"Staying Back to Watch Her Shine"

I am soooooo late getting these up! What is it they say? The cobbler's wife has no shoes? That's us, I guess. I took over a month to even take my children's bday pics, then I take five months to post them. Oh well.

My sweet, sweet Kelsey... she has completed our family in every way in her four short years on earth. She and Emma are as close as any best friends, she is her Mommy's girl (and heaven knows Mommy needs someone in her corner!), and she loves to trail around after Daddy. This child is so much fun and she does not have an off button. Kelsey, Mommy just plain adores you and looks forward to so many more birthdays and a lifetime with you!!! I have the best days with you.

Raindrops Were Falling on Our Heads

I had planned to be out of town this weekend, so I had left it open from pictures.  However, plans changed and I got a call from the kind Brock family to do a family session this afternoon!  They were just the sweetest people, those people you feel like you have known a long time when you meet them.  Little Trevor kept us laughing with his antics and, once the rain stopped, we had a great time taking pictures!  Thanks to Shonna who had referred them to me.  So Kevin, Sheree, Hannah, Bonnie, and Trevor-- I had fun and I hope you enjoy your shots!

REDHEADS have More Fun!

Aubrey's mommy had called me back in June, only to find that my Saturdays were already gone for the summer!  I was so excited when she got back in touch with me last week to schedule Aubrey's session.  This sweet girl turns four next month, so we had to quickly preserve her three year old self in pictures!  Thanks to Stacey for referring Amanda to me.  We had a great time and I hope you guys love the shots!

A Partially Self-Imposed Rest Period :)

After a wonderful and relaxing vacation to Bear Paw,

 I took a little break from pictures.  

My body decided to tell me (in the form of a massive headache) that I needed to rest a while.

So rest I did, and mostly recovered.  

So now I am back and ready to go!

DON'T Smile!!!

My session tonight with the Davis family was so much fun and ended up being a parenting lesson in the fine art of reverse psychology!  :)  Lala is a family friend (in fact, was my mom's best friend since childhood) and her son Brian is my age.  He now has a daughter Kelsey's age, and Lala wanted to do a group photo session of the family.  Brian schooled me in the use of reverse psychology to get Elizabeth to show her winning smile by demanding that she NOT smile at all.  It was so funny and we took some great pictures.  She is a such a sweet little girl, so smart and talkative, and I had lots of fun with her.  The whole family is special to us and I am grateful they trusted me to take their pictures.  Lala, Lynn, Brian, Amanda, and Elizabeth-- thanks for letting me hang out tonight and snap some pics!  I'm so glad we did it.

Mother/Daughter Time...

Tina's a coworker of mine and she had asked me to take some pictures of her and her mom while her mom is in town this summer.  I had done a fall shoot of Tina and her husband this past year.  I was so honored to get to spend an afternoon (that was, thankfully, cloudy) with them and snap some sweet pictures of them.  Thanks, Tina, and Mom, it was great to meet you too!  

They're Just Summer Girls--

they wear their flip-flops, when they get together, the party never stops!  

My two babies... growing up too fast... radiant in red... winsome in white... perfect together... precious little feet... silly crooked grins... wouldn't trade them for the world!

I Love My Life...

and all the people in it!  My little family of four did our own beach session, which actually didn't go so well due to the harsh sunlight (the last day, so no afternoon was possible) and my childrens' inability to keep their eyes open in said sunlight.  However, we got a very few good ones, so I thought I would include them on here.  I often imagined my "grown up life" as a child, and I don't think even I could ever imagine that it would be as good as it is.  These girls are the most precious things in the world to me and I can't imagine life without them.  Being married to Kraig, my very best friend, is something that I cherish every day.  We have such a great time together, all four of us.  (Though the other three would tell you that those great times typically do not take place when I am taking pictures of them!)

These are Our People

This was not the best one, as far as everyone looking at the camera, but I LOVE the moment captured between the two littlest, Kelsey and Kaleb.  They will probably always have a bond as the two youngest of the clan.  

It's the way we were made, wouldn't have it any other way... These are our people!  

Sing it, Rodney Atkins!  We had our Davis Family Beach Vacation this past week to our typical location, Indian Shores, FL.  This is such a fun week for all of us, to get to spend time relaxing with our West Virginia family on the beach.  The cousins have a ball fighting playing together and we adults like to shop and go to casinos spend quality time on the beach.  I am so blessed to have married into a family like Kraig's that is so much like my own.  I love them all very much and am privileged to be part of them.

A Mom and Her Girl

Just before we left for our vacation (hours before, in fact!), the Varners came over for a mother-daughter session.  They were a lot of fun for me to photograph and had a great bond with each other.  Thankfully, the weather was overcast and not as hot as it had been, so we were pretty comfortable getting our great pictures!  Here they are, ladies.  Hope you love them!