Late Afternoon at the Beach

We took Avery to the beach today before dinner. And, since I never leave home without it... :) I got some very cute pictures of Avery. I know, I know... this blog is basically all pictures of Avery. I'm the most doting mom, I could brag about her all day... So here they are!

I just love this first picture because it truly shows how much she has grown. This picture is for our family who follow my blog... she has grown so incredibly much since her first birthday almost three months ago! I'm blown away...and not only is she physically growing, she's absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I know I said it in the last post... but when I look at these pictures I'm just taken aback!!

I'm speechless!

Yeah... another picture of my bug and I! I'm not kidding, I absolutey treasure these. They come few and far between! Thank you, Daddy! I love how we're not paying attention to the camera! Avery's mouth is dark because she almost decided to have a handful of sand for dinner... luckily we got most of it away from her in time!

Even though I like to keep "beach" pictures in color, this one just SCREAMED black and white to me! She finally figured out the sand she was throwing around was mostly landing in her hair! (Should've seen the bathtub tonight after washing it all out...ha ha ha!)

OK, that's it for tonight. Now onto business.... I am really hoping to get some constructive criticism regarding my photos. I created this blog to help me see my growth in taking photos over time and I'm really seeing some myself! But I don't know what other's look for in photos, just what I like... so any pointers, constructive criticism, comments would be greatly appreciated! I plan on working on my website all winter long to get this business up and running by next summer/fall! Thank you in advance for anything a "more trained" eye could tell me!!!

My Blue-eyed Girl

Yesterday Avery and I were playing outside in our front yard. These are few shots I captured... can you believe those beautiful blue eyes?

Here's another cute shot of her smelling the newly planted flowers in the flower bed. First she started picking off the buds, but then bent down to smell them...

I saw this amazing quote on Sunday that I will never forget. It reminds me of Avery and every precious day I get to spend with her, being her mommy and watching her grow. Having a child is such a blessing and a gift... every day I love her more than the day before, which I didn't even know was possible. The quote is:

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Every day spent with Avery my breath is taken away over and over again. Whether she does, says or tries something new, or whether it's just that overwhelming feeling of the love I feel for her... she takes my breath away a million times a day! One last picture from yesterday... she's learning how to take her own shoes off. She works so hard to get them off and then tries and tries to put them on again, and that's the tough part! :)

Enjoy...

...and have a wonderful day!

What the heck...

...a second post in one day. Oh well. Yesterday during the golf tournament I caught some sweet shots of Avery playing on the golf course. So..... I have to post them! :)

Even still...at almost 15 months old, I can't get over how beautiful she is! (That's her daddy's nose at the left edge of the photo...I didn't frame the pic. very well)

I love this picture of Avery and her Papa, my dad. Right now she has an incredible fascination with rocks. I'm not a careless mommy, I don't let her put everything into her mouth... but I tell you, this girl finds a rock and nothing else matters. It's pretty cute!

I love this shot too! Avery was playing in a bunker on the golf course. The sand is so white and so fine. She kept grabbing a handful and letting it just fall through her fingers and onto her leg~over and over and over again. It was very precious!

Ok... moving on... today Mark and I and Avery's Grammy took her to the fair! I couldn't get a lot of good shots. There was so much going on and sooooo many people, but luckily I caught a few. Here's Avery petting a calf for the first time (not to mention her first time being so close to one and you can really see how surprised she was)!!

The calf was so sweet, I have to say. :)

And last... here's one of Daddy and Avery being silly:

2007 Annual Muttdog Tourney!

On Friday was the 2007 Annual Muttdog golf tournament. Mark and I are lucky to have two dear friends of ours, Bill and Cindy Matherly, who host an annual golf tournament at Harbour Pointe every year. It's a highly anticiapted event for all! :) I went out and took pictures and here's some of what I captured....

Above, our host, Billy "Muttdog" Matherly!

Bill's wife, Cindy and her golfing partner

Bill and Cindy's son, Brian...

...and their son, John.

Here are some other great shots from Friday! I think you'll be able to tell that everyone was having an awesome time!!

I also captured some sweet shots of Avery out here too! Those coming soon.... Enjoy the pics. and have a great day!!

Afternoon at the Farm!

