A Blessed Summer

It's early. I'm at school. T-minus 20 minutes until it begins - a week of meetings, training, and prep time to get ready for our kiddos to come back to school. It's hard to believe that summer is already over. Last night as I was winding down from the day, I started to feel very sad. Sad that it was over. Sad that I had to go back to school. Sad that I had spent the majority of my last day of freedom alone. But, pity parties are not very much fun. I was heading to take a shower and get ready for bed, but decided to sit out on the patio for a minute. God timed it just right, because I got to see the most amazing sunset! As I sat in my rocking chair, soaking up the last few moments of summer, God reminded me just how blessed I am. I have a wonderful life. I have a family who loves me. I have loving friends who are like family, who support and encourage me. I am so blessed to have an education and a career that I love. I teach at a wonderful school with some amazing teachers. I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge, clothes in my closet, gas in my car, and air in my lungs. I am rich. I have no need to be sad. God has been more than fair to me. Needless to say, my pity party didn't last long. My tears turned to tears of joy and thanksgiving! I serve a BIG God who loves to show up in the detail of my life. And I am blessed beyond measure!

Alexa & Baby Daylie

Alexa is a close friend of mine who I get the priviledge of working with at school. I have had both of her older kiddos, John and Rileigh, in kindergarten. I'm so excited that she is pregnant with their third baby! Daylie is scheduled to make her arrival in September! I can't wait to love and spoil her!

Alexa and I chose a local ranch to shoot her maternity portraits. It was early evening, so the colors were amazing! Bright yellow flowers, beautiful blue sky, and the blazing sun. It was HOT! We were both drenched by the time we finished. I had so much fun playing with the colors. I was very pleased with how they turned out.

Here are a few of my favorite shots --->

Rediscovered Passion

Photography has been a passion of mine for quite some time. My "eye" for it comes from my dad. He discovered his passion for photography when he was in college. Before the digital age. You know, back when they used film. He even developed his own photos. His shots are amazing - mostly wildlife. Which, for those who knew him... would you expect anything else?!? He, of course, shot some of my sister and I when we were growing up, too. But life got in the way - like it does for most people - and he put his camera down.

When I was a senior in high school, two close friends and I had our senior portraits taken together by a local photographer. He was phenomenal. I was completely awed by him. I can clearly pinpoint that moment as being the one when my love and passion for photography was born. However, I could not afford a "real" camera until I was in college. I got my first Canon SLR (film camera) for Christmas my freshman year of college. I played around with it for a few months, learning what all the fancy buttons did. I had photo shoots with my favorite model (my baby sister, Sarah) quite often. We would shoot several rolls and then rush off to Wal-Mart. We would find something do to for an hour, all the while dying with anticipation of what they would look like. I always thought they were SO good. Looking back at them now, I was such an ameteur (they are pretty bad!)

During my junior year in college, I asked for a Minolta Diamage A1 for my birthday - my first digital camera! My parents and friends had a surprise party for me and my new camera was the last gift I opened! I was stoked! I had been helping my former yearbook sponsor from high school with sports pictures and couldn't afford to waste film and prints anymore. So I walked into the digital world and fell even more in love. In exchange for helping with yearbook photos, I was given a free ad in the yearbook. The free advertisement, along with some of my own in the local paper, filled my appointment book. I was super excited to learn more and more with each photo shoot.

Fast forward to my 4th and 5th years of college (yes, I squeezed 4 years of college into 5!). I was beginning my education classes for my major. And just like it did for my dad, life got in the way of photography. I graduated and began teaching. Sure, I still had a photo shoot or a wedding every once in a while. I even bought myself (another) new camera - a Canon Digital Rebel - and loved it. But it wasn't like before. Other things took precident over my time - family, teaching, the passing of my dad, the worship band, church planting.

Fast forward again to just a few months ago. I'm not sure what it is, but there is a new stirring in my soul and my passion for photography is creeping back up to the surface! I have had several photo shoots in the past few weeks and I find it hard NOT to sit down with my laptop and edit photos for hours at a time.

I'm still teaching, still in a chuch plant, and still love to spend time with my family and friends. It's not like I've got tons of extra time on my hands, but I'm excited to be taking the steps toward my passion again and I can't wait to see where God takes me!

Here are some shots from a recent shoot ----->

I'll be posting more photos from my other shoots soon!

Goodbye Polka Dots!

For those of you who know me, you know that I could never say goodbye to polka dots forever. Even my kindergarten students know that polka dots make me happy! :) However, it was time for a change. Over the past several weeks, I've been collecting new decor for the bathroom in my apartment. I need to say THANK YOU to my sweet ladies who helped me out. (You know who you are, and I love you so much!) We decided on espresso, gold, and coral. Who knew I'd like them as much as my precious green?!? Here are the before and after shots: