Arden - 6 Months

I love photographing ALL children, but those who range in age from 6 to 12 months are usually the most fun for me. Arden fit right in to that group and made my job very easy by being so darned CUTE!

Arden's mommy made her tiny purple tutu! So precious!

Don't you just LOVE her flower headband?

Taking a snack break :)

Thank you, Krystin, for giving me the opportunity to photograph your sweet, beautiful, laid-back baby girl :) I hope to see y'all again soon!

Ashlyn - 12 Months

When I met Ashlyn's parents and Grandma at Freedom Park for her 1-year photo shoot last month, I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.

Not only is Ashlyn gorgeous, but her super-cute parents brought props with them to our shoot; a pink adirondack chair, bubbles, silk flowers, a birthday girl crown, and even a cake for Ashlyn to play in! I LOVE clients who know what they want out of our time together and go the extra mile to make it happen :)

I hope you had a fabulous 1st Birthday party, Sweet Ashlyn! Maybe I'll see you again soon :)

Check out the rest of Ashlyn's photo shoot here.

"Wedding Hangover"

Have you ever heard of a "wedding hangover"?

Not the alcohol kind, you party animals.

The oh-I-just spent-12-hours-photographing-a-couple's-wedding-day-and-carrying-around-half-my-weight-in-camera-equipment-and-crawling-around-on-the-ground-in-the-name-of-awesome-photos-and-now-I-need-to-sleep-for-3-days-straight-to-recover kind. I have one of those today.

Usually my wedding hangovers only last through Sunday, but this one seems to be lasting a bit longer. Maybe it's because I photographed 10 children in the 3 days before the wedding. Maybe it's because I shot photos at the Night of Worship for the release of the new Elevation Worship CD, God With Us, last night. Hmmm.

Even though I'm exhausted, I'd take on a "wedding hangover" any day of the week for the opportunity to feel as creative as I've felt in the past 5 days.

So...you'd better watch out! Not only do I have 2 photo shoots to catch you up on from last month, but I'll have 7 new ones to share with you as soon as I can sit down at the computer and edit them all without falling asleep on the keyboard...

God Bless America!

Happy 4th of July!

I'm in Columbia, SC shooting a wedding with Sean today but wanted to take a moment to share Sam and Toby's versions of "God Bless America" with you on this fabulously sunny, historic holiday :) Enjoy!

A Few Days "Off"

The Wallers left on a plane headed to Iowa for vacation this morning...and I've spent the last 3 hours editing photos for clients, listening to my Robbie Seay radio station on Pandora, drinking coffee, and eating homemade chocolate chip pancakes :)

When I found out I'd have today through Friday off from my full-time job, I thought it might be beneficial to invest a little more time into my part-time photography business. When I offered a few weekday morning and evening spots to some of my clients, they jumped all over the {very rare} opportunity and my schedule for this week filled up FAST. I'm so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with so many opportunities to do what I love. SO THANKFUL.

I have one family photo shoot this evening, one in the morning, one tomorrow evening, and three on Friday morning. To top it all off, Sean and I are shooting a wedding in Columbia, SC this weekend! If the next 4 days don't make me sick of photography, I don't know what will!

Now...I'm off to upload a batch of photos to my website, clean "man land" (our tv room/office space), and prepare a spot for the new computer my fabulously geeky husband custom built and bought for me from Newegg.com so we can stop battling over the one computer we both need to use so often. Ahem.

Off to work...

Grayson - 9 Months

I'm so far behind on blogging photos of clients it's not even funny. And what's even more not funny is that I have 6 photo shoots in the next 3 days...and that will put me even more behind.

But, hey. Business is booming...and I can't really complain about that!

I know you remember sweet Grayson from his 6-month photo shoot in April, right? Well...I took his 9-month photos a few weeks ago and, let me tell you, it was the easiest photo shoot I've done in the past 4 months. Seriously. The child never stopped smiling! We breezed through 3 outfit changes and 4 gigabytes of memory in less than 35 minutes. Simply amazing!

When Grayson's mom, Lindsay, e-mailed me last week to ask if I would photograph Grayson's first birthday party, I was so honored! Faithful clients really do start to feel like family after a while...and it's so nice to be invited to capture such a fun, sentimental, important moment in a child's life :)

Speaking of first birthdays, just wait until you see my next photo post about little miss Ashlyn. Just. You. Wait.

:)

Better-Than-Takeout Veggies

Ok.

I know I haven't posted many recipes lately...but that's because I haven't been baking much in the past few months. I've been making an honest effort to eat less junk and more, well, good stuff. Like fresh fruits and veggies (from our local farmer's market!). And homemade hummus. And rice & beans. And trail mix. And stuff like that.

I know, I know. That sounds like rabbit food, you say.

That might be true, but it makes my body feel oh, so good! You should try it sometime!

Here is the {super simple} recipe I created for lunch last week and have eaten almost a dozen times since then:

Better-Than-Takeout Veggies

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 handful of fresh green beans, ends snapped off
2 handfuls of fresh broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
dash of black pepper
1 Tbsp. Ken's Lite Asian Sesame with Ginger & Soy salad dressing

Heat the oil to medium-high heat in a frying pan. Add the broccoli and saute for 3 minutes. Add the green beans and pepper and saute for another 2-3 minutes until the beans are cooked but still crisp. Remove the pan from the heat and add the salad dressing, making sure to coat all of the veggies. Pour into a bowl and enjoy!

I made these veggies again for lunch yesterday and threw in some fresh asparagus. Get creative and add your favorite veggies! Let me know what you think!