It was an honor to be asked to photograph this family while dad was home from Iraq for his 2 week R&R. I loved watching them together, how close they were, how it was dad and *only* dad that could get little man to crack a smile.  But it made my heart ache to think how much he is missed when he is away. All I can say is thank you, Bonnie, for lending us your husband and thank you Rick for doing what you do.

If you are planning to have photos done in time for the holidays for cards, gifts, etc., the time to schedule your session is now. September is pretty much booked, October is on it’s way, and in November we reach our holiday card/product ordering deadlines. (Stay tuned to the Session Openings Calendar for updates).

I mentioned this before, but a reminder: as a special incentive, I am offering a set of 24-5×7 flat holiday cards with CD purchase to anyone who holds their holiday session in August (you can choose from a handful of designs).  This offer is good only while openings are available, so jump on it NOW! If you already have a session booked in August, you can receive these cards. If you’ve already booked your holiday session for Sept, Oct, or Nov, and move it to August, you can take advantage of this offer, too, but again, only until August books up.

Also in August, our Senior Xpressions for Austin area seniors graduating in 2010. Details.

(How do you like this moldy oldy? Our holiday card, circa 2007)

Brace yourself.  This post is chock full!!!  You will want to read through all of it to get through the hodge podge of information, including a special holiday offer! ;-)

First, some incredible news I got today!  See that adorable baby girl in the heart up there? Yeah.  Well she took home FIRST PLACE in the humorous category for the annual Miller’s Baby and Child Contest.  I’ve never submitted any image before, but this year, on a whim, I decided to give it a go.  I am so very happy for her and her family. Congrats to you all!!!  (Click HERE to see the rest of the winners!).  This would be the "over the moon" portion of my post.

Second, I got some incredible deliveries on my doorstep today (which would be the "out of this world" portion), starting with this STUNNING Platinum Album:

If you could see their house you would notice that it matches their decor PERFECTLY.  I’m thrilled that mom thought outside the box in the design of this album!

It’s been like Christmas around here, people.  Here’s another set of books I shipped off today…matching maternity and newborn.  These are SO adorable together:

And then, I got this gigantic canvas too:

Of course, we had the AWESOME mini maternity sessions at Baby Coco this weekend.  A quick sneaky peek here:

And here’s a pseudo sneak peek of the newborn session that has been postponed and rained out and postponed again (LOL, V, I promise we will get to his newborn session while he’s still a newborn):

(I promise to explain the boxes later.)

And finally, some pics of the biggest reason why I’m sooooo behind on blogging:

I’ve got the theme from Flash Dance running through my head.

Okay, there you have it. That pretty much sums up the past week or so.  What??? It’s only been a week?  Wow! July is almost GONE! 

Which reminds me, if you haven’t booked your family holiday photo session yet, the time is NOW! September is pretty much booked, October is on it’s way, and in November we reach our holiday card/product ordering deadlines. As a special incentive, I am offering a set of 24-5×7 flat holiday cards with CD purchase to anyone who holds their holiday session in August (you can choose from a handful of designs).  This offer is good only while openings are available, so jump on it NOW! (If you already have a session booked in August, you can receive these cards. If you’ve already booked your holiday session for Sept, Oct, or Nov, and move it to August, you can take advantage of this offer, too, but again, only until August books up.)

Thanks a bunch and stay tuned for LOTS of sneak peeks coming up over the next few weeks! 

…since I’m too tired to wait for the rest of the images to upload to get the one I *really* wanted to sneak tonight, I’ll do two other favs. Totally genuine, beautiful, and loving family tonight.  Little man (not pictured) gave me a run for my money, but mama…I promise, we got some gooooood stuff.  Thank you guys and enjoy the rest of R’s R & R.  Nighty night.

I got to meet up with this beautiful family and fellow photog, Michelle, quite literally the day before they moved back to sunny CA. This session was an absolute blast!  Really, I didn’t want it to end. Michelle and I chatted forever when we were done…my husband had to call me to tell me to come home ;-).  Get ready.  This is going to be a long post. And yes.  They are ALL that naturally gorgeous!

(Soooo lovely! They look like they should be in some sort of Cover Girl commercial.)

LOVED that necklace!  You still have to tell me where you got it, M!

PINK-le-toes.

Thank you again, Michelle. It truly was wonderful meeting you all and some day when I travel to CA, I’m definitely going to look you up!

What does this mean?

Because she trusted my vision.

Because she bought the dress just for this experiment.

Because she laid down in a creek with crawdads.

Because she made it look beautiful anyway.

———–

We are back from vacation, but it’s going to take a bit for me to get caught up on e-mails, calls, proofing, ordering, laundry (ha), etc. so hang in there. I know this sounds odd, but if you haven’t already, the time to book your holiday session is NOW! (Check out the session calendar for openings.) I kid you not, these will fill up before you know it. Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th!

This beautiful bride-to-be said these should have a fairytale feel to them. Between the dress and the location and the loving couple and the beautiful light, I think we got it. (And no…I didn’t suddenly change my tune and jump into a wedding…these are just engagement/bridal pics ;-).

These make me happy.  A little reminder of why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Finally able to go through this session. I love them all so much it would take too long to blog them all, so here’s the whole set from her Mini Bridal Session:

hot.

dog.