As 2014 Comes to an end....

I can not believe that 2014 is coming to an end. It is amazing how fast the year has gone by.

This year has been eventful year for my family, some good and some bad.  So here is my year in a nut shell...

In January of this year my baby sister, Samantha, became in engaged to her college sweetheart, Elijah. Only a few weeks after asking for my parents blessing, which was graciously given. (stay tuned for their engagement session, but here is a sneak peek) I am so happy for them and glad to be part of their wedding. She has found her match in this man! The wedding party has all been asked and accepted. Us sisters and Grace (flower girl) went for a weekend to visit Samantha to find her gown. We found the gown only to discover that a wedding Eli was in the bride wore that gown... But no worries, she went back and was able to exchange the gown for THE GOWN. Then a weekend visit here for Samantha and Eli we found the girls dresses at a STEAL!!

I started a new venture in my photography business in May. A friend of mine rides and shows horses and she asked me if I would be interested in taking photos at a few horse shows, that she was a part of, for all of the riders in the show. So, I paired up with another photographer friend of mine to assist me in shooting the shows. We tag teamed the May show, I shot the June show by myself and she shot the July show by herself. Then I was contacted to shoot a show in September that was just a "fun" show. This show happened to be on my daughter's 9th birthday and they allowed her to ride. For her first time on a horse she had a blast! This line of my photography business I have named Horseshoes and Saddles Photography.

(Grace up on Alphie for the first time)

My family suffered a very great lose this year, the lost of my mother, a young (54), beautiful, wonderful and kind women whose heart touched so many people. Even in the event of her death she did something unselfish. She decided to donate her body to science, for more research to be done on the disease that took her from this world and brought her to a better place. She had MSA (multiple-symptom apathy) a disease that attacked her body in a similar way that Parkinson does. Her body was given to Rochester University, where she was seeing a specialist. This loss came in June of this year 15 days after we celebrated her 54th birthday with friends and family (she was at her best that day) and a day after my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. 

Kathleen H. (Melious) Woloszyn  6/5/1960-6/20/2014
*please do not copy or alter this image. I did not write my logo on it as it was taken at my sisters wedding by another photographer*

My son graduated this year. Something we were not sure that we would see this year. We knew he would graduate, we just did not know when. In January he decided to go for his GED. He attended classes and took the exam in March and passed with flying colors. The GED program that he participated in held a graduation ceremony in June. This came after the loss of my mother, it was very nice to have something good to celebrate. Our whole family attended to show our support and how proud we are of him. 

In July my family along with my husband's cousins family rented a time share in Hilton Head Island, SC. My sister and her family as well as friends of her and 3 of her in-laws rented a time share in the same resort as us. We invited my dad to come along with us for a much needed break. My brother in law, who lives in SC, came and spent a few days with us as well. The week went really considering between the two apartments there were 20 of us. We spent time at the beach, the resort pool, the guys went golfing, the girls went shopping at the outlets, and the adults went out to dinner while dad stayed with the little kids (6). We also had three teenage boys with us and they were excited to find a skate park to spend some of their time at. We even made it down to the beach to watch the sunset two nights. One of those nights we climbed the lighthouse and collect washed up seashells. We were glad with how well everyone got along that maybe another vacation together will be in the future.

Here is one of the shots that I got at the beach at sunset.

The loss of my mother was not the only loss that we went through this year... In September our loving boxer, Lucy, who was 11.5 yrs old passed away. She was not feeling well for sometime and we knew our time with her was getting short. One day she was just not good at all. My husband and daughter loaded her in the car to head to the vet. She did not make it there, she passed peacefully on my daughters lap. We were thankful that we did not have to actually put her down that she passed on her own peacefully. We had her cemented privately so that we were able to keep her ashes and they also took a mold of her paw pint for us.

Lucy Lu Russell 1/11/2003-9/ /2014

We pulled off two bridal showers for Samantha. We did one here that was a Tea Party theme and one in Eli's home town that was a Stock the Christmas Tree theme. Both shower themes were a surprise for Samantha, for someone who is not great with surprises, they went well. Both showers were successful and they received a great deal of the items that they registered for. At the second shower they also made out with a collection of Christmas ornaments to start their life with. The wedding planning has been going very well and everything has been falling into place. We have the church, the reception hall, the photographer, the DJ, invites have been mailed. The weekend of the shower in Eli's home town us sisters even had a very successful shopping trip for decorations for the reception.

The first two images are from the Tea Party shower- the centerpieces and Samantha with a gift and the next two are from the Stock the Christmas Tree shower- the invite and Samantha with a gift and her tree behind her.

Grace has started to cheer this year for a local church's CYO basketball team. This is opening some doors for her and she is enjoying it a lot. The team even had the opportunity to cheer at our local college university's basketball game, Binghamton University (SUNY Binghamton). They even performed a dance that they did great even though they had only 3 practices. Now they are getting ready for their Cheer Competition which is at Binghamton University the day after the wedding...

The players gave the girls flowers at their last game, 2/28/15.

As every year goes we had some good times and some bad times. We came out with our heads above water and are healing from our losses. We are looking for a more promising year.

I thought that I had gotten this posted before 2014 actually ended. I did not want to miss sharing this post with everyone since I took the time to put it together. We are 2 months into 2015 and only 8 days away from the wedding and competition. Stay tuned for news about them and the things that I am looking forward to offering in 2015!