Elizabeth Fike Bridal Portraits

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Elizabeth's bridals. We are cousins... sort of... I can never quite get the whole family relationship straight. Her grandmother, and my mother are sisters. That makes us cousins, right?

Well - regardless - she's beautiful...and we had SUCH an amazing time doing her bridals. I had the pleasure of photographing her wedding tonight... so I can release the bridal photos for all of you to see.

I'm going to post the slide show that I played at their wedding for their enjoyment... it has engagement photos, and the bridal portraits.

We have a couple of thousand images to sort through but will start posting wedding images in the next few days. They are such an amazing couple, with a wonderful family that supports them. Both dad's gave their kids toasts at the reception...and both dad's were so loving, and amazing in how proud they were of their children. It was so wonderful to be just a small part of their day.

I hope you enjoy!

Christmas Open House - Military

I had an 'open house' for the military families that have done an Oplove Session with me, or qualified, but haven't done one yet. This was just a short session... to get some 'holiday' images to send to their soldiers.

I made a big pot of Chicken & Sausage Gumbo... and we just had fun and got some AMAZING photos!!

Ms. M is now eight and a half months old and is ADORABLE!!




She wasn't QUITE sure what to think about this guy...



This little guy is adorable! He was quite excited to come take photos!!





His mom wasn't prepared to take photos....but I didn't let that stop me! ;-)



These guys are twins, and are deployment experienced! They were under 3 the last time... so this time has proven to be MUCH different for mom.



I am so grateful to have such an amazing group of women to spend time with, who are dealing with the same issues that deployed families deal with. And we had a wonderful time eating wonderful Gumbo... and just spending time together!

It's not to late to get your Christmas Photos taken! Contact me today!

Pathfinders Christmas Party 2009

These gorgeous people are my Sunday school class.

I know... I know....it's called Adult Bible Fellowship... or some other 'grownup' term.

It's Sunday School folks.

It's been Sunday School for decades....it's STILL Sunday School... ;-)

For those who don't have a church home - check out the photos - our church (Second Baptist) is an awesome church, with amazing opportunities for Fellowship.

The kids events - WOW!! My daughters are excited to get up on Sunday and go to church...and that just makes me smile!

The Melton Family: Christmas Session

Ms. Melton was Tori's 5th grade teacher a couple of years ago - and one of my first portfolio building clients. She has two amazingly adorable daughters - and we did a 'not so christmas' Christmas session over the weekend.

I hope you enjoy!

They loved the Santa Chair!

There was also a white carriage that we 'borrowed' for a few moments:

Loved how their outfits matched!

You want to know how you get a young 'un to smile? Tell them not to smile....then grin at them like an idiot... ;-)

My favorite... they are such a beautiful family!

This was after the session... mom and I were visiting while the girls were playing on the rocks... I got two amazing photos that I loved!

Mom saw this one... she was sitting so perfectly....and I called her name... and she looked at me.

Thank you so much for letting me spend time with you - I always love hanging out with the girls - they are hilarious!!

Thanksgiving Vacation

We spent four precious days with Brad before we came home. This will be the last time we see him for several months. We rented a home through VRBO.com - and had a wonderful experience.

The owners were amazing - they called to check on us as we had several hours of driving to arrive - and the property manager called to see if we needed anything while we were there.

There were quite a few memorable moments...

Getting up the hill into the garage the first night on an icy driveway....we slide back, into the snow...and had the good luck to have someone drive by that helped us push it out. We ended up using the water hose as a 'rappelling' rope to get the girls and I into the house before Brad attempted the driveway by himself.

Listening to Tori tell Sarah: Look Sarah - those are mountains!! And that's SNOW!!!
And then pointing out every bit of 'snow' for the next hour...

Listening to Brad tickle the heck out of Sarah...and then Tori ...and listening to Tori try NOT to laugh in the usual 'teen angst' manner...

Walking in the snow in Taos...

Enjoying warm soup with Brad and Sarah (Tori was still snowboarding)..

Stretching a 7.5 hour drive into a 12 hour drive because of frequent stops on the way back... finding a park and playing for half an hour...

Watching Brad say goodbye to a sleeping Sarah....telling her he loved her...hugging Tori, and telling her to not grow too much....the drive back to the military facility, holding hands...and hugging him tight before driving off in tears.

I'm just one of several thousands of families who told their soldiers goodbye the last few days.

I was recently asked, by Kat Cooper who writes a blog at the Chron.com, to give her one word that I thought of when I thought of "Deployment"... my response: Sucks.

It does.

It sucks to have to remember to take out the trash, cause he always does it. It sucks to have NO one to hand off the boisterous 2 year old to at the end of the day. It sucks to have to go to bed at night and miss him.

It sucks.

But I support his involvement in the United States Military. We re-enlisted just a short time ago - and it was done after very long, careful consideration to what it would mean. He might have been the person putting the signature on the paperwork, but being part of the military is a 'family' issue. We knew a deployment was a very likely possibility - but there are some men & women who were created to defend our country. I think my husband is one of them. He is an amazing man, a wonderful father, and an incredible husband....and he is an American soldier.

I'm going to be working with our military unit's Family Readiness Group in collecting care package items and sending them to the soldiers in the early part of next year. If you would like to participate - please contact me directly - my information is at the bottom of the blog.

Here are SEVERAL photos from our vacation, in no particular order: