It's snowing!

8th grade takes on levelland

I am LOVING me some Girls Basketball! I've loved it since I started playing in the 7th grade, when the rules were still 1/2 court for girls. (shut up and don't even think it. I'm old, I know! LOL)

I played guard and it was a way to connect with my dad when I went and stayed with him in the summers. We would walk to the playground down the road and shoot once in a while. It was fun.

Last night, Cooper 8th grade girls played Levelland, their stiffest competition all year. They were geared up for us and even had the high school varsity coach on the bench to help. Gosh! Passionate parents in the crowd made the refs job so easy, let me tell you. LOL One parent even got into a shoving match with one of ours, believe it or not. Talk about some redneck basketball!

Cooper played AWESOME, even if Hannah and Brittany got into foul trouble. (I was not one of the passionate parents. wink wink) And Kalyn, despite playing with a head cold, held her own and was a definite presence the entire game. She had some great steals, even a few rebounds at her height, and scored a time or two. Way to go Kalyn!

As always, you can check out their other games by clicking HERE.

Dropping off at school

Summer has to get a tardy slip because we were late this morning. We
would have been on time, but she forgot her notebook and we had to go
all the way back home. She was so nervous and worried and scared.
It took me back to my 7th grade year and I had just started wearing a
bra and one morning I forgot. Omg! I was so scared that someone
would notice. No one did, of course. I carried a notebook to hide my
"chest". But sitting next to her this morning and her being worried
like that, it instantly tookl me back and made me worry for her. Some
heart hurting.

I'm sure she's fine.

the heinrich family

Remember the Mom in sweats from yesterday? Well, here they are all ready and waiting for their Photo Shoot! Great job too, on everything from outfits to hanging out. We started at their house which had great south light in the living room and then headed to a few locations to finish. This session served double duty for their oldest son who is a senior at Cooper and graduating this spring. You'll see more of his mug than anything.

Thanks Heinrich family! Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or two.

landon

Saturday I was supposed to photograph the Heinrich family, but when I showed up and found Mom in her sweats, instead, I found myself going with them to watch Landon pole vault instead. It was great! I love trying to photograph new things and got the chance to try my luck at indoor track. It was kinda fun! I did have a red cast on all my photos that I didn't white balance for in camera, so many were converted to bw, but hey...that's OK. Next time I will do better.

FYI, Landon is April's brother, so yep, his great grandma and Devin's grandma were sisters. Connection.

LOL

Enjoy!

dalton and kate

It's been 6 months since their mother died and I drive by her grave everyday on my way to work and smile. The tree that the family planted above her grave to keep her in the shade is doing well, although I know nothing about trees other than I like them.

These two change so much from week to week. Dalton needs a hair cut, but he's been so busy hunting and bringing down his first BUCK (6 point) that he hasn't had a 2nd to sit still for Julie. She's the other friend that helps Garrett with his kids after school. She cuts Dalton's hair and takes Kate for her "beauty time", and has loved and welcomed them into her life to know them better, too. I only get these two for one day a week. That's all. That's all I can squeeze in, but a part of me is so greedy, and enjoys them so much, that I want more.

I knew them before when Eli was living, but I didn't KNOW them like I know and love them now. They fill my heart and it hurts when they leave and aches when they cry. We talk about their mom almost every time we are together. Usually we run into someone that knew her and it makes us smile. Like at the grocery store when they push the baskets into the back of my ankles and worry that I'll get mad.

We are figuring each other out more and more and each week they trust me more and more. They laugh and giggle a lot and love to play jokes, and expect bananas on their seats when I pick them up, and sometimes spill a chocolate malt and each week ask me when I will clean that off the carpet.

They love to play basketball outside, or chase the kittens around the house, or jump on the trampeline and try to do a seat drop. They love to play games and make sand whiches and help me. Most important, they still want to come to my house and be a part of our lives. I'm so glad. I keep thinking about the distant future and how someday, they may not. Afterall, it's a house filled with women and someday, they will want to hang out with their friends.

For now, I'm so glad we have Wednesdays. I tell them all the time that Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.

I got the sweetest thing in the mail yesterday

My clients are so creative! Just check this out! I LOVE mail like this.

school for photographers

Becker has a new site. I'm late to the game as he is on episode 16, I think, and not reading my normal photography message boards or blogs like I usually do, (thanks to working at the video store), you may already know about his cool new Photography School. But if you don't know, GO HERE.

Very cool the way he's constantly sharing with others.

I first met Becker in 05 @ DWF Convention in Vegas. I've followed his work since then and when I started my blog, he started too. It's a great way to keep connected and I LOVE checking in on his stuff and seeing what he's doing. I read 100's of blog thanks to google reader and it's so cool how the internet has connected us all.

