It was a sea of pink. Pink shirts, pink pants, pink socks, pink uniforms… Even the volleyball was pink.

The volleyball game between Saint Henry District High School and Notre Dame Academy is an annual event that I simply do not miss. For me, it began when my sister, Maria, began playing for the SHDHS Crusaders back in 2003. I had never seen so much excitement at a volleyball match. The Crusaders and the Pandas are long time rivals. They are two of the most skilled teams in Northern Kentucky and they fight every year to win their region and have the chance to go to state. Not only are the teams exceptionally passionate about winning whenever they play each other, the fans really get into the match as well! The number of students from both SHDHS and NDA who come out to this match every year never ceases to amaze me! It is truly a sight to behold…

And then, there was this year’s match.

This year, SHDHS decided to take it a step further. This year the teams didn’t just play to win… They were Playing for a Purpose. SHDHS joined forces with the I Have Wings foundation to raise money and prayers for the fight against breast cancer. Between the JV and Varsity matches, the coaches of SHDHS stood up and said a few words… They talked about the groups that had donated money and time to the cause. It was powerful. Very powerful.

I sat there listening in the sea of pink… Not Panda blue. Not Crusader red. Pink. I looked to my left and saw the pink ribbons remembering some of the breast cancer survivors in our community. I looked to the right and saw pink ribbons remembering those who had lost their fight with breast cancer. I looked a few people down from me at my aunt, a breast cancer survivor who I love and admire. Her eyes glistened as they asked all of the women who had battled breast cancer to stand. She stood, moved to tears. I couldn’t help but be moved myself. People all around the gym wiped their eyes as the event continued.

After the SHDHS coaches spoke, Janet Chambers, founder of I Have Wings, stood up. She talked a little about her own story as a survivor of breast cancer, a little about her connections to both schools, a little about the I Have Wings foundation, and a lot about hope.

Then came the most moving part of the night… In addition to Janet’s story, the SHDHS coaches (Maureen Kaiser and Shawn Schwarz) decided to use another woman’s struggle with breast cancer to inspire others. Gwen Schuler, a fantastic mom, a loving wife, a nurse, a volunteer at SHDHS, and an all around wonderful woman, lost her battle during the preparation for last night’s game. She passed away on September 3rd of this year. The SHDHS team honored her family in what was, to me, the best part of the whole evening. Gwen’s husband and two boys were given gifts that included a family pass to the zoo, a tour of Paul Brown stadium, an autographed Carson Palmer jersey, lots of gift cards, and a week at a beachfront house. They stood there in utter disbelief as they were read the list of gifts from the people around them.

I was moved. Incredibly moved. What a fantastic community we have here in Northern Kentucky. How amazing that, if only for one night, two rival teams came together to make a difference in the lives of others. It was truly something to behold. Thank God for people who go out of their way to show that above all things in life, there is faith. There is hope. There is love.

Although faith, hope, and love remain the most important things, there is also volleyball!!! Both matches were fantastic! SHDHS won the JV match, but NDA took the varsity match… Toby and I love taking pictures at volleyball matches and my sister, Abbey, is on the SHDHS JV team this year (as an 8th grader!!!), so we definitely brought the camera! Here are some pictures from last night.

Sorry for such a long post! I feel like I just wrote a novella! Haha!!! If there’s anything worth talking about, it’s people reaching out to others with a message of hope. Quite frankly, it makes me proud to live in Northern Kentucky.

- Annie

I’ll start with some pictures of the JV game! The one in white is my sister, Abbey – I am SO proud of her!!!

They were very excited that they won!!!

I LOVE the look on Abbey’s face here!!! It looks just like Maria’s face when SHDHS won the region a few years ago!

Janet Chambers speaks to the crowd…

Shawn Schwarz, a SHDHS coach:

The Schuler family listening as they are told about the gifts they are receiving…

Mrs. Klingenberg, a teacher at SHDHS, serves the first serve of the varsity game. Her class raised the most money to donate to the fight against breast cancer.

Chelsea Gabbard, a student at SHDHS, sang the National Anthem. She is so amazingly talented!!!

Play ball!

The huddle…

The SHDHS coaches, Maureen Kaiser and Shawn Schwarz…

Pink… All the way down to their shoelaces!

I think my favorites from last night may be the pictures of the teams celebrating! They get excited about every point!!! You can just see how passionate each player is about the game!

One of my favorite images of the night…

NDA right after they won!

I love the mood of this one…

It was awesome to see the fans come out for both teams!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this capture!

