rain got too rough.

Cloudy skies or not, the scenery (and the photo locations) were breathtaking.

After the wedding, we spent the next day lounging around the resort's spa. It was amazing! My favorite part was after our facials and massage, they uncovered our eyes and the sweet ladies were standing over us saying "Hola!"

On the plane ride home, we were sitting on the side of the plane where we were able to see all of the Bahama's and whatever other islands are out there. I still can't get over how bright the water is!

Here's us with Ashlena and Weston on the beach a few days before their wedding! It was quite humid there, so excuse my bad hair! I texted a picture to my best friend saying "Look what the humidity has done to my hair!" She wrote back and only said 3 words: side rat tail. Tragic!

At the end of our trip, we stood in the hotel lobby with our bags waiting on the shuttle to take us back to the airport. I looked around the huge lobby, stared up at the palm leaf ceiling, and listened to the sound of the local music one last time. Tears formed in my eyes and I couldn't believe that we had been so lucky to have this experience. Thank you, Ashlena and Weston and your entire family for making us feel like part of the crew for our 5 day trip!

So with all of that, go out and wholeheartedly chase your dreams. You never know how close they may be.

Today we had an impromptu photo shoot with some of our favorite things... peonies, vintage cameras (which we collect), air plants, and our favorite wedding products: albums and folio boxes!

We just switched our folio boxes (which is a product we offer to our brides and grooms) to these beautiful natural linen boxes.

The boxes are embossed with our logo... because everything is better personalized!

When you open the box, inside are 10 artist-choice (meaning our favorite) images that are signed and numbered and in mats. If I took the picture (like the one here) I sign it, and if Luke took the picture, he signs it. You lift the ribbon out of the box and out comes the set of 10.

This particular folio box we have here is from Katie and Drew's wedding from last summer. This is still one of our all time favorite photos of Katie and her parents!

We also brought out our albums for some pictures, because our love affair with the albums is still going strong. There's nothing I love more than getting a wedding album in, packing it up, and shipping it out. In that moment, I know that a family heirloom just left our home and headed out to be a part of a new family's history.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Print out your photos. Your great-grandkids won't want to look through iPhones or 'cloud storage' to find photos of the people who came before them. :)