Crowns, Wands and Princesses.

A "castle" under the trees, 12 little princesses all dressed up. Crowns, wand making, and "dragons and princesses" were all part of the party fun. Pink cupcakes, little croissants, veggies and juice, on a blanket under the "castle." Drama free!

PRISTEEN Magazine Cover Shoot 2014

I recently had the most amazing opportunity to work on the design and cover photoshoot for PRISTEEN magazine. It was so much fun working with Heather Moss, Editor-in-Chief, model Elese and the amazing hair & makeup artist Kim Sanders.

PRISTEEN magazine is a new teen magazine that promotes modest clothing, ideas and content. It hits stands in the Spring! You can check out their website here:

http://www.pristeenmagazine.com/

If you have teenage girls or friends, it's definitely worth a look!

A little behind the scenes and magazine preview...

 

And our beautiful model...

 

 

 

Back to School!

School has started here in Dallas. My baby started Kindergarten and she's loving it! We've been looking forward to this day for a year now. Her teacher will definitely earn her paycheck! How is that all my kids are in school now and I still have no free time. What?!

All three kiddos (and Samson) excited about school... now only if they'd just look at the camera!

And the kiddos running home after school...

I heart school!

Milking Goats and Feeding Chickens!

A friend of mine invited the kids over to her farm to milk the goats and feed the chickens. Of course my kids were all over that! First we fed the goats, then the kids each took turns learning to milk the goats. And let me just say, it's a lot trickier than it looks!

Miss Debra sent us home with some goat milk and an ice cream maker and we've been enjoying homemade ice cream every day! (photos to come...)

I love how all the animals follow Miss Debra, like obedient little children (what's the secret?)...

Miss Debra uses the goat milk to drink, make cheese, yogurt and most importantly, ice cream!

My kids are fitting right in here in Texas... but they are still very loyal Bostonians!

The best homemade granola bars!

My kids go through granola bars at a very unusual pace! I hate buying the store bought ones that are filled with preservatives, and well, they can get very expensive. I've been searching for a good homemade recipe for a while now and I think I've finally find out!

Don't these look delish! (not the best photo but I had to snap it quick before they were eaten by 3 little monsters).

No-Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

1/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1/4 c natural peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c oats
1/2 c crispy rice cereal
3/4 c chopped pretzels (you can substitute for extra nuts if you want)
1/4 c mini chocolate chips (substitute with raisins if you have something against chocolate)

1. In large sauce pan, add butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until mixture starts to bubble. Once bubbling, cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

2. Stir in the oats, crispy cereal, and pretzels. Stir until well coated. Prepare 8x8 pan with layer of parchment paper. Pour into pan. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and gently press into the granola bars.

3. Place in refrigerator and let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Note: I individual wrap the bars and store them in the refrigerator. You can also keep them in the freeze for lunches, but mine don't usually last that long!

Enjoy!

Project 365: Everyday life.

Some days are a little monotonous (who am I kidding, most days are like this!), and I'm trying to find a little more fun and be a little more thankful each day. I like taking photos of some of the basic stuff we do every day, not only to have a record, but well, because I think my kids are so stinkin' cute! No matter how annoyed I am with them sometimes!).

My little one loves to color and do art, so we do this almost every day together.

My oldest loves to wind down at the end of the day, by lying on the shag carpet and reading a book.

And my youngest, well let's just say, the top thing on his Christmas list was his own iphone.

These are all such quite moments with my kids, next time I'll show you what they're really like!

Getting a great Macro shot.

At a recent wedding I photographed, the other photographer I was working with had a very cool macro tube extension for her lens. I've always loved macro photography, but never really found the need to spend money on getting a macro lens. These amazing attachments connect to your lens and you can get one for under $100! You do have to shoot and focus manually, but they are a lot of fun for minimal cost.

So of course I bought some right away and have just now had the chance to play around with them a bit. They take a little getting used to but are pretty easy to use overall.

If you're interested in macro photography - go check these out!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=canon+extension+tube+set&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

New Year's Resolutions 2014

I'm not good at making New Year's Resolutions. Mostly because I don't really see the point in waiting until New Years to set goals and start new things. But with that said, every new year I do like to re-evaluate where I'm at in my business and my life.

Every January I start fresh with a Photo A Day Project 365 (like I know a lot of you do). Mostly it gets me more in the habit of pulling out the big camera to capture every day moments in my family's life. So I've started it again this year! Here's a few photos from the first week of January...

 

An Old Barn and a Beautiful Family - Lexington Family Photographer

There's just something about old buildings and especially old barns that I love. The weathered texture, the big doors, and a beautiful family to photograph.

