"D" Family Sneak Peak

Last night was so much fun!  I loved chasing ya'll around the park and hearing all of the giggles.  Jaclyn, their beautiful momma, was in my wedding as one of my junior attendants (I think when she was just a little older than Sarah-her oldest daughter).  My how time flies! Jaclyn, your family is gorgeous and such a blast to photograph.  Thanks for last night  I hope that you enjoy your sneak peak

 

On This Day Twenty Years Ago....

...I married the man of my dreams. The one I had hoped for, dreamed about, and prayed for...oh God is good!  Twenty years ago today we said "I do"...and 20 years later we still do and that is a blessing!

Mr. Incredible, I loved you then....but I love you so much more more now!
You were the man of my dreams then...and today you still are.
 I am so thankful that God blessed me with you and I pray that He blesses us with many, many more wonderful years together.

We both have officially been married half of our lives.  We laughed together this morning over that realization and the thought that somehow we are getting older...but it seems like yesterday doesn't it?

I'll be singing the song from our wedding all day long sweetheart, "Only God Could Love You More" than I do.

I love this picture it's on the day you asked my dad for permission to marry me. Remember the test that he gave you?  I could have died right there.  He promised if you didn't miss any that he would take us down to the church and marry us right then.  I think that you missed 2 and we were engaged for a year and a half (which seemed like forever).  I love it that we will pass this same tradition on when our girls (pardon me while I sob a minute)....I can't say it....someday!  I will always love this picture and the memories of that special day:

And our wedding day! 

I've always loved this picture too.  We were on a business trip to San Francisco and we stopped in Ghiradelli to share a chocolate sundae. 

I am looking forward to the next 20, or 40 or 70 more years together.

Kikis Corner Photography Site Launch

Oh, ya'll~I feel like I've just given birth.  I am not kidding! The prayers, the dreaming, the labor pains, the sleepless nights, the exhaustion, and the joy.  It has been a huge effort but I am so excited...I am nearly jumping out of my seat as I type this.... to announce my newest adventure with the Lord....Kiki's Corner Photography!

You can check out my new photography site by clicking here.  It is a flash based site but you may also access the non-flash version too on your smart phones. 

I really believe that this new business is a true blessing from the Lord!  For as long as I can remember photographs have played an important part in my life.  They remind us of shared memories, loved ones that we miss like crazy, joyful times together, silly-fun times, beautiful places we have visited, and joyous times beyond measure. 

I never dreamed that God would bless me with a photography business but I am so thrilled and thankful that He did! 

My blog will still be what it has always been but you may find a few photography sneak peaks posted from time to time too.  Delight! 

I need your advice...pretty please?!  The photography site has a password-protected area for clients where they can view their proofs, mark their favorites, and place their orders and pay by check or cash later.  Right now the site is set to generate an invoice only but I have the option of adding payment through paypal where the clients can choose to pay with their debit cards or by credit card.  If you were a client, would you like that option or would you prefer to pay by check or cash in person?  (I like the idea of Paypal because I generally don't keep cash on hand).  What do you think?

Thanks for your input!  I love you bunches!

My Sweet, Sweet Girls!

My sweet daughters ran a little errand this morning. I thought they were going to the bank...and they did go to the bank but they also picked up a special surprise for me:

...and I cried! How precious of my girls to think of their momma. I could not imagine what theses beautiful roses were for so they told me that they were proud of me and that it wasn't everyday that a girl starts a new photography business. Oh, my goodness gracious  these daughters of mine....heart of my heart!

I hugged them both and cried tears of joy and then pleaded with them to not spend so much money on their momma.  Knowing they are proud of me is my gift already.  Oh, how I love the expressions on their faces.

Thank you God for blessing me with my girls!  You are so good to Your children!

Baby "A"~A Newborn Sneak Peak

I just spent the most wonderful time with baby boy "A" today.  He is all of only 3 weeks old and oh so very adorable.  He and I developed quite a bond.  Yes, we did.  He felt so comfortable with me that he peed all over me...I am not kidding.  Remember?  I have daughters who don't come with that kind of equipment.  I forgot for a split second that if a certain area gets any breeze whatsoever it's going to spew...and spew all the way down my leg.  But, I didn't mind.  I'll take that over the other any day.  Ha!

Baby "A," I hope your mommy and daddy like this little sneak peak into your very first photo session.  Just be prepared, GQ may be calling you one day. 

Picture Perfect "P" Family-Sneak Peak

I had the great blessing of photographing the "P" family this evening. It was pure delight!!!! I hope that they had as much fun as I did. I can't wait to tell you more about our photo session. But it is getting way past my bedtime...so far past that I can now hear the sprinkler system outside my window.

