Denver, CO ~ 01.09

My wonderful friend Gwen (featured below with her good looking boys) and I had some much needed girlfriend time in her hometown of Denver a few weeks back. Gwen and I roomed together in, and I quote Gwen on this, "a 52 square foot apartment downtown Chicago during our Senior year of college. Well, maybe it was like 152 square feet. But we also shared that elaborate space with roaches the size of a small duck and another roommate. It was the best and most expensive semester of our college lives!". I quote her because I couldn't have said it better. Jay and I flew out to visit and it was the first time we met eachothers boys. Did she ever keep us hoppin! In the few short days (too short) that I was there we managed to up to the mountains twice, to Evergreen and to Red Rock, take in the Rodeo and Stock show, see a local play "Girls Only" (her hubby Tim, aka "Super Dad" offered to watch the boys so we could have a night out), swimming with the boys, hiking, and on... We had SO much fun!!

Here are the pics to prove it...



The boys...


Something you don't see everyday - The Dairy Princesses (with tiaras and all) are on the left waiting for their cows to come in... literally.






Funny Alpaca's




Breathtaking Evergreen...


















There was an older gentleman watching me take this shot who pretty much thought I was nuts. My wonderful friend Gwen stood up for me - "It's ok. She's a professional." :)


















Gwen practiced her photography skills and took some pics me and my J. Thanks friend!!

Carmella ~ My FIRST Survivor Session

Let me start this entry by sharing that when Paul's sister was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer at age 29, last October, I hated that I was not there to take family pictures for them before she started chemo. Having that desire so heavy on my heart has spurred an idea. I am still working out all of the details, but coming soon, I will be offering mini-sessions for those women who are faced with the news that their lives will forever be changed by breast cancer. It is a long journey so many women face and with the grace of our God and the help of modern medicine, most women survive this battle. However, when you hear the news that you or someone you love dearly has been diagnosed, it is heart-wrenching none the less. If you are reading this and are a woman who has recently been diagnosed or have a family member who is going through this, my heart and prayers go out to you. If you or someone you know might be interested in a free mini-session, please contact me for more information. I am currently only offering this locally in Texas. I only have so many openings for these sessions, so please write me at amy@amydeyoung.com and tell me your story. I am calling these the Survivor Sessions, because I believe in the power of the spoken word and I know that these women are survivors!

Having shared all of that, I wondered how I would start this venture. Well God obviously put this on my heart for a reason, because our neighbor, Carmella, emailed me about doing pictures before she went in for her double masectomy. She had her surgery last week and all went GREAT!! The doctor said that she is healed! Here are some pictures from her Survivor Session that we did before the surgery...

Gwen, Tim & Rylan ~ Denver, CO 01.18.09

I know this is getting posted WAY late. I traveled to Denver to visit my fantastic friend Gwen and her family in January (this will get its very own blog post coming soon). While I was there, I had the honor of capturing their family photos. Upon returning from Denver, my computer crashed on me and set me back quite a bit. Everything I was in the middle of working on was on that computer... FORTUNATELY they were able to recover the data. However, I still do not have my computer back. VERY frustrating... and explains the blog tardiness.

Now onto more important things - Gwen, Tim, and Rylan! These are some of my favorite people in the whole wide world! Gwen is my very dear friend whom I met and lived with for a semester in Chicago. This was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting her ADORABLE son Rylan. After almost 8 years of marriage, Gwen and Tim are still crazy about each other. I love that about them! Well, enough talk. Let's get to the good stuff!

Some of my favorite's from the day...