Need I sat more?!

The Grand Canyon... Look Out Below!

On our way to Mexico, we stopped at Lee's Ferry / the Grand Canyon. We only got a little taste of it's jaw dropping grandness, but it was amazing! (and really, really HOT!). I always get a little nervous with kids looking over the edge, gives me butterflies. But I was brave and crossed the bridge anyhow.

Here's a little taste of it's beauty...

Piñatas & Cousins

I love family reunions. Especially ones' with lot's of kids and piñatas. The kids play from dawn to dusk, the adults visit and neglect their children, and everyone gets really dirty (at least at our family reunions!).

This summer, we spent our family reunion at Deer Springs Ranch, Utah. Lot's of hiking, playing and eating. On our last night there we had not one, but three piñatas. Plenty of hits, plenty of candy. The kids all lined up from smallest to biggest and patiently waited their turn to hit the piñata. I'm happy to report there were only two casualties! Unfortunately both my children. One got "attacked" by the piñata and the other got dog-piled by all the other children while diving for candy.

Two of my favorite piñata photos...

Family of 3 / Boston Family Photographer

I think Spring has finally arrived! A couple of weeks ago I photographed the cutest little family of three. The little one had quite the range of expressions so he was extra fun to photograph. I loved how natural and airy the photos turned out!

Take a look!

 

Dancing Girls / Lexington Portrait Photographer

I'm finally getting around to blogging these two darling girls. They were so much fun to photograph - full of giggles, and sunshine! Their mom told me they love to dance and I got to see first hand what great little dancers they are. How sweet are they?!

Homemade SOAP is so easy-peasy!

I was recently inspired by a friend who made homemade handsoap and posted it on FB. She said it was really easy, so I decided to give it a go. And by golly, it was easy!

Here's how you do it:

Heat 1 Gallon of water and grate 1 [natural] bar of soap into it. After the soap is dissolved, add 2 TBSP liquid glycerin. Let sit for 24 hours. That's it!

P.S. Whole Foods has a great natural soap section with tons of different scents and herbs.

I made Eucalyptus Mint. Love it!

Just a little lifestyle...

I love taking lifestyle shots... especially of my kids. We had just gotten home from dance class and Marlee was eager to try out her new moves. So I put on some music and watched her "perform". The light coming through the window was so amazing, I just had to capture this moment! I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped away.

Marlee loves an audience, so she stepped her dance game up a bit and was dancing all over the living room. These are two of my favorite shots of her that day...

Lifestyle - Everyday Things.

I love taking lifestyle shots of my kids. Just of the every day, mundane things. My son, Austin, loves to look at himself in the mirror and make faces while combing his hair. He's wearing the robe he wears every night to bed. He would stay in his robe all day long if I'd let him!

Here's a few shots I took of Austin "primping" in the bathroom after his bath. Isn't he a cutie?!

20 Things To Do During A Snowstorm

When you're stuck at home because of a blizzard/snowstorm, you need stuff to do... especially if you have kids (and especially if there is a 24 hour vehicle ban). So here's my list of
20 Things to do when you're stuck home during a Snowstorm. (In no particular order.)

1. Play Monopoly 3 times
2. Eat munchies non-stop
3. Bake (assuming you have power)
4. Clean your house top to bottom (not so much fun, but hey.)
5. Be brave and play in the snow
6. Build a snow fort
7. Have a snowball fight
8. Drink endless cups of hot cocoa
9. Roast marshmallows in the fireplace
10. Organize your kids closets
11. Read a good book cover to cover
12. Watch movies
13. Play the Wii (we did a lot of this!)
14. Have a popcorn catching contest
15. Shovel the snow... every hour
16. Teach your dog (or fish) a new trick
17. Cook enough food for the entire week
18. Build a fort out of blankets
19. Have an indoor picnic
20. Stay in your pajamas ALL day!

Snowstorms are so much fun! See below for some of the good times we had...

 

 

Taking more lifestyle photos...

I know it's been soooo very long since I last posted. Let's call it part winter blues, part just plain lazy. One of my New Year's goals is to take more photos of my kids and friends. More lifestyle photos of just enjoying life. I want to get back to picking up the camera because I want to capture a particular moment, so I can remember the little things and not just the big.

On this particular day, the sun was finally shinning. And the light was beautiful coming through the windows. My daughter was playing with her cat, Bella, (not real!) and probably a little annoyed that I was interrupting her. (She takes her cat everywhere she goes - on a leash I might add.) So I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots before the moment was lost. And I'm so glad I did!