A Maternity Photoshoot for Lori

Remember my lovely friend, Lori? Well she is darn-near-ready to have her baby boy, so I figured it's about time to share her maternity photos that I shot ....oh....over 2 months ago. Oops. (You may remember seeing a few photos that Lori snapped for Matt & I during this shoot here & here.)

 

Early on in her pregnancy, Lori asked if I'd be willing to take some preggo-pictures for her & of course I said yes! Unfortunately, we put it off until our last weekend in NC (before back-to-back weddings & our big move) & the weather threatened to ruin our shoot. Thankfully, right before we were about to call it off, the rain clouds cleared up and we were blessed with a beautiful night & beautiful light.

 

We took most of these photos in Carpenter, NC... just a hop, skip & a jump away from Lori & Dave's home in Morrisville. Carpenter was an absolutely darling spot for our little photoshoot...and there is no denying that Lori is a natural in front of the camera. She was absolutely glowing. (Can't forget the dad-to-be. Dave - you're looking good, too!)

I had a hard time picking out a handful to share on the blog, so instead, I've embedded a little slide show with my favorites. Consider yourself warned: it's a bit long (2 full songs), but in all fairness, I pared it down from 500+ photos! If you'd rather browse through my faves instead of watching the video, you can just check out my Smugmug album here. I even managed to hand over the camera over to Matt & sneak in a few photos with my dear friend! If you are a prayerful person, please lift up Lori & Dave as they get ready for the arrival of their first little one! He'll be here very soon!

(Psstt...If you expand the video to watch it full-screen, just make sure to click the little button that reads "SCALING IS ON" so that the photos aren't crazy grainy when they blow up to full screen. If the Vimeo player says "SCALING IS OFF" you are a-o-k.) 

P.S. Due to some last minute travel-changes, looks like I'm going to get to meet Lori & Dave's baby boy next month! I am oh-so-excited as I was bummed to move right before his arrival. (Sound familiar? I moved right after my Chicago-BFF told me she was pregnant! Our timing is terribly off...) Can't wait to meet the little guy & see our good friends again so soon!

P.P.S. I'm in love with the fact that the tomato plant behind Lori in this photo is called "Better Boy!" I actually didn't notice it until today despite looking at these photos a gazillion times. What a happy coincidence for this soon-to-be-momma of a little boy! I sure hope he is a good little boy... with parents like Lori & Dave, it's almost guaranteed!

What We've Been Up To {Some Snapshots}

I know what you're thinking....

Hello??? Anybody there???

Believe me, I hear ya & I recognize it's been quiet at Simply Suz lately. Don't you worry, I do have an excellent excuse -- we have been traveling (including a major out-of-state move) or hosting family 6 of the past 7 weekends. To top it off, the weekends prior to our marathon travel-stretch we were packing, preparing for our move, & saying goodbye to our NC friends! Needless to say, I am exhausted both physically & emotionally & have not had any time or energy for blogging!

Here are some snapshots of where we've been & what we've been up to the past couple of months....expect full feature blog posts on (most) of these happenings in the coming weeks!

Weekend of May 14th...
I did a photo-shoot for my super-cute, super-sweet, preggo girlfriend, Lori, & her hubby Dave. Lori is due at the end of the month, so hopefully I'll get around to sharing some of her darling photos before her little man arrives!
I also enjoyed a special treat that week at a work... a team getaway.... sailing in New Bern, NC!

Weekend of May 21st....
We headed north to New Jersey for my beautiful cousin, Sara's wedding. We were joined by (most of) the Lohuis fam (Mark...you were missed!). Hannah had on her dancing shoes, so she managed to keep us on our toes!
Weekend of May 28th (a.k.a. Memorial Day Weekend)....
We flew out west to Wichita, Kansas for brother Tom & sister Caroline's wedding. It was a McA-filled weekend!

I'll be sure to fill you in much more on that, including the darling rehearsal dinner Mom & Dad McA orchestrated!

Weekend of June 4th...
After saying goodbye to our good friends in NC, we hit the road & headed south to Florida! My gracious folks helped us unpack a truck-load-o-stuff into our new home.

Weekend of June 11th...
We enjoyed a mini-weekend-getaway with my family in Orlando. We lounged by the pool, grilled out, made a pit-stop at Ikea to get some home essentials & enjoyed quality Florida fam time.

Weekend of June 18th...
We took a traveling-breather & worked on settling into our new place. We also managed to take a break from all of the unpacking to celebrate our 4th anniversary on June 23rd!

Weekend of June 25th...
Katie, Matt & Hannah came to visit us in Gainesville! Katie gave us a great tour of her alma-mater & we chased around our adorable niece all weekend.

Weekend of July 2nd...
We headed home to Vero & spent the Fourth of July weekend with Mom & Dad Lo, Katie, Matt, Hannah & Grandma. We hit the beach, enjoyed pool time, hung some crown molding (technically that wasn't a "we" activity...Matt helped the-other-Matt with that), rearranged my folk's furniture & set up their sound system (okay, the Matts did that, too), ate lots of hot dogs (I'll claim that), watched the fireworks, & enjoyed Matt's favorite holiday!

Visit Simply Suz in the upcoming weeks months (I'm just being honest here) to get more details on all of this fun stuff & a few additional adventures planned before Matt starts dental school in August! Please be patient, it may take me awhile, as we have no plans of slowing down anytime soon!