Christmas Adam* is a tradition in my family.  Since we have all gone off and got married, Christmas Adam is when all eight of us get together.  This year it’s been postponed since Whitney & Damon can’t come until tomorrow, but we’ll all get together at one point!  I won’t be blogging for a few days, so Merry Christmas, too! :)

*Adam comes before Eve…get it? ;)

As you can probably tell, the business is booming, actually it’s booming a lot more than I expected.  The year has been filled with the most amazing weddings, cutest kids, talented seniors and some of the sweetest families I know.  To everyone, thank you so much for supporting & believing in me this year.  Whether you asked me to photograph your wedding, or had me document your family, sent me encouraging emails, or simply read my blog, thank you.  Without you I wouldn’t be able to march into 2010 with the dreamiest life I could imagine.  Thank you for allowing me to live this amazing life.

I’ve been playing a bit of catch up the last month or so, and our Christmas cards did happen to get put on the back burner.  I intended to send out sweet little new year cards…well, we are moving on the 31st, so needless to say, that’s not going to happen.  Please consider this your Christmas card for 2009…I know you can’t hang it on the door, but I hope it still puts a smile on your face.

We love you all, thank you for being our friends.

Love, Cassidy, Justin, Thomas & Sayid

*note: Cassidy Dawn Photography will be on a little break from December 24 to January 14.  I do have a couple days to check in and return emails during that time, however, I will not have internet during most of this time.  We will be moving on the 31st (and won’t have internet hooked up for a few days), then Jan 7-13 I will be in Nashville, Tennessee for a Photography Conference.  I promise to return emails & phone calls whenever possible.  Please be patient :)

*inquring brides, you will have first priority. 2010 is booking fast (we are over halfway booked for the year), so if you are hoping to have us photograph your wedding…please email soon!

Well, it’s time for the BIG news announcement…

Justin & I are buying a house! Yay!

We actually close today at 4pm :) This process has taken a little longer than we expected, so I hadn’t mentioned anything so I didn’t get my hopes up.  It’s an adorable little cape cod in Bainbridge.  I’ve never lived in town (except for Maysville), so it will be a bit of an adjustment, but we will have the best possible neighbors ever…so we are thrilled! I don’t have any photos of it yet, but I promise to give you a little tour once we are in and settled.  We move on the 31…so if you don’t have anything to do for New Year’s Eve, you’re welcome to lift a box or two ;) Just kidding!

It’s a too cute house, and we have lots and lots (and lots) of plans for what we want to do to make it our own.  I can’t wait to start painting!!  I know what else you are thinking…my word, you all move a lot. It’s true.  In the last 2 years we’ve lived in an apartment in Wilmore, row house in Maysville, we house sat in Bainbridge for a summer, lived in a farmhouse in South Salem, and the cottage we are in now…and now we are moving again.  I think we have packing down to an art.  The truth is, it’s the time to buy and we are excited to be homeowners.  While we will miss many aspects about this place (the views are crazy wonderful), but we can’t wait to have a place that is truly ours.

Anyway, that’s the news.  Not a baby. I know that’s what most were thinking.  A great friend of mine let me know that BIG news = baby, Great news = house…I’ll remember that for next time ;)  I assure you, there will be much more Great news, before we ever have BIG news.  Sorry.

So to break up the recent posting of photos…here’s a couple videos of our two babies.  One of the main reason’s we started this look was so that Sayid could live in the house…and that was the main motivation that kept me going.  I hate that he’s outside in the garage while I am at home working all day.  I can’t wait to have him in the house with us!

Sayid is 6 months old…and 65 pounds ;)

Thomas will be 1 year at our house on Christmas…he’s already a year old, but that’s when we got him.

(sorry for the background noise…it was How I Met Your Mother)

er, are….

Audrey Haydon & Whitney Scully!!!

Congrats ladies!  Contact me soon and let me know which photo you’d like…however in this case, I haven’t posted Whitney’s session & I haven’t photographed Audrey yet (this weekend in DC), so you can hold off till they are posted.

I decided to draw 2 names for 2 reasons.

1. I avoided the drawing because I didn’t feel like making a video (then didn’t)…

2. I was overwhelmed by the amount of entries…you all know how to make a girl feel special :)

Sorry for the short post, I have more to do in the next 2 weeks than I can even describe…got to get back to work.

Here are a few of my favorite Polaroids from the weekend!

*for those that asked, my new camera is a Polaroid 600se (the only professional Polaroid ever made…it’s fabulous and I love it so much!).  I bought it more for personal projects & photos, however, I don’t know how I will resist bringing it to a shoot or two ;)

I love this photo more than you could ever know. I love my boys :)

Chelsea & Matt (and a sneak peak of sayid…)

My office view…

Have a great start to your week!

Thank you for giving me a reason to post 400 times. It means the world to me to have people coming back, reading, looking at my pictures and supporting me.

