YAAAAAAAY…..our friends are FINALLY engaged!!!! Melissa & Gary are Mark & I’s very close friends…and they are soo very special to us!! As I have said before, Mel is one of my closest friends…we’ve been friends since college when we lived together! Well….one day, several years ago, I begged her to go to Gary Fong’s digital photography seminar with me! She went and we ended up having dinner that night with Gary and having our usual “deep thought” conversations…and we left…laughing about the whole thing (b/c there were quite a few funny experiences involved too!) Then, Mel & Gary proceeded to talk on the phone every now and then…which turned into all the time, which turned into them traveling to see each other, which turned into her moving to Canada to be with him….and NOW THEY ARE FINALLY ENGAGED!!! YAAAAY!!!!!! Well, Gary has been planning the engagement for a little while and I have been involved…giving my opinions on rings, diamond sizes, etc! I’ve been totally avoiding Mel b/c I didn’t want to give it away or act nervous and have her wonder what on earth was going on! Soo…anyway, they are in Hawaii and it finally happened!! I’m SOO excited! To read the funny story of the engagement, click here: http://www.xanga.com/garyfong1
They recently bought an amazing ranch in British Columbia, Canada…and the wedding will be there! It’s going to be soo amazing and special…I literally cannot wait! Mel and Gary have the most special relationship! It’s great!

They both have very specific, very distinctive personality types and it’s soo funny…their personalities, although different….just mesh perfectly! I’ve watched Mel go through many relationships that just weren’t a fit for her…and when I saw her and Gary together for the first time, I realized….this is the perfect fit for her and her personality! He compliments her in all the right ways and softened the rough edges that needed softened on her…and she does the exact same for him! I just love it!! I’m soo happy for them…I can’t even tell you ! CONGRATS, Mel & Gary! We love you and CANNOT wait until Next August! YAAAAAY!!!!!

As many of you know, my husband is a pilot!! (on Saturday’s…he turns into wedding assistant extraordinare!!!) As part of his regular pilot stuff, he has to go up every now and then and get “current”…whatever that means! Soo…anyway, I go with him whenever I can! I love flying with him…he’s such an incredible pilot (despite the fact that he doesn’t look all that serious about anything in the picture below!). His flights are always soo safe, smooth, perfect landings…he’s really awesome! He has some crazy number of total flight hours, like 2 or 3 thousand hours, so I guess that’s why! ha! So…when we went up flying last night, I was worried b/c it’s normally really bumpy up in the air when it’s super hot…and encase you weren’t aware, it’s like an oven on 475 here in Indiana right now! And, it’s the most humid that I think it has ever been in the history of man! ha! It’s really SOO awful! All of my shoots have cancelled for the past two weeks b/c it’s been above 90 degrees, heat index of like 110 and max humidity! Needless to say, it’s impossible to photograph in that and actually look decent. So, anyway….of course, our flight was great, despite the heat…b/c my husband rocks! It was actually soo gorgeous up in the air though b/c there was this misty haze of instense humidity in the sky and the colors of the sunset were intensified because of it! It was super cool!! One of the things I love most about Indiana is the constant contrast of beautiful colors…blue skies, green grass, colorful crops, the cast that the sky takes during the harvest of those crops, intense sunset, etc! Have a look….