Introducing Holland

Don't you just want to kiss that little face? When I found out our friend was pregnant I asked if I could photograph the baby when they came home. It's taken me a little longer to get to them than I expected and I am very happy with the results.


All the requisite baby body parts. Ten tiny little fingers and ten tiny little toes. Just yummy!

Holland has a beautiful mommy! I tried to include her in as many shots as I could. Isn't she gorgeous?



Holland is one lucky young fellow!




Holland's dad is currently in fire school. Maybe Holland will follow in his footsteps one day.

Serious Gator fans at Holland's household. I figured his dad might like the inclusion of this Gator football :O).

Almost big enough to catch a pass!



Gotta love those little overalls!

Did I mention there were Gator fans at Holland's house? His whole nursery is decorated in Gator paraphernalia. Pretty awesome!

Welcome little Holland! Thanks for letting me take your photos! You are so beautiful!

I ♥ Faces Weddings

This week's challenge at I ♥ Faces is Weddings. I knew when I took this photo of Anna and her mom getting ready for Anna and Ethan's wedding that I would be using this particular photo for this challenge! I love the way they are laughing with each other in anticipation of the fast-approaching ceremony. Two beautiful women, one very close mother-daughter relationship, and one wedding that had been waited for and looked forward to by so many people. Finally here! Ethan and Anna get wed! To check out all the awesome photo shots head on over to I ♥ Faces!

Small Packages

I've always heard that good things come in small packages. With that being said, meet Tracker.


Friday morning I was headed to a friend's house to take pictures of her newborn baby. Just before I got to her house I came across this sweet little fellow sitting in the middle of the dirt road, not wanting to budge. I got out of the car to check on him. The puppy was crying and he was so tiny. He crawled up under my car and wouldn't come out. I had to get down on my hands and knees and pull him out from under the car.

My first instinct was to jump in the car with him and hope no one saw me :). But no, that's not what I did. I looked around to see if I could figure out where he came from, where he belonged, to find his mother, or his owner. Instead, all I saw were woods, a field, and no people. I took him with me to my friend's house. Later that day, her mom was able to locate the puppy's owner. The man told her he didn't want the six-week old puppies anymore (there was supposedly nine of them), that he had stopped feeding them and he hoped they all died. He showed her one puppy that another dog had grabbed around the throat - in obvious peril - and said he hoped it would be dead soon. She suggested a vet but he said they wouldn't be open until Monday and the dog would be dead by then. Long story short - she took this puppy back from the man and called me to come get him. I showed his picture to Mark (one I shot during the newborn shoot) and he went with me to pick up the puppy.

Instant love! Who wouldn't love this cute little baby? Mark is looking at him and thinking "hunting dog". Kali and I are looking at him and thinking "awww, how sweet!" So we loaded him up, headed to Wal-Mart for puppy food, and went to the house. Mark named him Tracker, and you can see from the above shot he is trying to live up to his name already.

We take him out into the yard to play. Tracker jumps around and stumbles along. His balance isn't very good yet and he's not real steady on his feet. When he's had enough he sits by Mark's feet - as if to say, "is it naptime now..."

"... 'cause I sure am sleepy!"

I just realized I missed You Capture. This week's challenge was summer. What better way to celebrate summer than with a new puppy :O). You can check out all the other summer posts at I Should Be Folding Laundry.

First Attempts With My New Macro Lens

Yay! I recently picked up a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens :O). I got that particular one because it is the one Scarlett Lillian uses and I love how her detail shots turn out! These pictures were all taken at a friend's house this week. I really like how the first one looks. The buds were about 1/4" - 1/2" tall. The next two are interesting and I think I like them. The flowers are what the small buds turn into. The greenery was a plant on the porch. These three were taken with the new macro.

She has a beautiful glass front door with beveled glass. As I stood just inside the front door listening to Kali giving a speech in the dining room (that's another story) I noticed the lovely flowers through one of the small glass squares. This shot was taken from inside the house, looking out through the glass, and capturing the flowers. I love how the colors reflect through the glass beveling! It was taken with my regular 135 mm lens.

Let's Hear It For The Boys - Adult Entry

This is my adult entry for the I ♥ Faces Let's Hear it For the Boys challenge. I took this shot in North Carolina at a speech and debate qualifier. This guy is a lot of fun and is always worth a shot or two, or three, well - you get the picture! And, yes, that is a dill pickle in his hand. He had a whole bag full of them - lol! Head on over to I ♥ Faces to check out the other entries. Feel free to join in the fun!

