Never heard of it?

Neither had I. And had driven right past it no less than 4,213,879 times. The church we used to serve at, Cornerstone, met at a high school in their earlier days, and the museum was just a couple blocks away from the school.

So when one of our fellow photographer friends, Chris Metzger, pointed out this location with all the antique train cars, we’ve ever since been biting at the opportunity to use it. The tricky part is, the museum is only open from 12 noon to 4pm, only on Saturdays and Sundays, and not in the summer at all. For lighting, we normally start shooting at 4pm in the winter, but it just so happened that we needed to meet up at 3pm the day we shot the Vierkoetters. So we had an hour to hit up the museum and we’re super glad we did!

Chris, Jessica, and Corbin Vierkoetter are mutual friends with our friends the Fifes, and the Fifes were gracious enough to refer these wonderful folks to us. We hooked up at the quiet little museum on a beautiful overcast day and began to experiment with the fantastic amount of various train cars and colors inside the train yard. Little Corbin, ran around like a crazy man, and at times it was hard to corral his energy! But it helped in bringing out his great character. The little dude was even brave enough to go diving off the side of the trains…luckily Chris was there to catch him. We got to chatting about life, endeavors, mutual relationships, even the hip little dance studio that Jessica runs called The Dance Loft. She gets to teach little kiddos how to dance everyday and loves it…pretty sweet day job!

Soon enough though, the clock rolled over to 4pm and we had to vacate the rustic grounds of the Railway Museum, but to our joy we found a magnificent yellow field across the road and spent a short bit soaking in the fading light. Corbin ran and played. There was even some piggy-back chases.

Simple life captured.

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Beautiful Linnea Joelle Alley was born on December 23, 2009 at 3:50 am weighing 6 pounds even and 19 inches long. And she is such a gorgeous girl! Andrea was such a trooper through her entire labor- Linnea had made up her mind about arriving early and she came very, very quickly. It made the labor process very intense and painful for Andrea, but she definitely did an amazing job through the entire process- even when no one would believe her that she was actually in fact, in labor! You can read Andrea’s entire labor story here, and let me tell you, it’s a great read! She’s hilarious and leaves no detail out!

Andrea and Cody have been dear friends of ours for a very long time now. We love them to no end and are so excited for this new journey ahead of them. A couple days after they returned home from the hospital, they invited us over so Jason and Cruz could meet the newest member of The Alley home, and both Andrea and Cody agree that Linnea had already changed their lives completely- in every single amazing way. It has been so inspiring to see the transformation in their lives, and we are truly blessed to have their family in our lives.

I think I will forever be in awe and wonder that these couples allow me to be apart of something that is so important, so personal, and so incredible in their lives. It’s something I cherish each and every time I am asked to photograph a delivery. Wow. Andrea and Cody were so gracious to allow me in and to take the first pictures ever taken of their little girl. Of her first breath, her first cry, her first moments. It moves me to tears each and every time and I feel so blessed to have been a part of this huge day for them. But mostly, I am so fortunate to have them as our dearest friends.

And now, introducing their gorgeous little girl…. Linnea Joelle Alley!…

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