Hi friends!! After searching my name on Google, I realized I have never directed you to my new blog!! 

Here it is!

www.lidamathewsblog.com

Happy Day!
xxoo,
Lida

Simon

A WHILE ago - I mean, a long while ago I caught up with a sweet friend from college and her gorgeous family! Simon was about to turn one and they wanted some pictures taken of him for his sweet birthday card - so, in addition to taking his sweet pictures, I also created his card! What an honor it was to be a part of this sweet little boy's session, and since it was a surprise for a while I didn't post it until now!

Meet sweet little Simon...I have SO many I can choose from but these happen to be some of my favorite!!!


And here is the birthday card that I made to announce his BIG day!! :)


Also, The Cake Barn was generous enough to provide his cake, and it was SO GOOD! Simon, however, was NOT impressed...but all of us were!! This is right before the fateful cry!!!

Kathleen & Patrick, your baby boy is growing SO fast already - I just love him! I hope that I can capture his sweet face again really soon!!

Lida

A day of blessings...

Today was one of those days that you wake up on the wrong side of the bed...in my case, I was falling off the bed...so I knew it was not going to be a great day.

But today was also an AMAZING day - full of friends, fun, and surprises! (I love surprises!)

It was also a day of working on projects for my business that are going to make a real difference and hopefully touch many lives!

I got feedback recently about somethings...in life and professionally that was hard to swallow...and I'm sure I would have taken it better IF I weren't 8 months pregnant (not that I'm making excuses!) - but it still was super difficult to swallow.

And on the same token as the bad news....amazing blessings came falling into our lap!

Here's an Iphone version of our blessings (besides amazing friends of course who aren't pictured!)
This is a super special gift that arrived in the mail today - from a neighbor from 15 years ago! She was so thoughtful to include a wonderful gift card and sweet letter! I couldn't believe that she sent it to me and how amazingly thoughtful!

In addition, I was able to have a double date/business meeting with two amazing friends and they brought Kenley a wonderful gift as well:
After I captured their gorgeous, intimate ceremony they headed off to Las Vegas for their honeymoon! During that time we had our gender reveal party and found out Little Boo was a GIRL - thus, they brought Kenley a sweet little gift! What a wonderful surprise! This little one is SO loved!


Moral of the story - the devil will ALWAYS find a way to sneak in and make you feel frustrated, incompetent, and unable to be the person you want to be - and God will ALWAYS find a way to lift you up. Whether it's amazing friends, mentors, special surprises, or baby kicks - He always knows how to help - that's SO amazing and I'm so thankful!


From a great mentor, Lara Casey,
Get over the idea that you just aren't good enough, you'll never get caught up, and you'll never be great. You are, you will and you have the choice to be.

Amazing words from an amazing brand new momma who I can just imagine is feeling this way...and keeps marching on.

Praying for you friends, even when life get's you down - you can push on - you can go up and you will.

With love,
Lida

It was a KENLEY day!

Since we shared her name with you, we've done so much for her - doctor's appointment, busy registering, and then visiting a birth center! Woof, Mommy and Daddy are TIRED!

Sometimes it's just CRAZY how fast this pregnancy has FLOWN by....and just to keep you up to speed on where I am in it - I'd love to show you my weekly picture!

Although she is the size and weight of 4 oranges...I think I've definitely become a HUGE momma! When I weighted in today I've gained three pounds....(my only weight gain yet) - but still I feel HUGE - although I think that three pounds include all of the M&Ms that I've been addicted to for a couple of weeks (I know...bad mommy!)!!

Kenley - we are SO excited to be your parents, SCARED and excited all at the same time! Mommy STILL has a lot of work to do so could you just bake for a couple more weeks?? :)

Tomorrow I'll have a business related post that is SUPER exciting! Stay tuned!

With love,
Lida

Little Boo has a NAME!!!

Can you believe it?? After so long of calling her 'Little Boo' it's SUPER hard to actually call her by her name....BUT here it is!

Pronounced 'Ken-Lee'
We absolutely love this name & ALTHOUGH we've heard it 4 other times since we've chosen it (it's like buying a new car, right?!) - we still feel like this is Baby Girl's name!

Let us know what you think!!

New Beginnings, Memories of 2011.....

Not only do I want to showcase a lot of my work, I also want to be 'real' and showcase my life! For many years I have always looked back on my birthday (which just happens to fall right before New Year's) and just cry because I always feel like I haven't done enough with my life that year. I know, crazy - but still, that's how it's been!! Kenny always comforts me and tells me that we have done so much but I still can't see it! So THIS year I did something different- on my calendar I wrote EXACTLY what we did so as I looked through the months I SAW how much I worked, vacationed, hung out with friends, and exciting adventures along the way! Here's a FUN list of 11 things that I LOVED about 2011!

