My favorites - Gabe

A quick bit on my favorites of Gabe. :) Isn't he adorable? This little dude made me WORK for these pictures and then at the end, he lit right up, giving me beautiful smiles! :)

My Favorites - Michael

And now, another installment of my favorite images from the mom's group mini session. This is Michael, and he reminds me so much of my own kids when they were babies. Each little roll on his arms and legs remind me of the MANY rolls on my own kiddos and BELIEVE me - I spent a LOT of time kissing all of those squishy rolls (only on my own children of course!).

ANY-who, Michael wasn't really sure what to think of me or the big camera either - but as soon as he looked at his mama he'd get a smile and you could just see his eyes relax and connect with her, "it's OK, my mama is right there" - SO sweet. :) Here's the handsome little dude himself - OH - and CHECK OUT his rockin' shoes!

I've been tagged. :) I always wanted to be tagged - THANKS Kate!! :D

Favorite person (outside family)? Hmm...it's hard too hard!! There are more than one :)

Favorite food? Ice Cream. I just sat down and ate an ENTIRE pint of Target's Archer Farms brand "sea salt pretzle" - HOW did it go so fast and WHAT was I thinking? Oh and chinese food....probably not the 'real' stuff - but the American take out variety. :)

Quirks about you? I'm so wierd. I have this pillow.....I can't sleep without it. Seriously. So sad. I say "at the end of the day" ALL the stinking TIME!! Oh and I also say "that's so funny!" a lot too - like, DUH - if I laughed, then that means it's funny . . . WHY do I need to then TELL you that again? I'm so OCD about some things that it annoys those around me. Sorry, others.

How would the person who loves you most describe you in ten words or less? Hm...this assumes that I know who loves me the most. Let's see....funny, loud, H-O-T, feet permanently in mouth, caring, loving, REDICULOUS. (Yeah that's probably pretty close)

Any regrets in life? I regret not being willing to talk about the things I was feeling after I had my first baby (postpartum depression) - and missing out on quite a few months because I was afraid I was the only person on the planet who could possibly feel so horrible. Or maybe I regret not realizing it sooner??

Favorite Charity/Cause? NTM & Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Favorite Blog recently? http://mom4life.typepad.com/mom_4_life/from_a_mom_4_life/index.html

Something you can’t get enough of? Ice cream. Oh wait, that probably doesn't count huh? Photographing the world & people around me. Family.

Worst job you’ve ever had? I worked at a plant nursery when I was a kid and I stood in one place ALL day, poking holes in the tiny pots of dirt and then planting the seeds - I did THOUSANDS of them. UGH. I didn't mind the dirt - just the monotony!

What job would you pay NOT to have? Dishwasher/Laundry-do-er. (who wants the $$?)

If you could be a fly on the wall, where? Um...I would want to be watching my sister and her family in the Philippines but I would NEVER be satisfied to JUST be a fly on the wall and not be able to talk with them and give those babies hugs. :)

Favorite Bible verse right now? As always, Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Guilty Pleasure? Ice Cream. (see the theme?) Oh and I LOVE to get out - doesn't matter where or really who I'm with - just "out" :)

Got any confessions? Nah. It's pretty much all out there. You guys have figured out that I am just NOT normal by now, right?

If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? It wouldn't even cover the camera lens I am obsessing and drooling over - it would go SO very fast!

Least favorite thing about your house? The house around me all look too similar. :(

One thing you are bad at? Only one? WOW . . . I'm bad at saying "I'm sorry" too much- I apologize for everything and anything - drives some crazy :)

One thing you’re good at? I am EXCELLENT - no, extremely talented in the diverse field of Conversation. (talking)

If you could change something about your circumstances, what? Hm . . . not sure what I'd change really . . . things aren't perfect but God is in control and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Who would you like to meet someday? Um . . . I have no idea - so many people. On a stranger note, I've always thought that if I met Jennifer Garner we'd end up getting along REALLY well and being like, best friends. How wierd is THAT?!? :)

What makes you feel sexy? Hee hee hee :)

Who is your real life hero? There are a LOT of people that I look up to and think an awful lot of - too many to name. How cool is THAT though, so many wonderful people to be examples to me! :)

What is the hardest part of your job? Nap time is quickly being outgrown - BOO HOO!

When are you most relaxed? Some people might tell you I am not a very relaxed person. They aren't lying. MOST relaxed?? Uh...it's hard to say.

What stresses you out? Everything - HA! :)

What can you not live without? My family, my friends, my Bible, my camera, at least an OCCASIONAL shower . . . and then the list goes on and on, becoming SO shallow and girly :)

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? Huh? I don't really care what anybody else thinks . . . oh wait, does that make me sound like a narcissist?? :)

Why do you blog? To let people (clients, family, friends) know what's going on in my life - as far as "the business" and "my life" goes :)

I don't know hardly any bloggers but I will go ahead and at LEAST tag a couple of them - here goes:

TAG - YOU'RE IT! :)

http://lucidimaging.blogspot.com/
http://markusandsarah.blogspot.com/
http://brosvik.blogspot.com/
http://hjemmebra.blogspot.com/
http://eba-et-al.blogspot.com/

OK girls - no obligation, but have at it if you want! :) And with that, I bid you all adieu! :)

My Favorites - Alice

Ok so last week I featured my favorites from Alana's session - and I figured it would be a good idea to continue with the ladies first . . . so here is sweet little Alice. I ran into her mommy and her cute little self at Target last week - what a treat! Unfortunately they saw all too well how insane my two can be when they're excited to be somewhere (they love Target - but then, don't we all?).

Alice took a little bit to warm up to me - well, I'm sure it wasn't ME - maybe it was the giant black thing with the one big "eye" that I kept sticking in her face. Yeah - I'm sure it wasn't me. So here she is, or at least, here are my favorites from her session - ain't she a beaut?? :)

Looking Back . . .

