Giving thanks...a little late.

I'm a day late on dishing on the things that I am thankful for. Why you might ask? Because I was in bed for the last 3-1/2 days with strep! The strep was courtesy of my youngest son, Luke, who came home with it the Friday before. It seems getting sick never happens at a convenient time of year, now does it?!

So yesterday while my family was off enjoying Thanksgiving and I was home feeling sorry for myself, I had time to think about the things I am thankful for.

Obviously, my family is first. Mike and the boys have put up with me being absent a lot lately due to this being the busy season for a photographer. I'm thankful they are understanding and help pick up the slack when I am not at home. Mike has helped me with many sessions lately, which has been a tremendous help. Sometimes I wish I could hire him full time! I'm thankful my boys are healthy, happy, and even ornery.

My mom is always unconditionally supportive of me and the things I want to do. She will never know how important that is to me.

My mother-in-law, Judy, is the best at always trying to be available to keep the boys when I need her to. I'm SO thankful for that!

Another area of my life I really want people to know I am thankful for is my friends. I've got a really great bunch of friends...and I know how fortunate I am to have them.

I want to send out a couple of special thank you's to some friends that have been extra supportive to me this year:

Denise - I know you know because I tell you in every email and phone call, but I want the world to know...you are 100% awesome, giving, knowledgable, creative and pretty funny to boot. You have been an amazing help to me!

Scott (aka Scootie) - You pretty much introduced me to this crazy bunch of folks, and I'm so thankful for that! You are one awesome photographer, and I have learned tons from you. You make me laugh too!

Moose (aka Peter or Moosie) - You are my dear friend...photographer or not. But you just happen to be the best landscape photographer around. Seriously, people, check him out. Your work always inspires me. And you make me laugh too.

Ken - Very cool human being. How's that! You have never-ending humor and insight to life that I never get sick of hearing. Then you factor in his mad skills as a photographer...that's how I came up with very cool human being! And you make me laugh too.

Michell - Miss creative girl! You are a never-ending wealth of PS knowledge! You have been great to learn from...and just great to share life with. And you make me laugh too.

Lynda - Are my adoption papers final YET?! I know in some universe I was supposed to belong in your family!! I love you guys! And you make me laugh too.

OK...they ALL make me laugh!!

I encourage anyone that reads my blog to go to my blog list and check out these guys. They are fantastic at what they do...and they are some of the best folks I know!

One final thing I'm thankful for...YOU...my clients!! I have enjoyed getting to meet and get to know each and every one of you. I always walk away with a cool story to tell or feeling better for having met you. Thank you for letting me be a part of your special moments, and thank you for helping my business to be a great success this year!!

The Leach Family...kind of?

I'm not at all sure how to classify these guys...and I'm not sure they can be anyway!! LOL! You probably remember Miss Maggie Mae back from her newborn session that I shot a couple of months ago. Well...this is her mom and dad Max and Amy...and they make the Leach family. Then Amy brought along her sister, Jenny and husband Ross...and her other sister Marti. They wanted an extended family group shot for Christmas.

So the only way I really know how to classify them is a really crazy and fun family! I've decided I need sisters and I want them to adopt me! :) Max, you married into a great family! Mike and I had a lot of fun working with these guys (we did a lot of laughing too!).

Now if we can just decide how to sign the Christmas cards I'm designing...hmmmmm!

Seth & Kristie

We had the pleasure of shooting Seth and Kristie's family session again this year. They had a new addition to the family...a very busy white lab puppy! They came down to our place, so the dogs were in heaven running around checking out the new surroundings.

I've gotten to know Kristie over the last few years because she is a hairstylist in Tulsa at Casablanca Salon...and does my hair! Our hubby's are also employed by the same company as well.

Thanks for calling me again this year for your family portraits! We had fun visiting with you guys!

Studio lighting is here!

Just to let you know...the studio lighting has arrived! I had my first session with Miss Brynlee and her family today. You will be seeing more of this cutie real soon.

So if you are in need of a studio-type setting for your next portrait session, please feel free to call and set up an appointment!

The Varner Family

Now you might recognize these two adorable little girls from my "floofy skirt" session from a few weeks ago. They recently came back for some slightly more traditional family portraits.

We visited a couple of locations for the Varner family session. The first location was a super cool old barn. As the story goes, this barn has seen a lot of life over the years...even some happenings during the prohibition period! I got the nerve to climb into the top of it (which for me is a major accomplishment because I am deathly scared of heights!). It had such awesome light...but a pretty rickety floor, so I didn't walk around too much.

From there we visited the Jackson's property. I would like to send out a special thank you to them for allowing us to access their beautiful grounds. We were fortunate enough to visit at a time when the trees looked absolutely amazing! Their entire place is just breath taking and it certainly contributed to some awesome family shots!

