The Allen Family

Say hello to the Allen family!! We took a few quick family pictures... and then spent the rest of the time taking pictures of the littlest Allen who is about turn one!! He is such a cutie with his big blue eyes and mischievous smile!! His mom Angie brought balloons for some of his pictures and we had some fun trying to figure out how get him to hold them, look at the camera and smile all at the same time!! Happy early birthday Brady!!

The Hennigan Family

Here is the Hennigan family! This family was a lot of fun to take pictures of and so good looking! They stuck it out in the heat and humidity like champs!! We found this great little park in League City right next to some railroad tracks and cute old timey looking buildings! My sister-in-law Jodi found this awesome spot for me... and came along to help out with the session... thanks so much Jodi!!

Pictures From an Airplane Window

The more and more I take pictures... the more I love taking pictures! Somedays I sit around trying to think of something or someplace to go take a picture of. I throw my camera around my neck and head out the door... determined to find something new and interesting. Other days I am just sitting somewhere and I see something... and bam... out comes my camera. About a week and a half ago I flew from Houston to Midland to visit my family. The flight is about an hour from gate to gate. I brought books and my Bible to read, had my computer with me, even a couple magazines in the seat pouch in front of me... but what did I end up doing the entire flight ... taking pictures! I took one look out the window at the pretty clouds and couldn't resist! Out came my camera! Thankfully no one was sitting next to me... but I did get a couple strange looks from the lady across the isle! First it was kinda grey... with just this little touch of the prettiest blue peeking through. Then I could see the ground... I love to look at the ground from airplanes and try and figure out what exactly we are flying over. My favorite part of the trip was these cute little puffs of clouds that were scattered all round! So pretty! I fly back to Houston today... I wonder what the sky will look like from my airplane window this time??

"The heavens declare the glory of God..." -Psalm 19:1

Downtown With Jodi

This is my sister-in-law Jodi.... isn't she beautiful?! She has gorgeous green eyes (I love when people have super pretty eyes it just makes the whole picture pop) and the prettiest freckles and smile! Last week while I was in Houston Jodi and I headed downtown to find some fun, new picture spots. We found this fun blue wall.... then walked over to Rice University.

It was a super hot, sunny day and we soon found our way into a little snack shop to cool off! While there we found these awesome purple chairs and pure white wall... and we just snapped away. The light was so awesome!! While in the snack shop we also made a friend and were introduced to something new... gigapans!

After walking around in the heat for over two hours.... this is basically how we felt... a little bit crazy!

Tada.... my first ever gigapan!! Still not really sure what a gigapan is.... kind of like a panorama?? Apparently Jodi and I's gigapan is now one of the top 30 gigapans... cool huh?

Check out Jodi's blog to see the pictures she took of me while we were downtown!

Good Times With the Shippey Family

Recently Chris and I spent a week in Houston with our Shippey family. It was such a good week, full of fellowship, fun and relaxing with our family! We did all kinds of stuff... Chris went golfing and got a tattoo with his brother, I got to hang out with the girls and and adventure out to take pics with my sister-in-law Jodi!! We went to the wave pool, celebrated fourth of July together... it was a very full and fun week!! Here is just a small bit of what went on!!

Here is the Shippey family. We are planning on doing some nice family pics later on in the year once it cools down outside.... until then this pic that we took kinda on a spur of the moment is our stand in!! I think we're a pretty good looking family... despite the fact that none of us were really prepared to take this picture!!!

Tuesday Jodi invited me to go with her and Scarlett and some of their friends to the Houston Children's Museum.... I took my camera along... it was pretty cool. They had a whole section of the museum set up like a town for little people.... it had everything... a bank, hospital, car dealership, vet, etc.!! Here is Scarlett shopping at the grocery store. She just kinda plopped down and started sorting the cans.... so cute!

Helping out at the checkout!!

Painting

This was hilarious!! The toddler section of the museum was in it's own separate fenced in area.... and to get in you either had to take of your shoes and just wear your socks.... or, for those who didn't have socks, some of these super hot hospital looking blue booties... Jodi and I rocked them out in style!!

The guys had a concert in Humble one of the nights.... here is a pic of the whole Chris Allen Band gang after the concert!!

One of my favorite things that I did all week was when Jodi and I went to scout out locations for a session I was doing. After walking around in the hot sun for awhile we stumbled across the cutest little tea room! Everything we ate there was so yummy.... and every time I look at these pictures I really want to go back and just sit and drink more of their awesome peach tea!! Here is a montage I made of the tea room (not really sure if this is technically considered a montage.... but I really like the word montage... so fancy sounding!)

To celebrate the 4th of July we went and ate, swam and watched fireworks with our family and their church. Here is my sweet little niece enjoying the pool.

Here is Scarlett showing of one of her ballerina moves... this girl can dance!

Scarlett and I... waiting for the fireworks!!
Fireworks montage!!

Ok.... what are these blurry spots you may wonder.... and why the heck did I take the time to montage (still love that word) and post them? While taking pictures of the fireworks I wondered what would happen if I threw the fireworks out of focus... and look... beautiful bokeh and bright colors!! Who knew!?

I loved every minute of my week with the Shippey family and I can't wait to go back and hang out some more in a week!!