Rikki Rivera | Photographer » Wedding & Portrait Photography

Erin and Jared are too much fun! They had a beautiful and simple wedding in a garden, surrounded by peacocks and orchards. Their family and friends showered this couple with love and attention throughout the day, ensuring things ran smoothly and their needs were met. It was incredibly sweet! The wedding party knew how to dance the night away, and even with some cute little ones, they took over that dance floor all night long! I haven’t seen such big smiles or laughter in awhile, and it certainly was contagious!

Cheers Erin & Jared!

 

So hey, go grab a cup of something iced or blended, or maybe even a glass of wine (it’s almost that time anyway ;)), because I have FINALLY nailed the rest of our adventure from Mt St Helens a few weeks ago. Sheesh! Nice weather makes for busy photogs! No complaints.. I seriously LOVE it! Anyway, I wanted to split all of my favorites into a couple posts because I knew there would be a lot, but because it’s taken me so long already, I condensed it to two.

I can’t express enough how amazing of a trip this was for our family. We left later in the day than intended since we are often late risers in the summer and love to take our time getting ready for things. However, it was perfect because it was really overcast, but once we hit 3,000 ft and caught sight of the mountain, the sun shined brightly, and the clouds didn’t come back until we were leaving. Lucky us!

I am a mother of two seriously precious children, perfectly flawed, that often make me feel like the best (sometimes most frustrated) mother ever. When Alyx was a little baby, my goal in life was to take him everywhere I went. I wanted him to experience my love for travel and adventure. I wanted to take him to all the places I dreamed of visiting during my lifetime, because well, I want him to remember those places and experiences with me. Then my little Kate came along, and dragging along two little babes is NOT the same as one. I’ve learned to make it work though… rather, we have learned to make it work. Jeremy doesn’t question my motives, he encourages them. Perfect match, right? 😉

You all know how much I adore flowers already, so when I stumble across fields of wildflowers.. basically we’re talking HEAVEN! I dream of having my very own field of wildflowers on my property some day. And I will, but until then, I’ll take pictures of them… and then I’ll take more!

When I see beautiful clear water like this, I glance around to see if anyone else is noticing how incredible it is! On the list of my favorite things, amazing bodies of water is one of them. If the water hadn’t felt colder than sticking bare feet in snow, I’d have a picture of me in it, but I couldn’t even stand a fingertip. Hehee.

After stopping at the last visitor center, we were headed home the long way, but we stumbled upon a sign for a lake before we left the park. It just so happened, we all needed a bathroom break anyway. Our curiosity got the best of us, and we kept looking around… only to find the most gorgeous little views!

More favorite things of mine… wide open spaces, old barns, and dirt roads… 😉

Jeremy loves fishing on the Cowlitz River, so there was no questioning when it came to stopping by to see how things were going along the river. It was beautiful.

Beautiful, isn’t it..? 🙂 Thanks for looking! Feel free to leave some comment love below!

As you’ve all seen on Facebook, I just couldn’t resist sharing this sweet, oh-so-adorable new member of our family! We immediately had an impromptu photo shoot to celebrate this momentous occasion, and of course, because this little guy is going to grow really quick. We were instantly head-over-heels for him!

When we arrived at the breeders home to choose our puppy, we were greeted by a precious little boy, whom we discovered was quickly spoken for. We were a little discouraged, but as we went out to greet the rest of them, they were all asleep in the grass under a tree. While kneeling down to pet them, I was greeted by a puppy who came up behind me, and laid on the back of my dress and quickly fell asleep. Oh my heart! I was instantly in love. After going over our options, and considering who will be the best fit for Jeremy’s hunting and fishing lifestyle, we quickly chose this one.

We spent a few days going through names to choose as Jeremy patiently waited to come up with a perfect fit. While the rest of us are beyond excitement, and it’s all we can really talk about, we’re adjusting to our new family of six! Welcome to the family Hunter!