The Earl Family | #sincerelylizphoto

I met Allison through The Motherhood Collective last year and she quickly stepped in as Sunday's nanny when we were on the hunt for someone trustworthy, reliable, and who would truly care for our baby girl. Something I really value is that our parenting styles are similar and the interaction between Sunday and Aiden is just the icing on the cake!! It makes my mama heart smile so big to know that Allison and Aiden both enjoy hanging out with Sunday two afternoons a week. You should see the two share hugs and kisses… it kills me! This family is so, so sweet. Greg works his tail off in law school (he graduates soon and is whisking them out of state for work! :() and Allison is a true role model wife and mother. She nurtures their home, cooks healthy delicious meals, leads an active lifestyle and just radiates in her roles. I admire her so much! It is an honor to call her a friend.

So needless to say, I was more than happy for the opportunity to capture their little family for a few minutes in downtown Lynchburg this past fall. Their session was so quick and easy! Aiden was a little ham and had a ton of fun in front of the camera. We shot for about twenty minutes and Aiden even hung in there at the end for a clothing change for the gender reveal pictures! I wanted to hold off on sharing this session until they shared their news publicly, so check out the reveal at the bottom! :)

And.... they are having....!

A girl! I am SO excited and happy for Allison to have a sweet baby girl!! I think it's also kind of fun that Aiden has been practicing having a little girl around for a few months now... he's going to be a great big brother!

Equipment used for this session:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens // canon 70-200 f/2.8 lens

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Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddings, family portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.

Time on the trails | #Gratituesday

Well, it's about two years overdue, but we are finally trekking the trails together.

Tommy has been on his trail running journey for a while and I am finally dipping my toes into it this year. This past week we have been out on the trails three times as a family. It. is. awesome.

Sunday absolutely LOVES being out there. She is never more content and satisfied as she is when she's on Tommy's back and out in the woods. She inspires me so much. I try to not let the weather dictate our days together. It's been a goal to bundle up and go outside every day - in some way. It definitely doesn't happen every day, but setting the goal has helped make it happen a lot more often than it used to.

And I'm loving it. Fresh air and sunshine is so good for the soul. Uninterrupted family time, with no TV or laptops or work tempting our attention is so good for our family.

Here's to many more hours, days, even weeks spent in the great outdoors with each other!!

Join us for Gratituesday at heavenly homemakers!

Kellen & Ashley Maternity | #sincerelylizphoto

You may remember this sweet couple from their engagement session and wedding. I met up with them the morning of New Years Day, despite the rain (seriously, it always rains on their session days!) and we had a lot of fun just walking around and capturing this time in their life. I posted my favorite picture from their session at the top (totally out of order which messes with my perfectionism!!) because I want to talk about how stinking beautiful I think they are.

These two are truly best friends and such good people. Like - really good, quality, lovable people. They always find the good in others, they let go of the past, and don't do "drama." Together, they make a fantastic team. They go out of their way to make each other happy and they laugh together, a lot. I love being around them and I am so excited that they are procreating and on their way to making more little Kellen and Ashley's! This world needs more people like them. I say that genuinely. We need more people like them!

I'm honored and grateful that they continue to hire me to capture such special times in their lives. Okay, enough of my chatter. Here they are…!

Equipment used for this session:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens // canon 70-200 f/2.8 lens

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Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddings, family portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.

In 2013, I resolve... | #101in1001

Each year my resolutions look kind of the same: exercise, simplify, learn better time management. So when I make my list of goals I try to be more specific, as specific goals seem to work better for me and I achieve more of them. It's as if the specificity holds me a bit more accountable. I've had some fun ways of displaying my goals around my office in the past. Check out my 2008 and 2009 goals. (Other years have been lost around the internet.)

This year I am resolving to bring back my 101 in 1001 list I started back in 2010. If my calculations are correct, it's been 743 days since the start of this challenge, approximately 500 days since I've abandoned the list, and I've got 258 days left to work on it. Of course, my life has significantly (an unexpectedly) changed since I started the challenge, so I went ahead and added a few more relative goals to the second half of the list (thus finally finishing the creation of the list).

Below are the goals I added, but you can see the list in it's entirety here.

