Another Cousin

Well I had a photo shoot with another cousin last Tues. We had a great time!!!! Talk about beautiful eyes, this girl has them!

We spent the whole afternoon together playing and I didn't have to ask her to do much, she just knew what to do.

She had some great idea's for posing and places that were fun. I had so many I just couldn't resist playing with. Your mom is going to shoot me when she see's all these pictures!!! I vowed to cut down on the number of proofs, but I couldn't help myself!! :)

Homecoming

Well another year of homecoming has came and went. I can barely remember all the detail of my high school homecomings, but I do remember, I didn't spend that much money on nails and toes! I do have this thing about paying someone to paint your toenails anyway.

I take Kasey over to Mattoon Friday evening and yes I made her spend her money on that sort of thing. :) So I am thinking this will be pretty fast..... I was wrong. There were at least 6 girls there from Shelbyville before we arrived, so there was a little bit of a wait. I left Kasey to do her thing, Amber and I went to do our shopping. After an hour, her toes were the only thing done. So Amber and I left to go eat, another hour later and waiting 30 minutes for a Taco and listening to a screaming kid, which was a whole other story in itself, they were just getting her finished up when we got back. I think back now, a Thurs. evening would have been much better night for this sort of thing, not sure what I was thinking :)

Kasey did send a big Thank you my way for everything so I did cut her some slack on the cost of painted toes, but Dad wasn't so understanding when he found out how much. It turned into a "Are you serious it cost that much to have your toes painted", Looking at me saying "You better not be spending that much money on your toes!" :) I did assure him I wouldn't, but it was very tempting to keep him going! :)

So Sat. morning we go and get her hair done and everything went well with that. She said "Surprise me, I just want something fun" So I was proud to see her so open to anything. Angie did an awesome job on her hair. So we finished up some last minute homecoming shopping and we were ready for homecoming.

I can not believe my daughter is a Sophmore in high school. I am very proud of her and she is such a beautiful person in so many ways!

Fall Time

This is always the time when everyone wants outdoor pictures with the pretty colors of Fall. The only thing is.... there are only a few weeks of pretty colors and then it is all gone :( It does make a beautiful portrait and I am booking up fast in the next month. I wished I could appreciate Fall a little more for it's beauty, it just reminds me that winter is soon behind and that is what I dread.

I was sitting on my deck looking around thinking....... I need to get that pool closed up, pack up patio sets, pack up summer decorations, clean out some flower beds and as I am looking around thinking of all the things I need to do I notice my humming bird coming back around. He had been gone for a couple weeks and I just figured that was my sign they are about gone for the year. Well he wasn't, so I fixed him another mix of food. He isn't ready for Fall either!!! :)

I dislike cold weather, I don't like to see everything dying, the daylight slipping away, or worse yet, the icey roads!!! UGH. But I have told myself this year to try and enjoy it a little more and make the best of it, so I am!!! I am booking lots of outside pictures in the next month. I am going to pack things up and get some fall decorations out (which I rarely do) I have already done the fall cleaning around the house. So I am keeping a possitive outlook on Fall this year and I will have lots of fun behind the camera and portraits to share!!!

A New Newborn

This little guys name is Carter he was just a few days old, he was awake the entire time we did pictures... I was so surprised to see him so bright eyed. He was such a good baby, and was looking around the whole time we did his shoot. I could have just cuddled with him all day! Very very sweet little guy.

I have done his big sister Aubrie before and I could not believe how big she has got! She was a very busy little girl as they all are at that age.. we did manage to get a few shots of her looking and sitting still. :)

We got a lot of great shots and of course I had to sit and narrow them way down so Mom and Dad weren't overwhelmed with their selection :)

Busy Weekend

We have been having lots of fun on the river this summer. There hasn't been a river forever, so we are taking advantage of the water this year. We got Craig's dads boat all cleaned up and got our fishing gear back in working order and have been taking the girls out fishing about every weekend. We have a friend who owns a spot by the river, so a group of friends started cleaning it up and had several families hanging out and camping this last weekend from Fri. to Mon.

I had a senior session on Sat. so I was trying to get back home to get a shower and cleaned up for that, I headed back down to the campsite and then had to leave to go do a reunion group shot. Of course it had to be a hot day with no moister in the dirt drive I had to travel to get to and from the camp site. :( So every time I left I would have 1/2 inch of dust on my eyelashes :)

My Moms 35 class reunion was this last weekend also, so I was asked to just come do a group shot. I didn't have much time to stay and get lots of candids, but I did get a few and what little time I was there I enjoyed meeting people that were parents of kids I went to school with. It was such a busy weekend with camping and we had ordered food for our camping crew from the Trent Duckett benefit, so I had to get back to my camp site to eat. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but I did get a few and of course it would have been meal time while everyone was eating :)





My mom and a very good friend of a lot of years!

Getting things back on track

I am not working at the dentist office anymore... took a week off to get my thoughts together on slowing things down in my life. It got to be too much working a full time job and doing photography. I had turned down a lot of photography business because I didn't have time.

I have wiped the slate clean.... put a lot of thought into what to do part time and still allow for my photography. I have cleaned houses before and didn't mind doing it at all... my friend from Oklahoma suggested I clean a few houses a week in the morning and free up my afternoons to do photography... So that is what I am doing. It has turned out very well so far... I have 3 houses I am cleaning, I am editing photo's for a photographers part time and getting my own photography done in the afternoons. I have lots more free time when my family comes home.

I had forgot what it was like to just live..... have supper on the table for the family, keeping up with house work.... sitting and watching TV of an evening, so I am very happy to be settled down a little bit and not feel like something has to give!

I have found myself putting more time into photography with out feeling rushed.... lots more time to plan things out with out rushing to get home after work and put things together. I am hoping to start meeting and learning more from some great photographers that I have spoke with in the past!