Headin' To The Beach!!!

Hey all, just a last minute thought that I had...my family is heading down to Port Aransas/North Padre Beach this weekend so if anyone is down there and would like family photos let me know. I'll have my camera gear with me! We've decided to do it "old school" and camp out (ohhhhh boy!). When LeRoy and I first met and we we're dirt poor we'd go down to the beach and camp out or just sleep in his parent's OLD van and it was hysterically fun. Since, our little family is needing some good laughs we decided to go "old school" again. This is either going to go really, really well or really, really bad...stay tuned! :)

Lots O' Love

I met the "B" family last week down at Zilker Park and we just had a great time wandering around Zilker and taking all sorts of great photos. Their little girl is friend's with my niece and I just love their little personalities at this age. They're so excited to be in the photos...well, their daughter was excited to be in the photos. My niece is never excited when I whip my camera out to start shooting. :) Little "Baby I" did so good in the heat and weathering his first shoot at 5 months. I couldn't be prouder of the shots that we got. Check them out!

A Day At The Duck Pond

I went out last week in this blazing hot heat and photographed my best friend's children. I have to say I AM a saint for doing this...no really, my BFF Jana is the saint for trying to wrangle her children into being photographed together! I thought she might put a bullet in her head by the time we were finished but she didn't. Yeah! My BFF is still alive and kickin'. We attempted to take some photos right in their front yard trying to keep the shoot close to home and convenient. After about 10 minutes of Lexi running to the garage to sit and play with her flashcards and Jakers running away from me I suggested that we go do something fun that they like to do. With resistance, Jana finally dug out some old tortillas and we were off to the duck pond. They were really enjoying themselves feeding the ducks and I thought ok this is going good until...Lexi (our little runner) ran off down the way and ended up wading into the duck pond and getting mud all over her legs and feet. Thank goodness, we didn't have that gun nearby that I mentioned earlier b/c Jana was about to lose it. :) Mama got her cleaned up and in the end we managed to get some cute shots of the kids and I'm thankful Jana is still alive so we'll get to endure another photo shoot in 6 more months. Ha!

Surprises Are The Ultimate Surprise!

Have you ever had a really good surprise pulled on you? Or pulled off a really good surprise? My life has been filled with lots and lots of surprises this year and some have been really good (like my 40th surprise party that my husband threw me) and some haven't been so good (like my grandmother passing unexpectedly). Up until this year, I really haven't had all that many surprises in my life. I had never had a surprise party in my 40 years and frankly can only think of a handful that I've been to. I have to say though that good surprises make life really, really sweet. LeRoy and I didn't find out the sex of our baby until he was born. I was shocked! My mother's instinct told me that I was definitely having a girl. Ha! That got blown right out of the water at birth but my baby boy was the best surprise of my life.
All of this is leading up to my recent weekend away to Atlanta. My best friend, Kelly who just turned 40 thought she was going to Atlanta to visit her sister for a nice "sisters" weekend to celebrate her birthday. However, her sister Holly and I and another friend Tammy from Missouri have been in cahoots planning the ultimate surprise for Kelly's birthday. I flew in first and was picked up at the airport by Holly's hubby who is a US marshall. We had to kill some time before meeting them for lunch so he gave me a complete tour of the US Marshall building...it was quite interesting especially since there was a huge bust the night before so all the marshalls were a buzz in the office. Anyway, back to the goods. We arrived at the restaurant first (Flip Burgers...super yummy if you're ever in Atlanta...go there) and I spoke to the hostess and told her that we had a big surprise going down right there in their little restaurant. I went to the back and hid by the bathrooms. Holly and Kelly arrived and got seated at the booth and the hostess came back to tell me where they were seated. I approached the table and Kelly was looking down at her menu so I decided to act like the waitress and I said, "Hi, can I get you something to drink?" This is where it gets good b/c Kelly looks right up at me and says, "No" and then proceeds to look back down at her menu. What the ?*&! just happened? I look at Holly and Erik like what now? Holly says, "Kelllllllly, are you sure you don't want something to drink?" Kelly looks back up at me and she's staring and staring and then BAM! It finally registered! She screamed bloody murder and jumped up and hugged me and was crying. We're jumping around the restaurant like a couple of idiots. The entire restaurant STOPPED and I even think one old gal choked on her burger. It was by far the best stunt I've ever pulled off. Soooo, if you haven't had a good surprise lately...then it's time to plan one. Life is so much more glorious with them!

It's A Popsicle Party!

These shoots are always so fun and a great way to remember the summer. I love the idea of decorating your kid's playroom with a collage of these playful shots. This is one of my son's best friends from school and his little sister. They are so cute and were definitely entertaining with all their great ideas they shared with me. They told their mom that they didn't want to wear swim wear but instead their "school clothes". So, with out further ado here's M & S...

Sunshine Press Album

My, my, my! Check out this sweet little number that I've just added to my product list. It's a beautiful 8x8 press printed album on watercolor paper and adhered to a sturdy board to make the album pages thick and sturdy. The metallic cover is just an added yumminess to this little piece of eye candy. This is a 30 page album with 47 openings for the photos. The whimsical pages make for a great family or child album! It's priced at $350.

Love Is In The Air

I had a couple photo shoots over the weekend and this family just started my day off on the right foot. The shoot started with them on a cute butterfly bench and before I could even take the first photo Sadia and Lucas were kissing. I loved it! I usually have to beg my clients to kiss and even then they usually do such a fast peck that my 8 frames per second camera couldn't even capture it so I have to ask them to kiss again! There was no asking a second time with these two...in fact at one point the kissing session kept on going so I coaxed them into a dip and they never stopped locking lips the whole time. :)
Lucas is in the Army and is home on leave until November and then he's off to Afganistan so there were a few times where I could just see the love pouring out of them. At one point, I could see Sadia just taking in the moment and trying to savor every bit of it. Then, their two twin girls were just cute as bug's ears! The whole family was so fun and playful and full of laughter that it made my job so easy. The photos speak for themselves.