Have I mentioned how incredibly blessed I am to have married the man of my dreams, my high school sweetheart, and my very best friend? I know I don't tell HIM that enough, and I probably haven't really mentioned it here either. Well, I am. INCREDIBLY blessed.

We met in 9th grade (but he wouldn't talk to me until 10th - L-O-N-G story!) and we started dating during the summer before 11th grade. I should also mention that I "knew" the moment we met that we would eventually marry - and I don't know HOW or WHY, but as SOON as we met, the thought popped into my head - "you are going to marry that boy" . . . and as CRAZY as it sounds (even to me at the time!) - it was true!! :)

After high school we both went to New Tribes Mission's Bible School and Missionary Training Center located in North Cotes, England. Yup - THAT England - the one across the big pond. We were engaged just before Thanksgiving that year and during our Christmas break at home, we decided to "go for it" and plan a SUPER fast wedding and go back to school hitched. :D Pulled it off in just over 2 weeks - how's THAT for spontaneous?? :)

We were able to travel a lot more once we were married and we got to see a good bit of Europe. Tonight I was travelling down memory lane and it got me thinking . . . so here are some of my favorite pictures of us during those years - granted, I look pretty dern stupid in some of them BUT they are all special memories. :) And if this bores you - SORRY - but I'm in a nostalgic mood so humor me for a bit, ok? ;) Oh and I'll add some ones of me - just because

OH - and by the way - my logo isn't on these photos so I can claim credit - some were taken via friends, family - OH and then there were all of the tripods my brilliant hubby set up everywhere we ever hiked to . . . HA! :)

My favorites - Alana

I said a couple of weeks ago that I would eventually share some of my favorites from the moms group that I photographed. They were some GOOD lookin' babies!! :) I'm not completely finished with all of the kids, but I figured this might be a good time to do a cameo on at least ONE of them. (Gosh I hope I spelled that right! - hee hee!) :) So today we'll start with Alana. She is 3 months old and is SUCH a little rolley-polley baby! (Just the way mine were and JUST the way I like 'em!!)

BUSY busy week!

So you would think that if I'm busier than usual, I would have more to talk about, right? Not so. :) I do have ONE thing to blog - but I'm waiting on a few things to show up before I do . . . so I'll have to hold tight on that one for a bit longer.

The one EXCITING photography thing that has happened is that Kara came by to continue her maternity pictures - we're following her pregnancy in photos to show how she's changed. :) It's amazing to see so much change in just a couple of months - once again I'm reminded that God knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he created us - it wasn't by mistake that He decided we'd carry our children in our wombs . . . of course he COULD have maybe done something about the stretch marks - but who am I to complain?? :) This baby boy is doing GREAT - growing big and strong - and it's hard to believe that in a just a couple short months he will be here in person!

In the storyboard below, you can see the growth of baby boy P. See? Big and strong. :)

Want proof that I'm really just a big nerd??

Well HERE it is . . .

Yup - that's me at Disney - a friend of mine was visiting Orlando and we met up at the Magic Kingdom. (Without the kids - yeah!) You wouldn't know it though - we acted like a couple of teenagers! :) The park was open until 2am and we ALMOST made it until then. (But we found that we're not actually cut out for the 2am crowd - we've been moms who crash at 10pm for too long!)

Anyways, it was super fun to have a relaxing girls night - plus I had LOTS of opportunities to take dumb pictures and annoy the people around me - again . . . yeah! :)

Oh! And here are some fireworks pictures - funny how the last one looks a LOT like Disney being attacked, eh?? :) Also, I want to throw this in - we met this couple during supper and saw them taking this picture themselves - I offered to do it for them and send it their way - I hope they like the result! :)

Moms Group: DELIGHT

Today I had the pleasure of meeting several moms and photographing their children. Shhh!! Don't tell yet - it's still a surprise for Father's Day. :) Anyways, I'll post a few of the ones they picked here - what a cute group of kiddos!! :) Later I'll post my favorites - I think it's so interesting how my favorites and my client's favorites are often very different - but that doesn't surprise me - everybody is different. :)

Anyways, I added a new feature to my blog - not sure I'll keep it but I was pretty excited - it's music!! :) I have it set so that it won't automatically turn on - that way those of you checking in at work won't get caught!! :D But I am a big fan of music - not all of it is necessarily main stream and "cool" but I don't care - I just like that I get to share what I like! :) I'll change it and update it - mostly because I'm always changing what I am listening to - so if you want to hear what I like, click play! :)

Here are a few images from today - seriously - I'm warning you - these kids are ADORABLE!! :) So here's a little sneak preview for the moms . . . and I'll let you know when there is more to see! :) It was nice to meet you all!

Out-Takes, Part 2

Ok so here's my second set of "out-takes" . . . First we have Heather. :) Ahh, Heather - thinking back on their visit here makes me smile. We had SO much fun!!! We were out for lunch one day near the end of their visit - Poor Dave was just tryin' to get through his lunch. :D haha!!

Then, the next picture is one that I took of Heather . . . I was bending over taking a picture and she was sitting behind me on the ground. Lydia said she was making FUN of me, so I bent down, and shot her through my legs. The following is the resulting shot. It looks SO much better the way I shot it, upside down. :)

OK so then there's THIS one - Check out my sun flare :D Best flare of the day, and of COURSE it's a picture of Heather's hind end . . . oh well, I still think it rocks!

Lastly, there's Lydia . . . and Larry. Larry jumped in (last minute) and scared poor Lydia to death. Great guy!! Unfortunately, I didn't have paper with which to write his address down (he wanted a copy of this picture) - so I'm hoping to bump into him again one day in downtown. :D