Fall Boys

For those of you who have not read my Christmas family letter/blog I wanted to repost the Fall shots I took of the boys, before the end of the year! I took these right across the street from our home in an old lot. I just love the fall:)

Charleston & Theresa

At the end of October during our family vacation my very good friend Theresa came to visit for a few days all the way from Utah. No one had ever come that far just to see me so I was ecstatic, not to mention I have totally missed her! Theresa and I have known each other since teenagers through family get togethers, but never really knew each other existed until under unusual circumstances a few years ago we connected. Now she is like a sister to me and the dearest friend a girl could have! During her visit I knew if we were to go anywhere I had to take her to my Charleston, which I believe is the most beautiful and romantic city in the US, actually I got engaged there:) But seriously if you ever visit SC and only have short time go to Charleston! Here some fun shots we got while there!

Johnson Vacation 08

At the end of October we went on our family Vacation to Myrtle Beach. I really love going places off season I hate the crowds and am always in the mood to save money plus the beach is way better I think in the fall! We went for a whole week, and it was wonderful. I didn't take out my fancy camera too many times cause I was to busy being lazy, but one day we ventured off to Huntington Beach State Park, it was 5 bucks to get in and I was hoping it would be worth it. It was an amazing beach, not as nice as the Bahamas of course, but very nice for the East Coast. The sand was super white and the ocean and sky were ever so blue, and the best part about it was because it was a park it was all un -touched w/ no hotels or houses anywhere. There was no one there at all that day which proved to be a good thing because at one point we looked at Gabe our oldest who decided the ocean was a good place to pee into! Here ya go:)

To late for Pumpkins

Here's a few shots from October's annual pumpkin patch picking:) The boys were way excited this year to ride the tractor into the field and cut their own pumpkins from the vine!

New Look

As you can all see I am taking advantage of this holiday season and sneaking away to be on the computer to work on my much needed blog, and my forever large stack of photos to be edited. It might also be to the fact that one of my teen girls Amy I taught in UT is leaving me texts and messages on facebook & myspace about how excited she is and anxious to see her shots from my AZ trip where she just recently relocated. Speaking of Amy she is quite the amazing young photographer herself with only being 16 she can do some awesome things w/ a little old point & shoot. So if you are an Arizona based photographer and would be interested in having a little sidekick/assistant for the day or just for a shoot, please let me know:) Here's a few shots of Nick I was experimenting with some different lighting areas in my house.

Here's my Gabe who decided to do body art on his face before it was his turn to take pictures :)

It's Offical..............I'm Southern

This past weekend I was in Arizona home of parking lots and chap_ stick as I call it. Yes I was born in that place and spent most of my childhood hiding my fair skin from the sun and frying eggs on the side walk in the summer. When I was 16 I ventured off and left it all behind and moved to South Carolina to go to College. I have lived in South Carolina this whole time except for a short four year military detour to Utah, we won't talk about that now. Everyone knows how much I love it here I feel like it's the best kept secret ever. I used to be such a big city girl or so I thought then after this weekend and the anxiety I felt driving around this enormous place of freeways, and houses on top of houses on top of strip malls. I was so thankful to be on Southern soil again. I have a ton of pictures from my trip to add to my ever growing work load of editing but until then I have compiled a list of reasons why I love the South, and a couple shots from my 100% true southern front porch.

1. Southern Hospitality- an indescribable quality that you only know when you've experienced it

2. Quaint phrases, like sugar, baby, honey sweetheart and no matter how old you get you will always be miss 'first name' and Mr. 'first name'

3. Sunday supper w/ friends & family

4. Driving through the country just because

5. You can wear the same wardrobe almost year round, but still have 4 seasons

6. the smell of lilac and gardenias in the spring air

7. Front porches w/ swings and rocking chairs & yes people really do use them

8. The Food, say no more

9. Central location, a few hours in every direction and you can be just about anywhere

10. Fl, is only 5 hrs away which has everything from the Keys to Disney to vacation at

11. Blue ridge parkway which is amazing, and the Biltmore estates

12. Atlanta Braves (sorry my hubby made me put that)

13. TN mountains

14. You can now understand the "you might be a redneck if" jokes

15. Savannah (hello Paula Deen:)

16. Charleston, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach all in one state!!!

17. Money goes a lot longer way out here, you can actually buy land and a house without going bankrupt

18. It's called the Bible belt for a reason

19. Southern Estates & plantations

20. People are taught manners out here

21. There is so much History & deep roots

22. There is always something fun to do from, fine dining, festivals, art galleries, shopping, museums, open air markets, carriage tours, outdoors stuff like hunting, fishing, golfing,

