Ode to The Girls

So I have this AMAZING group of women that I consider my best-est gals - they are wonderful and funny, and honest, and snarky, and oh-so-enjoyable.  I cannot tell you how blessed I am to have them in my world.  One of them lives very far away from me now, she still comes to visit and we talk constantly (yes, you know who you are and to ME that is constantly.), and the other two are right in my back yard so I get to see them often. They are supportive and kind, and encourage me to do my best every day and it is because of them that I have stretched out of my comfort zone to achieve things I never thought possible.  It is to them that I dedicate the following photos....

Babies and Bellies

God bless my friends to be so patient and permissive as to let me ransack their homes, dress them up in strange outfits and photograph them.  Today I spent the morning photographing my friend Nikki's beautiful pregnant belly.  Again.  As you can see, this is not the first time I made her pose for me, but the second.  This time I had a plan - unlike the last time when we just threw something together just to document the fact that yes, she was indeed pregnant and that baby to come had to start somewhere.
I draped Nikki in some lovely black table clothes...Uhg, I mean fabric, and took some High-contrast shots of her in her livingroom against another black table cloth.  By undereposing the frames just a little bit, we really kicked up the drama in the images!  I would, of course, show them to you right now...However they are out to Nikki for approval before your eyes can behold the beauty that is this wonderfully ripe woman.

Hangin' Wit Da Girls

Spent the morning/afternoon just hangin out with some of the girls.  You see, our dear friend, Nikki, is expecting and due any moment now - literally, so we thought we would get some last minute picks of her beatuiful belly before it shrank back to it's normal size.  Of course she shows up today absolutely glowing and looking fabulous as usual, so it was pretty easy photographing her.

After the pics were taken Sarah had to explain to Nikki how to use the Baby Bjorn and NOT drop your baby, or in this case, practice dolly, onto the floor.

Then who could resist photographing Sarah's overly friendly, slightly ADD, georgous Vizsla dog, Casey.  Let me tell you though, Casey does not care for his picutre taken.  Each time the camera swings in his direction he turns away...Oh well - got a few good ones despite his camera shyness.

Oh yea, and did I mention there was cake?  I brought Better Then Sex Cake with me to try and induce labor.  Keaton sure enjoyed it!  Who's Mama's little Piggy?  We will let you know if it did it's trick on Nikki...

Fall Festival

I am a little behind on my posting here, but I thought I would share some pictures from our little town's Fall Festival a couple weeks ago. We were only able to attend the festivities one night, this was the same weekend that we went up north for our cousin's wedding. Trust me though, one night is plenty. After running people over with our stroller, holding on to a screaming, squirming, slithering Aiden, and dishing out enough money for a mortgage payment so the kids could ride on the rides, I was done. As always, Sarah had a blast. Oblivious to any discomfort on my part - as it should be. She got to "hang out" with all her friends and even took her little brother on some rides with her. I have a feeling, this will not be the last time we see this motley group in a car together....I am just hoping it is always this innocent...

Stalking in the First Degree

OK, so I am not a huge fan of Extreme Home Makeover, Ty Pennington does not make my heart go pitter-patter (sorry, Ty – I am sure you will recover) and I am not even sure I have seen all that many episodes of the show to tell you the truth, but when I heard that they were coming to our county…Well, let’s just say, even I got excited!
Not as excited as my friend, Nikki, who, since hearing the show was coming to our town, has been planning her grand wedding to Ty…Or as it turns out, anyone that is on the Extreme Makeover show. How she is going to do that when she is already married to and has a child with a wonderful man, I am not sure – details.
Anyway, today was the day of the big announcement; today they would let one lucky family know that they were getting a new home. I had a hard time sleeping last night; I could imagine what the five final families were going through! I did wake up this morning and check our local news, just to see if there was any word of who the family would be, but there was nothing. It wasn’t until my phone rang at 8:45 a.m. that I got the news that the Makeover team were heading in our direction.
You see, my friend, Nikki, whom I mentioned before, had, apparently, been staking out the hotel that the crew was staying at. She even scaled some nearby building to take pictures from the rooftop for a better angle….Anyway, she called me very excited and told me she had followed the Extreme convoy out of town and was now heading in my direction! I knew instantly who the family was that would receive the awesome news that they, within a week, would be living in one of the coolest houses in town!
So I gave Nikki directions to the farm that I was sure it was and sent her on her way. She made it all the way to the site, but, somehow, ended up at the wrong house snapping photos and trying to get arrested. Hilarious. She then called me on her way home for further directions out of the countryside she found herself wandering thinking to herself that she was the ONLY person who got up close pictures of the house in question and that she had come out on top, and, of course, I made her come over so I could see her pictures.
So she showed up. Unshowered and in her PJs – because stalking does not wait for good hygiene. To her dismay, I had to explain to her that she took pictures of the wrong house. She was not happy. This time I went back with her and showed her the correct house, and wadda know? We got there just as the crew was walking down the lane to share the news with the homeowners! Albeit, we were about a mile away due to the road blocks they have in place and the photos are blurry at best, we were still there. Part of history. And I have Nikki to thank. Thank you, Nikki for letting me come stalk Ty Pennington with you. My life is richer because of it.

Camping at Jellystone

Memorial Day Party On The Farm