But, I can't help it. Tonight was awesome. It was incredible to have the privilege of spending a few hours with this amazing family. Their love for each other and the Lord is so evident. We shared a lot of laughter this evening and I even cried a little when I got into my rattlesnake-killing-suburban (you can read that story here)...they were tears of joy. I was thanking the Lord for allowing me to see just a glimpse of what He sees when He looks at this precious family.

Thank you "P" family for allowing me to take a few hundred photos of ya'll tonight. I couldn't wait to give you a little sneak peak:

Baby Kayla-A Sneak Peak

I had a seventh month old baby girl at my house today and it was so fun. Thirteen years ago I had a baby that age (pardon me while I go sit in the corner and sob a bit~time needs to slow down!).

I was so excited that baby Kayla was coming over for a photo shoot that I headed to Hobby Lobby yesterday to buy some girlie-girl tulle and ribbon. I couldn't wait to make a tiny tutu and ginormous bow (did your girls wear bows? Mine did and they were always bigger than their little head~and no dad, it didn't rob them of any brain cells...Rachel is #4 in her class and that's all the proof that I need).

I think the tutu turned out too-too cute.

Baby Kayla, you were so precious today. I am so glad that you and your mommy came to play. I hope your mommy enjoys your photo session sneak peak.

Stopping in to Say Howdy!

I've been working on my blog a little...can you tell? What do you think? I think this whole changing up your template thing is a lot of work and a little stressful at times...like when I nearly deleted the entire thing...goodness gracious!

I'll still be tweaking it here and there but at least the majority is up and running~whew! It is on days like these that I miss beaches like this:

Ah, St. John...how I miss you!

I better get myself ready for the day. I have 2 photo shoots today~a sweet little 7 month old baby girl, and an awesome family shoot this evening. I can hardly wait!

Double "A" Gets Baptized

Yesterday I had the great blessing of seeing my youngest nephew baptized and the great joy of taking his baptism pictures. What a marvelous day to celebrate!



After the baptism and worship service we headed to his parents house for a delicious lunch. I made PW's guacomole. If you haven't tried it...you simply must. It's easy and delicious! There was homemade ice cream with peanut butter sauce for dessert. I had fun taking pictures of some of the little girls enjoying ice cream:



And then the sugar kicked in and the fun began:



I love the picture of little "W" on the last picture on the far right. He has on Wranglers....so cute!

It was a blessed day for sure.

My Little Nephews Aren't So Little...

....any more! These pictures prove just how much they are growing. I edited all 181 pictures yesterday...I know that's a bit much....but that is better than over 300. I just couldn't narrow it down any more than that. How do you see these adorable faces in pictures and then hit delete on my computer? It was hard. I'm posting a few more of my faves this morning.

Good news! I am off to pick up my little band nerd from camp this morning. Hannah is thinking about taking the 3D part off of her glasses and just wearing the black glasses with a little bit of duct tape in the middle when we pick up her sister..she should fit right in.

I am thankful that Rachel and Jami "survived" band camp. It really has been a good life-leason-learning week. We can't always be in the most ideal situations but we can choose to find joy and have a good attitude anyway. Plus, the co-drum majors got to spend a week together and that is good for team building....their arms are sore so I know they learned conducting (is that what drum majors call it?), oh and they learned all kind of things about not what to wear etc. Ha!

Mr. Incredible asked me if we were planning a welcome home surprise for Rachel. I thought that was sweet so we may go out to dinner tonight but I think the best part is that she will be home and that is where she has wanted to be all week.

What do ya'll have going on this weekend? Anything exciting? My youngest nephew is getting baptized on Sunday! Have a great weekend!

Sneak Peak: A Photo Shoot with My Nephews

Tuesday evening I got to spend a few hours with my nephews. We had a fun photo shoot where I took over 300 pictures but I could have taken thousands. My nephews came up with the best ideas of things to do and I had an absolute blast keeping up with them. The photo shoot was over far too quickly. Thanks, Melissa for letting me capture just a glimpse of their childhood. Please, make them stop growing!!!

Here is a sneak peak of the photo shoot. This family truck made for an ideal photo shoot:



and this last one is my favorite and I think it should be called "Brothers." It thrills my heart and makes me laugh out loud every time that I see it:



Sweet (and often ornery) Nephews, Aunt Kiki will be busy working on the rest of your photos today...delight!

Crappie!

I'm just checking in.

How is your week?

Mine is Crappie so far thank you.

Notice I said "crappie"...like the fish! I am 40 years old and my mother doesn't like for me to say it...you know the other way...so I changed it to "crappie" pronounced "croppie." Yes, I did.

