Elle Julianne's Newborn Photos

What a beauty!  These are my sweet niece Elle's first professional photos.  She is less than one week in these.  I look forward to taking many, many more photos!

Dana and Chad's Engagement shots (and my first "real" session)

Dana and Chad are my crazy Louisiana family / Angel Zoie's Uncle and soon to be aunt. They are engaged to be married and needed some engagement photos.

I jumped at the opportunity to practice.

We headed to the Alumni Gardens at University of Lafayette and I had a lot of fun capturing some photos of the lovebirds.

Here are my attempts. Unedited. (Photoshop is still in the box!) Untouched. Straight out of the camera.

I love how the sun is shining through the trees and I caught a smooch from the distance.

And a little closer

Walking to our next spot...

Young love.

Sweet.

Chad is so funny!

Dana couldn't stop laughing. (A good sign!)

I think that I see a slight grin on Chad's face too!

And this one is our favorite!

Thank you, Chad and Dana and best wishes for a blessed life together!

Shelby James ~ Part Two

Mason Jude ~ Part One

I'm in Louisiana for a few days and get to spend some time with my Crazy Louisiana Family. I met The Schexnayders when I lived and worked in Memphis. Precious Zoie stole my heart and I became an honorary family member. I'm known as Chelinda as Momo Monkey's (Zoie's grandmother) children's names are CHastity and CHad!

Zoie earned her angel wings when she was just four. But as she danced through Heaven's gate we couldn't help for mourn for her here.

My heart broke for Zoie's family, especially for her parents, Chastity and Travis as Zoie was an only child.

But as part of God's perfect plan, Chastity, Travis and family have been blessed with THREE HEALTHY BOYS!

This is Mason Jude. His namesake is after St. Jude, which will always have a special place in the heart of Zoie's family.

He's a bright, articulate, sweet, ENERGETIC three year old.

He speaks of Zoie as sissy. He verbalized that she is With Jesus. When we visited Zoie's grave he exclaimed, Sissy! Sissy! I admire how much Zoie's family keep her memory very much alive. Although her brothers will never know her on earth, her legacy and spirit live on.

Mason LOVES the camera. Unlike his younger brother, Memphis, he lights up, smiles bright, and always wants to see his photo on the screen. He even poses!

Memphis James ~ Part One

Meet Memphis James. His namesake is from Memphis, Tennessee, home of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He is 13 months old and ALL BOY! I had to work quickly to get any pics. But he is a ham, huh?

Love his big brown eyes.

Memphis looks SO MUCH like his big sissy, Angel Zoie.

Playing soft with his baby brother.

And now he's ready for his bottle!

Shelby James ~ Part One

And Shelby James makes the family compete! His name is inspired by Shelby County, Tennessee (which Memphis / St. Jude is located). Shelby is four weeks old and precious!

He still has many of the baby wrinkles that disappear too soon, has the newborn cry (although not often) and is a humongous cuddle bug!

I think that Shelby is a blend of his big sister and brothers.

Momo Monkey and Shelby's parents had to fight me for Mr. Shelby. It's easy to be super helpful and willing to do baby duty when it's only very short-term! I forgot just how little newborns are. It's crazy to think that my baby sister has Baby Elle growing in her tummy!

I'm frustrated that I can't get my photos to look like The Pioneer Woman's. (Or my other friends who are professionals! ) But, I'm trying. I need to learn to how to use Photoshop and keep practicing, practicing, practicing. I hear that Lighting is very important as is the shooting mode. Let me know if you are a willing volunteer!

Brotherly love

Sweet baby boy!

Hiking with Dad in Anza Borrego Desert State Park

My dad and I joined some fellow Borrego-ans today for a hike in Anza Borrego State Park.

This is the biggest state park in the United States, with 600,000 acres of wildly rugged mountains (highest elevation 6,000 feet) and desert (elevation 40 feet), along with flora, fauna, and fossils dating back 540 million years. You will see mesquite, yucca, and smoke trees; cacti; and thousands of native plants and flowers.

Circa third or fourth grade my dad volunteered to come along on a Girl Scout camping trip in Anza Borrego. We have memories of wind storms that were so swift that the tent kept falling down (on top of us) requiring my dad to keep hammering stakes into the ground in an attempt to secure our abode. We took a nature hike one afternoon and came across some "free spirits" who were topless. My dad his best to distract us but my fellow scouts and I were all giggles at seeing the site of boobies!

And now we're heading for our "second" nature hike, 21 years later!

This is Dr. McCloskey. He is now a "snowbird" like my parents and splits his time between Central Oregon and Borrego Springs, CA. (My parents aren't the only ones with this idea, apparently.) I was a patient at his office in Bend, Oregon (near my hometown) when I was in High School and had bunions on my feet. He left an impression and I never forgot how he took off his shoes and socks to show me his bunions. He told me to rest assured that they were not problematic and that doing any type of surgery would open Pandora's box. (He was right, my feet are just fine... and after I stopped dancing on pointe, they returned to almost normal :O) )

The first part of our hike was on Pictograph Trail to see the Pictographs. While this area was used by Indians as far back as 3000 BC, the pictographs themselves are a relatively recent addition of the last 300 to 400 years. They are said to be a way for Indians to tell their story through drawings.

Our hike continued up to the Panoramic Overview trail.

The weather could not have been more perfect ~ a cloudless bright blue sky and just a hint of a breeze to keep us cool in the desert.

I

LOVE

MY DAD!

I enjoyed snapping some landscape shots while practicing shooting in Aperture mode.

I'm learning, slowly but surely.

Honestly, I never knew that Borrego had so much to offer! When my parents bought their house ten years ago, I thought they were crazy. Borrego is in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization appears boring, is too hot and takes forever to get to (reality: just over 2 and a half hours door to door, mainly on two lane roads and the last bit is SUPER twisty turn windy). BUT I'm learning that the landscape can be breathtaking, the simplicity relaxing and Borrego's remoteness makes it that much more of a sanctuary.

Wouldn't you agree?

My Goddaughter, Brittnee will be visiting me in April. I'm already mapping out our trails for hikes and photos. Stay tuned for more on Anza Borrego Desert State Park!