{Jackson TN, Family Photography}

I cannot tell you too many times how much I love my job. I don’t even think it’s fair to call it a job sometimes. But I do take my job very seriously. I am in the business of preserving memories and that is not something I take lightly. I meet people who are in love with their families and want to remember this point in time with a photograph. A picture IS worth a thousand words. For this sweet family it was the first time they’d had professional photos taken. I was so excited to be able to help them get this moment in time for their family captured and now part of their story is told. These sweet little boys are full of life and energy. They made me work for their smiles and laughter at first but we warmed up to each other pretty quickly. They were so much fun to chase around and be silly with. And I’m not going to lie to you, I was exhausted when all was said and done. But these sweet boys were themselves, they had fun, ran away a lot and were BOYS! I wouldn’t want to capture them any other way.

Robert and Stephanie, thank you for trusting me with these very important memories. Thank you for trusting me to be the first to capture your sweet family of four! I cannot wait to capture more milestones for your incredible family. I’ve got some hard work ahead of me with narrowing down your photos, there are so many good ones! Here’s a little sneak peek!!

Sometimes suckers DO make everything better!!

I LOVE the emotion in this one!!

{Jackson, TN Child Photography}

I love this photo of Hannah. She’s got such a sweet expression on her face.
This was one of the rare moments where she was sitting still.
I thought it would be a great entry for the i heart faces: black contest.
I can’t wait till Hannah can walk so I can get another batch of photos with Hannah wearing this.
Head over to i heart faces to see more great photos!

Do you love to get a little sneak peak into people’s lives? Just to know you’re not alone? Just to see how other people live? Well, just so you don’t have to feel like a peeping Tom, I’m going to invite  you into my home and show you around…but only one room at a time and only once they’ve been cleaned (at least a little bit) and organized.

We moved into this rental home a little more than six months ago. We’re finally getting to a place where we feel more settled and more like this is “home”. We are not sure how much longer we’ll be in this house but for now it is our home. I was getting so sick and tired of ALL the TOYS that were taking over my big kids bedroom, I have been for a while, but I always seem to find something else to do besides clean out their room. Yesterday was the day that I knew I could make it happen. I started working on it while the kids watched a movie with Greg and then he took them to the park so I could finish up. I took everything out of their closet and started putting only certain things back in. I sorted with three containers at my side. I had a box of things to put back to where they actually belong (in other parts of the house) a box for goodwill and a garbage can. I got their closet cleaned out and re-organized and I was ready to hit the rest of the room. I was so excited that I actually got their room done in just a couple of hours. I still have one more thing to organize and that won’t take me too long (the top shelf of their closet) because it’s just mostly clothes that don’t fit, that need to be put in the attic.

Since I finally got the room cleaned, organized, pictures hung and looking like a decent place to live I thought I better take some photos because who knows if it’ll ever look like this again! But I am proud to say that they did a great job of putting toys away yesterday and the room looked pristine when they went to bed.

It’s only taken me six months but here’s the first installation of our home tour. It’s still a work in progress as there are areas that need some photos or other items but it works for now. I’d like to get Hannah’s room done before grandma and grandpa come at the end of the month so I’ll be sure to get some photos once I get her room finished as well.

So here are some photos of Naomi and Micah’s shared room.
The bunk bed is from BIG LOTS, the bedspreads are from Ikea.

The dressers were mine when I was little. I’d love to re-do them someday but that’s pretty far down on my “to-do” list.



Our version of a “pet net”. Did you have one of those when you were a kid? I did. Loved it. This was a gift when Naomi was born and this is the first time I’ve ever really used it. It’s just some clothes pins crocheted in a line with two circles at each end. You can hang it vertical or horizontal! clever hey?

Shelves and bins from Target.

It’s a little hard to get two kids clothes into one closet (especially when one is a girl who LOVES to wear dresses).

There’s a story behind these curtains, but I won’t get into it…but obviously I need to finish them.
And we’re trying to not make any BIG holes in the wall so we’re just doing tension rods because we don’t want to hang big curtain rods in the rental home.

Hannah loves to play in their room with them. She just recently started climbing into the chair and sitting down. She loves to pound on the piano and bounce to the music…it’s so sweet. I’ll have to make sure to get a video of her playing some day!

