So I know my birthday was a whole month ago now, but I tend to celebrate for at least that long… this year was no exception. The morning of my actual birthday was a Sunday, so like every sunday we went to Auntie’s house for breakfast.

I got to open my presents.. My girls gave me the cute earrings pictured below and the rest of my wonderful family and friends went in on a one-on-one mentoring session with my IDOL, Becky Earl. I was so surprised and so excited… the best gift I’ve ever been given. For sure! Inside a big box was a little card that Becky had made up for me explaining the date and time of the mentorship and all that fun stuff. My cute hubby had it all set up.. the getaway, the babysitter, the date and times… I didn’t have to worry about any of it! So, so fun.

We had a lazy sunday the rest of the day.. Brady and I were supposed to go to a matinee movie and Al was staying to watch the kids, but our movie was sold out so instead we went and got some in-n-out and headed back home. Bummer about the movie, but it was fun anyway. 🙂

Later we met up at my house and went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Just my sis and dad and a few friends and of course my little fam. It was just simple and fun. Exactly what I wanted. 🙂

For some reason we can never get a cute picture.. but here was the best of about 10- ha.

After dinner we came back for a yummy cake Auntie made me. Harlo helped with the candles.

And of course, pop played me the “happy birthday, cassidy, your birthday is today!” song 🙂 Harlo loved every minute of that.

side note: Harlo is OBSESSED with the happy birthday song and sang it to me every minute of the day.. and also for the rest of the week. love that girl!

make a wish!

{March 11}

The day we headed up for the Becky Earl class just happened to be our 4 year dating anniversary. I don’t think it was planned like that… but let’s just say it was and give Mr. Miller some extra points 🙂 We drove up remembering our first few days together and what we did and what was said and where we were.. it was very fun. Also- just TWO DAYS before my mentorship session, I was able to get my new camera (aka, the love of my life!) my Canon 5D Mark II. I had no idea it would come together so fast, but i sold my old 7D like the second I thought about it and was able to get my new one. If it didn’t sound so cheesey, I’d say that my new Mark II completed my life. Okay, there. I said it. Don’t hate! 😉 I hadn’t really been able to use it that much, so I was messing around with it on the way up… it was nearly dark, and I didn’t have a lot to work with inside the car, but I got some kinda fun shots anyway. 🙂 and I could KICK myself, because I didn’t get a picture of me and B together the rest of the trip, which was SO fun. We just had a late dinner in Provo, the next day we went to the mall and got ourselves both a pair of Toms… just hung out and shopped around. So nice. And SO something we never get to do. It was our first trip away from the girls and we just ate it all up.. It was so nice ot know the girls were safe at home being well taken care of by Auntie. (And Nana too for a bit!)

At 12:00 noon on the 12th, I met Becky at the amazing Yan’s Studio in downtown Provo. It was right nexto to an Einstein’s bagels (my absolute fave) where Becky treated me to lunch. This is where we were supposed to talk about cameras and business, but instead we talked about natural birth.. you know how I love to talk about natural birth and Becky was the perfect candidate to hear all about it since she, herself, is planning for one. We were a match made in pregnancy/photography heaven! <3 After our lunch, we went back to the studio where her daughter, Sadie came to pose as our AMAZING model. THis girl.. I'm telling you. What a pro! We got some amazing shots and had an absolute BLAST. (again I could KICK myself because I didn’t have Brady get a picture of Becky and I!! I seriously wanted to cry on the way home after realizing… what an idiot, I am!!)

After our time at and around the studio, we headed back to Becky’s to edit our pictures and talk more about business. It was the most amazing day! I learned so, so much from Becky. She was SOOOo cool. The whole way up to Provo I had butterflies.. to me it felt like hanging with a celebrity for the day. I have followed Becky’s work for years now and to finally meet her was so amazing, then to become friends was even MORE amazing! She was just so down-to-earth and helpful, and complimentory… I am still in shock that it was actually real. It could not have gone better! THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! Serious… there’s no toppin’ this one. As if my day couldn’t get any better.. my sister, Angie had given birth just two days prior which made our timing impeccable! What was even more impeccable was that Angie’s milk had not come in quite yet and her babe was getting just a little hungry.. and I happened to be busting at the seams with milk since I had no baby all day to nurse and not a lot of time to pump; so Brady had a genius idea for me to nurse Tage and Angie happily obliged. Obviously so did I.. there’s not a lot of opportunities in a lifetime that you can do your sister a solid like nursing her baby! It was a special moment. (If this sounds crazy or silly to you.. you probably don’t have a sister. Sisters are the best. There’s just nothin’ like ’em.) And of course, I had to snap a few shots of the sweet little muffin with my new camera and my newly learned skills… as if I needed any of that, he is an absolute BEAUTY.

Tage James Meyer

So yes, my birthday was bursting with joy! I am still recovering from all the activities a whole month later. To see more pictures of Tage and more to come of Sadie, you can check out my blog.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! to all who made this amazing trip possible. We couldn’t have done it without you! I am ETERNALLY greatful.

And to you, Miss Becky Earl, you totally rock. THANK YOU!!

xo- Cass