Welcome to the world, Parker!

Here's some photos I took for a friend. Her little bundle of joy was born on April 18! Welcom to the world little Parker! I can't wait to meet you!

Madalyn

Just a quick photo of Madalyn taken last week (before she got sick with yet another ear infection!). She looks so grown up in this photo!

I Shot My Sister-in-Law . . . but I did not shoot the Deputy

After taking a 2 months break from photography (well, other than family photos here and there) I was excited to get back out and start shooting again! This is my sister-in-law Steph who is returning to the states after serving many years as a missionary in Venezuela. She needed some photos for her new job in Public Relations for Team Expansion. We had fun on my father-in-law's farm. The light in the barn was to die for! I want to go back and do some photos of the girls there sometime soon! Here are a few of my favorites so far . . .






We all live in a green submarine . . . that's all I could think about when I saw this old barrel!

My Poor Neglected Blog!

I haven't been around much lately! I decided to take a break from my photography business until March. The holiday rush was crazy and I just needed an extended break!

I am gearing up to start shooting some sessions again next month-including my first maternity session! Can't wait for that!

Also, my website is officially in the works--I need to get my domain name and get my photos ready for the galleries. So hopefully by the end of March it will be ready! I am very excited about that!

One more thing--if anyone is interested, I have started another blog called Counting My Pennies that is all about budgeting, saving money, couponing, bargain hunting, etc. I am trying to be a better steward of what God has blessed me with. Stop on by and leave me a comment!

Terrible Two

Madalyn has been a "terrible two" for awhile now. But it seems that here lately she's been more terrible than usual!

The other night I heard a scratching in my bedroom. I didn't catch on right away to what it was until I remembered that the last time I saw Madalyn she had a crayon in her hand. I opened the bedroom door and this is what I found . . .


It also wrapped around on the the wall next to it. At first I was very angry. Then I started laughing. And I laughed some more. And some more. My little artist! Thank God for magic erasers!

Finally some NEW PHOTOS!

Annagrace and Madalyn were totally surprised when Papa and Grammy showed up the Saturday before Christmas! I hadn't told them they were coming. I took Annagrace out to run a few errands and when we were a block from home, I told her I had a surprise for her and I needed her to get on the floor of the van beside me and cover her eyes. When we got home and I got her out of the van, there stood Papa! She just squealed!

So then we told her we had another surprise for her--an early Christmas gift from Papa and Grammy was sitting in our backyard! She couldn't believe her eyes when she opened them and found a cute little purple clubhouse just for her and Madalyn! Papa even made it so we can hook up electricity! We put a little heater in it and her desk and benches. A few days later I found her a purple rug and some stick on decorative dots that we covered the inside walls with. She begged Papa to sleep out there with her that night--but he talked her out of it. However, her daddy has promised they can camp out there this Spring when it gets a little warmer. Heck, she may even convince me to stay out there with her!


Here are a few photos taken yesterday when it was in the almost 70's here! These photos make me laugh. On the left is our little bookworm. I had to beg her to look away from her book long enough to take a few photos! She had just gotten a new Junie B. Jones book at the library at school yesterday and was already on the sixth chapter by the time she got home!


Then on the right is our little wild child. The one who needed a pretty intense spit bath before this photo was taken. The one who INSISTED on wearing this silly helmet. And the one who refused to look at the camera for longer than a tenth of a second!






Pretty holly tree at my mom's house. I took this with my new 85mm 1.8 lens that I sort of bought myself for Christmas! It is an amazing lens!
And here is my nephew, the soon-to-be BIG BROTHER Brayden! Yep. My brother and his wife have a little bun in the oven! And their due date is on my anniversary! How cool! I can't imagine Brayden being a big brother!
And one last one of me and the girls with my 90 year old Granny!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Day started at 7:15 when I heard Annagrace whimpering upstairs. I went up to see what was wrong and she said through her tears, "Santa didn't come because you were up all night!". (She was concerned about this when we went to bed last night because her dad and I slept in the living room--my mom and dad slept in our bed). I said, "Annagrace, what are you talking about?" And she said ,"All night! You were up all night!". I told her that Santa HAD been to see us and her presents were downstairs waiting and she flew down the steps to check it out!

She was so excited! Santa brought her the Paws Off Pet Shop Electronic Journal that she had been begging for! She also got an American Girl Doll from Grammy and Papa--and it was the one she really wanted! Madalyn got an American Girl baby with a fabulous little box filled with accessories! They also got a little purple playhouse with a cute little front porch for the back yard. Mom made a wreath for the front door and Dad and I strung up colored lights on it on Saturday night. It is really cute and I know they will spend hours out there playing in the Spring and Summer! Madalyn got a Weebles Castle that she had played with all day long! They had a really good day. After opening Santa presents, Aaron's family came over to eat brunch with us and open more presents. It was a busy but fun day!



I have tried to implement some family traditions the past few years. Just little things that I hope the girls will remember when they are older. Last year we started the tradition of writing down quotes from out of a Christmas book and giving them out to each family member. When we read the story and we get to your 'quote' then you get to open a present. (So you have the same number of quotes as you do number of presents). Annagrace loves doing this and gets so excited waiting to hear her quote read.



This year's new tradition is going out to look at Christmas lights and taking a trip to Sonic for a slush or ice cream while we are out! Aaron and I practically lived at Sonic when we were in college so we were ecstatic to hear there was a new one about 20 minutes away! We went out this year on Sunday night and we found a house where the lights were set up to go off with music. It was really cool. We watched it about 3 or 4 times. The family does it every year so hopefully going to that house will become a tradition too!



I also have certain things that I cook at Christmas time. There are these Christmas Morning Rolls that everyone loves and I cook those every year. I also fix Rachael Ray's Bacon Swiss Dip every year as well. (I'll have to post those recipes!)



And the last 3 years we have traveled to NC for New Years and have spent it with my mom and dad and my brother and his family. I can't always make it down for Christmas because of work, but I am hoping we can keep up this tradition of heading down there for New Years. I can't wait for Friday night to head down home. There is NOTHING like being home for the holidays!



So I'll leave this post with a photo that sums of the afternoon around here. We've all been worn out--but Madalyn especially. She hasn't been feeling too good either so the long day really got to her this afternoon. Look at those rosy red cheeks!


Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing everyone a JOYOUS new year!