Here is the exciting list:

Sunday: Take oldest daughter to Nerd Camp...sorry band camp.

She is a fish out of water (more fish references). I've never seen to so many flashes of light when we entered a room. Band nerds everywhere stopped tuning their instruments when she and Jami walked in. And the flash of light? All of their braces of course!

I really am not meaning to be cruel about the "nerd" part. Oh, crappie! Did I offend anyone? I'm sorry! I'm sure you are not a nerd!

These people at camp really are...excluding Rachel and Jami of course!

They wake the nerd herd up every morning with tubas....I wish I were kidding.

This was Rachel's text to me last night, "PLEASE, COME GET ME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And then she called me and nearly cried. I really want to go get her but my friend, Jami's mom calmly explained to the girls and to me, that if they want to come home early they need to clear it with their band teacher...clearly Dyan is the calm, reasonable mom around here. Mrs. C, please expect a sad phone call from your drum majors today.

Apparently, this really isn't Drum Major camp~it's Band Camp and she isn't learning anything new except what not to wear! Oiy!

Monday was a great day! Awesome times at home trying to get my pricing together for my upcoming photography business! Woo-hoo!!!!! I really am excited about this one. It is not "Crappie" at all...unlike the majority of this week.

Tuesday I attended a workshop on Excel.

Isn't that exciting!

I would have rather plucked my eyebrows!

It was looooooooooooooooong and I only learned 2 new things.

But, last night was the highlight of my week. I did a photo shoot with my nephews and they really do light up my life....do you remember that song? I loved that song. I use to roller skate to that song with my ever so cool leg warmers (maybe I should have gone to Nerd Camp this week). Remember who sang it? I do. Name that singer!

Today is set to be another "Crappie!" morning...it's my "annual" appointment with my doctor but first I will face nurse Barracuda who will frown at me when I get on those dreaded, could not possibly be correct, scales...and then she will wonder why my blood pressure is slightly elevated when she takes my blood pressure after I see that dreaded number on the scales! I will keep muttering to myself, "I am a daughter of the King of kings and Lord of lords and He loves me anyway!"

Yep, it's a "Crappie" week for sure. But, I guess I'll grab my fishing pole (crappie...as in fish...remember?) and make lemons out of lemonade....sorry I haven't fished in years and I didn't know how to wrap up this awesome (hear the sarcasm) post.

Ya'll have a great day! I hope it's not crappie!

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head

Name that song? (Rain drops keep falling on my head....) It's true. We have been blessed with rain for the last 3 weeks...3 weeks! We were in the rain on our beautiful vacation, which was when the storm was just a tropical disturbance or something, and now as it has made its way to Texas. Everything in our area of Texas is now so green and lovely instead of the usual dry and brown this time of year. I've loved the rain. Most days have looked like this:





This morning I woke up to the sound of the mighty thunder as it rolled across the sky. Thank you God for blessing us with abundant rain. You are so good to Your children!

Family BBQ

Monday night's family BBQ was a lot of fun. The little cousins were full of energy and joy. Poppie asked me to bring my camera and I was thrilled. I think I was there only a few minutes when the little cousins spotted my camera and starting crawling up into the big tree exclaiming, "Take my picture!" I loved every second. I had hoped to capture all of the cousins but I got to visiting and forgot...sorry. Here are several of my faves:



Oh, these eyes! Can you say future heartbreaker?



One of his big sisters is a fashion queen. Look at her awesome gloves:



Oh and this little cutie pie showing me her giant leaf from the tree:



And these eyes too...oh my goodness gracious! She was so funny. I asked her if I could please take her picture with the Bob the builder hat and she said yes but just one! So cute!



I heard my oldest nephew say, "Aunt Kiki! Aunt Kiki! Take my picture!" I turned around to see this! "A" loves ribs!



Rachel with one of her cousins.



Hannah having some cousin talk:


And then the boys found some beauty parlor toys. They tried to get Hannah but she ran for the hills. Poor Rachel. Look at her face! Is this not hysterical?!



And then the newest rowdiest cousin stepped in to style Rachel's hair. Can you say "Beauty School drop out!" (name that movie!) Run, Rachel, run!


Fun times together.

Rachel's Radical Photos

Hi Ya'll! I am turning my blog over to a guest today. Presenting my daughter....Rachel!

This week I am entering a photography contest just for teens...it's my first time to enter and I am totally excited about it. On our last trip to Cook Childrens' Hospital, for my post-surgery check up, we were able to have a whole lot more fun this time. The girls' weekend was so much fun that we had to take pictures! Here are a few of my pretty legit photos.




This is my official entry at I Heart Faces:

Riding in elevators can be fun:

No more monkeys jumping on the bed (quick here comes Momma!):