Bridal Portraits

Over the Christmas holiday my friend, Juanita, and I had got the opportunity to do a bridal shoot together.  Juanita has a photography business as well, called Alluring Aspects.  The bride was Juanita's husband's cousin, named Tati.  She was such a pretty and easy subject, and the pictures came out beautifully!  I wasn't able to make it to her actual wedding, but I am sure it was awesome!  Here are some pictures that we took of her.  

Christmas at Mimi and Papa's House 2008

The day after Christmas Russ, Shelby, Cody, Kacy and I loaded up and left for Dallas to have Christmas with my mom and step-dad (mimi and papa).  Friday we had a post Christmas dinner and opened presents.  Saturday we went shopping for pretty much the whole day, and Sunday we went to the Ranch to hang out and ride 4-wheelers.  Russ brought his new toy (AR15) and Cody brought his (AK47-airsoft gun).  The boys were in heaven.  We rode the 4-wheelers out to the back of the property and saw the old farm house that is on their new piece of land, and then the boys got to shoot their guns at some old targets out there.  I even took a shot at it.  :)  

Your Life Portraits

Last year I started a photography business called Your Life Portraits.  I haven't done many jobs for money yet, however I have done lots of work over the past few months and have quite a portfolio going.  My goals for the year are to create some better business cards and flyers and to start advertising as much as possible.  I also plan on creating a website before too long.  I specialize in infants, children, families, senior pictures, couple/engagement and bridal pictures.  I would also like to get into photographing weddings sometime this year as well.  I will keep you posted on how things progress over the year.  

Blessings in Disguise

The day before New Years Eve, January 30, 2008, Russ was laid off from his job as a builder for Meritage Homes.  It was quite  a shock that his name was on that list, but many other really good builders were also laid off that day.  Although this situation has the potential for lots of worry and anxiety, I thank God that I am able to sleep peacefully each night knowing that he has a bigger and better plan for us.  2008 was quite a year for us.  For those that don't already know, we sold our first house last December 2007 and moved in with my dad, while we built a custom house in Liberty Hill.  We moved into our new house in April, however 2 months into living there we decided to put it on the market to sell.  That is a whole story in itself, but lets just say we had until February 2009 to get it sold or we could potentially have a forclosure on our hands.  :(  We were blessed tremendously by God that we were able to sell it within 4 months of it being on the market in this economy!  And we were able to make a pretty good profit and get ourselves 100% completely out of debt!  Hallelujah!!  We found a rental house in Round Rock and moved in right before Halloween.  So needless to say, this past year has been a fun roller coaster ride.  I know for myself, I have really learned to let go and let God do his thing.  All of this has also brought me to a closer relationship with God, so in my eyes, this year was our most blessed year EVER!!  And I know this one small setback won't really be a setback, and that it will just be one more blessing in disguise!  I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us!!

Christmas 2008

This year we had Christmas at our house.  Chris and Shelby spent the night Christmas Eve so they could be there in the morning when the kids woke up to see what Santa brought them.  We all set our alarm clocks to wake up at 6am, thinking they would wake up around then like they normally do.  Boy, were we wrong.  My dad showed up around 6:15am, and we continued to sit around for about 15 more minutes and then finally gave up.  We ended up waking them up.  They came out of their rooms so groggy and went straight to the couch to curl back up and close their eyes.  As you can see...Kacy got a kitchen and a doll house (that were all set out unwrapped), and cody got a bunch of smaller things (walkie talkies, binoculars, etc that were all unwrapped as well).  We had to coax them to get off the couch to see what they got.  I don't know about you, but I don't remember knowing any 4 year old kid that didn't want to wake up REALLY early on Christmas morning.  After the presents had all been opened everyone else started showing up.  Russ' parents, and their friends (Billy and Kay), Bonnie and JD (my dad's friend and her son), and Jack all came to enjoy the wonderful food and fellowship.  It was really nice to be surrounded by friends and family and to reflect on the true gift that God gave us...the whole reason of Christmas!  What a blessing!!