Emily and her Dad.

This is Emily and her Dad, Darrell. We lucked out before all of this rain started and had a great afternoon shoot.
Darrell kept Emily laughing the whole time which made my job pretty easy.
Isn't she lovely!? ...and those eyelashes!!!!!!







Thanks Darrell and Emily for letting me take your pictures!

They grow up so fast...

Jacob's class was featured in his schools weekly round-up where they performed the song (and dance) "Frosty the Snowman".
His big scene came when he had to put the hat on Frosty "there must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found, for when they placed it on his head...." cue Jacob. I loved it. I cheered like he was on Broadway. He's growing up so fast. The other day when he had a friend over, he called him "dude" almost the entire time. He also insists on calling Nathan and me "Mom and Dad" instead of mommy and daddy.....it's the end of an era!
And yesterday, on our way home from the store, he asked "Mom, are you and Daddy ever going to break up?" Such an innocent question. I assured him that I loved Dad very much, and it would be really hard to break up with him because I thought he was pretty smart and handsome. Jacob said, "well, if I was a girl, I wouldn't break up with him. He's really good at playing the X-box."




And Emma. What am I going to do with her?! She's been coming up with things from who knows where. The other day, Nathan and Jacob were wrestling, and Emma jumped off the coffee table onto the doggie pile and said, "don't make me do this!" She's 4 people!!!! Well, she would correct me, 4 1/2!

(she had just eaten some cinnamon rolls)

BFF

I didn't used to be a big fan of Myspace or Facebook, but they have really grown on me. I've found friends from school who I probably wouldn't have seen until my 10 year reunion if it hadn't been for these networking sites.
Beth is one of those friends. In fact, Beth was one of my first best friends. In First Grade, her phone number was the first friend's who I'd ever memorized. (I still remember it!)
It was so nice to meet up with Beth a couple of weekends ago on a freezing cold Saturday morning. We went to a friend's farm and I followed little Blake around while he explored. He's adorable!









I love photoshop and use it on almost every picture I feel is worth keeping. I've heard it's like the icing on a cupcake, and I totally agree. I love this photoshop old school action which adds a lot of distortion and texture. It's one of my favorites, but I try to use it sparingly. I love the way Blake was standing in this. It reminded me of an old picture, hence the old schooliness!

Beth, thanks for sharing Blake with me and freezing our tails off for a bit!

Finally, a blog post!

It's been a while since I've posted. It seems like I'm finally getting into a good routine and workflow.
It's time to share these beautiful girls!
I had so much fun, and I'm hoping we get to take some more very soon.









Thanks Denise and Rob for sharing these beautiful girls with me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for, and I'll post some pictures of my family soon, but for today, here's a beautiful family full of red heads.
This is one of my best friends, Dana and her family. We talk on the phone almost every day. If we talk under 36 minutes, I know it must be a busy day. Sometimes I don't know how she does it with all her boys. My favorite thing I've ever heard her say to her boys while we were on the phone was, "NO...Don't ride on the cat!" She's really such a great and inspiring mom. She spends so much of her time making sure they're happy and balanced, and I think it shows.
They're such a beautiful and fun family.

Here's Benjamin. (Doesn't he look so "Blue Steel" here?!)




And this is Tyler, he's so cute and has a great sense of humor! (Grady is equally cute. He didn't get a solo moment in this series, but don't worry, I'll be sure to capture one of his beautiful smiles next time.)









Thanks Burns family for all your love and support, and for letting me take your family photos. I love you!
Happy Thanksgiving!

marshmallows

This is another one of my beautiful sister-in-laws, Carolyn and her family. They came all the way from Hawaii for a visit and to celebrate the holidays with Nathan's huge family. Before we had the big Thanksgiving get-together, we used Diana's colorful yard and then headed to the park in Fayetteville for some family pictures. Carolyn is such a great mom. When all else failed, she pulled the classic, "I have a marshmallow in my pocket..." it made Rumi smile, and it made my job much easier. When he realized the marshmallows were actually at home and not in her pocket....well, we all just had a juice box instead. I had so much fun chasing Rumi around. This family is so gorgeous!











Thank you Carolyn, Darren, and especially Rumi for letting me take your pictures!

early Thanksgiving bliss....

This Saturday, we had an early Lowery Thanksgiving. Nathan's 10 of the 12 siblings were in attendance. We had a lot of fun eating, watching the girls put on a magic show, and listening to Darren play the ukulele.
I have a few more pictures to share of Carolyn, Darren, and Rumi who were in from Hawaii. I was lucky enough to get to take their family pictures. I'll share some soon. Happy early Thanksgiving!



(Our view from the lodge.)

She's growing up!

Lately Emma has been exhibiting teenage-like behavior.
She's been saying things like, "MOM, that's not even what I said."

However, the other day she did say something very cute.
"I'm going to have 13 boyfriends when I grow up."
I told her I thought that was too many so she changed
her goal to 10. Then we asked her how many husbands
and children she was going to have. Her numbers were
something like 86 and 58. So, I asked her how she was
going to cook for all her husbands. She thought for a
quick moment and said,
"I'll just have my 10 boyfriends help me."






These were taken on a dress-up day earlier this year. She was in a very dramatic mood. Nathan thinks she watches too much of the afternoon Disney Channel......I'm starting to agree.

a cute belly

Just a reminder that I do all sorts of photography, from engagements, weddings, personal, pregnancy, birth photos, babies, kids, families, to pets.
This is baby Fenton...well, still growing.
Thanks Rebecca for letting me be your first photographer!
(Bellies are my favorites!)

good girls

I had a lovely Sunday morning with Tamara and her girls. They're sending their Dad some pictures of them to keep him company while he is away starting his new job and waiting on them to finish up the school year and join him.

I love little Rylee. She humored me and my corny jokes and kept me smiling.



And Sydney is so beautiful and kept a smile on her face the whole time even though she was feeling a little under-the-weather.

Part of my stratagy for getting "just a couple more" shots is to bribe the kids with this. "When we're finished, you can take a picture too!" Sometimes it works, but rarely does the picture turn out to be great! Kuddos Riley!

Thanks Tamera for sharing your girls and their fantastic smiles with me!