I love the look on Sam’s face here (front and center)! If he looks familiar, that’s because we did his senior pictures!!!

I’m guessing that Crystal was SHDHS’s yearbook photographer! She did a fantastic job getting good perspectives!!! I’m biased though for two reasons. One, I coached her grade school volleyball team! And two, she’s using a CANON!!! = )

Poor Noah had a hard time with the noise… Lucky Grandma was there to keep him calm! Thanks, Mom!

This past Sunday, Toby and I got to photograph my cousin and his fiance. Tom and Angie are so meant to be!!! They are a fantastic couple and we really enjoyed spending time with them!

They chose Rabbit Hash, Kentucky as their location and it was an absolute blast! We’d never been there before and it was such a quaint little town! And oh my goodness do I mean little!!! We started at the General Store and I am so bummed that we didn’t get to go inside! Hopefully we’ll go back with them sometime soon! = )

Tom and Angie :: Thanks so much for the awesome shoot! It was nice to see Rabbit Hash for the first time and I love going exploring!!! Big Bone was fun, too, and I’m so glad that dog from the garbage cans didn’t follow us to the hay bales!!! Haha! We are so excited about these pictures and are even more excited about shooting your wedding!!! Love to you both!

- Annie

We happened to arrive just as the perfect patch of sunshine hit right where Tom and Angie are sitting in this picture! Yeah!!!

I love this one! They are so adorable!

I enjoyed seeing all of these random signs! I also thought it was cool that Tom and Angie were unconventional with some of the things that they did! This picture is a great example – neither Toby nor I have ever photographed a couple who looked into the distance in opposite directions! I think it totally works here, though!!!

I swear that Angie looks like Scarlett Johansson!!!

After the buildings with the signs, we walked down to the edge of the river (along with some random dog) and saw this… Wow.

This tree was our next stop! I really love the fence in the background!

Another fabulous tree!!!

Beautiful COLOR!!!

This pile of wood spanned this person’s entire front yard!!!

I love these next two!!!

Toby’s view:

My view:

After the huge pile of wood, we stopped at a barn. I liked the white doors…

I LOVED the red parts of the barn even more!!!

One of my favorites from the whole session!

We got some shots in the road on our way back to the car…

If you look to the right of Angie in the picture above, you’ll see this sign… Only in Rabbit Hash…

Another from the walk back to the car…

This may be my favorite location ever… We had a similar thing going on at a wedding this summer, but someone cleaned up the bales of hay before we could get to them!!! I can’t even begin to express how much I love these shots!!!

LOVE this one!!! Holy gorgeousness, Angie!!!

I had to get this one when I saw Angie’s hand on Tom’s shoulder!

I love Tom’s look in this picture! = )

I think this is my favorite. I just love the expressions they have, the bale of hay, the whole thing!!! Awesome!

This Saturday we photographed Kristen and Clayton’s wedding at the Loveland Castle. Not only did they have a unique location, they chose to give their wedding a Star Wars theme! For someone who has only watched one of the Star Wars movies (and not even one of the original three!), I was interested to see how things would go! They did an absolutely fabulous job making their wedding beautiful!!! We had a fantastic time!

Kristen and Clayton :: Thanks so much for making us a part of your special day!!! You two are such a perfect match and we know you’ll be so happy together!

- Annie

While Kristen, Clayton, and their family were setting up, Toby and I got to take our time photographing the details. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous!

We had such a beautiful day!!!

This was the goblet they used in their ceremony… Such fantastic design!

The garden at the castle was so pretty and I got some beautiful nature shots! This was one of my favorites!

This design was on all of the hand rails around the castle… I thought it was such an artistic touch!

The Star Wars details were pretty cool, too!

This was my favorite of all the Star Wars details!!! All of the guest received their very own lightsaber!!! How awesome is that?!

LOVE this shot!!!

One of my favorites…

Doing “the claw” pose is a tradition in Kristen’s family!!!

Did I mention that the gardens were gorgeous? = )

Here’s the family “claw” pose!!!

I love this picture of Kristen’s niece, Winter… So cute!!!

I know it’s a longer series than I normally post, but I love these shots of their first kiss as husband and wife!

Toby covered the close-ups. This was my view!

I love this shot of Kristen, Clayton, and Kristen’s grandparents! The look on their faces is beautiful…

Awesome cake!!!

My favorite of the cake shots! Love the vignette effect on this one!

Great costumes!

We had some fun using the light from Clayton’s lightsaber! = )

We ended the night with some pictures of the castle all lit up! It was gorgeous!!!