The Aston Family

We really enjoyed shooting the Aston's family session. They are such a cute family...and just as nice. I was thankful on this day that Mike came along to help me out. Tanner was not all that happy to be having his pictures taken at the beginning of the session. BUT...Mike ended up being a successful kid wrangler, because he had Tanner laughing and smiling by the time we finished the session.

Thank you, Mindy, for calling me to shoot your family session. It was great to finally meet you...and we enjoyed visiting with you guys!

Jadyn

I had the pleasure of working with Jadyn a couple of weeks ago. Her momma and grandma came along to help out. Jadyn, unfortunately, was not a very happy camper for most of the session. We tried and tried to get a smile out of her, but she just wasn't having it.

It wasn't until her little pal, Brynlee, came outside with her that she perked up a little. She had some of the cutest outfits...and the little fur coat and hat was over the top adorable!

Eva & Ace

Meet Eva and Ace! These two are just adorable. This was Ace's first session, and he was a handful! He was pretty much only happy when mom or dad was holding him, so we had to be quick with our shots.

Eva is Miss Personality. She had many, many faces to offer up for the camera. I fell in love with her eyes and that mess of curly hair. I managed to get some cute shots of her in between while mom was trying to calm Ace.

Thank you Kari and Jeff for allowing me to shoot their session...your kids are adorable!!

A cool couple...yes, that would be the Ihrig's!

A very windy and chilly day my husband and I traveled out to the Ihrig's home to get some shots for them for Christmas. Now I've known Debby for quite some time due to all her awesome work with OPAT (Oklahoma Parents as Teachers). She used to visit our home when my boys were little. Debby is top-notch...just a really neat and caring person...truly one of my favorites.

Then there's Judge Ihrig...LOL! I had the pleasure of getting to know him over the last couple of years when I worked part-time at a local law office. The only way I know how to explain Judge is that he is an original! Anyone that knows him knows that he is top-notch as well...you just have to factor in that he is a big ol' ornery mess on top of that! :)

So when you put Judge and Debby together...wow, you get a pretty cool couple! Kudos to Debby for keeping Judge in line all these years! I'm sure it's been tough (just kidding, Judge!!...well, kind of).

I anticipated this to be an interesting session. Needless to say Judge did not let me down! Thanks for letting us shoot your session. We had a lot of fun visiting with you guys afterwards...and your place is beautiful!

The Brown Family

I had the pleasure of shooting the Brown's family session recently. Melissa is a good friend of mine who I've gotten to know over the last several years. The last time I got to work with the Brown's, there was only Payton. They have since had an addition to the family...Miss Caylea. She had a pretty eventful birth...she arrived during the ice storm last year! Can you imagine bringing a new baby home to no power! Melissa...we'll just have to hope this winter is much less eventful!

NINE KIDS!!!

Yes, you read that right...NINE KIDS! Seven boys and two girls! This was an extended family session I shot a couple of weeks ago. This was a wild and crazy bunch! I had little boys running and flipping around everywhere...LOL! The group shot was less than perfect, but it was about as good as we could manage with that many little personalities running around. I bet this bunch has a lot of fun at family gatherings!!

Family Homecoming

I know these guys have been anxiously awaiting getting to see some of their shots. This was an important "get-together" for them. Having family in the military makes it hard on any family...so finally getting to be together was something to celebrate!

I will say the women were a little more eager to take part in the "picture taking" than the men were...but we managed to get them to cooperate pretty well.

Julie...thanks for calling me to be apart of the homecoming! Your family was a lot of fun!

Reily l Bristow High School

So keep in mind that I knew who Reily was from when he was little. He used to live on the road that my parents lived on, and I can remember seeing him and his brother playing out in their yard. Fast forward several years to our session a couple of weeks ago, when to my surprise, I see this massive "kid" lumber out of his car! Holy Moly! Reily grew over the last few years!

So looking at him I'm thinking...I wonder if he has a big football player ego to fit his stature. Well...that's the coolest thing about Reily...he's SO nice! Forgive me, Reily, if I am tarnishing some mean, tough-guy, football player image you have here...but he's such a nice guy. I really enjoyed working with him, and we got some cool shots.

Rick and Dana...you should be proud! You did good!

Family picture time again!

I recently had a session with my friends, Leann and Jody, and Leann's girls Avery and Lexi. I shot their family pictures around this time last year at Woodward, so this year we headed to Gilcrease for a change of scenery. It was a very bright, cold and windy morning, but we made the best of it.

Leann and Jody will be getting married soon...so I had to throw in a smoochy shot! I will probably be receiving some threatening emails from them shortly telling me to take it down...LOL!