It's been a long 5 months, friends. Sit down and let me tell you a little about what I've been up to in my absence from Steemit:

Most of my time has been spent hard at work, creating custom wall art for my photography clients.

These are my babies.

Each month, I bare a new set, nurture them, build them, and send them off to shine in far away places.

Apart from my actual, living, breathing, blood-and-flesh son - creating heirloom photography, making archival quality wall spreads in my clients' homes, and preserving family history is the source of my pride and joy.

Below, a few mock-ups of some of my recent work.

In July, I accepted the challenge of being BOTH bridesmaid AND wedding photographer at my niece's wedding.

We are very close (more like sisters than aunt/niece), and I was happy to do so.

It was also my first experience with a "pop-up" wedding, which are becoming trendy as the price for extravagant weddings gets higher and higher.

It was held atop a stone outlook on a hiking trail in the Devil's Den State Park south of Fayetteville, AR. There were very few guests or decorations, and the entire event - from arrival, through the ceremony, then a quick formal portrait session, to departure to a local brewery for reception - only lasted a little over 30 mins.

Of course, this couldn't have been successful without the help of @winstonwolfe- my partner in crime, business, life, and couple's mini golf.

Speaking of #winstonwolfe....

In August, he received a lesson in how NOT to apply sunscreen when we treated our son to a small road trip Moonshine Beach in Branson, MO before school started.

We also stopped by and let the kiddo meet a couple of his favorite celebrities:

Our son had his first visit to the county fair:

And a monster truck rally with Grandpa.

We watched in awe with the rest of the middle of North America as the eclipse made it's way across the country.

Okay, I miss Summer, now.

Moving on...

Back to school for the kiddo and back to work for Mom & Dad as the busy Fall season was beginning to ramp up.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

We participated in our very first run/walk as a family to raise money for our son's special needs school!

My little man chose a firefighter for Halloween:

The night before Thanksgiving, I FINALLY got a little bar time with friends when an out of town friend flew in for the holiday. You might recognize a couple of these faces...

Am I the only one who thinks @quantumanomaly looks like the guy in the painting behind him? I wish I would have noticed it then so I could have pointed it out to @tltran.

(FYI, That painting happens to be a @christiesnelson original, and I'm pretty sure it's NOT based on @quantumanomaly)

And just like that, it was time to help my clients get ready for Christmas cards & gifts:

Now that the buzz has slowed, I'm ready to make all the Christmas goodies....

....and enjoy all the Christmas snuggles.

So, I think that's a wrap, guys!

That's the last half of 2017, and here's to 2018!

Happy Holiday Season!

Follow Me, @jazzyfish!

Thanks for reading!