Becker is a very successful wedding photographer on the west coast that is very passionate about his craft, having fun, The Angles, and pretty girls. So, if you are a new budding photographer, and many of you are, you should start visiting his blog school everyday. He has lots of good tips to share and things to really help you start your business. I've even picked up a few tips myself and I've been playing this game for a while.

Enjoy!

BECKER's SCHOOL

levelland

I was at it again Tuesday night! I like shooting sports and think after "chewing the fat" with Stephanie, getting better at camera parameters and exposures. It seems like we are constantly tweaking our settings to get consistent, clear results. Tuesday night felt GREAT. Not only because I felt like I had achieved that, but also because Cooper best Levelland! Great game, that was very scary in the first few minutes, but by the end of the first half, you just felt the tide turn and knew they could do it.

Below you will see Lauren Heinrich, Stephanie and myself getting pumped up to get under the goal and get our shots. Lauren just purchased her first digital SLR with her own hard earned money , and she's just in the 8th grade! She's doing so good at this and I love that she's starting her passion at such a young age. NOT that she will do this for a living or anything. No pressure there, Boo (that's what everyone calls her...don't ask), but once a shooter, always a shooter, and this girl IS shooting!

On a side note, APRIL was published in the AJ. You can read the article online HERE. Very exciting stuff.



They were so PUMPED before the game! INTENSE!

This is Mandy Padilla, a senior at Levelland who was benched the first half of the game because she was in foul trouble. Word on the "court" is she has a verbal agreement with Texas Tech to go and play there in the fall. WOW.


I watched her play some last year, and I'll admit, the girl has game, and she defended well, but Kimmie was HOT that night. This game was aggressive and tight. I'm anxious to watch them play again this year.
















um...yeah...no foul on this one, but do you think she agreed with the call? LOL

varsity ball

A little background. Devin, my husband is a Slaton Tiger Alumni. Slaton and Cooper have long had a "rival" of sorts when it comes to sports and when our girls started school there 3 years ago, I seriously thought I would NEVER see the day Devin would step into Cooper HS and watch "gasp" a Cooper game. At least not unless Slaton was playing, too. I still have yet to EVER get him on the Football field and probably won't, I'm thinking, but the basketball court can be checked off my mental list of "things to do as Pirate Parents" thanks to April Ehlers.

April is family. Bear with me. Devin's grandmother and April's great-grandmother were sisters. So, when we started to attend games to watch her play last year, we would get a lot of "What are you doing here?" remarks from "those that went before us". Seriously, folks. It's hard when your mentality your entire sports life has been to be a Tiger and then to switch on a dime, well, it's been hard for my husband. (snickering....like labor isn't? LOL)

Now like all good Germans, we don't really keep up with our relatives except at church and reunions. We live less than 2 miles from April and I see her more on the court than I do anywhere else. I love to watch her play as she is so passionate for the game. She's intense, plays with heart, and best of all, looks good in my frame. In my book, she's an athlete.

Here's some shots from Seminole game last week. Leveland next. HERE is where I put all their images I take.

I absolutely LOVE this shot of all the girls heading to the goal! Intensity on each and every face and Seminole trailing way behind. LOL

Kitty booty

My cats are living the technology in this house. :)

Jack

My nephew Jack has been here all weekend and we've had the best time!
He came by the video store today before they hit the road for Plano.
I love you, Jack!

(notice Cherry Limeade. Yep. Got him addicted. :))

With makeup

I'm so brave. (and stupid)

Before

Cousin Time

I'm playing around with my iphone and trying to figure out how to post pictures I take from it, to my blog. It was easy with my old phone, but the pictures were horrible. The iphone takes amazing pictures for a phone and I would love to blog on the run. Figured it out this morning in the drop off lane at school, but can't figure out out to get the "words" to go, too.

Things that make you go, hmm....

The picture above was taken on Wednesday last week. I haven't shared much from Dalton and Kate day lately, but we were chowing down at Ruby's and the lighting was good.

taylor

It was cold. Very cold, but we sacrificed some cold posteriors to enjoy some yummy light in East Lubbock for Taylor's Graduate Portrait. I showed up at his house and actually raided his closet, with his permission of course, for some sports wear to hang in. I LOVE that! Yes, getting all fixed up for portraits is cool too, but wear what you love and you love the way you look. You know?

Thanks, Taylor. You were great to work with. My favs were the ones we took at the end by the junk yard.

cooper vs. brownfield

I haven't posted my GIRLS in quite some time! Monday, Kalyn's team stomped all over Brownfield girls. I pulled the camera out for a quarter or two. All this year's pictures can be seen by clicking the link below.

BASKETBALL GALLERY

elizabeth marries garrett

And it was simple, pretty, and perfect for the two of them.

