Jordan Tampien; J.D., M.B.A.

Well, it's official. Jordan graduated from Gonzaga Law School and Business School this weekend! He is now a Juris Doctor (aka: lawyer) and has his Masters in Business... what a stud!! I am so, so proud of him for working so hard for the last three years and achieving two very sought after degrees.

Our weekend consisted of numerous graduation festivities and I'm sure there are even more to come. :) To kick things off, the Law School put on a Boat Cruise on Coeur d'Alene Lake on Thursday. We rode out to CDA on legit yellow school buses. Pretty classy. ;)

We had an AMAZING evening for a boat cruise on the lake -- it was sunny and absolutely beautiful! Although we had to laugh because all the girls' hair was completely windblown on top of the boat. Finally Breanne, Katie, and I gave in and tried to make a joke of it. Ha! These ladies are my favorite law school wives... we agreed we are probably just as excited as our husbands that they are graduating! :)

And their husbands, Nick and Shamus, are Jordan's best friends from law school.

Me and Bre finding any possible photo op on the boat. :) Bre is a photo enthusiast too and we've actually taken a couple photog classes together! We get along so well and it has been so nice to have someone who's been able to relate to the last three years of my life!!

Pretty view on top of the boat...

The Law School Graduation ceremony was at 9:15 on Saturday morning -- kind of early for a graduation, right?! It actually was a really nice ceremony though... I didn't even pull out my phone and play games. ;) They had bagpipes playing when the graduates entered and exited the arena, which was really neat, and all of the speakers were actually really engaging.

A big day for both of us!

Jordan and his parents, Brenda and Russ.

Jordan and four of his six siblings. From left to right: Joel, Jordan, Joseph, Joelle, and Johanna. For those of you who might not know, all of Jordan's siblings have a name that starts with the letters "Jo-". :)

Jordan in a Murphy sandwich... my parents, grandparents, and Lorna.

Best buds, Jordan and Shamus... no longer law students! The other day Jordan said, "Well, if nothing else comes of law school, at least I met Shamus." :) I know the O'Dohertys are going to be in our lives for a long time!

Love this picture of my man...

Jord and I were chatting a couple days ago about how excited we both were for him to be done being a student... and then all of a sudden we were like, "Uhhh... so now what?!" Which is the million dollar question these days. :) We are definitely in a transition period -- Jordan still has two more months of intense studying left because he is taking the Bar Exam at the end of July. Which, by the way, is a 20 hour written test over three days. Gross. Kind of a bummer, but it's one last hoop he has to jump through. By the time that's over, he'll hopefully have a job lined up and it will hopefully be in Spokane. But there are no guarantees in this economy! We are keeping our fingers crossed!! Please keep us in your prayers as Jordan studies for this huge monster of a test and tries to find a job.

We had a big BBQ at Jordan's parents' house after graduation, which was a ton of fun. Thank you to everyone who was able to come -- it meant a lot to both of us!

To see all the pictures from Jordan's graduation weekend, click here.

On to the next adventure... whatever that may be! :)

Dawn + Dave 3.6.10

Almost 2 months ago, Dawn and Dave became husband and wife! Dawn is one of my cousin, Megan's, best friends from forever... literally! This wedding party could not have been more fun to be around, as always. The majority of the bridesmaids have been friends since grade school, and I am so fortunate to be able to call them all my friends too -- I love this group of ladies!

Dawn and Dave were a beautiful bride and groom... yes, Dave, you were beautiful too! :) They got married in Seattle at The Lake Union Cafe, which was such a unique, intimate venue. We were planning on yucky, rainy weather since it was MARCH in SEATTLE, right?! Uh, no! It was almost 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! Dawn and Dave had an incredible day and an overall amazing wedding. I feel so lucky to have been a part of their special day! And being the main photographer, I learned a TON. :)

I had two awesome second shooters who I literally would not have survived without -- Anna Dietzen (click here to check out her blog) and Jamie Lindelof of Lindelof Photography. Thanks, ladies!

Dawn and Dave did not want to see each other before the ceremony, which was slightly challenging as a photographer but very special for them! Needless to say between me, Anna, and Jamie, there were literally hundreds and hundreds of pictures to go through, but here are a few Flat 4 faves from Dawn and Dave's wedding day! NOTE: You can click on any of the pictures and/or collages to see them larger.