1. Run another half-marathon
2. Earn a PR in the Smithfield Sprint triathlon
3. Earn a new PR in the 5k distance (so far my best time was 36 mins in 2007)
4. Run in a trail race
5. Have my work featured on at least 3 different blogs
6. Submit images and apply for WPJA
7. Work on lowering carb and sugar intake
8. Make the switch from coffee to tea in the morning
9. Swap our chemical cleaners for home made cleaners
10. Simplify our medicine cabinet by purging a lot of medicines and replacing them with herbs and essential oils
11. Learn how to heal our bodies naturally (and save money in the process!)
12. Travel to Florida to visit my grandmother
13. Travel to Colorado to visit my sister
14. Go on an anniversary trip with Tommy
15. Spend more time finding inspiration through online photo sites
16. Write something every day for a month
17. Create a social media marketing plan and follow it
18. Hire an intern
19. Transfer business status from Sole-Proprietor to an S-Corp
20. Repaint my kitchen walls
21. Incorporate the use of an ipad into my business workflow
22. Enhance Sincerely, Liz client experiences by adding gifts and surprises into my workflow
23. Redesign Sincerely, Liz website and combine all of my online sites into one
24. Rebrand Lynchburg Snapshot Studio
25. Create a marketing plan for Lynchburg Snapshot Studio
26. Develop and begin a preschool curriculum for Sunday (even if that means toddler school for now)
27. Make running a regular part of my weekly routine
28. Make 5 Pinterest recipes
29. Complete 3 Pinterest DIY projects
30. Create a "Sunday's First Year" book/album
31. Go to the Farmer's Market once a month in the spring/summer. Buy and consume more fresh foods.
32. Go geocaching with my nieces
33. Shoot a photo session in an ice skating rink
34. Simplify our magazine subscription list
35. Make a photo album of our wedding pictures
36. Swap out my beauty care products for natural, less expensive versions
37. Go to a dinner theater with Tommy
38. Have new head shots taken annually
39. Start an annual head shot mini session day in late winter
40. Go on a camping trip with Tommy while in Colorado
41. Sell my landscape and art prints online
42. Print and frame images for a collage of "life" in our hallway
43. Take a weekend and "unplug" from all things digital
44. Do a "day in the life" blog post
45. Send a bouquet of flowers to someone "just because"
46. Get a bold haircut
47. Create the habit of making a weekly meal plan
48. Find 3 healthy dessert recipes and make them often enough to no longer need to look at the recipe
49. Host a party in our home
50. Change most (if not all) the lightbulbs in our house to energy efficient bulbs
51. Print at least two landscape canvas prints and hang them in our home
52. Purchase some plants for our home and keep them alive
53. Simplify my wardrobe by making smart accessory purchases and blog about the experience
54. Move the Sincerely, Liz office into the basement from the current office space

I'm looking forward to documenting this journey here on the blog this year. A lot of these goals are already in-progress and it's exciting to think of all the great plans we have on the calendar for this year, both with the business and at home. I love living with intention. Life is so much better that way. <3

#christmas2012 | Christmas 2012 Recap

Last year at Christmas Sunday was still a teeny tiny newborn so this year really felt like our first Christmas with her as an interactive baby. We were blessed to have three different Christmas celebrations this year: one with Tommy's family, one at our own home and then one with my family in Fredericksburg. After the first celebration Sunday seemed to catch onto the unwrapping presents thing so it became super fun to watch her explore! Our first celebration was with Tommy's family and Sunday received soooo many goodies. I actually saved two gifts to put under our tree for Christmas morning because she was already having so much fun with the gifts she received first. One jackpot gift was this little Dora chair from Grandma & Grandpa (Tommy's parents).

She LOVES this thing and I think she feels like such a big girl when she sits in it. Sometimes it's the only place I can put her down when she is feeling especially clingy. I love these pictures of her!

On Christmas morning Sunday slept in until about 7:30, the latest she has slept in months! Of course! When she did wake up I insisted that the very first thing we do was put Jesus in His place in the nativity scenes. Tommy was a super good sport about that, as was Sunday. :) (I made him do it a few times so I could get pictures.)

We invited my mom and brother to come to our house for Christmas morning since my dad was going to be in Florida with his mom. Both of them brought gifts for Sunday and she opened the big one first. Tommy had to help her wake up a bit and give her a quick reminder of how to open presents. She got the hang of it quickly and we had a great morning of giving, receiving, and watching her discover.

Tommy got me an ornament to match my awesome Holy Land nativity scene (his mom gifted us the nativity and picked out each individual piece while she was in Jerusalem in 2011), and I went with a sweet homemade ornament I knew he would love. I was right, he asked me to make the same ornament every year from now on! :) He's so easy! Oh, and yes. We got Sunday a sock monkey ornament. So did everyone else in her life. We now have FIVE sock monkey ornaments. Too funny.

We had a lovely Christmas morning at home followed by a delicious lunch with Tommy's whole family later in the day. Fast forward a week and we were celebrating again with my family in Fredericksburg on New Years Day! Of course the entire time we were there was just depressing because my sisters family was set to move on the third. So, instead of taking pictures of the gift opening and dinner, I focused on capturing some sweet cousin interaction. Trying to freeze time, ya know. :)

We had a lovely Christmas and again I find myself overwhelmed with the blessings in our lives. Between our three celebrations we made incredible memories and each received wonderful, thoughtful gifts. I somehow managed to collect really nice trail running gear to help me kick off the new year on the right foot, including a subscription to Clean Eating magazine that I'm SUPER excited about! But... more on all of that later... :)