1) BABY FEET -
Here's a recent picture of our weekly posts that showcase my ever growing baby belly! We are so blessed to be receiving a wonderful gift and even though we know we won't EVER sleep the same again, what a blessing God has given us! We found out early July about our little bundle of joy and now less than 2 months away (GULP) - we are excited, nervous, scared, and thankful!

2) Cruising with best buds!
This year we took the PLUNGE and booked a 7 day cruise with our best friends - traveling to Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and back to Mexico we had a blast. My ONLY tip would be to not travel while pregnant...things hit you MUCH different when you are! Here's a shot from our deck cruising into Cozumel:

3) 12 YEARS together - Kenny and I celebrated our 12th year together this December and I cannot tell you how thankful I am to have such a wonderful man to call my husband- we met WAY back in high school and although MANY did not ever think we'd come this far, we did - and our marriage is SO strong. In a world full of infidelity and marital strife I must say that I never worry....our love runs DEEP! I love you so much! (at an LSU vs. Louisiana Tech (our Alma Mater) in 2007)


4) Find a passion that I LOVE and being able to do it all the time - I cannot BELIEVE that after so many years of looking for that one thing that makes my heart beat (besides my hubby of course), photography literally just FELL into my lap. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the people who have allowed me to capture their memories that they will love forever! I SO look forward to pursuing this mission FULL TIME this year and adding it to my accomplishments! (Photo taken by my wonderful friend, Harper who is also a wonderful photographer!!)

5) Spending time with loved ones - I must say that although it feels as though we don't see them enough, we do get to spend quality time with loved ones and friends - we are so grateful for the people in our lives and we DEFINITELY don't say that enough! (With Kenny's grandparents at our gender reveal!)
6) Reconnecting with those that I've lost contact with! Wow, thank GOODNESS for Facebook...I've reconnected with SO many friends that I haven't seen in SO long! In addition, I've been able to capture (AND MEET) their families! Here's a gorgeous family of a friend from high school (YES, 10 YEARS ago!)

7) January 1, 2011 was spent in a camper with our amazing friends Alan and Angela (also who we cruised with!) - here's their son and our {furry} sons enjoying the new year together! (Do you see how thrilled our boys are??!! HA!)

8) Speaking of OLD friends, we traveled to Colorado this year to visit one of our BEST FRIENDS to see her & her gorgeous school before she traveled back to Virginia! Rhonna, our weekend in Colorado with you was the BEST ever! Here we are at the Budweiser tour...in the pouring rain!!

9) 2011 allowed me the chance to be taught by some amazing mentors (even if they don't know who I am!) - I am very thankful for the practical advice and the encouragement through my new business growth! Here are some of the links and although I won't be going to WPPI - the BIGGEST wedding photographer convention due to being ohhh...9 months pregnant(!) - I would love to give a shout out to Jasmine Star, Melissa Jill, and Katelyn James for being my guiding light through the year! Also, as far as practial business and life coaching, Allison LaMarr has been such an inspiration as well!

10) Our HALLOWEEN PARTY!!!! If you know us personally, you know how much we LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween! This year we threw another party (this LAST of our kidless parties, CRAZY!) - and had a blast! We cannot WAIT for the next one!
(P.S. if you don't know who we are, we are Jack and Sally Skellington from the Nightmare before Christmas!)

and the LAST exciting memory of the year....

11) Our GENDER REVEAL PARTY - graciously hosted by our wonderful friends, we happily revealed to our friends and family the gender of Little Boo at Kenny's parents brand new home. We had SO much fun...and were SHOCKED that Little Boo is a girl (Kenny comes from a family of MANY boys) - but we couldn't be HAPPIER! (cue the Wicked soundtrack!) Here's our gorgeous cake that revealed the secret! And, although we had the information in an envelope MANY weeks before the actual party, we didn't PEEK! What was super fun was my Dad on skype witnessing the BIG reveal!



Wow - we cannot WAIT to see what 2012 holds...we ALREADY know some exciting occurrences! Wishing you the BEST year ever - we are claiming an amazing one!!!

Love always,
Lida

2011: A Review

Wow - 2011 has been a terrific year...full of first, lots of weddings, smiling babies, and lessons along the way. As I approach the new year, I cannot help but think that I am more than blessed to be in front of amazing people every day who want me to capture their memories. As the year ends I have been chomping away at new year's resolutions, different pricing structures, and multiple excitements along the way! This year personally has been an exciting one too - with our first little one on the way (due in March), she's bound to make a GRAND appearance and change our lives forever. I can only hope that 2011 has brought many blessings to you and your family as well - I cannot BELIEVE that I get to do what I love every day and bless others with it - it's the greatest blessing of all!

To commemorate the amazing year, here are some of my favorite images of the year - enjoy!
Some amazing weddings (and details):






Some SWEET & cute kids:




And even though that's technically over 11 pictures.....I have to include some GORGEOUS couples!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for an AMAZING year & I cannot WAIT for 2012!!!