I was pretty nervous about not having enough time and/or light for creative shots since Dawn and Dave didn't want to see each other before the ceremony, so I researched a little and came up with the idea to try "light painting" with sparklers outside! I love, love, LOVE how fun these pictures turned out -- and Dawn and Dave were awesome sports!!

Did I mention that Dawn is a die-hard WSU Cougar fan and that Dave is a UW Husky?! Pretty classic... Dawn had a WSU garter, and when Dave took it off, well... check out picture number 3 below on the far right. :)

Congrats Dawn and Dave! I know you two will have an amazing life together and I wish you nothing but the best!!

FEATURED!

This is going to be a short and sweet post, which if you've followed my blog at all you know is NOT like me. :)

I just had to share...

Our Photo Booth is featured on Spokane Bride Blog today!! I don't know why but I am SO EXCITED about it! I just think it's a great thing for Flat 4 Photography.

To see the post on Spokane Bride Blog, click here.

Closing comments... I cross my heart and PROMISE the next post will be wedding pictures. :)

Britt's Baby Shower!

It's surreal to think I am in the stage of life where some of my friends are starting to have babies. It just seems like that's what "adults" do... and I'm not sure I'm ready to think of myself as an adult quite yet.

Regardless of what I think, life happens and people are having babies! One of my best friends from college, Brittney, is due with her first baby, a little girl, in the middle of May. She lives in Eugene, Oregon, so we made a weekend of it and went down to her baby shower. Nicole and I stayed with Kelli in Portland, and then the three of us drove down to Eugene together.

Brittney has always been teeny tiny, so it was crazy to see her with a cute baby belly! She looked amazing, as always, and probably still weighs less than my pinky toe. :)

From left to right: Alida (Brittney's younger sister, who was also my roommate for a year in college), Kelli, Brittney, me, and Nicole. I love these ladies!

Brittney and I lived together for three years in college, and our senior year we found a little black kitten under my Dad's truck. We named him "Dodge" and Brittney became his permanent mama... he is GINORMOUS. Seriously, this cat weighs 18 pounds now!

It was a blast to meet Brittney's girlfriends in Eugene! And the host of the shower, Sarah, made the most amazing food and cutest details for the shower. She made a diaper cake for Brittney and baby Morgan and the most adorable little "baby" cupcakes...

And auntie Alida made a bouquet out of baby socks! Seriously, I couldn't get over how cute and creative this was...

My Mom wasn't able to make it down for the shower, but of course she couldn't resist getting Morgan some Whitworth gear! For those of you who don't know, Brittney played volleyball with me at Whitworth, and Jon, Britt's husband, played basketball. So Morgan has no choice but to be a Pirate fan!

I love Nicole... and cupcakes...

On our drive home from Portland, Nicole and I stopped at Multnomah Falls. It was so green and SO gorgeous.

It was a great weekend and so good to see some of my favorite ladies!

Stay tuned... next post will be wedding pictures from March!! Just a wee bit late... :)

Two Big Leaps of Faith...

A year ago, I turned 25 and took this leap of faith...

And so did Jordan...

This year, at 26, we took a different leap of faith. We invested in a Photo Booth for our photography business.

Right around the time we wanted to have our Grand Opening for the Flat 4 Photo Booth just so happened to land on my birthday, so we combined both parties into one big bash and had TONS of fun!! The party was a huge success and it made us both so excited for the possibilities our Photo Booth has in store for us. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it and also to those who contributed to our Box of Props for the booth!

Please spread the word to your friends and family that the Flat 4 Photo Booth is up and running!! It really would be so fun at ANY event!

Here is a random selection of 10 of my fave photo booth pictures from the night... notice how they start out a little more cute and serious and then evolve into pure mayhem! NOTE: You can click on any of the photos to make them bigger.

Click here to see all the photo booth pictures from the Grand Opening Photo Booth Party on my birthday.

So no, I didn't skydive in London for my birthday this year, but I still have a feeling 26 is going to give 25 a run for its money! And I can't wait to see what the year will bring...