The sweetest little faces I've ever seen...



I love my boys!
xoxo

Madison, you are so sweet and tiny... almost makes me want a little girl. Almost. :)

She wasn't interested in sleeping right away, she was pretty alert for a little gal...

We finally got her alseep but she woke easily which just made me have to work harder! :)

But that was ok... I love baby yawns!


Even in her sleep she kept crawling out of the props!

Little Madi had fun playing with Mommy...

I would really like to work on my newborn portfolio so if you or someone you know is expecting soon and would like to schedule a session, for a limited time I will be offering a special (unbelievable!) portfolio building price for a select number of newborn sessions in the next couple months. Babies should be 1-2 weeks old at the time of shoot. Please contact me for more info: (270) 302-4143 or jfphotography@bellsouth.net

Teeheehee... I found this shot while rummaging through some older files:



Joshua is about 3 months here. Look at all that chub! hahaha Love my little man!

This wedding was supposed to take place this summer but schedules cannot stand in the way of love. With a new date chosen the couple had 10 days to get things organized. But with so many people in their lives that love them dearly, the evening came together beautifully. This quaint service was one of the most beautiful ceremonies I have even been blessed to attend. What a joy to capture this union!

Raven & Brad, you two are so alive! Continue to love each other with the deep passion you have for each other today. Continue to love and comfort each other and make each other smile and laugh as you did on your wedding day. It was truly an honor to be a part of this special day - Thank you!!!

Now for a little sneaky peek...



Raven, you are stunning!!! Proving yet again my brides are all gorgeous!

Just plain beautiful...


The rings...

Simple and elegant details...

Some uber fabulous girls...

The guys were fun too...


I think she really likes him...

I just have to throw this in... the flower girl was a little terrified about walking down the aisle so she ended up on mommy's lap and slowly tossed her petals from there! Too cute!


And they love happily ever after...

Just something I randomly shot while trying to find something interesting to shoot...



I really liked the texture on this old latch. Now it's your turn to find something interesting to shoot today! :)

The other night I had no idea what to fix for dinner. With crazy schedules I felt like I hadn't really cooked a complete meal in ages! I had chicken thawing and started digging through the cabinets and found these two sweet potatoes. Hmmm... can't go wrong with sweet potatoes, right? Yumm-o!


I got online and found a recipe for SP fries that sounded easy enough and set to work. The recipe said to not wash the potatoes unless you dried them thoroughly so they will still be able to soak up the EVOO. So I just peeled them neatly.

Chopped them into fry shapes...

Try not to leave too many thin, pointy ends as they would get burned easily.

Super cute assistant is not required but definitely recommended:

Sprinkle the potato pieces with salt and pepper. The recipe suggested Sea Salt and Fresh ground pepper but it's me we're talking about so I just used what was on hand, the regular old boring apparently-not-so-great for you table salt and pepper from the shakers. :) Then drizzle with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Not too much, they are not going to a pool party, just enough to get them a nice glossy coat...

Mix it all around until evenly coated then spread them out so they are not touching because who wants soggy fries?

Pop them in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes and then take a moment to enjoy your assistant's game of Peek-a-boo...




Take them out and flip them over with tongs (or chopsticks like me!) and pop them back in the oven for 10-15 minutes more. Then leave the room because the yummy smell will make you want to take them out and eat them right away!


Meanwhile I was preparing chicken tenders that went right in the oven with the potatoes and my assistant was impressed with my multi-tasking. "Oooooohhhhhhh..."

Popped a bag of steamable broccoli florets in the microwave for speed and viola!

An easy-peasy dinner that was oh-so yummy! When I saw the fries I thought I had burned them but really they were just crispied and actually just perfect!

{Mommy Moment}
Jeremiah reluctantly ate his obligatory bites of broccoli then said "Mmm... you're right, mommy! These are good!" I about fell on the floor as he proceeded to eat the rest of the broccoli from his plate. I asked if he wanted more and he said no. Oh well, I won't push my luck! lol

xoxo

... and looking forward to new life in Spring! It's dreary in the winter and it gets me down. It's a bit warmer today (yay!), so that makes me a little happier and more pleasant to be around. lol




I shot this a few weeks ago before it got really really cold. I decided to try to keep an eye out for something, ANYTHING, to shoot everyday. Hopefully it will keep me fresh during a time when I'd rather just curl up on the couch with a warm blanket, a feel good movie, and a cup of cherry chocolate cocoa from our new Cocomotion. Mmmmmmm...

Sorry, I digress. Maybe I should just take pics of the cocoa?
Mmmmmmm...

Why do they even design clothes like this? I mean, really, who is it going to fit?


Jeremiah wears them anyway because they are soft and warm. But I guess he got a little chilly (or bored) and tucked his arms in and it made me really laugh out loud. What does it remind me of? I can't place it. A cartoon character? A toy???????

Whatever it is, it's just silly!!!


And so is my little monkey. :)

xoxo

Miss Britt is only a Junior this year but since she was in town visiting from the Carolina's we had to take the opportunity to get her in front of my camera! She is my beautiful new niece and I can't wait until she gets to come visit again. Maybe next year we can do your senior pics!







xoxo

Ahhh... sweet bliss of a busy toddler sleeping...



