My new friend...

I have no idea what to write about tonight, besides the fact that I'm ready to head to bed and I can't for two reasons... 1. because my baby boy is laying asleep in my lap... and 2. because I'm glued to this computer because of blogs such as Jasmine Star and Live in the Name of Love and Natalie Norton... I love those girls...

The first reason is very peaceful and wonderful, because well... he's my velcro-baby. That's his nick-name from when he was a baby and toddler and he wanted to be on my hip 24/7. Something he still does to this day is rub the back of my arm when he's sleepy... Trey used to rub my earlobe... I guess every kid has something that sends them straight to sleepyland... I played with my hair, ok, I still do... ANYWHO... having him sleeping on my lap is so sweet.

The second reason... oh, well, those are my guilty pleasure everyday. Yes, everyday. Jasmine and Bianca are twin sisters... Jasmine is a ROCKIN' wedding photographer from California and Bianca is a public speaker... actually, a 'real' Christian woman that LOVES the Lord and is trying hard to make sure that the whole world hears about Him! Natalie is actually the first blogger that I ever followed... she is a FANTASTIC family photographer from Hawaii. I first blogged about Jasmine and Natalie here and I've been stalking, er... following them for over a year... A few months ago, I found Bianca on Jasmine's blog... she's now been added to my daily rotation! :-)

So, without further ado... I'd like to introduce my newest friend (can I still say that even though she doesn't know it? yes, I vote yes.) Ladies and gentlemen... please put your hands together and your mouse on this link to welcome... Bianca Juarez!

In The Name of Love from Bianca Juarez on Vimeo.

Win a FREE Tamron Lens!!!

Ok, so you may feel like I'm "using" my blog to get me ahead in this little contest, but let me just tell you something right now, missy... or mister... you're right.

So I opened up my inbox and saw a GLORIOUS sight... MCP Actions (which I use in Photoshop all.the.time.) is giving away a saaa-weeeeet lens and I.WANT.IT!!!!! So, I posted my comment, I've Tweeted it, I've Facebook'd it and now I'm blogging it... why?! For extra entries!!

So at this point you may be feeling a bit used, but to that I say... sorry. :-)

Check it out here... you can enter for yourself... or you could always enter and then give it to me, just sayin'.

http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2010/04/13/win-a-tamron-lens/

Aw Geez...

Well, instead of sitting in Gatlinburg, TN on the BBC Couple's Retreat, I'm still sitting right here in Lickskillet, AL. I wish I could say it was because of some 'cool' reason, but no.

Yesterday afternoon Blake gets back to the church from Chuck E Cheese and he says "Mommie, my tummy hurts." When he didn't want to go to his first baseball practice of the new season I knew he was serious. I made a quick call to his coach to let him know that we weren't going to make it and headed home... by this time, he was starting to run a fever and his throat was bothering him too...

The night lasted much longer for him than it did for me... he was in bed and asleep by 6pm, that's not a typo... 6pm. His temp was 102.4 and climbing so I quickly got him some meds and prayed that he'd get better... quick!

Well, needless to say, today did not go as planned. We took off to the doctor's office this morning and (...btw, props to Physicians Medical Walk In Fayetteville!! They were AWESOME! We got there at 9:03 and had a prescription in our hand and walking out the door by 9:45!...) he has strep... with tonsils the size of watermelons, it's hard to miss... but the folks at PM were great... very small wait time and ready to help! We'll definitely visit them again, but I hope not any time soon!!

After picking up the meds, we headed home... the boys stayed there while I headed to work to finish up some stuff that has to be done for Sunday... I was there longer than I wanted, but I got everything done that 'had' to be done... the rest will just have to wait!

Well, we have hopes of leaving in the morning-- after 10am-- to head up to Gatlinburg, but with Dad having bronchitis and the shingles, we'll have to just play it by ear. Geez...

Just cuz I know posts with pictures are better... here ya go... it's a random pic of my sick little baby boy. He'll be up-n-at-'em again real soon!!

Miss Saylor | Hazel Green Baby Photographer

I couldn't help but show off this little cutie pie!! Miss Saylor is a terrific baby, she did GREAT at her photo session!

