Allilah's family

This is my nephew TC, his new wife Shannon, Allilah & baby Alannah. Since the video is occupied a lot & can't be viewed at times (I think only 1 person can view at one time but not sure why video has loading problems, 1st time I posted one), I decided to post some of the pictures from their family day as another post.

This is Alannah, she is about 1 month old & I will be taking newborn pics of her this week so I'll have more pics of her soon. She is such a good girl & slept almost the entire day of these pics & the wedding day. I hope she sleeps good when I do her session cause I love sleeping baby pictures.

Here is 1 of my favorite pictures below of their wedding day. I will be posting more wedding pictures soon.

"Forever for You", My first blog slide show

Turn up the volume. I had so much fun making this video & it's my first on my blog. Comments?

Allilah's smile

STOP!!! This post contains contagious smiles & loads of happiness, Proceed with caution! Do you ever see those smiles that just make you smile & each time you see it you can't help but be happy? Well, THIS is that smile. Meet Allilah (Ah-Lee-Lah). I met her for the first time Tuesday & each time I look at her picture below, I can't help but smile. And so smart too, she's only 3 but talks like she's 30. She is new big sister & I'll be posting the family soon but couldn't help sharing this happy smile. I know a few people in need of smiling today so this is for them.

This is the reason I love photography, capturing beautiful children just being happy & having fun. She was totally all over the place & she loves posing like a gangsta (photo below). She totally cracked me up the whole time I was with her family. Things she said were just not typical coming from someone her age & had me smiling all afternoon. And......she LOVES PINK (& purple too but that color doesn't count), we hit it off immediately & I loved her pink shoes, pink jacket & her (H-E-L-L-O) freshly polished pink toe nails. She got them to match her mom's & we both agreed it was the perfect color.

This wasn't even a photo session, just meeting mom (Shannon) & dad (TC) at the Sundial Bridge but who could resist taking photos of this cutie puh-toodie. Her 1-month old baby sister Alannah slept almost the entire time & I hope to be taking newborn pictures of her soon.

Allilah, Hang loose Chickee! ("Chickee" is a registered trademark of DB aka Dana, LOL) I hope Allilah's smile makes everybodies day just a little happier.

Can you see where Allilah gets her fun attitude? I love this photo. Shannon couldn't stop laughing at times & even snorted when I asked her to hold her face in a serious pose. Hope I wasn't supposed to keep the snorting a secret ;P

Pets, pets & more pets

When I photograph a family, I can't leave the 4-legged kids out. To me, they are just as much part of a family as the 2-legged one's. Here are just a few I have photographed over this last year, they may be repeat photos but this post is dedicated to our unconditional BFF's. Remember Sugar, she was in previous photos with her family. There is also a cat named Cookie but she was harder to capture.

Molly was so cute & so full of play.

Chevy is a young beautiful horse & really need more pics of. He was a typical teenager when I photographed him, he didn't want to listen to any calls or noises we made so we could get his ears pointed forward. The lesson here is that I learned what didn't work.

Introducing Tomo & Peaches. Tomo is a chocolate lab.

Doesn't Peaches look so cute in her little sweater.

We rescued this kitten from a litter born under our house. She was the last one we found a home for & almost kept her but Jack decided it was funner to chase her around the house. We didn't want to find out what he would do if he ever caught her.

The Dog Days of...

It's raining cats & dogs right now, so I decided to work on some posts dedicated to them. This first post goes to my "dookies" (that's what we call our 4-legged kids), Jack & Missy. "Just look at that face." First up, we have sweet little Missy that we adopted from a local animal shelter. She was the saddest thing I ever seen & knew she needed the abundance of Jons love so she could trust again. We adopted her July 2008, she was about 6 months old. She was a perfect match & Jon still spoils her to this day but she deserves it.

Summer 2008. She used to get a little obsessed (which really means a lot obsessed) over this piece of carpet. I think there was a lizard on it once, she started pouncing on it & wouldn't stop. Every day, every night...No kidding, we didn't think she ever slept cause we weren't. She would get this high pitched bark during her constant pouncing parties. After initially thinking it was cute & weeks later, we finally took the carpet away but still catch her doing it on a fluffy surface every so often. Can you say obsessive compulsive?

She about 1-1/2 years old in the photo above, she had both raw hides (she stole her brother Jack's) & would show her teeth if he came near her. He was still young & didn't realize he was 2 times her size so she was enjoying it while she could. We finally had to give Jack another one, he was about 6 months old in photo below.

These last few are recent since this Winter & she doesn't look any bigger than when we first got her, just a little taller. She's such a good girl now. She used to get out of the kennel & when she would run our property, she would jump up out of the brush like a rabbit, so flipping hilarious. Now she jumps up to see in our bedroom window. I can't catch her in a photo though, it's just a blur, she is so fast, so I got one on the ground outside our window instead.

Aren't kids so sweet when they're sleeping, the same goes for our 4-legged kids. When she's not resting, she's off to the races. She runs this track she created in their kennel. She runs it rain or shine, day or night. We really need to finish that front yard fence or get some sheep, it's turning into another obsession.

Notice all the rocks on the side of the fence, Jack tends to break out now & loves to run in the front yard. He just chews through the wire attaching the bottom fencing to the pole...Yes chews it, then pushes his way through to escape. Now we have to concrete the kennel, but we love him just the same & want him to stay safe. Missy would simply squeeze between areas to escape, I think she's part grey hound, she's so skinny & tall.

See, Just look at that face, she's so innocent...or is she?!

When the carpet obsession wasn't going well for Missy, we decided to get her a little (big) brother. Jack sure loves her but with all siblings, it's a struggle sometimes for Missy. When they're puppies, they're so cute...

...then you start to wonder if they're bred with a Saint Bernard. He's got to be 100 lbs easy & doesn't realize how big he is. He is now king of the raw hide treats, hogging them all but he doesn't show his teeth to Missy, he loves her...especially when it's treat time.

He carries his bowl around after he finishes each meal. His entire mouth just encompasses the bowl & this pictures doesn't do any justice. He has been doing this since he was a puppy, funny stuff I tell you. So we trained him to hand it to us from the bedroom window so we can fill it up easier.

The photo below is him peeking through the bedroom window. The window is open so you can see him better but when I wake up some mornings, this is all I see. Sometimes Missy will be jumping up on the other side of him so she can see through the window too. It's funny to see this now, but not so funny the first couple times it happened.

He really is such a good boy but still such a puppy. He's about 1 yr old in these photos which are just weeks ago. Every time I see a puppy, I think of him & they're not so cute anymore. He escaped again just the other night & we still can't find one of my shoes that was on the front porch. Now I'm hoping we DON'T find it.

AAAHHHH, Just look at that face!

And those are our dookies. I will do another post with the pets from previous sessions so stay tuned & it's Matt's 11th B-day coming up soon so I'll have to post his B-day fun.