Hi, friend.

When Holly called me and told me that she wanted her shoot in a field, I just said, "Ok."  I have no worries with Holly.  She has one of those houses where most people walk in and think, "Man, I wish I could decorate like this.  She really has great taste."  She is a very classy woman.  So, when she told what she wanted, I knew she already had her location picked out with the perfect outfit and props ready to go AND with her family dressed and ready to go.  I was right.

Turns out her props were amazing, her family looked great, and even though her field was just a field on the side of the road, it couldn't have turned out better.  What did she need me for?  (I'm just kidding of course, I had to be there to push the camera trigger and use my mad skills to capture such great moments....)  I think we got some great shots of her cute little belly.  This was her third pregnancy, by the way - and she looks amazing.  And her boys kept life exciting.  Boys don't have more fun than being boys in a field on the side of the road, am I right?  But, they were great and gave me some really great shots.  I just melt every time I see their smiles.

á bientôt!

Kids can be so peaceful...

You know when you always hear Moms and Dads saying how peaceful their children are when they are asleep?  I have to agree with them.  I try to sneak in on my kids every once and a while just to see them sleep.  I love it.

Apparently, last week was a bit too much for my kids.  We were all home Friday evening - as usual - waiting for my husband to come home.  My eldest, Libby, asked if they could all watch the infamous Tom and Jerry...so I agreed.  After about 5 minutes I walked back into the living room to see my 18 month old sound asleep.  I missed the great pose with my nice camera and had to supplement with my iPhone.

And, yes, I know the shoes are lovely.  He picked them out and I didn't argue.  We weren't going out into public anyway.  When I finally did get my nice camera out, I captured him in a different pose.  Cuddling with his sippy cup, I guess.

I left the room again to do a few more things on my computer when my eldest came and told me that my 3-year old had fallen asleep as well!

Sometimes you wonder....why can't they always be this peaceful and wonderful?  But then you remember....without their liveliness, my life would be completely boring.  Love you guys.

á bientôt!

The Great Dinosaur Adventure....

Some of my great friends came in town this last weekend and stayed with me and my family.  We had planned to take pictures of their kids, but it stinkin' rained ALL weekend.  To make up for this tragedy - a tragedy that my flowers were happy about, but my camera was not - we took all our kids to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman.  We figured that if we could keep them occupied for a photo shoot, we had dinosaurs around the corner to reward them afterwards.

So meet my friends, Grant and Trent.  Almost exactly one year ago, Grant was diagnosed with Leukemia...on his third birthday.  He is one of the cutest little boys I've ever seen.  His mom and dad are two of my very good friends.  So much so, in fact, that when I read some of their blog about the last year, it affects me as if it was my own kids.  Seeing people that you consider family hurt in ways that you cannot fix is one of the big tests of this world.  One of the greatest testimonies their family has is their great faith in Jesus and how this sickness had actually strengthened their faith and their family - not driven them away.

So when they asked me to take pictures of their precious boys - I jumped at the chance.  I mean, seriously...are they not just as handsome as they could be?  We wound up getting some great shots in our impromptu photo shoot.  Enjoy!

Here is one more...of all the kids together.

It was so hard to pick just a few!  If you would like to see more of these photos, visit my website.  

á bientôt!

Josh and Sunny

Josh and Sunny have a super awesome story.  Several years ago, Josh went overseas to teach in a small town in China.  While he was there, he met a beautiful girl names Sunny.  They hit it off well and after he came home, they continued to talk until they felt they were meant to be together forever.  From that moment on, Josh worked feverishly on the details of getting his bride-to-be into America.  The basics were that he had to not only save money to get Sunny here to America, but also had to pay (what would translate into) a dowry to the family - which is still a tradition in rural areas of the Chinese culture. How romantic is that??!

Because of the nature of the beast, Josh had to be ready to go get Sunny in a moments notice.  When the time came, Josh took the almost 20-hour trip to retrieve his beautiful bride.  Once he reached China, Josh and Sunny enjoyed a traditional Chinese wedding - which was absolutely beautiful.  After finishing the Chinese wedding, Josh and Sunny hopped on a plane back to America for their traditional American wedding.  It was so exciting to see Sunny experience all the new American traditions.  Sunny had no idea why we used some of our traditions at American weddings.  The funny thing was that most of us didn't know exactly why we used some of those same traditions!  But, none the less, no tradition was spared.  Sunny was able to experience all the amazing traditions of an American wedding.

