This Suncadia Anniversary Session was the PERFECT session to end the year with. I loved getting to know Matt and Brittany better during our time together on New Years Eve!

I met Matt and Brittany during one of my weddings this year- JR and Alyssa’s. I knew as soon as I met Brittany during bridal prep of that day that we would be good friends! This girl is hilarious, and pretty much the cutest ever. It wasn’t until later during the day that I met her hubby Matt, and he was just as great. We spent the day cracking jokes, and laughing at crazy events throughout the day, and they even let me check my lighting with them before the send off that night. Now that’s love. 😀

A few weeks ago, I got this crazy idea to shoot a photo session while ice skating. Now, I used to ice skate a lot when I was little. Growing up in Wyoming when there are close to 7 months of winter (no joke) we had to be a bit more creative with our outdoor activities, and luckily the town put in an ice rink RIGHT in my front yard. Well not my front yard, but the center of our little circle. It was once a tennis court, but for a few years they made the ice rink. I would go out while the boys would have hockey practice. Their coach would yell at me for using my toe pick in the ice, and I would just laugh. Every once in a while, I would steal a stick just so I could check the boys against the wall. HA! They hated that.  Anyways, I skated a lot. I figured it would be just like riding a bike. That wasn’t entirely false…

After I got my crazy idea, I posted on Facebook that I was needing a couple that would be up for an adventure. I was SO happy when Brittany was the first one to comment and tell me she was up for it! We had talked about doing a shoot at Diablo Lake this last fall, and it didn’t end up happening, and I was so excited to finally make it happen, and to spend some more time with these two.

We both had about an hour and a half drive to meet up at Suncadia in Cle Elum. For winter, they set up the CUTEST little ice rink. We got to chat a little bit and catch up, make small talk about Christmas, and then the skate rentals opened and we were on! Getting into the skates was the easy part, and then we decided to brave the ice. It was as sketchy as you would imagine at first. There we were, amidst a few 6-10 year olds with their cheater stands, and us without. We warmed up a bit, got used to the ice, scuffed it up a little bit, and then I started shooting. SO MUCH FUN! I can’t wait to do more shooting like this for 2017!

After about 45 minutes or so, more people started to roll in, and we decided to get off the ice. These two were up for whatever even though it was FREEZING! When we showed up to the rink, the weather wasn’t bad. It was only 20 degrees, but there was no wind. Once we got off the ice, the wind picked up and was frigid. Bone chilling, really. We hid in some trees and got some adorable shots of them keeping each other warm.

Our last spot was behind the Lodge itself. I’ve wanted to shoot back there since I knew Suncadia existed and was so excited when Matt reminded me! It’s GORGEOUS up there, though it really was freezing. We were warming up in one of the Lodge’s doorway, and literally took about a minute to shoot outside because the wind was blowing right into us, and it was SO DANG COLD. These two are troopers though.

I loved getting to know more about these two, and being able to spend more time with them. They really are such fun people! We quoted movies, we laughed about all my past occupations, talked about their sweet Yorkie, Carl, and even mentioned The Walking Dead. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s an excellent day!

If 2017 is anything like this session, it’s going to be a great year! 🙂