Let's Hear It For the Boys @ I ♥ Faces

Let's Hear It For the Boys is the theme at I ♥ Faces this week. This is a shot I took recently in an old barn. This little fellow was a chuckle-and-a-half during my shoot. He kept us all hopping and all he really wanted was a chance to sit on this tractor - his little face just lit up! To check out some awesome 'boy' shots, head on over to I ♥ Faces! and join in the fun.

My Photo Made the I ♥ Faces Collage - Again :)

Last week's challenge at I♥Faces was sepia tones. For my adult entry I posted a sepia shot of Kali in front of an old barn and a pickup truck. Yay! I♥Faces used it in their sepia collage. In case you don't know Kali, she is in the first photo on the second horizontal row, or you can scroll down to the next post to see the full shot. Thanks I♥Faces!

I ♥ Faces Sepia Entry

This week's assignment at I ♥ Faces was sepia tones. For the adult category I immediately thought of a photo I took of Kali at the flower field. The barn and the old tractor provided an excellent backdrop for a thoughtful picture. It is my choice for the adult category this week.

For my kids shot, I go back to the same field with three marvelous children. They were so much fun playing in the field and around the barn and tractor and woodpile...you get the idea. The girls were waiting patiently for the brother to cooperate for the shot. I just kept clicking away :). Check out the look the girl on the right is giving her brother - lol! They are my entry for the kids category.

You can check out other sepia entries at I ♥ Faces, and you can join in the fun as well.

My Eagle Made the I ♥ Faces Collage!

Recently I entered my eagle shot from the Lowry Park Zoo into the I ♥ Faces photo contest. My picture was not selected as the winning photo that week, but it did make it into the collage posted on the website today :O). Yay! I borrowed the picture from their site to post here. You can visit them by clicking on the button. Thanks I♥Faces!

Cattle Barons? Who? Us?

OK, so Mark had this idea that we should purchase some property, clear it, and put some cows and horses out to graze. LOL! What do we know about cows and horses? So we started looking for some property and found this ten acres just 12 miles from our house. Don't ask me what it's near because I have no idea. I was lost as soon as we left the hard road.

We found this lot in Clay County, which means if Kali ever wants to go to public school we would be able to get her into the high school here in town. She is thinking about doing the dance team next year and continuing with our homeschool program here at the house.

The property is wooded for the most part. Some of it is partially cleared with small bushes and undergrowth. Mark and the Everglades Crew are going to bulldoze and clear a good-sized section so we can pasture some animals.

It's a pretty piece of property.

It is supposed to be fenced. Well, we found some fence and this barbed wire. It's almost like fence. I think we had something a little more substantial in mind. I'm not sure the animals are going to honor this.

There is also supposed to be a well in place. We had a bit of trouble locating it, but did find this little pond. The ground around it will have to be cleared out so we can get to it. It's actually bigger than you can see in this shot. It's kind of skinny and long. By the way, if you can't see it - it's the black section in the middle of the picture - the part that's overgrown with weeds and stuff.

Down through the middle are grassy patches like this. The livestock will love it! Did I mention we know nothing about cows or horses? Actually, Kali is our livestock expert. She learned everything she knows from being on the 4-H Livestock Judging Team and being in a horse club last year. And that hardly qualifies us for being experienced or knowledgeable.

OK, I'm happy. I found some flowers on the property, even if they are probably weeds. Beautiful colors. I found three bushes of these :).

And, check this out. Blackberry bushes. Tons of them, all over the ten acres. And they are in bloom now, or in fruit, or whatever it's called. It's time to pick them :). Yummo!

I did find three of these. There are probably more. I wonder if these are the kind that get flowers on them? Hmm. Where's that new macro lens I bought? And where is Pam so she can teach me how to use it - :O). Love you Pam!

And here is the head cattle baron himself, wandering the property. Thinking about what sections to clear, where to put the barn, what kind of barn, what kind of cows, I just wanted to know what color they would be...and can we have a bathroom in the barn :). Important stuff, this is out behind the backwoods, not many bathrooms around there.

There are lots of big, beautiful trees. All so green and vibrant right now. We made an offer on the land, it was accepted, the survey has been done, and we are waiting to close. We have a lot of work to do to get it ready, but one day before you know it I will be posting pictures of cows and horses and who knows, maybe you'll be getting us confused with the Pioneer Woman. Nah, probably not, but if you ever want to check her out ( I am doing this on a regular basis), you can find her here. Yeehaw! or is that Get along little doggie!