The fun part for me?  Sunny wore not only a traditional American dress (don't drool girls, you can't buy this one here....it was made in China...hehe), but also changed into her Chinese wedding dress for the reception.  It was so neat to see these two cultures mixing.  I am very excited to see how their two very different cultures bring them closer together....

Here are a few of my favorite details of the day - including her amazing Chinese wedding dress.

What to Wear?

With the season of weddings, engagements, senior pictures, and the like coming up quickly on us, one might wonder: "What should I wear?"

The quick answer to that question is that you should wear exactly what you feel comfortable in.  What makes you feel the most beautiful?  What describes your personality?  Are you a more modern bride?  Are you a classy timeless person?  Do you want to look hip now or still feel like your choice in clothes was a good choice twenty years down the road? (Is that actually possible?  I still avoid any type of "dress-up day" that has to do with the 80s.  I am so thankful that my senior picture did not include bangs that reached all the way from the ceiling to the floor...hehe.)

As far as colors, usually brighter colors work well.  Find a color that compliments your skin tones.  Neutral colors tend to wash out the people wearing them.  Plus, when you wear neutral colors, the photographer usually needs to compensate and make brighter colors part of the background.  Now, to clarify, there are times to wear neutral colors.  For instance, what is a beach picture without a white shirt and khaki bottoms??!!

The bottom line?  Be sure to communicate with your photographer ahead of time about what you are wearing.  This always helps your photographer plan ahead a bit on where he or she will take your shots.  The more communication with your photographer, the better.  Let them know your expectations beforehand so that you are not left wanting more or wishing you had spoken up earlier.

á bientôt!

William Lafayette...

I love this guy!  William was a bit older than most of my newborn shoots, but that made it so much fun.  He is about 12 weeks old, so we were able to get lots of pictures of him smiling at his mom, which was so amazing!  I love to see little babies smile.  I think that babies smile before they do anything else for a reason...so I'm really glad that we got so many of William's beautiful smile!  William and his mom actually live in Virginia, right by Washington, DC.  I was so lucky to get to take these pictures of them before they headed back home.  I hope I get to take lots more....

á bientôt!

Ruth and Justin Engagements...

So, Ruth and Justin are one of the winners of my FREE engagement shoots that I gave away at the Bridal Fair in OKC this last January.  We had a lot of fun running around the city finding some great places to take some pictures.  Since I had never met either Ruth or Justin before the engagement shoot, we took a few minutes in my car to figure out some fun things about them.  We used some of the information we found out about them to take some of our shots that day.  Here are some of my favorites that we took....enjoy!

á bientôt!

This is probably my favorite collage of the day!  Can you guess the hidden meaning?!!  I'll give you a clue...they are getting married this April.  So fun!!  I think I may try this a few more times this spring.  I think I might have fallen in love with this idea.

When Josh and I ask questions, we usually ask what they engaged couple like to do together...as a couple.  We use those questions to come up with a unique pose or two that will be set aside just for that couple - to make their shoot different from anyone else's.  With Justin and Ruth, we had a really funny response.  They told us that what they usually did as a couple involved Justin working on cars and Ruth waiting for him to be finished!  I couldn't resist!

Here are just a few more of my favorites that we took that evening:

Easter

I love Easter.  I love how Easter changed history.  I love how Easter changed me. I can't imagine a world where Easter did not exist.  It is a great chance to spend time with family and so much fun watching kids hunt for Easter eggs.  I love getting matching clothes for my kiddos...yes, I'm one of those moms!  I didn't think I would be, but I am.  I got some great shots of our Easter activities.  We decorated rice crispy treat eggs ate a great dinner and hunted tons of eggs.  Surprisingly, the most difficult task of the day was capturing that "perfect" picture of my three kids!  We went a little non-traditional.

But the best part of Easter is remember why we celebrate it in the first place.  Thank you Jesus for everything that you suffered for me.  All I can do is give you everything I have in return.

á bientôt!