It’s that time of year again. We’re looking for some Fresh Faces to feature. Are you most comfortable in front of the camera? Do people often comment that you should be a model? Do you have a vibrant personality that you want to share with others? Then you might be the perfect candidate for our Fresh Faces contest.

This year we are adding a category. We’ll have our normal Newborns/Children, Teens, and Adults. As a bonus we’ve added Pets!

We will begin accepting entries November 1st, so get those pictures ready to submit. Rules and methods of entry will be posted later this week, so stay tuned to the website!

And, because posts are better with pictures, here’s a picture of a face that I’m in love with. (Of course this is an older picture because she has her front teeth. They’ve been out since almost April! We see them starting to peek through. I don’t know what she’s going to do with teeth. LOL.)

So it always seems like I’m a weekend behind. It’s just been go, go, go. I’m not complaining because being on the go is a good thing. But I do need to remember to breathe. It’s kind of like on those workout videos where the instructor reminds you to breathe. (You know that someone at one time forgot to, so they have to remind everyone.)

So last weekend was filled with the union of two of my wonderful friends. Ray and Mandy joined each other on life’s road.  I had the privilege of capturing those moments for them. The wedding was casual and they were surrounded by family with an immense amount of love. It was a small ceremony, but beautiful and unique, just like the bride and groom. The wedding was UT themed (and I would like to take a few second to apologize to the happy couple on behalf of the Texas Longhorns, who provided a losing game as a wedding present. Coulda been better, guys.)

The bride and I started our adventure at Selma’s International for a stunning hairstyle by Kerem Ozen and even Selma herself. We also learned the secret to a fabu hairstyle…ready ladies…get your pens and paper out….bobby pins! Lots and lots of bobby pins. But Mandy’s hair was gorgeous.

The officiant was a dear friend who donned a dapper top hat and UT gear, even though he’s an A&M Alum. You conducted a wonderful ceremony, Jim. You added your own flair, making that much more special.

The bride and groom prepared their own heartfelt vows, and read them off a Kindle.Very appropriate!

Even though the ceremony was short, it was beautiful and fun. It was definitely a reflection of the bride and groom, which is what any wedding should be. It is a day to be remembered. A day for a man to look at a woman with love in his eyes, and for that woman to look F-I-E-R-C-E. (OK – for those that know me I’m an America’s Next Top Model junkie so fierce had to be in this post. And doesn’t Mandy look fierce. And you can tell that Ray just adores the new Mrs. Lopez.)

I hope that I captured all the moments you wanted and more. I did have a great time, at the reception, hanging out with friends, and enjoyed meeting your families and friends. You guys are loved by so many. Here’s to you on your journey to this point and from here forward. May love always be in your hearts and your lives.

So as I promised this post will have pictures of the Ranch Rodeo, but before that I have to tell you about our “Pet”. In a previous post in June I mentioned our friend who lives in the driver’s side mirror of my car. Butters is what Munchkin named him. He’s a friend of an eight-legged variety. Obviously, he’s been there a while if I first posted about him in June. Almost every morning he makes a web from the mirror to the car window. Sometimes there are small mosquitoes that became his morning meal.

Well….most mornings I take Munchkin to school and Butters is usually hanging out on his web or behind the mirror doing whatever it is that spiders do when they are in their homes. We get halfway to school and he crawls out and begins taking down his web. Now, I’ve never seen a spider take down their web. This spider will climb up the main lines and actually disconnect the interconnecting lines and roll them into a ball that he carries behind the mirror. He will do this no matter if I’m going 20 mph or 45 mph. I tell you he’s either crazy or a daredevil. Since he’s been living there so long and he’s now a small part of our family, I have started taking the web down if I plan on going outside the neighborhood where I would drive faster. I don’t want him falling off. He’s interesting and frankly, Munchkin likes him. I do, too. For a while there in August, I didn’t see him very often, but now that it’s getting cooler he comes out almost every day.

So here’s what he looks like.

And this is him actually taking down some of his web.

Now that I’ve given some of you the heebie jeebies, let’s move on to the Chisholm Trail Ranch Rodeo pictures. If you haven’t gone, I do suggest you go because it is a good time. And El Patron actually served wine and margaritas! I stuck with water, but they were tempting.

Mugging: Contestants wrestle a cow to the ground and tie three legs together to stay bound for 6 seconds.

Roping is a big part of every event.

The horses know their jobs.

Wild cow milking: The cowboys must catch a wild cow and milk it into a beer bottle.

The final event was roping a cow and loading it into a trailer. This was funny because after the cow was in the trailer, the cowboys had to get into the truck (2 in the bed and 2 in the cab). There was honking, and one team even squeezed all 4 teammates into the cab.