(the view from my office window…)

Didn’t your mother teach you to ask?  Well, someone did…so it’s time for another contest!  Last November we had a contest on the blog and it seemed to be a big hit.  So in honor of my 400 post I thought we could do it again.  Just think…this could be one less Christmas present you have to buy (yes, that’s right around the corner!)

Here is how you play:
Leave a comment on this blog post. It must be this particular post. It doesn’t have to be profound, witty, or creative – just at least tell me who you are and where you what city you are from!

The drawing will be on NOVEMBER 6 – 10pm EST! Be sure to leave a comment by then.

Prize: An 11×14 mounted print (feel free to ooh) of any photo I have ever posted on this blog (that I photographed). Yep, that’s right, any photo. Take your pick! Could be a portrait, landscape, random photo…anything! (*if I’ve photographed you before, feel free to pick any photo from your session)
I have been blogging since November 2006 – so you may have a few pages to go through :)

*Anyone can win, and I mean anyone – however, you must be a human :), as much as I love pets, they are disqualified. Only one comment by each person will be put into the drawing, so unfortunately the more times you comment – well, it doesn’t matter. However, I do love your comments, so just leave them on other posts :)

Contest begins…NOW!

Oh, and here’s a shot of my little heart breaker that I took yesterday…he’s too cute!

I’ve had countless people come up to me and ask why I haven’t posted any pictures of my puppy…some people that I didn’t even knew I read my blog!

Here’s a shot of him from yesterday (4 month birthday)…he’s just so cute.

My good friends of The Marty Ford Experience are at it again!  Creating amazing music and going out there and telling people about the Lord!  They have the chance to open for Big Daddy Weave (one of my favs), but they need you!  Please go to http://paramountartscenter.wordpress.com/, watch the bands play…then simply email your vote for the MFE to the address listed in the post.

Thank you so much!!!  I’ll let you know the results when I know!

**I’ve added a second video…be sure to watch!

I thought I’d share a few photos of the puppies!  Yesterday they started to walk around better and a few have opened their eyes.  I had to include a video so you could hear their little attempts at barking…so funny!  They can’t hear yet (next week), so I imagine that will become a bit louder when they know what they are doing.  Probably wont be too funny when there are 11, barking and roaming all over…but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

*photo notes:

2nd down left: Notice the size difference! We still have 2 that need to catch up with the others in size…we’ve been trying to help them fight at eating time, those bigger ones just knock them out of the way.  The 2 smallest ones were the ones that opened their eyes first…interesting!

4th down left: Makes me laugh…I told you they had to fight!

5th down left: They don’t look this tiny…that’s the smallest one.  The rest barely fit in our hands anymore.

Yep, it’s Pittsburgh…and I didn’t realize until I left that I had been twittering the entire time leaving the ‘h’ off…but really, who’s surprised.
Justin & I headed to Pittsburgh for the weekend with our amazing friends, Hayley & Richard. We had the best time…and plan to take a small trip every year…hopefully :)
I thought I’d share a few highlights from the weekend!
The crew!

We went to a toy store to look for a gift for Sophie…or so we thought.  The guys got so into this toy that Hayley & I actually left the store and moved on without them!  We even tried attacking them with puppets and they barely looked up!  Boys.

It took every bit of strength I had to not buy this little onesie.  I walked away knowing that not only is it silly to spend $36 on a onesie…it’s really silly to buy it when there are no plans in the immediate future to have onesies on hand.  Sorry to our mothers ;)

Putt-putt!

notes: yes, that is my husband under the elephant, and i have no idea what Hayley is doing…  me after my 1st hole in one (I got two!  and still managed to loose…)

My favorite shot of the weekend.  So cute.

We had the best time, I can’t wait for our next trip!!!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

You must watch this entire clip…when you think they can’t do something more impressive, they do.  Wow.

I’m back!  Back in my office & refreshed from Florida!  I will say that I am sad it’s so rainy this week…I’ve got 5 shoots this week, and I was hoping the weather this past weekend would last a bit longer! So everyone cross those fingers that it starts clearing up soon!

I don’t have many photos to share, but I wanted to get a few up and say just a bit about my trip!

It was a weekend full of yummy food, sugar white sand, sunshine, family, meeting new friends & of course an awesome wedding…right on the beach!  Literally, I was barefoot on the beach during the reception!  I can’t say that happens much here in Ohio.

We arrived in Florida on Friday morning and spent the weekend relaxing and having fun with my cousin, Keith (I’m *so* happy you could come down!) before I went off to the wedding on Saturday.  It was great to have some beach time and catch up with one of my very favorite people!

I was also able to have dinner with Amanda & her husband and had a great time getting to know them – they are such a wonderful couple, and I can’t wait to meet up with them again when Justin & I make another trip down!  *Justin’s never been!

I promise to share a few photos from the beautiful wedding when I can, but for now…

The beautiful beach of Seaside Florida (Sunday morning, 7:30am).

My awesome Dad…I wouldn’t know where to start.  Thanks Dad, I love you!

Now you will have to forgive me…the next set of images was prepared for just 3 people…you know who you are.  The rest of you, sorry…it’s just a family thing :)

Have an awesome Monday!