.just a few more.

Here are a few more of the older kids, Bryn and Benjamin, from my last session. I met up with mom and little sister, Brooke, a few months ago... Now it's big brother and sister's turn.
Enjoy Mom. :)

.the most AMAZING invention ever.

is Google Reader.

If you have a list of a bazillion blogs to read like I do- get it. It's amazing! Instead of having to check each blog for updates it checks all of them for you and then lets you know when one of your friends has posted a blog post. genius.

Thanks Cassie!

.all B's.

I think mom and I were equally worried about chasing around sweet Brooke and trying to get a few shots of she and her big brother Benjamin and big sister Bryn all together. I knew we could do it... I think we both knew that all toddlers have a very small window where they are willing to be flexible and I think we squeezed into that window. It only took about 18 tries and a few minutes at work in the good ole' Photoshop to remove mom's shoe running out of the image (hehe) and this is what we get... :) .perfection.
Even with a super busy toddler (the pediatrician told mom when she was 4 months old; "this girl's gonna run this family!" hehe), some rain clouds (which made it REALLY dark) and a little rain, our evening was so fun! I kicked my shoes off and ran around barefoot, too, and was quickly reminded that I don't have those play-outside-all-day-long-with-no-shoes-on-tough-feet like I used to have about 15 years ago. I got some great shots of the kids alone but I'm getting sleepy so I'm off to bed.

Maybe next post...

*snapshot alert*

**Warning.... This post is full of unedited, taken by a proud mommy,

not a photographer, snap shots.**

My birthdays don't really seem like a big deal to me anymore. I think once you hit a certain age it's just another day. Yeah, the family dinner and the cards and gifts are fun but it's still just another day. Until you have a baby. The first 6 months seem to drag by... eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop. The the time starts flying. We celebrated her first birthday. Her very first full year of life- one year ago exactly. Then this past weekend we had her second birthday. Watching our baby turn two this weekend was harder than I thought it was going to be. She seems so big now. With full sentences like "Mommy sit down white der," and "Ty boy (our dog) I love you," "I climb up in de car seat," and "I call bug Audrey" while riding in the car, my heart melts a little more everyday. I am overwhelmed with emotion when I think about what a celebration of life a Birthday is. I know a handful of people who are going through major health issues with their kids and I'm so thankful that we have a healthy little girl. Lord, please constantly remind me to enjoy every second I have with this sweet little girl that you have given to us.

I went out a few weeks ago- of course totally last minute- to get a few shots of Audrey for her birthday invitation. Let me preface this by saying... Last year I made her invitation and set the standard way too high so, of course, I couldn't send out an Evite this year. ha. I should have just done that instead of stressing out. I had this great idea in my head. I bought a big bouquet of colorful balloons, gave her a hair cut and we were headed out to capture this thought that I had and put it on paper. In 100 degree plus heat, right before dinner, in less than about 30 minutes because I had a session RIGHT after, with a cranky almost 2 year old.

Here's the result of that little adventure...

So then we spent every night for almost two weeks getting our backyard and house ready for our backyard splash party. My sister was at our house the night before and snapped this one after we had shucked all of her clothes and diaper and chased her around the yard blasting her with the water hose. HILARIOUS!

Then, once we got her in bed we were standing there talking to her, doing the whole nighttime routine, I grabbed my camera a snapped a few more-

We played HARD at the "purrtee party" (she's Audrey speak for birthday party). We had thirty something people here and kids everywhere and it was so much fun!

She got a "back-yuum" for her birthday from Big Audrey and she LOVES it.

And a plasma car from her Nana and "meek-up" from her PawPaw. (Not really make-up, just brushes, sponges and empty bottles in a Caboodle-the pink "soupcase" in her trunk)

Then, as if we hadn't played hard enough, we went that evening to the North Texas State Fair and did all of the the fair festivities-

Petting zoo...

Rode the carousel- Daddy took this one- on manual. Go daddy!

Rode a horse. She loved it. This is the best pic I could get... The guy was a little weird about me having my camera- of course he wanted us to buy the one they take.The corn dog that we were supposed to be sharing... Why did I think we could share one? So, after a melt down and a few tears we bought mommy her own. And one last birthday weekend festivity... Finishing off the left over cupcakes and ice cream (which gave a little bit of a sugar high... We heard proof of that through the monitor at about 10:00) on her real birthday- August 18th.

