I couldn't have said it better than Michaela of Kayla Hurd Photography, so these are her exact words from a recent Instagram post of hers.

This is my baby girl's first Halloween and of course we had to take photo photos of her with pumpkins!

As a professional wedding photographer, I don’t reply to these posts. Why? I see my time and expertise valued at a certain amount. Sure, I could bring in all the nickels and dimes and eventually I’ll be making the big bucks. But there’s a lot of things to consider when taking on such an honor of capturing someone’s wedding day. ​

What did you do or will you do for your one year wedding anniversary? Many couples will go out to a fancy dinner to celebrate the union of their love, or even do a weekend getaway. And if you do gifts, the traditional present is paper, and the more modern selection is a clock (why? don't ask me, this is what Google has said it is).

I have created special commissioned watercolor paintings for first wedding anniversary presents, bit this is the first time I had the pleasure of photographing the couple in this part of their journey of husband and wife.

Llesenia and Eron met me at the beautiful grounds of Deepwood Estates on a semi-cool evening (remember in Oregon it has been hot lately), so it was quite refreshing. Llesenia even showed off her crafty side by creating a (very Pinterest worthy) wooden sign to use during their session. The wooden heart sign wasn't the only special item she brought; she brought along her wedding shoes!

Flowers can really brighten up a room and floral crowns can really bring a smile to your face. Last week there was a really fun event at The Shabby Chic Bride in Salem, Oregon which was lead by Sheena with Alice's Table.

Sheena did awesome leading all the ladies in creating their own floral crowns and Jason of Divine Distillers made some tasty mojitos with his own special mix. 

Today I had a splendid afternoon meeting some wooly sheep and spunky sheep dogs, plus an elusive barn cat.

Until now, the closest that I've ever been to working sheepdogs was when I watched the movie "Babe" when I was growing up. Do you remember that movie? If not, let me ring a bell ... it's the one about the pig that was raised by a sheepdog and then went on to herd sheep. Baa ram ewe ...