Joshua didn't act like an infant for very long. I feel like I missed out on a lot of the baby actions. But not too long ago he started sucking on his finger and now I feel like I'm getting some of that baby I missed earlier. :)

It all started with a Christmas present. Well, not really, it actually kinda started HERE on AMY'S BLOG. I've seen them before and always thought they were neat but never treated myself to one for some reason. Then I happened to get one from my niece for Christmas and LOVED it! Then, Jeremiah kept stealing it for himself so I went back to Amy's blog and decided to make one for the little guy. THEN... I saw that I had no material on hand. (But of course lots of rice. Us Asians tend to have rice on hand. lol) BUT... I remembered some of Joshua's little outfits I had just set aside the day before that he had outgrown and I was deciding if I could part with them. The two ideas merged and viola! I made a Bed Buddy (or "bebudee" as Jeremiah calls it) for him from one of Joshua's little rompers (featured HERE). Then John 'needed' one. Then I wanted to make one for my SIL who is always cold. Then John wanted me to make one for his friend... the list just kinda grew. Here is a little stack of some of them. Mine is the pink one and smells like Lavendar so it's the best! But Jeremiah's is soft and sentimental so I might like his best. :)


I was even able to save the pocket with the cute tag which makes it extra adorable to me...

Perfect size for a tooth or something, ya think?

So now that its FREEZING out, we are really enjoying these. They get you so warm so quickly and even though the heat eventually fades, by then you are already so warm and toasty down to your core that you are good the rest of the night. Happy times. :)

Just because I can fix things doesn't mean I want to. Please, STOP taking things apart!!!!!

Love, Mommy

When I originally posted this, I had just finished gluing back together one of Jeremiah's toys. And as I typed the above, this was going on behind me...





And finally, as he was running towards me: "Mommy, can you fix this too?"

I love these two little monkeys!!!!



xoxo

Win an MP3 Player here: CLICKY!!!

This is a cool resource, check it out!

{Yes, these are from the fall and I'm just getting them on the ol' blog. You should be used to that with me by now! Now that I got that out of the way...}

Sometimes things just come together and make life much nicer. John gave me a gift certificate to get a massage for my birthday and I horded it for months before I finally decided to use it. And boy was I glad I finally did! I don't usually do such nice things for myself so this was a real treat! And let me tell you she was amazing!!! We started chatting afterward and my photography came up so she asked about Senior pics for her son. So we connected and took some shots of Steven who did a fab job! Mom loved the pics so much she scheduled a family shoot and we got to meet up again! Well, in between the massages I had to come back for! Yay!

What a great looking family, don't you think?


A couple from Steven's Sr. Shoot...



And we can't forget Macy!


And if you need to relax, a massage from Scarlett will definitely do the trick! I have had a few massages before and believe me, she is awesome!!!! You can reach her at Southern Styles here in Owensboro or give her a call at 313-3156. You will not be disappointed!

Sweeney fam... thanks so much! Lots love to you!

P.S. Scarlett, you are beautiful!

It's the New Year (Yay Twenty-Ten!) and that usually means lots of new all around so I just left it as "Happy New!" to cover all the bases. :)

As far as the biz goes... JFP is changing some things around with the wedding packages. Lots of beautiful things in store for my fabulous couples!!! I searched high and low for some amazing albums and could not resist these any longer! The cover options are endless with a vast array of textures and colors. The designs of the covers are classic and elegant or hip and funky and everything in between - whatever suits YOUR style! I will be using Finao for the 8x8 memory albums as well as your choice of 11x14 or 12x12 for your wedding album. There are other choice options we can discuss that are simply fabulous! In the meantime... here is a small sample of options from Finao...



Another option available is a Custom Proof Box, specially designed for you and it contains 150-200 fully edited 4x6 prints from your wedding (watermarked). A little sample from Finao...


And... another option available are Save The Date cards designed specifically for YOU with your favorite pose from your engagement session. For example...


(These will not be watermarked)

Everything I do is with YOU in mind. After all... it's YOUR day, not mine! I want to help make this special moment in your life the most beautiful it can be, right down to the tiny details. But most of all I want it to reflect YOUR personality, not mine. :)



As far as the rest of my life and the New Year... ??? I don't want to make any resolutions since it seems to just make it harder for me to follow through. Let's just say I want to spend more time with this:


The Wii Fit. Because I am SOOOOO out of shape!

And I want to spend more time behind my camera at home. I know my family is probably still sick of me and my black box mask from all the years of stalking their every move for archival purposes, but I am finding that I have been picking up my camera less with my family and those memories are so precious to me. I take the time to capture your family moments together but not mine? What's that all about? :) I want more random captures like these...



Most of all I want to see with new eyes. I have been searching and praying for my "Word of the Year" (Learn More: CLICK! ) and keep coming back to the same theme of seeing things differently. Seeing things not as they are. If I take a step back (or to the side) I can see things from a different perspective and learn something new. I want to see things as God wants me to see them. Can you image how much less worry and stress this would lead to? I'm "looking" forward to that! I thought about how this could relate to other areas of my life. As a wife and mommy, I am planning to see things differently at home too. To focus on the good and understand the things that may seem not so good because many times they are not as bad as they seem and may even be better than good! (Did you catch all that? Sorry about the run-on sentence! I'm bad about that...) I want to see how my husband is more amazing than I already think he is. I want to see how incredibly God has created my children. I want to see how I can be a blessing to them every moment of every day. I want to be a better friend too. This part of my life seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Due to past hurts and being waaaaay too busy, I let time with friends slip and now have a hard time picking that up again. So, friends, come drag me out of my cave into the sunshine! Life will go on whether the dishes are done or not so I might as well enjoy some of it! You'll find me hidden in my home snuggled up with the boys and editing my life away... :)

I hope your New Year is full of blessings just waiting to knock your socks off! Keep an eye out with me to see these joys as some may be hidden behind a negative perspective. Life really is good, isn't it? Let's open our eyes to capture all that we can!

XOXO