New Fancy Haircut

I did it!!! I did it!!! I cut Hannah's hair to her chin!! I have been debating this for over a year. Yes over a year, I know some you are thinking how did she have enough hair to be thinking about that for over a year??? You see, Hannah has had plenty of hair from the beginning. Her face is so round so I was not sure it would look right! I am sooooo glad I did it! She looks so CUTE!!!! She was super excited about it and did great in the salon chair too. Thank you Kristin (Cline's Salon in the Vista) we love it and we LOVE you!!!

So of course we had to take some pictures of her new look and what better place then downtown in the Vista!!

Hannah loves trains so we found one for her to climb on...even if she looks really scared!! LOL!!

This nice guy (kind of freaked me out because he came out of no where) took our picture. Even Mommy got a haircut! I love this picture of us

Keep checking back...there is a lot going on in the next couple of weeks!!!

J~

Best Shopping Day Ever!!!

So the other day like many other days I was getting the girls ready to go food shopping. As all moms know, shopping with your kids can be a little crazy. You need to make sure you have enough toys, wipes, snacks, drinks, diapers and also plan for bathroom breaks.
What should take about an hour usually last an hour and half or two hours. So this day was no different until Hannah asked me if she could take her shopping cart. My first thought was NO WAY because I knew, I would be pushing that cart myself at some point. Then I thought maybe this would give her some responsibility or a good distraction. Plus, we are only kids for so long and I thought what could it hurt.
So I sat her down and told her she could take it and that I was not going to push it all (meaning she would have to take care of it the whole time).
She was so excited!!! I believe she was smiling the whole way to the store!!
Once we where there she was ready to push her cart around. She pushed it into the store with her baby and sunglasses on! I could not help but giggle about how cute she was! She kept saying, "OK, lets go shopping." She just kept repeating that phrase!!
She was so excited about putting things in her cart! She wanted to put everything in but realized very quickly that she could not push the cart because it was to heavy. So there were a few things that I got to put in my cart!!! LOL
I have never seen her so excited about shopping! She just kept asking to put things in her basket and saying, "Let's go mommy," so by the time we got to the milk area I could not take it anymore, I had to take a picture. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera so I had to use the camera on my phone! Ugh!! But I think I captured the moment as she said, "Pumpkin" and kicked her leg out!! I was laughing so hard!!!
The last thing we had to get was baby food for Bria. I thought this would be prefect for Hannah to put into her basket because it was so small. She piled as much as she could on the top and than decided to put as much as she could on the bottom rack! I would say she had a full basket!!

At the check out Hannah put all her groceries on the belt and then waited patiently for the lady to bag her things and put them back in her cart!!
When she gets shy or really happy she puts her head down and looks up with her month open while pushing her tongue into her cheek! It cracks Mike and I up all the time!! She then proceed to push her cart out of the store to the car still smiling!
I do have to say, that was the BEST food shopping experience with my kids to date!!! I think I will be bring the little cart with me every time!!! Kids just know how to have fun no matter what!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies!!!

What is Mother's Day??? Is it just a day we celebrate once a year? I think not....I think mothers are celebrated everyday through our kids!!! What an awesome gift to be a mother! We have a opportunity to impact tiny lives like no one else. But it is also nice to set a day apart to pamper mom.

I woke up this morning to my husband getting the baby up and getting her ready to eat. I got to go in and wake up Hannah who was super sleepy from the night before activities!! While getting ready for church my hubby sneaked off to wrap my gift!! NEW CLOTHES!!! It was nice to put something on that fit!!!!! Hey ladies if you need your husbands to take some lesson on what to buy you my husband will do it for a small fee!! LOL Mike is a great dresser and knows style better than me!!!

The morning was starting out great!! At church I had a chance to hold Bria while she slept! I know there are people out there thinking what is so great about that??? Well, you see Bria goes to sleep on her own, all she needs is her blanket ( I trained her to do this) and today she was having trouble going to sleep at church. So I held her and she fell asleep in my arms. It was a great present for me on such a great day!!

After church we came home and Mike and Hannah made me lunch. I wish I had my camera at the time...you should have seen her face when she brought me my lunch on the couch!! I will try to explain it. When she is shy or knows one of us is watching her do something she puts her head down and opens her mouth and pushes her tongue against her cheek! It cracks me up every time!!!

Then it was nap time for the all the girls! Ahhhhh sleep!!!

OK everyone was up around 4 and we all just played until it was time to go to dinner with the whole Jones clan!! Great time with family and it was so great to see all the kids!! We spent last weekend celebrating with my family. I Love them All! All around it was a great day and ended with Hannah saying, "I love you mommy and good night!"

I have been truly blessed with wonderful kids and a wonderful husband! I pray all the moms had a wonderful day! Enjoy the photos of the girls and I. Sad to say this is the first photo of us together since Bria was born. I guess that is what happens when you are always the one taking the pictures!!! LOL!