These are only a few of her pictures... check out her slideshow!

Alan & Becca | Engagement Session | Hazel Green Wedding Photographer

He's from the tippy top of Alabama... She's from L.A. (No, silly... not Los Angeles, Lower Alabama!) I bet you want to know how they met, huh?? He decided that the University of Mobile was the school for him... little did he know that he would meet the girl of his dreams in the place that would make him so homesick!

He served at a local church as the youth pastor... but she was off limits... for real. He was given a few rules and one of them was "No dating any of the girls in the youth group." Really a great rule considering he was barely a twenty-something, handsome, funny, outgoing guy! He followed the rules.... but then he came back home and all he could do was think about "her"... They've shared a long distance relationship ever since!

After a few months, he decided that he can't live without her... it was time to pop the question... he couldn't stop thinking about it! At first he thought he'd propose at Christmas, but he couldn't wait that long! He ordered the ring, and started planning... a friend helped him get everything into place... he took her for a walk, the same path they'd walked many times before, but something was different this time... someone had made a rose petal walk-way to a table that held a Bible, roses and an iPod with speakers... ---I hope I'm remembering the words somewhere close to what was actually said--- he said, "Look Becca, someone's going to pop the question!"... she said, "We can't be here, it's beautiful, we can't mess it up!", then he picked up the Bible and showed her that it was opened to Proverbs 31, so he started reading it to her... she almost had a heart attack thinking that he was messing up someone's carefully planned 'question popping station'... then she heard "their song" and realized that the question popping station was set up just for her. She said yes, just in case you're wondering...

I love this shot... as long as I 'shoot' couples I'll suggest this pose!

This is definitely one of my favorites!!!

Isn't this one adorable?!

Gorgeous!!!!

Check out their slideshow... set to 'their song'! :-)


Congratulations Becca & Alan!! I can't wait to shoot your wedding in November!! Love y'all!!!

Slacker!!

Hi everybody!
Oh I know, I know... it's been FOREVER!!!! And it's been eating at me that I haven't paid you any attention what.so.ever. There have been many times that I've visited my own blog and thought, 'wow, that girl needs to update her blog...' yea, I talk to myself like that... don't hate.

So here goes... blog posts are always better with pictures, so I thought I'd just SHOW you a few of the things I've been doing since I glanced over at you last... it's really been like an elementary school relationship, huh? 'I only know you on the playground when my friends are around'... I'm really sorry, but thanks for always getting on the merry-go-round with me anyway. :-)

So, there was Steve's 48th birthday, Jamarri's 7th birthday and Braden's 2nd birthday...

(it was a spa gift card!)

Jamarri was so excited about all of his gifts!

Braden had a ton of fun opening his presents all by himself!

And oh the basketball games... wow did that taken up a LOT of time!! But it was so great... the boys love basketball, especially Blake... as you may have come to know, Blake has a LOT of energy, and I mean a LOT of energy... he's very aggressive and fouled out of a bunch of games! Trey's a great 'bottom guy', he can box out and "put a butt on 'em" to get those rebounds and back up for his 'signature shot'!

He made it!!

This kid is over 6' tall... seriously. He wears a size 13 shoe!

Then came Thanksgiving...

Anna Kate decided she was hungry...

Then Christmas!


However, this was no ordinary Christmas! Gilly came to visit again! "Who's Gilly?", you ask? Well, he's our mischievous little Elf that visits every Christmas!! He gets into trouble, but thankfully, it's the kids' job to clean up!! If they don't do it themselves, then Santa comes to pick up Gilly the next night. Yep, that fast! Santa don't play.


Before Gilly went back with Santa, he left the boys a little message... out of marshmallows. Then Beau (our doggie) ate the message and had a tummy ache. Not pretty.


Awwww!! Look at my sweet new pajama'd boys!!
But this is the real truth!!

The BBC Choir went caroling to shut-in's and then to Bridge Street in Huntsville! Sooo much fun!!


I had a few photo sessions for children, engagements, and my first wedding in December too! (Well, not my first wedding... it was Amy & Josh's wedding, just my first wedding to shoot!!!)

