Soccer is back!!

Dynamo Girls soccer is back finally!!  Last year was a great season, and my niece Kaitlyn had an absolute blast playing!  This Saturday will be their first practice, and a full schedule of Thursday nights and Saturdays at noon will follow.  I should be there to photograph all the games this year, and if you are a parent and want individual pictures feel free to contact me or just catch me at the game!  I'll be the one with the big camera. ;-)  

What I normally do is show a preview within one day of the game, then within 4 days, all of the images will be up on the site for you to view and share with your friends and family.  Here are some images from last year.  All of the girls were just adorable!  

Congratulations to Nathan!

Just wanted to say Congratulations to Nathan!!  He has been promoted at work and we are all very proud of him!  Because of his new promotion we decided to throw him a surprise party at Powerhouse last night.  Nathan is very hard to keep secrets from so this one was hard!! All week I was arranging and he kept asking, what did your sister want when she called, or what did you do with your mom the other day??  Man!  So nosy!  ;-)  

The plan was to tell him I was taking him out to eat at a special place for his promotion and when we get there, the whole family is there with his special cake and gifts as a surprise. I made him close his eyes the whole way so he wouldn't know where we were going, and so he wouldn't see everyones car in the parking lot.  He kept saying I know where we are by where you are turning, so I turned down a few side streets and took the long way!  After we got there, I lead him to the entrance, still with his eyes closed.  I guess I'm a bad leader because he almost tripped and fell in the ditch, then I forgot to say there were stairs. he he he, oops.  I had dad in the entrance with his camera to catch his surprised face!  All in all I think he really was surprised and we all had a great time.  We are very proud of your hard work and dedication Nathan, and love you very much!  Congrats!

 

  

  

 

In further anticipation of spring. . .

Just to further enhance my longing for warmth and sunshine, I thought I would share with you a quote from one of my favorite books.  I love reading anything written by Ernest Hemmingway because of how descriptive and vivid he is with his writing style.  He writes in a way that you can really feel what he is feeling.  This is one of my favorite quotes from "A Moveable Feast" because I have often felt the same way about winter.  Hope you like it. 

"Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only true sad time in Paris because it was unnatural...Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again...When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. In those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed."
Ernest Hemmingway - A Moveable Feast

Springtime Signs!

So I looked out the window this morning and though, well looks like the neighbors kids have thrown their tennis balls over the fence again.  Then I got to looking, no, it's more of a yellow color, so I had to go outside and check it out.  After being attacked by our vicious guard dogs, Blue and Max, I realized, those aren't tennis balls, they are flowers!!  How exciting!! And, the daffodils are already emerging out of the ground!   I love spring and summer.  Mostly summer. But any sign of life after all of the cold weather of winter is so exciting to me!  I love gardening and have planted a ton of bulbs and flowers, and always have a vegetable garden in the summer.  This year though, I am planning a strawberry patch and a row of blueberries!  I can't wait!  Here are some photos I got of the plants.  If your like me, and are excited about spring, hopefully these will lift your spirits!

  

 

  

Butterflies & Frogs Valentine's Day Party!

I don't remember the last time I was in a room with so many cute little faces!!  Friday after "school" Kaitlyn & Averee's daycare had a Valentine's Day party and I just had to go share in the fun!  Those little ones are just precious, and a handful too!  I made a couple of new friends, and even taught some of them how to use fun dip!  Yay!!  I think Averee had a blast because she got the gift of food at her party.  She loves to eat like her Aunt Shell ;-)  Here are some photos I got from the party.  If your a parent of one of these little kiddos and would like to have a copy, feel free to send me an email and I'll send you a free copy of the photos!  The whole gallery can be viewed here.

 

   

     

 

  

  

  

  

Polka Dots!

I had the pleasure of photographing the best two models in the world!  Kaitlyn & Averee!  Kaitlyn always has the perfect pose and smile, and Averee is just plain sassy!  She has so much attitude, and is very strong willed!  Reminds me of someone I know. . . ;-)  After the photo shoot, we decided to build a fort in the living room and play light brite!  ;-)  The kiddos had a blast and after that, Averee was worn out!  I got the sweetest picture of her sound asleep. Here is a sneak peak from the shoot.

 

  

     

 

  

 

Sweden Falls - Part II

Here is part II of the Buffalo River/ Sweden Falls photos.  And an actual picture of the 81' falls.

Before I show you the pictures I will leave you with a quote from Ansel Adams, the father of nature and black and white photography.

“Both the grand and the intimate aspects of nature can be revealed in the expressive photograph. Both can stir enduring affirmations and discoveries, and can surely help the spectator in his search for identification with the vast world of natural beauty and the wonder surrounding him.” - Ansel Adams

 

Sweden Creek Falls - Buffalo River Area

I have to warn you, this will be a long post!  This weekend I got the opportunity to go on a nature hiking trip with my dad.  We decided to go to Sweden Creek Falls which is right before you get to Boxley Valley near the Buffalo River.  If you've never been to this area, you must go!  It's such a beautiful place.  The first time I went, I felt like I had entered another country; reminds me of the smokey mountains.  You look up and your surrounded by huge mountains and green everywhere!  Not to mention there could be a large herd of Elk crossing the road, headed towards the Buffalo River.  There are endless hiking trails, canoeing, camping, and most of all serenity.

After our stop at the King's River Store (which has tons of good food that's way bad for you!), we were full of sugar and grease and ready to go!  We drove further in and realized that there was tons of snow and ice still on the ground!  It was a winter wonderland!  I couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  It's about 1,000 feet higher than Fayetteville so the weather is always different so be prepared.  As we hiked to the falls, we got to a rock bluff and there were huge icicles about 10 feet tall hanging from it!  It was a bit scary since some of them had already fallen, and others were just about ready to go.  If you get hit by one of those it would be like a boulder falling on you!  We decided to just keep a good pace going the whole way along the bluff to the falls.  Once we got there it was beautiful!  Sweden Falls is an 81 foot tall waterfall!  The only downside is that there are so many trees around it it's kind of hard to photograph.  I think I enjoyed more of the photos I took along the way than the actual falls, but either way it was a fun trip.  Here is our trip in photos!