Hey there Handsome!

My sweet Brant looking hunky as ever!

Sometimes I just couldn't get him to stop laughing!

Canyons at Sunrise

How is it possible on the one day that I'm away, and have the liberty to sleep in as long as I want, I wake up bright eyed and busy tailed at 5:44am? Oh well! I seized the opportunity to take pictures and bask in the beautiful sunrise.  Photos were taken at The Canyons resort in Park City Utah.

Wednesday's Words

"In this life we cannot do great things.  We can only do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

Tannin and Katie

To view more pictures and order prints, click here

Loves

She loves her Uncle T.  That's cause he most resembles her Daddy. I snapped this precious photo at Brant's birthday party.  I love how it captures the sweetness of the moment.  It's a special week for Uncle T, and I'm sure his mug will grace my blog later in the week. 

Mothers and Daughters

I am so thankful to have such a wonderful mother, and I cherish my incredible daughter.  The relationship between us all is one that I hold near and dear.  I started thinking about this when I read this talk by a leader of my church on the unique and special relationship between Mother's and Daughters.

Isn't this trio of Mother and Daughters so adorable? They were guests at Will and Danielle's wedding.  The little ones kept trying to shy away from me. 

Good morning to you too!

This is just what everyone loves to see in their inbox first thing in the morning:

"Yet another mom with a camera that thinks they can moonlight as a photographer without the proper education and real world experience. I hope you feel great about ruining peoples once in a life time events with badly exposed, out of focus, awfully composed images that were taken with some cheap camera. -Nancy"

I checked the email it was sent from, and it is from a local photographer here in my home town. Thanks for the support! Didn't you start somewhere too?  I can't imagine why someone would spend so much time, effort and energy to be so negative.  Don't they know that if they put out that kind of negativity into the world, no one is going to want to work with them?  Didn't their mama teach them that if you don't have something nice to say, just don't say it?

It made me think of this brilliant post I read last week by Natalie Norton.  The woman is inspired! I hope it makes you laugh like it did for me last week, and again today when I needed a reminder. :)

"Someone Will Always Hate You.
I'm convinced that someone will always hate you,
and that it shouldn't really matter.
I'm convinced that for every 100-200 people who love you,
there is at least 1 who just won't.
Maybe they just don't understand you.
Maybe they just don't believe in, or are threatened by,
the things you represent.
Maybe they are simply misguided.
Maybe they are just mean.
or selfish.
or just loudmouthed and insensitive.
Whatever it is . . . it really doesn't matter.
Someone always will:
misunderstand you,
neglect to appreciate your efforts,
have an opinion about the way you cho0se to live,
feel threatened by the things you represent,
or just plain HATE you
for one inexplicable reason or another.
But again, it doesn't really matter.
it really doesn't.
the thing I'm baffled by is this. . .
WHY do we (myself included) focus all our time and energy on the
ONE person that is giving us grief?
Why not the HUNDRED who love, support, celebrate and sustain us?
I'm convinced that someone will always hate you,
and that it shouldn't really matter.

_________________________

and in case you haven't heard it a while,

I want you to know. . .

I love you.

I think you're wonderful.

I appreciate your efforts.

I am cheering you on.

I am your number 1 fan.

I think you can, I think you can,

I.think.you.can.

In fact, I know you will.

mwa!

xx,

me"

Thanks Nat! You are oh so wise. 

p.s. I think you are friggin rad too! 

p.p.s. Thank you to everyone else who has shown nothin but love and support to me. I love you too!

Pounder's VIP Secret Menu/Taste of Pounder's Day extraordinaire!

Here are some of my favorites from the Pounder's event yesterday. There was good grub, great tunes, fun people, and lots of cute babies!  I think babies have a secret affinity for Pounders.  In the aloha spirit, the event was off da hook!

Pounder's Sneek Peek

I was asked to photograph a VIP event down at Pounder's Hawaiian Grill. Here is a little sneek peek of the shoot.

Lil man couldn't get enough of his musubi. I couldn't get enough of how cute he was!

Around Town

These photos were taken all around the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Fort Worth Water Gardens are so awesome! I remember them from when I was a little girl.  It was so fun (slash scary) to take my little girl to them! The one with me and Claire was taken by my sister Erika.

This beautiful piece of art is in the North Park shopping mall. There is art around every corner.  A mall, and art gallery? What more could a girl ask for?

Self Portrait in Neiman Marcus

Wednesday's Words

As quoted by Master Oogway on my daughter's all-time-favorite-must-watch-every-single-day-or-else movie Kung Fu Panda: "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow's a mystery. Today is a gift.  That is why it's called the present."-Alice Morse Earle

Dapper Young Fellows

I think that every high school in Texas was having a prom on the weekend I was there. We were in the mall earlier that day, and there were tons of girls with "prom hair" doing their last minute shopping.  Later that evening as Erika and I went to the Fort Worth Water Gardens, we saw these young men posing for a picture taken by their dates.  I asked them to pose for me too. 

I might just be a teeny bit biased but...

...SHE is the most adorable subject a photographer could ever ask for!

Grandparents

Claire and I made a trip down to Texas this past week. (Lots of fun photos coming soon!).  While visiting, I snapped these sweet photos of my maternal Grandparents. 

Even though their age difference is only 85 years, they still have fun together!

And last but not least, my favorite photo of the day.

"So Kiss me and smile for me, tell me that you'll wait for me"

I'm going out of town for the week, but I'm sure I'll have AWESOME things to share when I get back! Check back for Wednesday's Words in a couple days, and then I'll post lots of fun photos when I get back. Bye Y'all!

*lyrics "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by Jon Denver

So handsome!

This is Robby. He is one of the handsomest babies I've ever seen. I could just squish those cheeks all day! And the eyelashes! Oh, the eyelashes!

Our Street

I absolutely love our street. Even though we live on not the nicest property on the block (to say the least), we still adore it.  I took these photos while on a walk this evening.  All the flowers and blossoms are out (even though it's still 40 degrees). Salt Lake City "Springs" kill me. Oh well, I still love it. The flowers are charming, and the scent of the lilac trees as you walk past are heavenly.

This house is my dream house! It is stunning. The landscaping is always beautiful, and the yard is huge! Just as I was taking this picture, the dad was out with his kids in their yard playing ball. Sigh.