Ashley Durham Photography » Colorado Springs Lifestyle Photographer

Yesterday was a pretty long day for me … I shot the MB-6 homecoming with the Helton Family in the wee (wee wee weeeeeeee) hours of the morning, and then late last night, drove back to the Special Events Center on Fort Carson. This time, I was with the Yankosky family – Brenda (mom), 7-year-old Isabella and 4-year-old Joseph, to welcome home their hero, SSG Aaron Yankosky. Aaron spent the last year overseas in Afghanistan, and FINALLY came home!! It was a long day, for sure, but it was so totally worth it watching Bella and Joey welcome home their dad, and  Brenda hugging and kissing her soldier.

Welcome home, SSG Yankosky and the rest of the men and women of 1-10 CAV of Fort Carson. We are so proud of you and glad to have you home!

Today’s soundtrack :: Proud to be an American

This is going to be a very emotional week … this morning marked the first of FOUR homecomings I have been asked to capture, and I am so happy to show the homecoming pictures of SFC Helton and the rest of the soldiers in 1-67 AR. I woke up at 1:20 in the morning (yes, as in, just past midnight!) to drive down to the Special Events Center on Fort Carson, and I met up with Emily and 16-month-old Alaina to welcome home their hero, Erik. What made this homecoming even more special was that Erik’s dad, John – a US Army vet himself – flew in all the way from Virginia to welcome his son home. Emily kept saying “Is this real?? It feels like a DREAM. I can’t believe it’s finally happening!”.

Welcome home SFC Helton and the rest of the soldiers from 1-67 AR from your year long tour overseas in Afghanistan – we are all so proud of you and glad to have you  home!!!

The soundtrack :: Michael Buble’s “Hold On” … Enjoy!

Yesterday afternoon I was at the Special Events Center down on Fort Carson once again, to welcome home my beautiful friend Christie’s husband Chris, who had been deployed overseas the last year. It was wonderful to welcome Chris home, I hadn’t seen him since last December when he was home on R&R and we did a couple’s session (REMEMBER THIS ONE?).

I should also explain the Green Dot … you see, many military families rely on social networking sites to communicate with each other … and Facebook’s messenger program alerts that a friend is online with a “green dot” … Chris and Christie only were able to communicate whenever they saw the green dot … so it became their “thing” … and Christie’s homecoming sign was this HUGE green dot. When Chris saw it, he totally started chuckling from all the way across the center. LOVE the creativity!!

The soundtrack :: LOVE this song.