What a Gorgeous Girl!!!!

well, this was a first for me! this is ashley, who is our "babysitter" whenever we need a night out without chill'in!!!! she is an AWESOME babysitter!!!!! i can trust her to take extra good care of all my kids! she asked me to take her senior pics, and reluctantly, i agreed! i have never shot pics of a senior before.....and i must say i was QUITE nervous. and while these photos are probably FAR from the definition of "professional", i was pleasantly surprised! she has the most BEAUTIFUL eyes to photograph! AND SMILE! i didn't get very many "poses"........i'm not that good yet, where i can think of all kinds of fun ways to pose people. but i got LOTS of "portrait" shots!!!!! far many than i'm sure she would care for! however, her and her mom seemed pleased, therefore, i guess i'm pleased as well.

with all that said, i appreciate the patience of her and her mother while i was constantly trying to "figure out" what to do next. then, near the end, i received a very unexpected phone call from husband, telling me his grandfather passed away this morning. he was the SWEETEST, and most loving great-grandfather to my children! they loved him dearly!!! and the fact that he always had m&m's, might have helped a little :) !!! anyway, after pulling myself together and trying to finish pictures, my very last pic i was standing on a chair......when silly me, FELL FACE FIRST ON THE GROUND!!! how embarrassing! and it hurt, too!

so, that was my day today.........so please keep all of our family in prayer!

good night!

thanks to a very good friend of mine, i got to experience a really good concert, IN THE 2ND ROW! it was soooooo much fun, and i truly believe, that although it's very expensive to get those good of seats, it's worth it at least 1 time!!! the funny thing about these pictures, i almost got my camera taken away from me at this concert!!! apparently, they thought i was either a professional(because the camera is so big) and I would sell the pics, or something??? i don't know, but all i do know i am soooooo glad they didn't take it away!!! thanks jodi for such a great time!!!

Olivia's Best Friend.....

this is probably one of my most favorite pictures!!! we had this blown up to hmmm....maybe a 16x20, and was going to frame it and put it in olivia's bedroom. i just haven't got it framed yet!!! i'm always behind......but this was one of those moments where i saw it, hurried and grabbed my camera, and it actually turned out cute! olivia LOVES playing dress up, loves her dog macy, too! so what better pic than to have them both together!

anywho, i love this pic, and hope everyone else does, too!

these next few pics, are of 4 brothers!!! yes, 4 boys!!! and God bless their mother!!! while they are good boys, i can't imagine raising 4!!! anyway, i have taken 3 out of 4 of the boys' pics since birth. which,(you do the math) has been over the past 3 years! : ) hee hee! but, with that said, if there is anyone that can handle it.......this mom can!!!! you are doing great linsie!!!!

this is olivia's (my oldest child), best friend!!!! her mother and i were pregnant together. these two girls fight like sisters, but love like sisters as well!!!!! they are around eachother because her mother and i are such great friends! they go to sunday school/church together, preschool together, and will soon be attending KINDERGARTEN together!!!!!!!!!! where does the time go?! i am NOT looking forward to the first day.......i KNOW there will be tears from me, and maybe even olivia. but these two girls are going to have a LIFETIME of fun together.......but her mother and i are just praying not TOO MUCH fun :) !!!!

FRIENDS

here are two of our great friends!!! we have vacationed together, prayed together, been pregnant together, and on and on and on.......while both of our lives have changed drastically over the past couple of years, we can always have a great laugh together over dinner.........there's just usually screaming kids in the background :)

THE TWINS

my husband is not too keen on the idea of me posting pics our family on the internet.......... he is convinced of something BAD coming of it! but besides that, he always says, "poor nathan"..... "poor nathan always gets the shaft". drew,(my husband), says he gets the shaft because i take nothing but pics of the girls. well, that is true. however, he forgets how nathan, who is JUST LIKE HIS FATHER, refuses to let me take his picture!!!!!!!! therefore, i never get very many pics of him, unless we go to gina!!!!!!

with that said.......here is a pic of the twins.........and NATHAN is in the picture! i caught this by accident!!!!!!! we were leaving my in-laws, and while i was loading up, they found themselves a seat, and were eating vanilla wafers out of little "play" cooking pot. so anyway, not the pretties picture, (with the cookie visable in nathan's mouth), but at least i'm not leaving him out!

MY GRANDPARENTS

and speaking of my mother, here are her parents, at the same wedding her pic was taken at! i think this a really good picture of the two of them together. especially since my grandfather's most recent health issues. he suffered a stroke a couple of months ago, and is struggling weekly to get his strength back. AND some independance! my prayer for him is to at least regain enough strength to get back home.......even if he's limited to where he can get to by himself, you just can't beat "home".

just in case there's anyone out there wondering who on earth could have raised ME, this is the woman!!!! i love this picture of her.......she looks absolutley STUNNING!!! this picture was taken at one of my cousin's weddings last summer. and while it was in the "big city", which is a bit out of our "comfort zone", my mother, at least by looking at this pic, did a wonderful job at blending in!!!! the wedding was beautiful, and the reception possibly more beautiful, and we got to sip on wine and beer at our leisure, and just enjoy the scenery! thanks whitney and brian!!!!!

i love just good 'ol, up close, portraits!!! i know this sounds cheesy, but the saying, "the eyes are the window to a person's soul"........is totally true! again, call me cheesy, but i think this particular pic show nothing but love, joy, and innocence.....especially since she's mine! :)

these first two pics are a couple of my most recently taken pics......and a couple of my most favorite! they are both fun because it was just me messing around, practicing, and olivia was just her normal everyday self. sometimes, pics that are not "preplanned" with clothes, hair, shoes, and the whole sha-bang, turn out to be some of the best! some may not particularly care for the first one........some people think she appears to be "ticked off".......but i still love it!