Sneak Peek...Miss A

I'm supposed to be getting all my food prepped for tomorrow...or you know, dusting my house...but this is way more fun! Miss A came all the way from Minnesota to see me this morning. Her cousin was the star of the blog last week so she thought she'd take her turn this week. Miss A was very sweet and seemed to love being my model! I told her mom I'd quickly put up a sneak peek today because I may not have a chance to get their gallery ready in the week I usually take due to the holiday and my vow to spend quality time with the family this week! So...here she is...what a doll!!

Sneak Peek...MY kids!

I took these a couple of weeks ago but have not had time to do anything with them. I think we'll be using one of these for our Christmas card this year...although, that can always change! :) Here are my kids...so excited to be in front of the camera AGAIN!

Meet Little A...Sneak Peek

I had the great pleasure today of photographing our new little buddy, Mr. A. His mom and dad are very good friends of ours so he is very special to us. C and A found out three months ago that A's birth mom had chosen them to be his parents. How cool is it to get to pick your own parents! His birth mother made a very wise decision, and I believe God is already blessing all them in a very real way. A is going to grow up in a loving, God-fearing home knowing that his life is celebrated by so many people. I am so honored to get to be part of his life and see him grow up. And, of course, I could not wait to get him in front of my camera. He was a tiny little peanut and just wanted to keep his eyes open for the first hour or two. After that, we got the house nice and toasty and he crashed...just the way I like them! Enjoy your sneak peek...and congratulations again, C and A! Love you guys!

Sneak Peek...The S Family!

You may recognize the sweet little girl in these pictures from the Hallween Contest...she was the ladybug winner! She brought her mom and dad in yesterday for a try at some family Christmas pictures...and brought Gigi along to bring out those adorable smiles!





Three generations...so sweet!

Senior Sneak Peek

Yesterday we braved the chilly weather to finish K's senior pictures. She toughed out the cold, and we ended up with some amazing shots. We trekked around Copeland-Montezuma looking for great light and unique locations. Our favorite was a field of CRP right before sunset. K has been so much fun to work with as one of my senior reps. I'm still in disbelief she's a senior (can't imagine how her mom is feeling!) but am proud to know her and call her a friend. Enjoy this quick peek...I'll have a slideshow up within the next week.

On the other side of the camera...

I shared last week a few pics from my side of a photo swap with a fellow photographer. We met on KU's campus to do photos for each other. Originally we were going to do each other's families, but we decided to not take the kids that weekend beacause we knew it would be busy. So, we just did pictures of Travis and I to celebrate our 10th anniversary! It was so much fun and we are thrilled with what we have seen so far...take a look! http://joy-theblog.blogspot.com/

And, here's one more of Sarah and her family...thanks again Sarah. It was a blast meeting you and doing the photos! I hope we can do it again!

God Bless America

Today our grade school put on a small concert for our local veterans. The program honored the best among us, those who, at one point in their life wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America " for an amount of "up to and including my life." The colors were presented, the National Anthem sung, the Pledge of Allegiance recited. I even got choked up as I looked around our humble gymnasium and saw everyone's hands over their hearts and the brave souls we call our veterans with a proud look on their faces. I don't think it was pride in what they'd done either...it was more pride in seeing these young children learning to love America as they do; pride in seeing the community come together to honor those still serving; pride in a flag they'd fight to defend even today, no matter what age has done to cripple them. THANK YOU just doesn't seem like enough...and it isn't. Today was a demonstration of the greatest thing we can do for these veterans: teaching our kids what it means to respect and honor our flag, our country.