i found this awesome location and was dying to use it!  when breck told me what she wanted for her engagements, i knew it would be perfect!  let me know what you think!! 

i love love love the old cars!

um… hello awesome shoes!

this post may disgust some of you (including me) so read at your own risk!!!!!!!  i am going to bear my soul to you all.

to call me a clean freak would be an understatment.  in fact i take that back.  if my house is not clean i freak!  my husband and i argue all of the time about the house being clean. 

chris- “you gotta let go once in a while.  it is ok if the house is a little messy”

me- “you call this a little messy! is it too much to ask that the house just stay clean?” as i frantically clean stuff i am sure is already clean.  but it isn’t clean to me and that is all that matters!!! right? (other than the sanity of my family and their crazy mom)

i blame this mentality on my dad.  thanks dad!

 however, i am not in any way (and probably never will be) domestic  that probably has something to do with my mom doing my laundry among other things until i was 21.  thanks mom!  i swear there is just something missing in that part of my brain.  so we have had the same vacuum for about 3 years now.  i vacuum, i would dare say, daily.  if not daily then every other day.  i blame this not only on my love of clean things, but also on the fact that we have a dog and a cat, that shed profusely!  thanks pets!  it makes me angry at my animals for this which i know is not fair but “dang it if we didn’t have this dog i wouldn’t have to vacuum everyday”  but we do have a dog and i do vacuum everyday. 

ok so back to the lack of domestication.  in our house, my husband is the one that knows how to do everything and i am the one who just doesn’t get some things.  and i am the one who vacuums.  so when the vacuum isn’t working properly it is my responsiblity to  inform him of it.  i have always gone to other peoples houses and envied the lines in their freshly vacuum carpet.  i never get lines in my carpet when i vacuum and i blamed this on my carpet. 

so let’s see if you can all keep this straight:

me being a clean freak- blame on dad

lack of domestication- blame on mom

having to vacuum daily- blame on pets

lack of vacuum lines in carpet- blame on carpet.

well it has come to my attention that once in a while you may need to change some things in your vacuum, mainly filters, belts and bars.  i have always cleaned my filters regularly but NEVER no NEVER changed the filters or belts for new ones.  Also my beater bar was broken.  So low and behold, my husband (the smart one) bought new ones and changed them for me.  i went and got a new beater bar today and guess what….

THERE ARE LINES IN MY CARPET!!!! (look closely and you will see them)  this is a whole new level of clean for me!

the other thing i have come to realize is that my house has NEVER really been vacuumed well.  and this is where the disguting part comes in.  after i got everything fixed today i went on a vacuum frenzy.  this next picture, my friends, is what my vacuum picked up in one room.  do you understand that? ONE ROOM!  oh my gross!  i usually got this much crap out of my carpet in a total of 3 whole house vacuums!!!

so i apologize to everyone who i have offended by my disgusting carpet.  i have learned what it means to vacuum and i feel like a new woman today.  end result, it was all the vacuums fault!

when erin booked me she said she wanted bright colors for her bridals, so that is exactly what we did!  i absolutely love bright colorful pictures!  they are so much fun.  i found some awesome new locations and we had a blast!  and isn’t she absolutely gorgeous!!!  i know there are a lot of people that come to my blog but don’t comment.  Don’t be shy leave me some love and let me know who you are!  i love making new blog friends!

my FAVORITE!!!

aren’t her eyes incredible!!

these two are my life!

i just wanted to say a big congratulations to my past bride and friend heather for winning my blog contest.  i didn’t blog yesterday and she was the first one to email me. she gets $50 off of her next session with me, and good news everyone, she is pregnant!  YAY!  but don’t go away because it is still continuing until monday.  and for all of you who didn’t email   because you thought it was too late, you were wrong.  heather didn’t even email me until 8:08 this morning and won. (the contest ended at midnight last night)  in honor of heather here is one of my favorite pictures from her wedding in august 2007!  don’t forget to keep watching.  the contest ends monday at midnight!!!!!

this is my cousin alisa.  she wanted some headshots of herself so she can tryout for some musicals in salt lake.  she is a great singer and i wish her all the best!

whew!  barely made it before midnight!  you all thought it was your lucky day, but sorry!  not today :)  these are the rest of the pictures that i took of my girls when we were in st. george.  we found the most awesome spot in the downtown area.  it is defintely not your typical st. george style, but i love it!  in the last 3 pictures we found the cutest little cupcake shop and bought cupcakes and an italian soda and snapped some shots!  we had a blast!  don’t you love how my girls just know how to pose?!?! they did most of these on their own.  they are for sure, a photographers daughters!  love them!

i shot pyper and kyles engagements last week at wheeler farm.  i had never been there before and it was really cool!  i just loved the old truck that we found there!  i have been wanting to shoot by some old cars lately and finally found the right place!  i am so excited for pyper and kyle’s wedding in july.  it is at the draper temple and i have never been there before.  and for me there is nothing better and more inspiring then shooting at a new location.  hope you all love these pictures, because i do!  and don’t forget to leave me a comment!

my favorite! i adore this shot!

i have been so busy lately that i totally have neglected my blog.  i have so much to blog and am determined to do it all!!!  so i have decided to do a contest for all of you who follow my blog.  i will blog every day this week and if (and when)  i miss a day, (no post by 12 midnight)  the first person to email me will win!  yay! feel free to email me at 12:01!  what will you win you ask?  if you are looking to book a wedding with me you will get $250 off of any wedding package!!!   a family, children or senior session, you will get $50 off.  or if you are a  past or current clients will you win a free 11×14 from any of your sessions!   good luck everyone!  the contest ends  monday the 25th!  email me at amanda@amandaabelphoto.com

(this post will stay at the top for the whole week of the contest)

meet baby naomi.  isn’t she precious!?!  she is the little sweetheart of chelsey and richie, one of my 2007 weddings. there is nothing i love more  than returning clients and getting to see them again!  i love the cute tutu and headband chelsey’s mom made for her.  oh, she is just so precious!  about halfway through, she had had enough, but we did what we could and still got some great shots!  don’t ya just love the one with the dog? haha!  they had practiced getting her to sit up on him prior to me coming. that just cracks me up!  i love it!  you know what else i love?  i love comments so let me know what you think!!!  and i promise i won’t say ” i love” in this blog post again!  haha!