I drove up early Saturday morning and picked up Elizabeth and her girls and spent the morning with them becoming beautiful. Elizabeth and Garrett were married in the Chapel at First Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas on Saturday, January 12, 2008.

Here's her sneak peek! A few days late, thanks to my work schedule these days.

Congrats you two!

new updates for the iphone

SWEET!

a bit excessive perhaps? But do I care? :)

YUM! I LOVE this photo above. Days have been crazy. I'm back working at my video store until we can find a "day girl", as I like to call her. I don't talk much about our store on here, and I'm not even sure why? But now that I'm back working the day shift, I'll probably moan and groan ALOT. It's really not that bad. The folks in Slaton are nice and the non-stop diet coke with the soft ice is such a perk, I'm sure I'll be fine for at least a week.

I have a wedding to share with you folks, but didn't get the files burned completely and until the archive is burned completely, well, I don't like to touch the files. So, tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy part 2 of Jordan and Emily. I LOVE these!

ps i love you

My good friend Julie and I have been going to late night movies for years. And our track record has not been that "bueno". It's actually been quite awful lately, to the point that I'm embarrassed almost. Well, last night, after my ultra cute session with Jordan and Emily, I went to the late show with Julie and Stephanie.

WE BROKE THE CURSE!

PS. I love you is adorable. Definitely a mush romance with witty dialog and ultra cute guys! A great date movie to feel all romantic or a lovely film to watch with friends and cry your heart out.

I LOVE this movie! Definitely one to down load when it's available.

emily and jordan

Yesterday afternoon, I met these two in east Lubbock for an engagement session. I'm lucky enough to be photographing their wedding later this summer and I'm so excited! They are what I would call, utter YUM. Some couples take a bit to warm up to me and my camera, but not these two! Laughs, cuddles, tiptoe kisses, and 100's of images later, I'm sharing my favs.

Enjoy! And thanks you two. See you later. :)

at last

Kayla and Clint were married on Friday, January 4, 2008. What a wedding to kick off the year! I first met Kayla over the phone and we clicked immediately. She's a talented designer and really values photography in not just her wedding, but her everyday life. Be sure and check out her website.

The wedding was gorgeous! Fabulous colors and so much love all around. We had a great time together and I'm so happy for them. Clint came through as a total, cool groom and had Kayla and the rest of us enjoying the day.

Take a peek at the dozens of pictures I have here, and bookmark the link to their wedding images for future use. I'll have the rest completed soon!

CLINT AND KAYLA

I'm back

I'm still downloading my 20 gigs worth of data from Kayla and Clint's fabulous wedding! Total YUM in my book. I will post the wedding sneak peek in just a bit, but for now, enjoy the rehearsal dinner and my first wedding weekend from 2008. I'm loving it so far!




The beautiful bride and her merry maids. They didn't plan to color coordinate, but isn't it so cool that they did.


Kayla and her baby sister, Mercy.


The wedding took place at Mid-Cities Community Church. I first photographed here back when Amy and Michael got married in 2006. It's changed very little and the lighting there is just superb! I love finding the nooks and crannies of available light and can't wait to show your the bridals we took early in the day. Kayla totally ROCKED them!



Clint is the quiet, yes, I just typed that, type. Until he isn't. And then is total laugh city! You can totally read it in his body language here.



The conservatory was just glowing and I stole them away for a quick photo shoot before the light was asleep. I'm so glad I did!




After running through the details twice, it was onto to the dinner! I had my own spot and my own name tag that is now in my gear bag. I love it! Maybe I'll photograph it later to show off Kayla's designer talents. Then again, just wait for the wedding sneak peek because that girl had her talent showing everywhere!


Clint's parents really showed some extra love and care by decorating our dinner place very nicely. It was chilly outside, but the warm glow of candles filled the room.


The lovely couple!



Kayla and Clint gave family members framed portraits from our FABULOUS e-session together. So cool! Everyone received a different print to make the gift even more personal.


The entire weekend was very Christ centered. From the prayers, to the blessings from the fathers, to the thanks given at every turn of emotion. Just a blessing to me to be a part of this.


Jermayne was the BOMB, edgy MC of the weekend. Him and his wife are good friends with the bride and groom and helped out during the busy weekend. They were my table guests and kept the conversation lively.





Check back soon for the wedding sneak peek.

Thanks!

reaghan turns 4 and I kick butt at foozeball

I have so much to share with you from this weekend, but I wanted to give a quick "shout out" to my favorite 4 year old, Reaghan Buxkemper. He's my godson and we celebrated his birthday last Wednesday. So much fun! I can't believe 4 years have gone by! he's such a cutie and I don't spend near enough time with him. Shame on me. The color totally sucks in these images, but I didn't spend the time to slap on a flash, so many are converted to bw. He's adorable with the green alien skin tone, too. LOL

Happy 4th Year in LIFE Mr. Adorable!