I'm back...and it's my favorite time of the year - FALL!!!!!

Hello Friends!

It has been quite a while since I've written as I was have a very hard pregnancy and now learning how to be a mom and working women!

Exciting news - I am working on a website. No not a revamping my facebook page or blogging more, an actual website!!!! More details to follow but I am hoping to have it launch January 2016.

For those who need last minute senior photos please contact me and we will get you scheduled soon. Everyone else, the leaves are going to start changing soon so book you fall session now!!! Here are a few great shots from years past!

Way too long....

Well friends,

It's been way too long since I've blogged - really since I've been able to blog. You see back after my last post, my husband and I were blessed with a little surprise! 

That's right my friends! We are expecting our first child in July!!!

The first trimester (and more) was very hard.  I was very sick and slept for about 3 months straight! If I wasn't working - I was sleeping. Thankfully, it wasn't anything the doctor hasn't seen and I never had to go to the hospital for any negative side effects!  At 8 week we had our first ultrasound to see our little peanut.  

It was a lot of fun telling our family.  All our parents were shocked and enjoyed the small pacifiers we wrapped for them!  

At our 10 week checkup we met our primary doctor for the first time! Ladies, Dr. Johnson in Kalamazoo is AMAZING! I highly recommend her and feel so blessed to have found a doctor I love! Things were going well until she tired to find the heartbeat and then our little peanut gave us a bit of a scare - we couldn't find the heartbeat!  Dr. Johnson was so calm about it but quickly got us into an "emergency" or unscheduled ultrasound.  Thankfully, there was not a problem and our little peanut was simply sitting too low for the heart monitor to pick up the beats! A strong 148 BPM for our little peanut (the things you remember)! 

Now onto the long wait until our 19 week appointment where we found out what our little peanut is. Thankfully around week 17, I started feeling much better and my energy and appetite returned!

 Here I am at 18 weeks or "22 weeks until the Baby arrives!" I'm carrying pretty far in front and have not gained any weight - in fact I lost 5 pounds (doctor said congrats when I told her at our 14 week appointment haha)

 Our 19 week appointment was on Wednesday March 25th at 3:10 pm and oh my goodness was that day LONG!  I think even longer for Scott who had a half day from work (at least I was able to keep busy!)

(19 Weeks on Sunday March 22, 2015)

The big moment finally arrived! Or more so we arrived at the big moment (doctors office) 30 minutes early....we were hoping they were running on time or early. To our dismay the were running 10 minutes late! It was painful for a number of different reasons.  1) I had to pee SOOOOOO bad! and 2) Every time a nurse came out to get someone in the waiting room it wasn't for us! The room started full and by the time we were called back it was empty :( 

Never fear - we were still in great spirits and very excited!  

 I had dreams the night before that the baby would be cross legged and stubborn and we wouldn't be able to tell what HE or SHE was.  But that DEFINITELY was not the case! Our little peanut wanted us to know right away!

With excitement, we left our appointment to attend a gender reveal party at Scott's sister's house.  While we knew what we were having, we bough silly string in the proper blue or pink color and took the caps off for our family to spray!  Everyone was very excited when the string came out a beautiful PINK! 

Scott and I are very excited to meet our little Girl Klaasen on or around July 19, 2015!

Until then, senior photos will be coming up so please please please don't forget to contact me for your session.  I will be on maternity leave from my full time position from July 19 to October 5th however gone from only July 19 to September 1st.  Let's schedule your session soon!

The Bulthuis Family!

About 2 weeks ago this beautiful family and I braved the chilly air and went to a park in Byron Center for some photos.  The kids did awesome the whole time and we were able to get some wonderful shots! 

Enjoy!

Let's go for a car ride!

Friday Oct. 3rd - Let's go for a car ride!

A few weeks back, I took a long weekend trip to St. Louis with my Mom and Dad to visit my sister-in-law and brother while my husband went hunting. That's right kids, you're never too old to go on a trip with Mom and Dad!!

After driving 6 hours Friday afternoon, we arrived shortly before dinner and had a delicious pulled pork and potato dinner my sister made (be jealous it was really good). We then hopped back into the car and went to visit a local brewery (anything for beer)! http://schlafly.com

SATURDAY Oct. 4th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!

We spent our Saturday (my brothers 29th birthday) exploring downtown St. Louis.

We first went to the Anheuser Busch plant and got to go on a small tour!

I was so excited to be able to see Budweiser Clydesdale's (not all but there were 3 there) along with the stables they stay in which is 51% of the original barn.

After having to be pulled away from the horses, we were taken to where the beer was brewed.  

It was extremely cool to see some of the areas and since we only did the free tour and they offer different “levels” of tour, I will be returning soon so see more of the brewery! 

We then made our way to the Arch!  

This was something we were all excited to visit but I was very firm that I was NOT going to go to the top…being claustrophobic and having an anxiety attack was not on the agenda that day. However, my brother was persistent and begged me to go up. So after only a few minutes of my brother and then my Dad "encouraging" me to face my fears we stood in line and waiting for what seemed like FOREVER!

When it was finally our turn, I couldn't help but snap a few photos of what I was riding up in.

Here is the door to our seats. I felt like I was waiting in line to ride the Tower of Terror!

Believe it or not, we were able to fit all 5 grown adults into this very small space.

(Almost) Everyone in the compartment! I sat in the center seat.

Once near the top, I was very glad I did it! It was quite welcoming :)

We were 630 feet in the air and you could feel the arch moving in the wind.

To the West - the Cardinals Stadium

And to the East, the muddy Mississippi River.

After visiting the arch, we walked around town and saw the Cardinals stadium (not from the air).  It was quite amazing and very beautiful around the stadium.  To end the evening, we went out for Josh's birthday dinner at a place called The Bridge.  The food was pretty good but nothing tops the Dairy Queen ice cream cake that awaited us at home - just sayin'.

Sunday Oct. 5th - Let's go for a LOOOONNNGG walk.

On Sunday we went to the St. Louis Zoo and Botanical gardens.  Here are some highlights from the zoo.  We were not able to visit the whole thing as we wanted to get to the gardens before they closed. What we did see was beautiful and the animals were very active! I look forward to going back to this zoo in the future!  Oh, did I mention this zoo is free??

At the Botanical gardens, they had stunning gardens ranging from a Japanese garden to a indoor jungle dome. We spend quite a bit of time in the Japanese garden with the coy fish. Can you guess which one was my favorite?

Aren't my parents too cute?

Parts of the English Garden:

The Jungle Dome:

I hope you enjoyed viewing my trip blog to St. Louis! It was very relaxing and extremely enjoyable!  I am excited to visit them again soon and hopefully bring my husband with me next time!

While I know this blog had nothing to do with Anne Marie Photography, please remember you can always send me an email for a quote or any questions! If you mention the St. Louis blog, you'll receive $15.00 off your sitting fee!


<3
AM