Last year I traveled more than I ever have before, and the best part is that I got to do it all alongside my husband, friends, and family! With a trip nearly every month, 2017 made for one of the best years yet! My travels ranged from business trips, to last-minute vacations with friends, family trips, workshops, and so on. I always stink about sharing full galleries from my trips, so I figured I’d compile everything, both iPhone and DSLR pictures, into a year-end travel diary of sorts! I’m awful when it comes to taking pictures on trips unless I absolutely know they’re images I’ll post–it’s a terrible habit haha. But I guess it all works out because it keeps me from over-shooting and missing out on moments with friends!
I hope you enjoy reading and seeing some of my favorite memories from the year! If you visited any of these places in 2017 or are visiting them in 2018, let me know!
J A N U A R Y
January 1st of 2017 Stewart and I hopped on a plane and headed to Atlanta for the Passion Conference! Our sweet friends Ally and Walker invited us and were our unofficial “tour guides” for the week there since they both had spent lots of time in Atlanta when Walker interned with Passion! Fun sidenote, it’s a year later and these two are getting ready to welcome in their first child!! Just today we were planning Ally’s maternity session–it’s crazy to see how much has changed in a year!
While in Atlanta, we went to the Passion Conference (during one of the RR breaks, I was literally FEET away from JD from Hillsong, I almost cried), the Coca-Cola Museum (Coca-Cola is my life), the College Football Museum, the Aquarium (Aquariums are my fave!!), and ate tons of yummy food! Seriously such an amazing way to start out the year!!
F E B R U A R Y
In February, I went on my first cruise with two of my friends from Delight, Autumn and Madeline! Delight is an online girls community for Christian creatives, ages 16-22! I joined Delight at the start of 2015 and have made some of the sweetest friends through there! I met Madeline at one of the retreats in Nashville in 2016, and I knew Autumn from the online group! We found super cheap tickets for a cruise to the Bahamas, and planned early flights the day before so we could spend the full day at Disney World! We skipped out on excursions in the Bahamas (so we could go to Disney World) and just explored by ourselves–highly recommend going this route because the excursions are so expensive!! We’re all photographers, so it’s no surprise that this month’s recap has the most images! haha.
M A R C H
In March I went on a mini trip with my family to San Antonio for Spring Break, and more importantly, Liam’s 4th birthday. Gotta love that kid. I literally took like -4 pictures on this trip, oops. So here’s a cute picture with the birthday boy and River, and a picture of Liam doing the peace sign because he’s caught on to how many times I do it haha.
M A Y
My wedding season started in April, so I didn’t travel, but I didn’t mind! In May, I visited Arizona for the first time to shoot a wedding with Madeline! We shot an elopement with the coolest couple at a resort in Sedona. Madeline killed it, and it was so fun shooting alongside her! While there, we also went to Horseshoe Bend! Definitely a highlight of the trip.
After coming home, Stewart and I took a mini trip to Austin with some of our friends. We went to Hamilton Pool and Pedernales Falls State Park–I had no idea places that cool existed in Texas! We all piled into two rooms at the ever-fancy La Quinta (probablllly not a highlight of the trip haha). To top it all off, we visited the original Chuys location!
J U N E
In June it felt like I traveled pretty much the entire month! Two and a half weeks after going to Arizona with Madeline, I went back again with Stewart’s family! This trip, we saw the Grand Canyon and went on a super cool Pink Jeep tour!! We hiked a small part of the Grand Canyon, and then came back at night to see the sun set across the canyon. God’s Creation is seriously so amazing!
After coming back from Arizona, I flew out to Richmond, VA for the Katelyn James workshop and it was seriously THE best investment I made in 2017. Katelyn is one of my favorite educators because not only is she insanely wise when it comes to photography and how to run a business, but she loves the Lord too. Also, I got to meet another Delight girl, Madison, since we went to the workshop together! I was awful at taking iPhone pictures this week so I literally have like, 3. Sorry, tooooo busy learning!
Since I was going to be a short drive away from D.C., I threw out the idea to two of mine and Stewart’s friends, Jay and Carleigh, that we should all go to D.C. together for a few days! They were wanting to plan a summer trip anyway, so it worked out great and we stayed in a super cute Airbnb a mile walk from the Capitol–such a great find! This was my third time in D.C. and it was cool to visit places I had gone to before, but also to discover new places with my friends!
J U L Y
In July we made our move to San Antonio and Stewart started medical school there! We moved out of our first apartment together, and it was such a bittersweet moment. I feel like every newlywed uses that word at least once, but I honestly don’t know how else to describe it! Side note, the day we moved to San Antonio, my sister ended up going into labor weeks early and we rushed home and when I was 15 minutes away from home, my niece was born! 
A U G U S T
In August I went to Chicago to second shoot a wedding with my friend Moriah, who was my wedding photographer, and a few other friends! I also met them through the online creative ministry, Delight, and we went to Chicago to shoot another Delight girl’s wedding! Traveling with my friends from Delight seemed to be a trend for 2017! haha. I went to Chicago in 2016, so it was pretty cool to see a different side of it this year with friends!
S E P T E M B E R
In September I got to visit California to celebrate my sweet friend Madeline’s wedding!! I was so honored to stand alongside her on her wedding day with her closest friends and family–it was seriously such a beautiful ceremony, and such an easygoing day. It was everything a wedding should focus on! That week we drove all over and visited so many different places–Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, East Jesus, Salvation Mountain, and the Salton Sea to name a few! This trip was definitely one of my faves I’ve ever been on!
P.S., the wedding party and videographer were all girls from Delight! haha.
D E C E M B E R
October and November I didn’t do any traveling out of the state, and I actually was happy about this because it was a much needed break! I was shooting every weekend in DFW during these two months, so all of my traveling was between San Antonio and DFW! In December, I went on a morning trip to Magnolia Market in Waco with my sister and her best friend, Audrey! We celebrated my sister’s 27th birthday and ended the trip with tacos at one of my favorite spots, Fuego!
Okay, if you made it through all of that, I literally owe you like, a big bowl of queso or Starbucks, but those things don’t ship very well….so I guess me saying a huge THANK YOU will have to do! I’m so glad my husband and I were able to travel together so many times in 2017 since we probably won’t get to go on that many trips together again–at least not for like another decade (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating..)! haha. I have a super fun trip planned for this summer though, so you’ll just have to hang around to see if I actually get it all planned out!
Thanks again for reliving 2017 with me! I hope you enjoyed getting to take a closer look at some of my trips! I pray all of you have a happy 2018 filled with great friends and family, and lots of adventures, whether that be in your hometown, or around the world!
Beautiful! Looks like an amazing year!