Yesterday we took Avery to Kelsey Creek Park. It was AWESOME! I highly recommend going if you have little ones! There is a playground catered to little ones, a working farm, beautiful gardens and many trails! We had such a wonderful time. Avery loved it! Although, I have to tell you all that my daughter has a HUGE fascination with rocks right now and the gravel on the ground at the farm was far more interesting to her! Here are some photos from yesterday...

Avery and Daddy looking at sheep together

What I am trying to work on in my photos lately is boosting the colors using Photoshop Elements 5. I'm definitely getting brighter bolder colors, but sometimes it does it to skin too and makes the skin look too red. I'm also trying to get sharper black and whites. Here's one from yesterday. I figured out how to whiten the whites of the eyes... but I also really want a sparkle in the eyes too... working on that one; any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Here's another one... I just like it because you can really see how much she was having playing at the playground... and I got in nice and close to her face and didn't even faze her!

And last, we were heading back to the car to go home. Avery LOVES riding on her daddy's shoulders. She was smiling and I didn't catch it. I wish I had used continuous shooting and a zoom lens, but you get the idea:If anyone knows about color boosting on Photoshop Elements 5, I'd really appreciate a few suggestions. And any suggestions on black and white shots would be helpful too! I won't get a chance to post again cause we're heading out of town so have a wonderful week everyone!!

Be Back Soon!

Just a quick post to let everyone know I'll be posting again soon! I just haven't had a chance lately and I haven't been taking any pictures either. Tomorrow, if the weather holds out, we're heading out to a really neat park/farm so I should have some sweet pictures to post after our outing... be back soon!

A Birthday Party!

Yesterday we went to our cousin's 3rd birthday party! We had so much fun. I especially like and look forward to these get-togethers because we don't get to see our family as much as we'd like. Avery had a great time playing with her cousins. Her cousins are 3, 4, & 17 months. Here is Avery playing with her cousin when she was almost 5 months old, he was almost 8 months...

and here they are playing together yesterday at the birthday party...

Toooooo cute for words or what? Totally melts my heart! I absolutely LOVED watching them play together and I had a blast just shooting away. Would you believe I took 210 pictures yesterday? I couldn't believe it! Here's a picture of the birthday girl also:

Isn't she a doll? I got some really great shots of her that I'm sending her mommy today. She is very photogenic. I was also excited yesterday cause I've been aching to snap pics. of all these kids playing and yesterday I was able to! This is Avery's oldest cousin whom is ALL BOY and it was tough getting shots of him, but this picture couldn't describe him any better if you don't know him...
I know this is a lot of photos for one post, but I just had to share this one of the two loves of my life playing on the big toy yesterday:

Aren't they gorgeous?

Well, we had a great time at the party yesterday and thanks for letting me snap away at your kiddos yesterday! Photos will be arriving soon in the mail, mommies!!!!

It's A Start...

I'm really excited about this piece of news I'm posting today! I was asked by a friend of mine to donate a photo session to a silent auction happening today. What a great way to get my pictures out there and to get some word of mouth advertising! I developed a business card, if that's what you want to call it, in hopes that people would pick one up and hang on to it... check out the blog... give me a call?? Who knows what will happen. I'm super excited that's for sure! Here's the card I came up with and printed out:

Not too bad, huh? I like it... especially my model! :) Anyways, I should know anytime if it got purchased today. I'll let you all know as soon as I do. Like I said, it's a start... baby steps, right?

Fun in the Sun!

Hope you're all enjoying this weather! It's been so nice, not toooo hot like a couple weeks ago. Today Avery and I met our friends at a really neat park. The girls were able to play in some water and I got two really cute shots of my bug. She had on her little bikini with ruffles on the bottom piece and my friend and I just couldn't get over how adorable she looked. I hope this picture captured how incredibly darling she looked:

Love this little suit from her Great Aunty and Uncle! As you can see...I'm also working with Photoshop all the time to learn the program, it's so wonderful but I know I haven't learned the half of it! In the next picture you can really tell how Avery was just taking in the sights! There were quite a few people around.

At one point, Bailey wanted to hold Avery's hand as we were walking and I'm so bummed I didn't get the shot. I did not have my camera out at that point. I hope Avery and Bailey grow up to be good friends! Here's a shot of them playing together last week:

One last thing for today's posting... be sure to check out Wee Little Designs! There's a link to it on this blog. This business belongs to a new friend of mine and I'm so proud of her for getting it off and running! She designs announcements/cards using your photos and they're just darling! I cannot wait to order my Christmas cards from her this year!! Have a super day and enjoy this sunshine!!