Winner!!!!

i recently participated in the Women's Club Art Department regional photo contest.

i entered a piece into three different categories and i'm excited to announce that i got a 1st place winner!!!!

what really excites me even more is that i placed in the top three in all three categories!!!!

here is the winner......


Natural History: "Painted Pony"



each of these place third in their respective category......


Feature: "Sunset Stroll"




Scenic: "Reflections"




photo contest to me are just for fun. i really don't see myself entering into very many....but it doesn't hurt to give it a try every now and then. :0)

Happy Monday!!!!

The White Family

Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.

~ Brad Henry

Ava Grace

as i promised, i have more of ava grace. HERE is ava at 4 weeks.

taking pictures of an infant or little baby is fun and in some ways easy. there's no need to chase them around while struggling for breath......but they are a challenge because they AREN'T mobile and that creates a need to channel the inner creativeness. to me, pictures of infants and babies are best when kept simple. cute outfits on a cute baby doesn't hurt either as you can see below.

ava is an absolute doll! soo soo sweet. the love this little one gets is more than anyone could ever ask for or imagine. she is surrounded by love.

picking a favorite out of these is impossible! i'm so in love with them all.













i'm loving this new post processing look. i think it goes so great with the basket and quilt in the picture.








just can't go wrong with a black background.








precious......

Sneak Peak - Ava is 3 months old!

Ava is now 3 months old! here is a sneak peek of our session. i'm still working on her pictures so there will be more to follow!

Exciting News!!

i wanted to share some very exciting news! for over a year now kent and i have made two house payments and next week we finally close on our other house!

it's very bitter sweet. we lived there for 10 years but we are so in love with our new home that it makes it easy to close the door on the past.

i'm excited to see someone else start a new life there and to maybe see unique and special touches they put into the house.

here is a picture i took almost a year ago of the barn kent and i built with our own hands the summer of 2003. every nail in that barn is hand driven and i dug the 30+ post holes needed.



it is hard to walk away from something like that but someone will enjoy it just as much as we did.

Rest and Relaxation

a weekend of bliss.....we barely came out of our pj's this weekend! i haven't had a weekend like this in a long time and the few that come around are wonderful! an opportunity to recharge batteries.

i did do some cooking and something i've been craving is a cherry cobbler. so, being a weekend where comfort food became a priority i whipped up what turned out to be a beautiful and very tasty cobbler.




i was so impressed with how pretty it came out that i had to take a picture of it! :0) i doubt i could ever make a cobbler come out like that again. it didn't look this way for very long though.....it quickly found its way into bowls accompanied by vanilla ice cream. mmmmmmmmm

the next couple of weekends are going to be busy. next weekend we have a wedding to attend and then the next i get to shoot a wedding for the very first time! i'm very excited for the opportunity to second shoot with a friend.

i hope everyone has had a great weekend too!

So Long Peaceful Evenings.....

a trumpet has moved in!

paige has joined the school band and the instrument of choice is the trumpet.


we thought paige would be playing the saxophone but after visiting the local music store it was decided that the trumpet was a better fit. it also offers more of an opportunity as paige gets older if she decides to stick with it. she's now super excited that she made this choice.

stay tuned for pictures!

Planning A New Living Room

as i've mentioned before, i'm in the planning stages of our new living room. the objective is to create a very warm, cozy and inviting space. i think i've decided to keep the color on the walls which is a calm shade of green. i love green so i'm definitely ok with this color. i'm going to incorporate reds, creams and browns.


for window treatments i'm leaning towards espresso bamboo shades:



here are the windows:



i want the shades to only remain in the very upper part of the windows and to only cover maybe 1/3 of that area....just to make the appearance that there are window treatments without being too overbearing. i starting out thinking drapes were the answer, but i'm afraid that drapes would take away from those windows i love so much. the plantation blinds are definitely staying.


we also know we want leather furniture. i've been focusing on a sofa and then we can go from there. here is one i found online that i really like. it's different and unique. i love the character it has.





but costing 3700.00 makes it a big I DON'T THINK SO!

today, paige and i got out and toured a few furniture stores. i was on the look out for something similar hopefully at a better price ... but no luck. here is what i did find though:



this is the color of leather i had in mind. a dark sorta chocolate brown.

now, here's another one i came across that i liked simply because it felt warm and inviting when i saw it:



it's not quite the color of leather i was looking for though.

as you may have noticed in the picture of the room above, the light fixture is very ugly and dated. sooo, we're going to update that too and here is what i've found that i LOVE and hope i can find something similar because it doesn't seem to be available anymore online.




as you've also read i'm going to put huge canvas prints on one of the walls....but i also want to use mirrors. placing a huge mirror on the floor is something i saw on HGTV once and loved the idea. here is an option:






here's another mirror that i like and thought it would be neat to either repeat or use it with a group of different style mirrors.



i love lamps and i think i've got a great spot to put a floor lamp. i really hadn't planned to do a floor lamp but now it seems to be a must. i'm not sure this lamp below will work but i do like it.




and here's the room i saw it in and i love this room.



that's all i have to share for now. as i get further along with planning and find more neat ideas and stuff i'll be sure to share!!

i hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

Beautiful Baby Becca

introducing.......beautiful becca!

becca is SOOO cute, sweet and adorable.
























HERE is a link to more pictures.