Blaze and Teresa's Wedding

Remember this family?  I shot their daughter Lacey's wedding in June and just had the pleasure of shooting their son's wedding.  That's right - two kids, two weddings, one year!  Whew.  It was a pleasure to spend another wonderful day and wonderful (yet chilly) night with these guys.  Congrats Blaze, Teresa and Colt - you make a great family!

Sometimes a perfectly good t-shirt must be sacrificed to save an up-do!

Probably one of my favorite dancing shots I've ever snapped!

Need a getaway car?  How about Grandma's motorized scooter!

The Charlands

I know, I know - I've been gone from here for too long.  I am up to my ears in Holiday cards - but excited to see how they turn out.  I promise to post a lot this next week - lots to catch up on. 

Let's start with the Charland Family.  They have an adorable daughter Cadence - who loves to point out things...literally!  I've got some great shots of her pointing at just about anything that caught her eye.  They brought along Aunt, Grandma and Great-Grandma for extra fun.  I love capturing generations!  It is an amazing thing to witness four generations of women with so many of the same characteristics and traits, yet years apart.

Lastly, we hit the fields.  I've decided my absolute favorite place to shoot is in a sunny, golden, beautifully backlit field. Want to see why?  Look below.  Oh and warning, this beautiful mama has the most beautiful hair. Just look at it!

 

Happy Birthday Ruby Belle!

How is it possible that this child is one? We had quite a day shooting her pictures! It all started out with a pair of fairy wings in a garden. Then, well, we had bigger plans!  Her mom and I had a little too much fun with her photo session. I think, towards the end, we had a little more fun than Ruby did. See below.

Then back home for some of Ruby's personality.  That was my goal with these - to capture this funny bunny's many faces.

Then we had to stage a little Alice in Wonderland in the backyard.  Dixie the Border Collie was the Mad Hatter; Otis the Pomeranian was the Cheschire Cat.  Hey, we tried.  You try gettng a one year-old and two dogs all to look at you at the same time!

Okay so the next part is where we had a little more fun than the actual birthday girl.  Just a birthday cake, right? Sorry Ruby but this was too much fun!

Here is the invitation I designed for the birthday party.  It is a four panel accordian fold.  Outside: 

Inside Panel:

There was quite a bash to celebrate her big day.  She was, "Ruby in Onederland," complete with costume.

Here's her present from Mom and Dad..

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Her Highness

It's her title.  This is big sister Holly, Hollywood, her Highness, etc.  I needed to test out a few locations for an upcoming shoot and she graciously agreed to model for me.  She's always been a star and in my opinion, she's never been more beautiful.  One sister down, one to go!

Happy Veteran's Day!

This is Grandma Norma.  She is 88 years old and a whopping 88lbs. to match.  She is a force of nature.  This week I went to a Veteran's program honoring all of the Veterans in her retirement facility.  Grandma may have not carried a gun through WWII, but she certainly served her country.  She was a singer for the USO.  She traveled to the battlefronts and sang to the troops to keep up their morale.  (On a sidenote: men use to climb trees to get a better view of her and when they become too overwhelmed by the site of her beauty, they were known to fall out of the trees!)  Anyway, they asked her to sing one of her favorites last nights, "I'll be seeing you" (think the Notebook).  My mom and Holly sang with her and they brought the house down.  Standing ovation to prove it.

They told the story of each Veteran and had a marine honor them with a medal.  It is amazing to see these sweet, little old men and realize how many of them survived plane's being shot down, years in POW camps, etc.  Do we take time to thank them for how much they sacrificed all those years ago?  Look around you - veterans are everywhere.  It is truly a great day that we get to honor them and all they went through. 

Here is some background of the night.  Grandma was very nervous before her performance.  She kept having me take her outside to 'vocalize.'  Here she is getting a pep talk from my out of state sister before her 'number.'

The performance.  I need to get the video - I'll work on that.

The Veterans

Yes her - she was a MARINE!!!

Since Grandma doesn't even know how to get on the internet, I can post this.  This is Mr. Pierce.  He is a dapper british chap that lives in her center.  They are, well, special friends.  Okay so my grandma has a man and I don't.  It is pretty cute watching these two.

Showing off her dog-tags (70 years old).

Here are some pictures and clippings from the past.

This is a program she kept from a few years back.  A while ago, she was able to go to a reunion for a certain infantry from the war, put on her uniform, and sing to the Veterans.  And would you believe, some of the men there remembered her.  She had sang to them in the war and she was able to sing to them again 60 years later!

Don't ask.  She does this pose at every chance she gets.

And I can't forget the other brave Veterans in my life.  Grandpa Bill, who served in the US Army and slept in the trenches on far too many nights.

Grandpa Bob, a Merchant Marine.  He's only 17 in this picture. 

My Dad - US Air Force and US Navy Pilot.  Served in Desert Storm

To all of you Veterans who are here and to those who have gone on, GOD BLESS YOU!  Thank you for your service!

One Huge Canvas

I had to post of picture of this.  It arrived on my doorstep for the Ballweg's the other night and I was so happy how it turned out.  24x36'' METALLIC canvas.  It sparkles.  I'm jealous.  I want one.  Oh and Henry is almost five..you know, just for scale purposes.  This thing is huge!

L and K.

Meet Miss L. I took these pictures of her almost a year ago.  She had wanted some 'just because' pictures of herself (such a great idea - never be afraid to do it - you will be so happy you did).  Here are just a few.

Fast forward 9 months to another photoshoot - this time with her man.  We traced their favorite spots in Dallas - where they met (SMU library), their favorite spot (White Rock Lake), their favorite coffee spot (Starbuck's on Mockingbird), and lastly - the state fair.  Good to see you guys again!  Thanks for the amazing Indian food!

The Bride of the Ballpark

This is Miss Lindsey Thompson (soon to be Lerma).  She has loved baseball all her life and what better place for such a fan to take her bridal pictures than the most beautiful ballpark in the country.  That's right - bridals at the Ballpark in Arlington.  A dream of hers (and mine) came true!  This was ridiculous fun.  Enjoy!

Sweet Thing.

Because she just is.  Remember this post?   Here's baby girl #3!  Her mama is superwoman - that's all there is to it.  She had to endure a looong bedrest with this one, and with a 4 year old and a 2 year old - that's an accomplishment!  My favorite story is that her husband moved a car engine into the kitchen so he could work on it while being close to his wife in case she or the kiddos needed anything.  That's a real man!  Needless to say, this baby has joined a great family.  Welcome to the World Baby Phoebe!  You are an angel.

The Beautiful People.

Not that all my clients aren't beautiful - but c'mon, look at 'em!  Meet Brian (Bell) and Chelsea (soon to be Bell).  They are getting hitched next April and I was so happy when they asked if they could bring along their new 'son', their french bulldog named, Handsome George Turtle Bell, III.  And he lives up to his name - all of them. 

Congrats you guys!