A Little More...

I wanted to post something, sans pictures or "advertisements" about my pictures, more about myself, who I am, what I'm about. As this blog makes perfectly obvious, I love photography, I love everything about it, from seeing something special, capturing it and then post editing to try and make it the best shot it can be. But, besides photography, I'm a person who loves life, loves my Lord and Savior and next to Him, nothing is more important to me than my husband and little boy. I'm an avid athlete, I played softball for 13 years of my life, and am an incredibly competitive person. I would rather be outside than anywhere else. I love movies, any movies!!! I have a goal of one day owing a MASSIVE movie collection, like the one in "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, and a room specifically for watching movies with a movie theater setting. My all time favorite movies are The Lord of the Ting trilogies, sometimes you can catch me quoting the "go get em" speeches being made before the big battle scenes! I think I have an unhealthy relationship with shoes...I can walk into Shoes on a Shoestring, or any shoe store for that matter, and hear the Hallelujah Chorus singing. I thrive on challenges and overcoming those challenges through hard work, and sometimes sheer stubbornness. There's quite a bit more about me, but that's all I can think of divulging at this time. Stay tuned for more...

This past week my wonderful dad bought me a set of macro tubes I've been wanting for a couple of months now...aren't dad's great?! These tubes are simple extensions I can add to any lense I want to shoot with and it, in turn, makes that lense a macro lense. I've always been interested in macro photography and love some of the pictures I've seen this type of photography produce, so when I saw these tubes I HAD to have them! I spent the majority of my Saturday this weekend squated down really low near flowers or hunched over desks with very small objects placed on them. All in all, I had a great time with my new accessories and can't wait to use them more! The pics below are a small sample of what I shot...enjoy!

Enlightenment!!!!

Today was an excellent day! Not only did my husband and I have a great day of worship and heard an wonderful message from our pastor at church, but I had the opportunity to shoot the baptisms of seven members of our church! I saw the opportunity about one month ago, when there was an email sent out asking for anyone with photography experience who wanted to serve in taking pictures of special events that happen at our church campus. I responded to the email and, to make a long story short, with a couple of back and forth emails sent I was able to shadow the baptisms today. I think I have found what I am supposed to be doing with my photography. God has given me the desire to shoot and capture special moments in peoples' lives and what better way to do it than to help further His kingdom?! I will still love to shoot pictures for friends and family, but my primary focus will be this new ministry I have been called to take part in. I will write a post after every special event and share the special moments that were captured. I'm not sure if I will be able to post the pictures because I haven't gotten the word if those pics will belong to our church or if they will be considered mine and I can do with them what I want.
In the mean time, here's a picture I captured of my eight year old cousin walking down the road at the Fourth of July Campground in the Manzano mountains. The colors of the leaves were beautiful and I felt like I was in a completely different world!!

To Newly Painted Bedrooms and Incredible In-Laws...CHEERS!!!

Two years ago, when Aaron and I first bought our house, every single wall in the house was white; I felt like I was living in a very large hospital room! It didn't take long, maybe half a second, for me to decide I wanted to paint the house, make it more home like. Now, when Aaron and I bought our house I was about three months pregnant with our son and once we were in the house my first concern was to paint the living/dining room, the hallways and our son's nursery. It took a while to get all that done and when it came time for us to  our bedroom I was way too pregnant, fat in other words, to expel the energy to get the job done. Because of my lack of energy, and size, our room went unpainted for over a year. Jump ahead about another half a year when Aaron and I got a Christmas gift from my in-laws of a free day of painting our bedroom. The reason this gift came from my in-laws is because I love the way they have their living room painted and have told them ever since we bought our house that's what I wanted our room to look like. Now, jump ahead another half a year and I came home from work one Friday afternoon to find this...

Aaron had planned for my mother and father-in-law to come to our house earlier that Friday morning to paint our room and I absolutely love it! I now feel our home is complete and feel so comfy and cozy in our new room.

Good Coffee+Good People=A Great Morning!

Whilst I was making my morning drive to work this morning I got a very large craving for a Starbucks coffee. Now, I try to stay away from Starbucks for two main reasons...to increase the thickness of my wallet and to decrease the thickness of my waist! Their coffee is absolutely incredible but extremely pricey and calorie laden! But, today I thought, "Hey, it's Friday...throw all caution to the wind!" Once I ordered my Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte and pulled to the drive through window, check card in hand, I received some surprisingly great news...the gentleman in the truck in front of me had paid for my coffee! It's so great to know there are people in this world who will sacrifice something of their own for the happiness of a complete stranger, even if it is a $5 latte on a Friday morning!
Happy Friday!



I thought it appropriate to post a pic, all be it a cell phone pic, of the small cup of joy I received! :-)

Bailey Family

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of having a photo session with the family of a lady I work with, and I must say it was one of the best times I have had at a photo shoot! The love this family has for each other is absolutely incredible and the energy they express can be felt all over! Heidi and her husband, James, had so much fun together, they were making each other laugh with personal jokes between the two of them  and made the whole experience that much more enjoyable! Thank you, Heidi, for allowing me to capture the love you and your family share with one another!

Happy Easter (Better Late Than Never)

With Easter passing and the, somewhat, warmer weather coming to Albuquerque, I figured this post would be appropriate. Aaron and I, including our little one, went up to our grandparents' house in the mountains the Saturday before Easter Sunday and had a big Easter fiesta, as we do every year. The teenagers of the family go outside and hide the eggs for the little ones and the parents inside the house are doing everything they can to keep the little ones away from the windows and doors to prevent cheating. As soon as the door opens all Easter Egg Hunting craziness breaks loose! The kids are running left and right, all over the yard, diving into bushes, climbing trees and picking up rocks to collect as many eggs as they can and doing everything they can to be the first to find the coveted "Lucky Egg". Said "Lucky Egg" is a larger plastic egg containing money, of an undisclosed, larger amount and the kids nearly kill each other to find it! Each kid also gets quite a large amount of gifts from their aunties and uncles so Grandma's entire kitchen table is covered in pastel colored gift bags. Next to Christmas, Easter is the best holiday in the kids' opinions! Here are just a few pictures captured from the day. Hope everyone enjoys!