To my mom....you are my rock and mentor! You have always been there for me and loved me no matter what!! I have to say that you did a wonderful job teaching me how to love and serve! I pray I can love my girls as much as you love me and my sisters!!! Mom...."Fight like a Girl" This too shall pass! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Hannah gave me a plant & card she made at school!! My first gift...the tears are starting again!

Bria my baby girl...love her!! OK does she look like me or Mike! I am starting a poll...

The McNuggets!!!

The McNugget Family!!! Another family that I love and NO that is not their name, that is what some of us call them! They just celebrated the birth of there son. He is super cute and tiny!!! I couldn't wait to take pictures of this little one!! He was a trooper!!!

His older sister is one of Hannah's best friends and she is at that age that taking pictures is old news and easily has better things to do, like being a princess! LOL

I was able to get a few family shots and some sweet pictures of little man with his daddy and his mommy! I hope to take more of him when he's three months old!

This next one is cute. Little man's sister is doing something off camera which was making Mommy and Daddy smile!

I love this next picture of every one's hands on little man...right before I took the shot he grabbed his sisters hand!!! Why to precious!!!! I love his little double chin!

OK it is time for me to introduce Kyler to everyone! It is hard to believe my Bria was that small just 5 short months ago! Time flies!!

I love the rolls on his side.

This next picture is my favorite of the day. Kyler was so tired and melting fast. This is a very sweet moment with his mommy....In this picture you can almost hear what he is saying, "Mommy I am so tired, love on me" OK!!!!!!!!

I love how his arm is resting on mommy's shoulder. He was so tired!!!

Thank you McKnights for letting me capture your wonderful family!!! I love you guys!!!

My First Session

I was so excited to have my first photo session with the Peeler Family!!! They are very dear friends and they have the greatest place to take pictures....their BACK YARD!! I hope this is OK to say but they have 10 acres of land which is breath taking. It was the prefect setting for the first official session. There were so many places to pick from. I felt like I was in a candy store picking out my favorite candy bars. Which are Twix and Milkway!!! Anyway back to pictures....


For my first session this wonderful family was prefect!! The kids were wonderful and it was fun to follow them around and watch them be kids. The creek is a favorite place to play for the kids so it was fun taking pictures of them while I was trying not to fall in!!



Little Bradley is one of the cutest sweet boys I know. He is definitely all boy but loves on his sister and even Hannah (my daughter). I found this tree stump that had just the right amount of light and thought how much he would love to crawl up on it!!! Before I could finish telling him about it he was up to the top! this is one of my favorites from that day!!!

As much as Bradley is all boy, Amber is all girl! She loves to pick flowers which is what all little girls do right???

I love how you can take a serious "look at the camera" and then "lets be silly" Sometimes those are the best because you can really see how a family loves each other. Check out how the mom is looking at the hubby!!! Love it!

Still learning the editing buttons as you can see the color is different in both these shots but I still love them!





OK so the last one I'm showing is a picture of their hands on a tree that has SP and CP carved into it with a heart shape around their initials. The SP and CP are the parents (to cute). All their hands are on the tree but there is a space between the father and daughter's hand.



You see, there was another child before these two, which is in heaven. I could not take this picture without adding a space for that little one. That child was not here very long but paved the way for her sibling and the growth of her two parents. Their story is a blessing and I just could not leave her out! God has a plan for everyone and this family is living proof of that plan!! I love them!!!

The Biggest Cheeks in the South

OK I am convinced I will never have a child that does not either have a lot of hair or chunky cheeks!! Both my girls have plenty to share with everyone. I have heard people say, " Is that a wig or is she storing nuts in those cheeks!" Needless to say Mike and I both had chubby cheeks and Mike had all the hair. I know they are mine but I believe Mike and I did a pretty good job!!

I think Hannah believe she was born with a bow in her hair!! Bria's hair is not as thick but she has the cheeks! I hope you don't get sick of viewing the girls since they will be on here a lot!!!

Bria 5 months old

Bria 4 month old

Hannah 10 months old

Hannah 6 months old (is that a wig??)

Taking the plunge

For many years now I have been dreaming of the day when I would take photography more seriously and start a career. Well the time has come to make the plunge. I have always been passionate about photography and capturing the precious moments in our lives.

As a child I loved to sit and look at photos of myself and my family. To remember all the great memories. Even looking at all the old pictures of family members that I never knew. Wondering what they were thinking at the moment.

Photography as you know it has come a long way. The old photos showed no smiles or laughter, but today capturing that child like smile, laughter or moment of intense love is so captivating! It tells such a story which can be treasured for so many years to come.

Now that I am a mom I am realizing even more how precious those photos are. How quickly one can forget those special moments. Hannah is about to turn three and I can't believe how much she has changed!!!

I have learned this past year that Christ has blessed me with a creative side that I really never used unless I had a lot of time on my hands. Sometimes God plucks us out of a place that we think we should be in to the place He wants us.

I have always wondered, "what do I want to do with my life and what is God's plan for me???" My prayer and hope is that this questions is and will be answered as I take this step into photography as a career. My prayer is that I can share a gift that God has given me with others and that Christ will be glorified in everything I do!!!