Idaho Falls • Woodsy Anniversary

Last spring I shot Maddi and Wyatt’s rooftop proposal which you can see HERE. It was one of the sweetest proposals I’ve ever witnessed! Then I shot their gorgeous engagements in the Idaho mountains HERE. So I have a habit of having a good time with these two. I consider them my adventurous and even crazy friends. If I have an idea of something I want to do that’s “out of the box”, Maddi and Wyatt are the ones I call and they usually say HECK YES! Which is one of the many reasons I love them!

When I saw that Morgan Fay had done Maddi’s make up one day, I told Maddi we had to document, so I pulled these two along to one of my favorite spots in Idaho Falls. Maddi looks amazing, ALWAYS! I love how dorky these two are with each other it. They remind me not to take life too seriously. Enjoy our mini adventure in Idaho Falls!

Fair Anniversary Session • Blackfoot, Idaho

This past summer we decided to make the fair a priority! We had went the year before, but it was for a very short afternoon so we decided this round to go for the majority of the afternoon.

One of my favorite fair foods is the Tiger’s Ear which is basically a ginormous scone. It was my first time trying a bull’s-eye burger which was absolutely amazing. I love going to the Blackfoot fair and looking through the art as well. I am from Cheyenne, Wyoming and in July there is Cheyenne Frontier Days which is a huge event. People come from all over the country to see the professional bull riding, evening concerts, amazing fair food, and of course the carnival. So I love the Blackfoot fair but I’m used to the go big or go home for fairs and carnivals since Cheyenne Frontier Days is the daddy of them all. So it was hard to compare the Blackfoot fair to it.

Tanner and Brittny went with us to the fair! We always love the positivity and these two give off. I sincerely look up to them! I wanted to have some fun so I got some cotton candy and told them to just flirt and we got these amazing shots of them just being themselves! Then they went and played one of the carnival games together and it was just too cute not to document!

One Year Later • Our Miscarriage

Today is a hard day. It marks a year since we miscarried our baby at 16 weeks along. Our full miscarriage story can be found here. I thought we would at least be a few weeks pregnant by now. Unfortunately, I don’t have that news. As much as I’m sad and even discouraged that we don’t have a rainbow baby announcement, I’m still just heartbroken about the loss of our child last February. But instead of making today a sad day, I started listing some of the amazing things that happened over the past year. Even though it has been a tough year, we still have been so blessed. Here’s just a few ways…

JayCee Photography was profitable and flourished in 2018. At the beginning of 2018, I turned down over a dozen weddings thinking I would be either too pregnant or needing time to adjust to being a new mom. So once I knew I was pregnant, I turned down weddings between June-October. Prime wedding season. Yet, after our miscarriage, I had a flood of inquiries in March and April completely booking up my schedule. It’s was a blessing for our family financially and for me mentally as a distraction.

I shot a wedding and vacationed in HAWAII! My good friend from high school Chris Shepard HIRED me to fly to Hawaii to document his and Amanda’s wedding. Their wedding was actually on our due date and I know I wouldn’t have taken any other wedding that date. But it was Chris and Hawaii. We had such a great vacation that week and Jake actually got time off for it which was a huge deal. We ate amazing food, snorkeled, laid on the beach, deep sea fishing, and got Henna tattoos. It was so good for the both of us since we really hadn’t gone on a REAL vacation just the two of us.

Jacob’s dream job! While we were in Hawaii Jacob got the call for a job offer to do what he’s always wanted - welding inspecting. He now works in Blackfoot working 4/10’s as a welding inspector and he loves it. He also really enjoys his 3 day weekends since he didn’t have many days off at his old job.

Close-knit group of friends. We’ve always had an awesome group of friends since we moved to Idaho. It was all of Jake’s buddies from high school. But I personally wasn’t “close” with any of the girls. I truly believe me going through our miscarriage brought me and Jake even closer to the group. I literally call them all my best friends.

Dream Car. Truthfully I would of never purchased a sports car if I had kids. But I needed something to make me a little cheerful on hard days, and my Mustang does that. Jake seems to appreciate my new love for sports cars too.

Time with family. I saw my parents 8 times throughout the year and my sister 4 times! It’s a pretty big deal getting to see my family since we’re all spread out now. But I love taking advantage of this freedom to see them whenever I can get the chance.

I’m grateful for the hardships and blessing we had over the past year. It really has shaped Jake and I into who we are today. And I’m grateful we can show empathy to those going through these struggles too.