Happy Birthday sweet girl. Daddy and I love you more than you will ever know. We love the spark that you bring to our lives. We love that it's no longer about us. We love having a sweet little girl around... Which means mommy's hair will always be brushed and daddy's make up will always be fresh (thanks to PawPaw). There will always be a baby doll that needs rocking and an abundance of food to be cooked up in your "tichen" (kitchen). We love that you tell us "I love you," sometimes even for no reason, you say please and thank you, sometimes a little reluctantly, and you never let us forgot to say "dear God" before every meal, and sometimes two and three times at one sitting. We are having so much fun with you right now. Will you stay two forever?

I've known these people my whole life

....well sort of. This is my cousin, Sharee, and her family. She's older than I am so of course we've know each other my whole life but Jacky, her husband, came in the picture (back when there were "just friends" hahaha) when I was little. Little enough to think he was HILARIOUS. Actually, he is really fun but I used to laugh so hard that my body would go limp- you know when you were a kid you would get so giggly that your body felt like a noodle. Well, mine did. Anyways, they had their beautiful daughter just a few weeks before my hubby and I got married. And they made the trip here all the way from Lubbock with a screaming baby. At the time I don't think I realized how big of a deal that was but now that I'm a mom myself, I realize that driving 6 hours in the car with a screaming baby is probably worse than a root canal or possibly evening delivering the baby. Thanks again, you guys, for making that trip. :)

They were in town a few weekends ago so we decided to head over to my favorite spot to take a few family portraits... and of course I had to take Lexi off and do a few of her alone. Anyway, here's your little sneak peak, Sharee. I hope you like!

Nothin' better than a naked baby on a bridge

I love, love, love this sweet rolly baby. Miss Keelyn is my friend Melissa's baby and she's almost 8 months and I CANNOT believe she's getting so close to crawling! It's seems like just last month I was at her house photographing that baby as a newborn. It won't be long til I'm chasing her all over the place for our one year session.

I love you sweet baby Keelyn... And your big sister and your Mommy. :)

sweet. sweet. family.

I knew within the first minute that I started talk to mom on the phone about their session that I was going to love this family! They have the sweetest little girls and I thoroughly enjoyed our session. (even though it was 100 gagillion degrees out there) Right as we were finishing up, the sprinklers came on and these two little girls ran through those things like they had never seen them before! It was so funny to watch! I think they must have thought it was so cool to go from one extreme to the next- all dolled up for pictures, then soaking wet from head to toe! hehe.... thanks again for an enjoyable evening!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

...Christmas that is. I cannot wait for jeans and long sleeved shirts, shopping for Christmas presents and baking goodies for friends and family! Along with all of that comes Christmas cards!! I am so excited about the new collection will be offering this year. These are customizable, beautiful cards. I will have everything from simple 5x5 cards to awesome tri-fold cards. These will all be printed on heavy card stock, linen paper and they will include envelopes. If you are interested in more information feel free to email me at emilythurmond@gmail.com.

If you book your session before Monday August 18th you will receive 20% OFF!!

I am booking a limited number of sessions so don't wait!!

One of the 5x5 tri-fold options.

Collin & Lyndi

First, let me say that this girl had the GREATEST idea... She wanted to take ALL of her pictures the morning of the wedding- with all family and the whole bridal party there. Being the traditional girl myself, I waited to see my groom when I was walking down the isle and now I'm wondering what in the world I was thinking. I wish I had pictures like these from my wedding. Seeing each other before the wedding gives the photographer so much more time and room to be creative and it's nice to have something a little different than the wedding party all lined up in front of the church- plus the guests weren't waiting on me. :) Photographers are always the bad guys when the guests are all at the reception waiting for the bride and groom. Plus, we were able to get some really intimate, fun, sentimental pictures of them seeing each other for the first time. So, if you are engaged and reading this and you want more than just the typical formal wedding photographs, consider taking all of the pictures of you and your families before the wedding. Ok, enough of that.

I absolutely loved the feeling of Lyndi and Collin's wedding. Her dress, shoes, jewelry, hair, make-up.... everything was beautiful. AND they were so easy to photograph. I did very little coaching and posing- they were totally at ease and complete naturals. I appreciate you guys being willing to let me get most of my work out of the way in the morning... it made my day so much less hurried and stressful. Your wedding was so sweet and I really did have a great time.



I'm sure as I continue editing there will be more favorites so keep checking back. :)