23. Everything is slower out here

24. Pastors & Dr's still make house calls

25. Our license plate is so cool and it says "In God We Trust"

26. People out here love their state and love their college football

27. Our state tree is a palmetto tree (aka palm tree) and it is proudly displayed everywhere

28. People really do treat you like family out here, you will always have 5 invites to every holiday

29. You can say anything about or to anyone if you add "Bless your Heart"

Happy Anniversary to me.....

Wow, it is hard to believe that there are only 45 days, 9 hours and 41 minutes till Christmas! But who's counting right:) Between now and the next 45 days I will be flying to Arizona next week for a wedding, celebrating my sons 2 & 5th birthdays as well as Thanksgiving followed by my husbands and mines birthday, (which are only a day apart) then our anniversary and finally Christmas and New Years. Whewwwww that was exhausting just writing! I have a jammed pack season ahead of me so please don't think I have dropped off planet blog. Though I might be in birthday cake sugar overload land!

As I was looking at the calender today I realized it has been a little over a year since I purchased my 1st real DSLR camera! I feel like I've come a long way from not even knowing how to open a picture in photoshop or what an F-stop is! I am so excited to see what the next year brings.Thank you to everyone for their encouraging words and faithful readings of my blog, it truly means the world to me! Here's some shots from this time last year and some recent ones, progress is such a nice thing:)

Rockin the Vote

I know this is a photography blog, and I have debated with myself about how personal to get. But people who know me best are never surprised at the randomness or extreme honesty I display. So why should my blog be any different. This morning as I was doing my usual blog stalking; my amazingly talented artist friend Naomi posted this on her blog which I felt couldn't have been said better,

"Did you remember to vote? If you didn't, than don't bother doing it now just because I told you to. If you need ME to tell you to vote, then I probably don't want YOU making decisions for America. Likewise, if you need P Diddy, or Paris Hilton, or MTV to tell you to go vote, then I probably don't want YOU "rocking the vote"- leave that to the smart ones, please.However, if you were planning on voting, and haven't done so yet, please remember those living in America right now, that don't have the right to vote and can't even make their voice heard. And those are the ones whose life are on the line with this election. No, it's not their bank account on the line, it's not their taxes on the line, it's not their education- it's their life. I don't know what policy or issue is more important than that.And you may be saying that the president doesn't or won't make a difference in this issue, or that the Roe v Wade will never be overturned. People once thought the same about slavery, which was legal for much longer than abortion has been, and look where we are today. Additionally, even if the entire practice isn't abolished, the policies of one of the candidates is certain to greatly increase the number of abortions performed each year- and I don't want to be responsible for the lives of those children that could have been saved with a different vote.

"I personally feel very strongly about this issue abortion has sadly touched my life a few times, through people I love very much. Here are the earliest pictures I have of the boys, I know they will thank me one day.

Gabe 3 1/2 months old:)

Nick only 2 1/2 and 5 months!

The OTHER love of my life

Right now I am hiding from my husband blogging, I didn't finish editing the pictures of the boys I took last week so I felt compelled to atleaset post one blog, even though I am supposed to be Internet and blog free this week for our vacation! I am having an amazing time we are staying in Myrtle Beach. Every time I go to the beach I forget how much I love it! We live about an hour from here and I feel like the luckiest girl for that. I told hubby that if we can't see signs leading to the beach we live to far inland! We will be here all week, and will have lots to edit and update when I return. Here's a couple shots I got last month at Pawley's Island when I came up and stayed with my friend Joy & her sister:)

A little more Kala

Just a few more shots of Kala I thought I'de share:) I am working on some I took of the boys this past month. Hopefully I will post them before I leave for the beach on Friday:) Yea for me!

Kala

This is our beautiful babysitter Kala, aka Aunt Kala to my boys. She is the best babysitter ever, one of the few ones left that will watch the kids and clean:) I have known her since she was a little girl, and we enjoy her so much. We love to get together and eat Brownie fudge ice cream and watch teenie-bopper chick flicks! Here's a few shots I took for her mama for her junior year. (hang on there while I am attempting new editing and shooting techniques)

Do these colors look wonky?

So here's my attept at this sun flare thing I love......