I was recently commissioned by the Pet People Stores (an awesome pet supply boutique that just opened up a new awesome store in Cincinnati) to photograph their employees and their pets.  I had so much fun working on this project.  The employees were awesome and their pets were adorable.  I even got to photograph my first ever rodents (two white rats!)…it was awesome!

Here are a few of my favorite shots.  Hopefully you will see these in their store soon.  Either way…you need to go check them out!

We’ll start with Parrish, the store manager, and his dog, Honey…

Next is Brittnay and her sweet lil kitten, Roux (pronounced “Roo”)…

Next is Kelli and her Corgi, Ein, and her Maine Coon, Maximus…

Next is Bethany and her very energetic dog, Blaze…

Next is Karen and her husband with their cat, Zute, and their rats, Jay & Dec…

And finally we have Katie and her Corgi, Bailey…

If you haven’t already, go check out Pet People.  It’s a great store with great employees and lots of unique pet merchandise.

Whew!  What a whirlwind trip to visit family in Illinois.  It was so much fun and entirely too short.

We started our trip with Matt’s family.  We ate at Matt’s favorite restaurant growing up, saw “The Blind Side” with Matt’s parents (great movie, by the way), and visited with other friends and family we don’t normally see.  It was really nice.  The only downfall to this part of the trip was the arctic tundra we had forgotten about.  In Illinois there is nothing to stop the wind…so it cuts straight to the bone.  I even saw tumbleweed for the first time in years!!

Next we visited with the Waters fam.  We ate good food and played cards…then baked cookies and played “Hide-and-Seek” with the kids.  And since I can’t go 5 minutes without photographing my “neice” and “nephew”, I’ll share some images here.

Zeke…doing what he always does…playing with trains!

Getting kisses from Addi.

Being a dinosaur!

And making cookies with his Aunt Ashley!

And here are our cookies!

Classic Ethne

Being silly.

Daddy’s girl!!!!

This is a shot Ethne took of Addi with Aunt Ashley’s camera.

And finally…Uncle Matt reading bedtime stories!

And finally, we ended our trip with a visit to my family.  We got to enjoy some of my favorite foods from growing up, opened gifts, and watched some football!!!  While we were there, I took my nephew, Hunter’s Christmas pictures.

My personal favorite!

And on a sadder note, a soldier who graduated from my high school a year before me was killed in Afghanistan on December 1st.  The day before I went back to my hometown, there was a huge procession for him as they drove his body through town on its way to the funeral home.  Flags lined the main road through town and were still there over the weekend.  I took the opportunity to take some photographs to remember this fallen hero and a town in mourning.

And finally…Hunter pays tribute to a friend he will never know.

Yesterday Matt and I took photos of the Adkins family.  Ryan and Kelly Adkins and their dog Sadie just moved into a new house and wanted some photos to commemorate the occasion.  After we all finished watching the Bearcats game (which was awesome, by the way), we got to work.  Here are some of our favorite shots.

Sadie really liked the Santa hats!!!!

And I just think Matty makes the cutest little elf on earth!!!!

Here’s another session from last weekend.  This is Robbie Baker, his fiance Jess, his two kids Hayleigh and Paige, and their two dogs Harley and Dutch.  We all met in Ault Park for a fun fall family session.  These are some of my favorite pics…

Both Robbie and Jess’s fathers are military men.  This was a shot they both really really wanted.