Amy & Josh are such a darling couple!! They are very grounded in their faith in the Lord and share a precious love for each other. There's always something that happens (or in this case doesn't happen) at every wedding that isn't planned... at Amy & Josh's wedding, it was the kiss... yeah, the KISS!! You got it... Pastor Lon forgot to tell them to KISS!!! Josh & Amy knew it, and did a little 'half-peck' but some of us didn't realize it until it was time to go to the reception!

I heard someone mention something about the kiss and I looked back through my images and thought, "What?! I didn't get the kiss?! Have I lost my mind?! Why didn't I get the kiss?!" I was seriously about to have a heart-attack... I really thought I had missed it!! Then Josh told Pastor Lon that he didn't tell them to kiss... WHEW! I was really freaking out! but then Pastor Lon had some 'splainin' to do!! He announced them at the reception and made up for his little boo-boo...

Here's a few shots from those photo shoots:

These are the adorable Burke children... aren't they sooooo cute?!

Here's a quick pic of how much 'energy' little Mr. Burke had... yes, I chased him... a LOT! :-)
And these two were so much fun!! Their grandmother wanted some photos of them in their jammies at Christmas... they thought I was crazy when I laid on the floor to get some cool angles! :-)

And then Kristen & Andrew!!! We had SOOOOO much fun shooting their engagement session!
Poor Andrew was so hungry! They used 3 outfits and 3 locations and he was about to pass out!
He was a trooper, even though he was starving, he didn't mind the 5 hour make-out session! :-)

AND, because K&A were such fantabulous models, I submitted a few of their photos to CreativeMYK, a Christian website that helps graphic designers and photographers alike... we share images and clipart to make our presentations and advertisements really fabulous! Here are the ones they accepted!

I did a little traveling in January!!

First I went to Lewisburg, TN to the 5th annual Grove ladies retreat with my step-daughter-in-law and daughter! It was a wonderful weekend, filled with worship and learning more about God's grace and mercy...

My other trip was to Stone Mountain, GA with a bunch of pre-teens from BBC and Flint River to the SuperStart Conference! This trip was for 4th-6th graders ONLY! Katy bar the door!! No little kids allowed!
While there, we learned about doing Good Works for God... we heard about some amazing kids that are doing some amazing things for an amazing God!!

Not to brag or anything... ok, well maybe I am... but I was #2 of #26 on my first time to ever play Laser tag!!
This is one of the cool pix I got in the laser tag place!
This just proves you can get cool pix just about anywhere! :-)

Fast forward to this month:

Daddy turned 60!! He thought we were just taking him out for his birthday,
but much to his surprise, some of his brothers and sisters (and their spouses) were at the party!

This is only 1 of 2 photos I have of me, my Mom and my Memaw!
(Yep, they're so cool... they totally rock Facebook!)

Ok, so I did a little more traveling...
My latest trip was to Nashville for the Sandy Puc Tour last week! I. LOVED. IT!! I would love to be able to attend more photography workshops... maybe when my rich uncle gets out of the poor house. (**This is a shameless plug for Hubby, Mommy and Daddy to take note of!**)

I really did learn alot and was VERY inspired to give back by using my camera... I never really thought about it, but I can stop time....... think about that for a second. Your camera stops time... you can remember that moment forever!! I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do, but it will definitely have something to do with Relay for Life coming up in May. If you have an idea, please let me know, I'd love to hear your ideas!! One thing I've thought about is having a drawing for a FREE photo session! I'm thinking each entry could be a dollar or two, or maybe do a strip of tickets for a certain amount, then draw for the winner on the night of Relay... hmmm... idk, tell me what you think! Another of my fabulous ideas is to do a photo session for our local Survivors... now my wheels are really turning!! I'm getting excited just thinking about it!!

This is Ms Brenda Baeder, she is one of our BBC Believers leaders...
we did this photo for an article that will appear in the Hsv Times in the next month or so...

To quote my friend Sharon McClure, "I don't think I can take much more of this Global Warming!" I'm with you, Sharon!! :-) Snow, Snow, go away, come again some other day!

So there ya go... I FINALLY posted something! I guess this one is long enough to last me another 6 months! :-) Just kiddin', I'm really gonna try harder... :-)