Like I said, it was fun and if you have a chance to go to a ranch rodeo, I highly recommend it.

So last weekend was a busy weekend. Saturday Munchkin and I went to the Chisholm Trail Cattle Drive. After watching the longhorns lope up and down the river bank, we headed over to the rodeo arena for the Ranch Rodeo. Quite an interesting and entertaining event, if I do say so. There was mugging, branding, wild cow milking and corralling. She laughed, I laughed. At first I suggested that our seats were not the best. (We were sitting front row just off of center arena.) I was afraid that the action would be closer to the other end of the arena. Boy was I wrong. There were cows and cowboys and horses scattering all around right in front of us. I did take pictures and will post some shortly.

The next day after work, I went to photograph a dear friend’s new granddaughter.  It was my first newborn session, so I was extremely nervous. I had everything from a space heater to a bean bag to fabric. I even made a hat and some cocoons. Little Miss A was such a sweet baby. She slept most of the time. The only time she got upset was because I didn’t let her fall deep enough back into sleep before posing her. So we took a few minutes and she drifted off. I got some great shots and had a super hard time deciding on the sneak peek for this one. Even though it’s not really a sneak because her gallery is already up. Thank you so much GG for sharing your new little diva granddaughter with me.

Here she is in all her sweetness.

In this time of low employment and hard economic times, we could all use a little hope. We all have that one person who inspires us to wake up the next morning and trudge through it all. That one person who we have seen fall, but have also seen them get back up and make the best of any situation. That one person who smiles and dusts himself off when others would crumble. That one person who embodies the word courage in a world of fear. A beacon in what seems like nothing but darkness. Now is the time to highlight the goodness of those special people. Their stories may not only inspire you, but help inspire others as well. We can all use a “feel good” story to give us hope.

There are single parents who struggle everyday. There are cancer survivors, young and old. There are selfless volunteers. These people are our best friends, old friends, new friends, husbands, wives, partners, children, co-workers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews…anyone! Often, these people do not take time for themselves. Why not give them the give of a photosession? A chance to focus on themselves.

There is a little over a week left to make your nomination for our Time to Shine contest. Entries will be reviewed and the winner will receive their own free photosession to highlight, well,…..Them. He/she will also receive free prints from their session (Basic package). If your noiminee is selected, you are eligible for 50% off your own session fee.

Please take 5-10 minutes to head over to the submission form and let the world know how much this person means to you.

Sorry about the title. Pop songs playing on Nick. Munchkin’s still up. Really…uhhhhh…OK fine. Even if she wasn’t up I would still probably be watching it. Why do these kids channels suck you in? You want to turn it off, but for some reason you just can’t. You don’t want to bob your head to the beat, but you find that it has a mind of it’s own when the drums thump. Should I know the words to the songs? NO. Do I? Well…since I’m being open, I must say that I do know a few of them. Her Dad has a few on his computer. If you ask him, he’ll probably tell you that they are for Munchkin to listen to, but I can definitely say that I have heard them eminating from the office when she wasn’t home. They’re catchy. And some of the shows actually have a good message to them.

But I digress from my original reason for posting today. I have wonderful news for those of you with mobile devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm. The blog is now transformed into a more compatible format for these types of devices. You still have the option to view the website as normal (you can turn mobile on and off in the footer of the site). You can see all the pictures in the blog posts and also leave comments while in mobile view. Bookmark it today!

Finally, and update on the first week of school. 2nd grade seems to be Munchkin’s cup ‘o tea so far. She’s been doing all her homework as soon as she gets home – including reading for 20 minutes. She also finishes up her chores and then settles down to whatever she fancies (coloring, a snack, reading, playing cards, DS, Wii, trampoline, playing with the pups – you get it). She had great behavior all week! Now on to another great week! I hope everyone else had a great first week.

Well, it’s that time again. Clothing shopping, scheduling haircuts, struggling to get back into a routine that involves having a bedtime, and our Back to School Special. For the month of August sessions are 40% off! Yes, that’s right, only $75. Take this opportunity to capture the moment before the hectic schedule of school starts. Book your session today!

Sessions are for up to a family of 4 ($25 for each additional person) and include:

• 1-2 hour photo shoot at outdoor location of your choice
  

• Photographer travel time

• Minor retouching (blemishes, red-eye, tooth whitening, skin smoothing)

• Minor colorization (black/white, sepia, other tonal conversions, selective colorization, vignette)

• A private online gallery for viewing proofs available for 3 weeks

• CD/DVD containing 5 of your pictures printable in 4×6 format only and copies in a smaller watermarked format suitable for sharing with friends/relatives via e-mail or for posting on various community websites like myspace or
  facebook.

