I like these. I love the colors of the bubbles as well as the colors of her dress. Bubbles and kids go together like peanut butter and jelly.

On closer inspection, you can even see Madeline reflected in the bubble!!

Here, let me crop it in.  See?

This next one is my favorite bubble shot. I love how the sun is bouncing off the bubble as it swirls with a rainbow of colors.

And this is just a fun picture. 

Jumping for joy .

I love when my subject/subjects are backlit by the evening sun.

This past Saturday, I went to Canterbury Village with my sister-in-law and my niece. My niece is visiting from Colorado. It's her dad that I did the engagement shoot of.  Anyway...I brought my camera along to take a few pictures of Lauren. She's such a sweet, mature, intelligent and amazingly wonderful young woman. It has been years since I've been to Canterbury. I had totally forgotten all about these beautiful colorful buildings on their grounds. How fun!  This is Lauren.

Isn't she just breathtaking?  And let me tell you, she has a heart as sweet as this face!  She's turning 16 this week.

I took pictures of the girlies while we were there as well, but didn't really get anything that I was happy with. I went back the next day with just Tara and Madeline and we had so much fun! This place was heaven to shoot girls at . In fact, it would be fun for boys too!! First stop was Ice Cream...

And then it was off to a photographers dream world!.... Check this place out...

So after our ice cream, we headed over to the colorful cottage style stores...

...where the girls just had to visit the old fashioned candy shop.

They each got a little baggie of candies (It's always good to do what appeals to them first.  Then they'll be more cooperative for me)...

I convinced Madeline to buy a strip of dots. I clearly remember eating these as a child myself. She LOVED them! It think they were her favorite. Remember these?

After they had a little candy and were feeling quite happy, I went to work shooting them in front of these beautiful backdrops. Yummy! The colors are so yummy!  I'm so blessed that my girlies love each other so much.  They are blessed to have one another too.

Notice the hand holding?  They always do that when we are out and about.

Now Tara is suffering from a terrible aliment called "snaggletoothitis". Her adult tooth has pushed her baby tooth down and out, She won't let mommy pull it, so I had to edit it out of many of these shots. But you can see it clearly here...

I love this next picture of Madeline.  Everything about it was right (lighting, composition, cuteness)....

Airborn!!  I love how Madeline always runs and gallops with her arms in the air.

I love this new spot. I think this will be a regular photo spot for me. I bet it will be amazing on a snow covered day.

On Thursday, she woke up with a red cheek. It looked like a rash. By that night, it had spread to her other cheek, elbows, and her chin. When she woke up the next morning, she looked like this:

It had spread to her trunk, arms, bottom and back. After her bath that morning, she looked like this:

And it's really itchy...

So I took her to the doctor, and she was diagnosed with 5th's disease which is a viral infection. When we got home, she looked like this:

As long as she has Benadryl in her system and coritizone cream on the really itchy parts, she totally fine. Then fun part though, is that while we were at the Dr. office, the girlies got to bring home a ceiling tile to decorate. Over the years, I have noticed the ceiling tiles decorated by patients. The girlies asked if they could take one home to decorate. Their Dr. said "absolutely!" and this was the result. First they discussed on the way home what they would do. They immediately began work when we got home.

Working together to make a beautiful piece of art...

Beautifully detailed in their collaborative effort...

And this was the final result:

We haven't taken it back yet, but I'll tell you this, of all the times we have been at that office, I have NEVER seen a tile as elaborate as this one. Beautiful job girlies!!

Just beautiful!

 Her rash is still getting worse in some spots, and better in others.  She'll be flawless again in about 4 days or so.

Here finally, is the engagement shoot of my brother and his new bride to be Kally. This is a second marriage for both of them.  I was so grateful that he brought her to Michigan to meet our family. They are getting married in Colorado and I won't be able to fly out for the wedding. I had so much fun doing their engagment shoot and having an opportunity to get to know Kally a little. What a wonderful woman, and she makes my brother so happy. Their love for one another really shines through in these pictures. I hope you enjoy them. Here are some of my Favorites, with some being the opperative word...

I really like this next picture. They are holding their hands as the begin their eternity together. The railroad tracks lead off into eternity. I knew the tracks were there and had this shot planned ahead of time.  At one point during our photo shoot, there was a real train coming down the tracks.  It was going really slow.  I tried to convince Kally to lay on the tracks and I'd get a picture of Jerry rescuing her as the train lumbered along.  Neither one of them were game for that shot.  Go figure. 

And then of course there is the sparkling ring

Again, I can't express how fun it was to do this with my brother.  Thanks Jerry and Kally!

 We went to a small town in Michigan called Holly. The street which most of the shots were taken on is called "Battle Alley". It has a very colorful history. This historic district was once the scene of frequent brawls. In 1880, an uproar between local rowdies and workers of a traveling circus rendered so many people bruised, beaten and jailed, that this street was thus named "Battle Alley."  Carry A. Nation, "Kansas saloon smasher," came to Holly on August 28, 1908, at the request of the local prohibition committee.  Wielding her umbrella, she strode through the alley's bars bellowing about the "Demon Rum" and its sins. In 1910, Battle Alley became the first brick street in the village.  I encourage you to follow this link to read a little history on Carry A. Nation.  It's fascinating! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation

It went like this..."Madeline, did you remember about your hair?" She runs to the mirror. "Mama! It looks a little curled.  Do you think a curl will stay??" This question comes because on all our special occasions, I take a curling iron to her hair and 5 min. after finishing her hair, the curl just falls completely out. She has hair like mine. POKER straight! So again..."Mama!  It looks a little curled.  Do you think a curl will stay??". "Yes..I think so!". "Then curl it right now!". So in the bathroom we ran and within minutes, she looked like this:

Most of it fell out pretty quickly after I got this picture, but it did stay somewhat, to her great pleasure .