Just Because: Brenner

This summer has been The Summer Of Babies around here. Between all of my nieces & nephews and my my friends' new babies, my phone was full of pictures of other people's babies when I downloaded the 600+ photos off of it the other day. One of the cutie-pies that I had a few phone-photos of is my friend Jenny's new baby boy, Brenner. Jenny has had 3 boys, and I have been at the hospital with her every time. I was even in the delivery room with her with the second one. On July 9th, I was glad to be with Jenny to sit with her through part of her labor and to welcome this sweet, long-awaited little miracle when he arrived.

~ Brenner Oz James ~

He was SO alert!

~ me with Baby Brenner ~

~ Jenny & Brenner ~

She is the best birth-giver I have ever seen!

RAIN!

After a very, very long time without rain we have had a few days this week where we have gotten to enjoy the dark clouds, the rolling thunder, and the rain! Some of our rainy days have even had low temperatures... which is almost unheard of for a Texas day in July. This was our first rainy day in a long time...

I opened the backdoor and watched the rain all morning. I even enjoyed a cup of coffee on this day - which I usually don't do in the summer because it is too hot.

Seriously! It is an exiting site after so many days without rain!

~ Allie ~

~ Jack looking mischievous ~

After playing in the rain for a while, the boys added the water hose to the fun.

~ Cooper getting sprayed ~

Just Because: Jacob

I just figured out how to move the photos from my iPhone to my computer tonight. Since I (and my kids) have been taking pictures with my phone since I got it at Christmas I had over 600 photos to download. Some of them are not worth sharing, but some of them are great. I think that I will share my favorite phone-photos on my blog from time to time. First up in my "Just Because" series... Jacob Allan. I mean, could he be any cuter?!? This sweet baby is my newest nephew at almost 7 weeks. I love him to pieces!

Baby Brystol

The day after we did the photo shoot of Amanda's baby-belly (see last post), she went to the hospital very early in the morning to give birth to Baby Brystol. I joined her there a little later and chatted with her and her husband while they waited to go to the OR for Amanda's c-section. On my bright-and-early-drive to the hospital, the sunrise was several beautiful shades of pink - the perfect way for the sky to look on the morning of a sweet baby girl's birth. While I was driving up to the hospital I was so incredibly happy thinking of the new, long-awaited chapter that was beginning for my friend.

~ Amanda & me ~

After Brystol was born she went to the NICU for a bit then to recovery with her mommy, so I was not around to take photos. Later that day I went back to visit Amanda and get my hands on that sweet baby girl. When I drove up to the hospital the memories of being there with Amanda when Zachary was born overcame me. Parking in almost the same parking space, riding the same elevator, walking past the same nurses station... then walking into a room with my friend holding her baby. It overwhelmed me. It was emotional and surprising. I had been so composed that morning. But now - seeing this little miracle for the first time - I could not contain my emotion. She was perfect and beautiful!

~ such a miracle ~

Amanda - Words cannot express how happy I am for you and how thankful I am to God for your wonderful miracle baby. I love you both!

Expecting A Miracle

Recently I had the privilege of taking maternity photos of my dear friend Amanda. It was really fun to photograph such a great friend and such a happy moment in her life. She is beautiful, and on this day - the day before she gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, Brystol - she was glowing. Photographing Amanda is exceptionally special because of the history that we share. A little over 2 years ago I was with Amanda and her husband James on the night that their very premature baby was born and passed away. (I wrote about that night here.) While the birth of this new, precious baby in no way replaces Zachary, his life makes hers seem even more incredibly special.

As I was preparing this post, I tried to only choose a few photos to share, but I simply could not. This was one of my favorite photo shoots ever... for so many reasons. My love of photography is what it is because of the people that I photograph and the emotions that I get to feel while I am doing it. Thank you Amanda for letting me share this beautiful day in your life with you.

Visiting Sassy

A couple of weeks ago (Has it been that long?!? Time is getting away from me this summer!) I mentioned that the kids and I had been to Oklahoma to see my sister Sara (We call her Sassy.) & her family, but I never posted the pictures of what we did while we were there... so here you go.

The first day that we were there, we went to the movies to see Ice Age 3, Dawn Of The Dinosaurs. It was fun for all of us --- except for 2-year-old Asher who was a bit scared at times. The second day, we went to Sara's friend's house to swim in her new pool. It was fun to meet Shannon in person. We had actually become bloggy/ phone friends as we communicated about Jonas Brothers and what-not. Thank you for your hospitality, Shannon. It was great to meet your family and you in person and see your lovely new home! The next thing on our list of highlights from our trip (Actually, I think this tops that list!) was going tubing on the lake that Sara & Beau's camp is on. Beau was nice enough to take us out on the boat one evening, and we all LOVED tubing!

~ Allie & Ainsley ~

~ Asher & Jack ~

~ Jack & Allie on the tube ~

I think this is the happiest I have seen them all summer.

~ screaming fun! ~

~ Sara & Asher ~

~ happy boy ~

~ Coop & I were last to go tubing ~

Isn't the sun set beautiful?!?

He loved it!

The next day Sara & I took the kids to a small waterpark in a nearby town. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my sister and all of our kids out in the sun and water.

~ Sara & Ainsley ~

~ Asher ~

~ Allie Cat ~

~ Jack getting dumped on ~

~ my boy ~

~ Cooper ~

~ Sara playing in the water with her kids ~

Each time that we have been to visit Sara we have had a great time but are really excited to cross back into God's Country - ummm, I mean Texas - when our visit is over. We usually stop at the visitor center and go to the vending machines to give us the energy that we need to make it the last leg of the trip.

~ Back in Texas ~

Beau & Sara - Thank you for having us. We love you and your kiddos a ton!