Some venues do charge fees for photography sessions. The customer will be responsible for this additional cost (not included in the session fee). Session fee is due at time of session.

Session Cancellation: Cancellations need to be made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled session. If for any reason the photographer cancels the session, he/she will reschedule the session at his/her earliest convenience. If for any reason the client cancels the session, he/she may reschedule at the photographer’s earliest convenience. If the 24 hour cancellation notice is not met, the client will be responsible for 50% of the session fee. (Can be added to new session if rescheduled.)

This weekend I had a session with a wonderful little man and his momma. At first I was dreading it a little because it’s been a while since I photographed young ones. All photographers know that the younger toddler ages are the hardest to photograph for many reasons – grabbing their attention and getting eye contact, posing, naps, crankiness. Much to my surprise, I had none of these issues with Little A. He was a cutie and a dream to photograph. He had little 1 year old baby rolls, and chubby fingers and stubby toes. AND….contagious drooly smiles. He made not only his momma and me smile, but attracted an audience a few times. Of course I’m not done editing the session, but I couldn’t pick just one for the sneak. These were all within the first 10 minutes, and the smiles lasted all the way to the end.

Here’s where a couple of girls were walking by and he turned on the charm. He smiled and giggled and pointed. Of course, they stopped and “oh’d and ah’d”. Momma’s going to have her hands full when this little charmer gets older.

I have a few of him and Momma together. He loves his mommy so much, and you can just tell how much she loves him by the way she looks at him.

Momma L, I hope these are what you expected and I am working to edit the rest. There are so many…. Thank you for sharing your special little guy with me!

Well, we spent the last week at the ranch. I must say that it was a much needed rest, and I was sad to come home, but glad in the same breath because we came home to our other two babies. I did miss them, even though Ms. Grace has been nothing but a ball of gassiness. We’re planning another trip out there in December, but will probably hopefully make another weekend trip out there before then. We left Munchkin out there for the next 5 weeks. I’m not missing her completely, yet, but I’m sure I will in the coming weeks. I’m sure she’ll come home about 3-6 inches taller and tanner (not that she can get much more tan with her olive, Italian skin). I set her email up on her phone so she can send quickly without logging onto her computer. I’ve already had one email with the subject line “Houdy”. LOL.

We were supposed to go out for the 4th of July Rodeo. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the rodeo was canceled. They did have the parade, but not without sporadic showers. The kids scored tons of candy and the adults got t-shirts and koozies. We headed down to the craft fair downtown after the parade. Dad had a custom cutting board made for Hubster and surprised him with it at the vendor’s booth. I’m sure that day we probably saw most of the 387 population of the small town while we were there that afternoon. That night the girls lit sparklers. Munchkin held her ears as the sparkler dwindled down because she thought it was going to explode or pop in some way. I couldn’t help but laugh.

When we go out, I love taking pictures of the animals and various flowers and other plants out there.

Sometimes I see what I can find in the barn.

If I am lucky enough, I get to snap a quick picture or two of Munchkin.

We were going to head back on Thursday so Hubster could do payroll for work, but he did it remotely, so we ended up staying until Saturday morning. We wanted a day to recoup. Hubster tackled the lawn while I worked on the dryer (he stuck his shoes in there and they scuffed the inside all to heck) and the shower door (gotta love hard water). I also worked on the business a bit. I updated the background image to the blogsite because Hubster wasn’t too fond of the watermelon colored polka dots. To be honest, I wasn’t either. I wanted something a little edgier, but wasn’t sure what to do at the time. I think I’m happy for now.

I also set up a Newsletter Signup. I hope to be able to send out newsletters regularly. If you want to sign up for our newsletter, go here and enter your email.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Recently we’ve had visitors of an eight-legged variety outside our house. Both vehicles have inhabitants either on wheel wells or side mirrors. Butters lives behind my side mirror. Almost every morning he makes a web and Munchkin and I look at it when we get in the car to head off to camp.

On our way back into the house the other night, we noticed some more “friends” camping out on our palm.

This hairy little dude was just hanging out, surfing the leaf that was waving in the wind.

On a close leaf, we found these:

Unfortunately, they’re not there today. I don’t know if they hatched, were eaten (we do have lizards who live in the palm too), or just blew away. A little further up the same leaf we saw this teeny, tiny young lady. (I’m assuming the mother to the above eggs?????)

There are more friends out there. Maybe this coming weekend we’ll go out and take a closer look. What’s in your front yard?