We have had an incredible year and are grateful on every level. We were approved for adoption (still waiting/praying on this front), have reigned in our travel so we could focus on business, and enjoyed puttering around our "new" house as much as possible.

It's been a full 12 months, but we'll give you a speedy recap here.

Some of our 2017 personal highlights:

We had visits from some very, very dear people in July/August, including many of Layne's aunts/uncles/mom, our friend Sarah and her son and sister and our StatusWelcomed girls - Cat, Beth, Idun, and Hannah. Seeing so many dear faces (and having spare rooms to share!) was incredibly good for our souls.

Layne started university to get her master's degree in Labour studies (it has been a shock to our system, but we are pulling through.)

At home, we barbeque a lot, get rid of stuff, and garden. We keep it basic and love it. Jonathan spends most of his free time cooking, doing laundry, snowboarding, playing badminton ultimate frisbee and watching documentaries.

Laynie spends all her free time gardening, reading and writing. (That's a joke, she has none post her entry into grad school).

Some of our really good friends (Rachel and Ayron) have a cottage and boat out in Long Point. They generously invited us out multiple times this summer (including a very special girls' weekend) and we're including it in here because every visit was truly a highlight. When Beth, Idun, Hannah, and Cat came out this summer they were able to boat with Rachel and Ayron too. It was amazing! We don't usually have our cameras with us so please excuse these unedited snaps from our phones.

On our photo business front, we have had an incredible year. We've been wanting to expand the commercial photography (business photos/videos) side of our work and it has flourished. We've enjoyed being able to offer drone work as well and have loved expanding our horizons into new challenging creative spheres.

AND, we moved our photo studio this summer! We are still on Brant Avenue, we're just up the street.

We hired a couple of new people (updates on these lovelies coming soon), and we have continued to work with THE BEST PEOPLE. We are so, so grateful for everyone who has hired us for real estate, drone, headshots, lifestyle sessions, births, weddings, boudoir....it has been an amazing year documenting truly wonderful moments. Here are a *****few**** photos from this year's adventures (including Jess and Matt's wedding down in Mexico and Stacy and Caleb's wedding in Saskatoon.....we did say we aren't travelling as much, right?!)

So thanks, 2017 - you've been grand. And THANKS for everyone who has been with us on the way. xoxox.

Friends, it's official! Brantford is now the proud owner of ten new (artistic) Little Free Libraries. We wanted to put Brantford on the map and we've more than doubled our Little Free Library collection.

Ten local artists (Aleah Durham, Alex Mikulich, Aliki Mikulich, Arlene Laskey, Cassandra Chambers, Christa Potter, Dave McCreary, Elizabeth Gosse, Heather Vollans, Lizzy Mikulich) worked hard this summer and created the most beautiful little book houses which are now placed around the city.

The official artistic Little Free Library launch was on Friday, so on Thursday I rode around with the hardworking, beautiful and talented Sara to make sure all the libraries were filled with books and to take some photos. Unfortunately two of the little libraries were not yet installed, but we wanted to share photos of the ones which were.....

So many people worked long hours and gave so much to make this little dream come true and we are incredibly humbled and grateful to have been a small part of the bigger whole.

Brantford - we're so proud of you and happy to see our home city growing in a spirit of community and art.