biker dude.....

after 4 stores and no luck, S went into Walgreen's to get milk and found the biker costume for K. it is not exactly what i had in mind, but doesn't he look SO cute? this is also the only costume he would let get close enough to him for us to try it on. he liked looking at the costumes, but DID.NOT. want them on him! silly goof! hopefully Friday night i can get some better pictures and a good one of our little stinker, T!

hey strangers.....

oh my, it feels like it has been forever since i updated. i don't have many photo's to share, but we have been a little busy!

t is still crab crawling, although he has been standing on his own and last Wednesday took three steps, but that was the end of that! we have been trying to get him off his last bottle of the evening and it has proven to be A LOT harder than i thought! with K it was one night and that was all. T is having NO part in parting ways with his night, night bottle!

K...well he is K! he is so funny, serious, emotional and dramatic all rolled into one! he is quite fun to be around that's for sure!

S is about to explode waiting for Friday to be over so he can head to the deer lease for opening weekend! i am happy he has some place to go hunt and is excited about it!

i survived the wedding and had a blast. i am not sure if i will bill myself as a wedding photographer, but i would love to find a pro to second shoot with at weddings. i think it would be fun and i could learn a lot! i am also scouting out a mentor for photography, so if anyone that reads this can point me in the right direction here in Houston, i would appreciate it! i am also going forward with portfolio building and taking the steps to being 'legal' and setting up a business. it is a lot of work and organization, but i think i will like it!

here are a few shots i took as sort-of a therapy. in my quest to perfect my photography i forget to capture the fun snapshots of life, and when i did, i deleted them because they where not 'perfect'. i have started to realize i need to get all the playing and mess. so the other night while we all played tractors, i got out the camera, flash and all and just started clicking and kept everything, no matter the exposure, focus, composition or the flashy-ness! so here they are for the world to see my 'snapshots'.....

what it's all about.....

this is why i bring my camera everywhere....



it not really meant to be torturous to my kids or a bother to my husband, it is to catch these beautiful moments of my children that will be gone in a flash.

Jay Leno worthy?.....

while in Kerrville, i stopped to get a picture of this.....


....turned around and saw this.....


I think Shelby thought i was insane for getting a picture of this sign until she realized what was beneath!! there was NO-WAY i was leaving with out getting a picture of that! sometimes you just have to ponder what people where thinking. this was on a long stretch of beautiful rode, with nothing around, and someone picked there to drop off an ironing board and mop....strange or ironic?

offically fall for us.....

the king of the pumpkin patch!


we finally made it to the pumpkin patch this weekend, i am always so excited to do this, because it really means that fall is here! i had to compose myself a few time while we were at the pumpkin patch because i get so caught up in the "look at me" moment. i really have to remind myself that i need to put the camera down and let them enjoy what they are doing, and not have a camera shuved in their face the whole time. K has been on to me for a while, but T is finally giving me hack about looking at the camera. i don't know what i am gonna do with these two! i don't even try with K anymore, but this a little how it goes to get a picture of him.....t....t....T..T....Tcome on t.t.t.

like i said, i have to watch that i don't get to carried away!!!!

Engagement.....

here is a sneak peek at a few from my very first engagement shoot. i can not even begin to tell you how much fun i had. i thought i was going to hyperventilate on the way there, i was shaking because i was so nervous. i calmed myself, and had a great time. it helped a lot that the couple and their kiddos loved the camera and the camera just loved them right back. if all my future clients are this much fun, i am in for a great future!
Thanks Melissa and Roger!

kayak superstar.....

Please keep several things in mind when viewing these pictures.....
*disposable camera
*old disposable camera(meaning film:) and dust on the box)
*800 speed old film
*high winds+inexperienced kayak superstar=not so good landscape photography
*quite a bit of photoshop was involved
besides that, this was so cool because is was completely spontaneous, and living in Houston things like this must be planned, including travel time. i am so glad Shelby thought of it, wanted to do it and that we did it and we didn't just take about it.
Thanks Shelby.

girls weekend.....

WOW! i don't even know where to start. i do know that i had an amazing time this weekend catching up with my friends. Getting uninterrupted girl talk, meeting and hearing about their families and taking pictures was just icing on the top of being in such a beautiful place. For anyone that doesn't know, i(and S) would LOVE to live in Kerrville. this weekend made it really hard not to come home, pack up my family and just leave Houston behind. if only it were that easy.
The ride there was great, i rolled down the windows, cranked up the radio without kid music and just enjoyed the ride. It is amazing to me how fast the landscape changes as soon as passing San Antonio, i had a hard time keeping on the road because i wanted to take EVERYTHING in.
The closer i got to Monica and Allan's house the more nervous i got, it had been 3 years since i had seen them and that was only for a few hours. As soon as i walked in the house, it all melted away(except for my own insecurities) and it felt like we had hung out last week. i got to meet the newest edition to her family and re-meet the ones that have grown so much i barely recognized them. We got to just talk and talk, it was so nice. Her and Allan brought me to see their lab which backs up to the Guadalupe river. We all hung out at their house that night, laughing and playing with the kids.
Saturday Monica and I meet our other friend Shelby for lunch at a cafe on the river(it was wonderful) and decided to go Kayaking. Unfortunately, for several reason Monica could not join us on our adventure, hopefully next time because i missed her company.
Going Kayaking was a blast, i just can't wrap my head around the fact that people live places where you can just do that kind of stuff without planning and traveling. i brought a disposable camera on the Kayak with me and got a few good pictures. i was a little nervous about being able to hold my camera the next day because of shocking my body and muscles with exercise!
Saturday night Shelby and I sat outside her house on a swing, up on a hill, overlooking the Kerrville city lights. it was breathtaking.
I was sad when it came time to leave Sunday morning, but SO ready to see S and the boys. I can't wait to visit again, maybe on day in the near future we won't have to leave on Sunday morning.

get away.....

for the last (almost) 3 years, i have had two nights away from K, and that was the night before and the night after i had T. i have never been away from T for more than what it takes to go to work. We very rarely have a babysitter to go do things by ourselves. it's not because we don't have plenty of people more than willing to watch the boys, we just prefer to have them with us and do things with them.

with that said, hunting season is here, almost in full swing and S was feeling a little guilty about going hunting last weekend without us. i use to go, but it is easier to stay home with the boys. in a year or two we will be back to spending deer season all together. when he left he offered to spend this entire weekend just him and the boys so i could go to Kerville( my dream place to live). 3 very special friends of mine, that i have not seen in a long time live there and i have been dying to make this trip.
i just never dreamed it would be just me and my camera.

i may need a small therapy session after i get home from leaving T, but i will survive....i think. i have already had to hold back tears just thinking about leaving them. and of course he picks this week to start getting clingy and crying when i drop him off with my sister in the morning. maybe he knows.

well, i have my plans pretty much made and my batteries are charging. i plan on taking a slow ride that way and stopping on a whim to get a picture if i want. i hope i can unleash the artist that i know is inside me this weekend and get the creative juices flowing. i have been kind of in a rut with photography and i hope i can get past it this weekend. i hope to get caught up with my friends, laugh cry or what ever. i am so excited i can't stand it.


this picture was taken in '01. i am in the red shirt, Shelby and Monica are next to me and monica's husband in behind her in the grey shirt. these are the wonderful people i will be visiting this weekend.