Live. Laugh. Photograph. | July Promotion

Live. Laugh. Photograph. is celebrating the month of FREEdom! Book a session during the month of July (session does not have to take place in July) and you'll receive all of your best, fully edited, high resolution photos on a DVD for FREE! This is a $150 + tax value! This month ONLY! 

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. :( I've been way too obsessed with my addiction to photography and pure excitement over photographing my first wedding coming up soon. Oh not to mention, its good to have my husband home and be a normal family again for now. I promise I will be back soon but until then I will be hanging out here. You know I can't leave without posting photos so here are photos of the kiddos that I took today with my new SB-900. Bouncing light off the ceiling is so much fun!

So, I guess I'll see you soon then.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella

Did you hear??????!!!!! Stephenie Meyer just released a new book called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella. :) At first I couldn't remember who Bree Tanner was... After reading Stephenie Meyer's write up on her website, it all started coming back to me. I think its brilliant that she would release this short story before the movie comes out so that we can get inside the mind of a newborn vampire and hear firsthand about her experience with Victoria and plans to attack The Cullen Family. If you've read Eclipse then you already know how her story ends. As soon as I heard this book was out, I loaded both kids in the car for a Target trip to buy my copy. If you are interested in reading it online, the entire book is available to read here for FREE from today through July 5th. Are you as excited as I am? 

Live. Laugh. Photograph. | June Promotion

Check out the promotion on my Photography Blog! 

Flowers. Ladybugs. Rocks.

We went on a 1 mile family walk to explore. I just love wildflowers this time of year! They're absolutely beautiful. Addison is obsessed with ladybugs right now. It's SO cute! I caught Lillian with some rocks in her mouth.. yuck! What can you do, she's only one! I was able to capture some fun Daddy Daughter moments as well. It's the simple things in life that make me happy.

Photography Update

I wanted to write an official photography update right here where it all started. I posted my very first photos right here about a year ago and just recently set up my business. From the moment that I held my first DSLR camera I was hooked. I didn't even understand the f stops but I was determined to learn and so I did! I wanted to know all of the ins and outs! I read, I took a class, studied, practiced, you get the idea. I'm no expert but I sure am trying. Now, here I am with my own business. Anyone can start a business, right? Paying the money to set up the LLC has been the easiest part. Now I have to track every little thing in excel spreadsheets and other software. Talk about work. Logging gas mileage is not my favorite thing to do. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it appeared to be easier then it really is. Don't get me wrong. I believe 100% that I've found my passion and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to pursue my dream. I can't help but feel a little competition, pressure, and motivation to make it happen. I have had a few people e-mail me and tell me that I've inspired them to follow their dream of pursuing photography. It really brings me great joy to hear that but at the same time it makes me wonder if I'm giving off the impression that it's easy. It's not! I'm my own secretary, appointment booker, expense reporter, driver, photographer, editor, blogger, etc. I spend about 30 minutes booking each session (e-mailing back and fourth and creating an invoice), an average of 30 minutes traveling to each session, 1-2 hours shooting on location, at least 3 hours editing each individual session and then 1 hour watermarking and uploading photos to networking sites and an online gallery. That's about 7.5 hours of work per session and doesn't count any admin and excel spreadsheet tracking. With time, I'm confident that these things will become more streamlined. My workflow is already starting to pick up but that should give you a basic idea of what goes into just one session. Man on man! Running my very own business is a huge responsibility! This past year has been a year of discovery and learning. I feel like I've been locked in the batting cages practicing and I'm finally ready to step up to the plate and hit the ball right out of the park. I recently booked my first wedding! This is HUGE! It's happening a little faster then I had originally visualized but I'm calling it a blessing. I am planning and preparing the best way I know how. This past weekend I caught myself asking another photographer at the camera store for advice. Thankfully some of them are happy to give out their secrets! I hope this will be my first of many many weddings to come. I can't wait to share and document one of the biggest days in someone else's life. I'm also thankful that I found someone that is willing to take a chance on me and that trusts me. I know this is kind of a random update but now you know some of the thoughts that are going on inside of my head. If you're out there reading this and you're in the Dallas area (btw: we are no longer moving to Gulfport, MS), book a session with me today! Don't wait until Christmas! :) Here are just a few photos from my recent sessions.    

Isn't she going to make a beautiful bride? July can't get here fast enough! 

I ♥ Faces - Yellow

This week over at i ♥ heart the theme is Yellow!

This little guy was wearing yellow in my photography session yesterday. I just LOVE the color yellow. Don't you? 

Go check out more fabulous photos by clicking on the link below! 

We survived our first deployment!

My husband, Mark was gone from June 7, 2009 to April 13, 2010 on deployment. The longest 10 months of my entire life! I'm happy to say that we DID it! We survived our first deployment and our marriage is better then ever before. We both have a new appreciation for each other and for our country. 

As you may have noticed I haven taken a little break from blogging lately. I have SO much to catch up on!

 It all started with a fun little road trip from Dallas, TX to Bentonville, AR. I made the 6 hour drive by myself with the girls. Mark's Mom flew in from WA and met us at Mark's Grandma's house. They kept the girls for me so that I could go pick up my husband in Gulfport, MS by myself. We decided not to bring the girls and that it was important for us to spend time together alone. As soon as the girls were settled in with both of their Grandmas who were going to spoil them rotten, I was off to Gulfport MS. The drive was 11 long hours, blue skies, green grass, and my ipod on shuffle. Every second of that drive I thought about our reunion. How would I react? How would he react? Would it be wired seeing him after 10 months? I had so many thoughts going through my head. I finally made it to Gulfport and checked in to my room and waited. I arrived on a Saturday night and Mark's flight was supposed to arrive on Monday. He finally made it from Kuwait to Germany to the U.S. and  then their plane broke down in Maine. :( So their flight was delayed a whole 24 hours. HURRY UP AND WAIT, that's how the Military rolls! I spent that first couple of days in Gulfport trying to keep myself busy. I went to the beach by myself, went shopping by myself, ate all of my meals by myself. It was weird! I'm so used to having kids to take care of all the time. After a very sleepless night, it was time. I arrived 4 hours early to the base on April 13th and hung out with other military wives and families. My heart was racing. I wanted to jump up and down out of excitement but didn't because I didn't want to look like an idiot. I stood there in my blue dress, with my camera (of course), holding an American flag waiting for my husband to step off that white bus, after 10 months of being in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I spotted his blue eyes in the sea of dessert uniforms and raced into his arms. It was one of the best days of my life. It was such a rush of emotion. Welcome home Love!