I’m not sure when my love for FALL and all things related to it began. But it sure is strong. It may have been the trips to Holy Hill to gaze at the beautiful colors below. It may have been my Aunt Gloria’s pumpkin pie that I always looked forward to and eventually learned to make on my own. It may have been the satisfying feeling of pulling on a pair of blue jeans after wearing shorts for four months. It may have been the football on the tv on Sunday with windows open snuggled under blankets with a nice bowl of soup. It may have been the fall festivals and outdoor activities. Actually, it’s all of those things. Along with the beautiful colors, cooler temperatures, cozy clothes, come some of my favorite foods. Pumpkin anything, soups, and many different things made with apples. The best part of those food made with apples was the satisfaction that I picked those apples and brought them home. They didn’t  come off the shelf in the store but straight from the tree. I have always loved picking apples and was disapointed to learn that not everyone picks apples in the fall. When we lived in Texas it wasn’t something that people did and it was hard to find…you had to drive a couple of hours to find an orchard. Well, since we moved to Jackson I’ve been looking forward to the fall with great anticipation. Cooler weather, leaving windows open all day long and snuggling under blankets at night, leaves changing colors and yes, picking apples. Yes, we did have to drive an hour to find an orchard but it was SO worth it. Yes, we spent more time in the car than actually picking the apples but that’s what memories are made of.

Hannah carried that apple around the whole time we were at the orchard and most of the way home!

We had lunch at a great little pizza place on the way home and then got the kids settled in to watch a movie/nap and I got started on my applesauce. The first batch of applesauce that I’ve made is very good…and I didn’t need to add any sugar. We also bought a bushel of pears so I’ve got some work ahead of me with all the applesauce and pearsauce to make but it’ll be worth it! We had a great evening at a local festival and I’ll share those photos soon!!

For the past five years I have been taking an insane amount of pictures. You see, that’s when my first child was born. I’ve been a photographer longer than I’ve been a mother, but I’ve been capturing my own family memories in great detail for almost five years. I always took photos of my husband and I when we went on vacation or when we were visiting friends but didn’t just randomly snap off 100 photos because my hubby was looking so cute (I don’t think he would let me). I have always been the one taking the photos and placing each printed photo into an organized album with care. I have shelves of photo albums and LOVE looking through them. I entered the digital scene full time about a year and a half into my journey as a mother and the number of images of my family skyrocketed.  However, the number of photo albums to look through plummeted. The images are stuck on my computer. Many people say, “You’re a photographer you must have your photos all over your home and you must have tons of albums”. The sad thing is…I don’t. And I’m slowly trying to remedy that.

I tried traditional paper scrapbooking for a while and I love to do that, but once Naomi was born my time was cut in two. Add two more kids to the mix now and well, you get the picture. I discovered digital scrapbooking and jumped on board with full force. My computer was very slow after a while of doing this and I got very frustrated with trying to create even one page. I only have one “almost finished” album of random pages from Naomi’s first year. So sad. Eventually I just started uploading images online and putting them in a cookie cutter, boring old album just to get them off my computer. This works but it’s not me, it’s not pretty. One thing I make sure to have done is a birthday album for each of my kids after their birthdays. Their album includes pictures from the party, a letter from us, photos from their birthday photo session and a few pages with my favorite images from the past year. I love doing these and know that at least something is getting printed and my kids will have some way to remember their childhood. Digital media is constantly changing. If we do not print our images how are we guaranteed that our children will be able to access the images from their childhood?

Maybe you have Photoshop or some other digital editing program, I hope you are using it. But if you are like me, it still takes time to learn the program and to design pages that will make you happy. I was so excited to learn about My Memories digital scrapbooking software it is the perfect response to my dilemma. My dilemma being; finding the time to properly preserve the memories that I am capturing day in and day out of my children and finding a way to easily showcase our memories so that we can sit down as a family and reminisce and not have to crowd around my computer screen.

“My Memories Suite is the #1 rated scrapbook software (that comes as an instant download so there’s no waiting for your CD to get started (although you can order a CD to have as a back up)).  Not only is it affordable and fun, it’s also extremely easy. Whether you’re new to digital scrapbooking or a seasoned pro, My Memories Suite is the perfect digital scrapbooking software to use.” You can create albums in a snap, whole years worth of memories preserved and printed for all to see in a matter of a few hours (not including print/shipping time of course). The learning curve on My Memories Suite software is very short. In fact, let me make a little confession. I was given this product to review two weeks ago…but then my daughter got sick, then I got sick and I finally downloaded and started playing with the software on Tuesday. Wednesday my computer was not turned on and Thursday I crafted this post/giveaway (too much info? oh well, now you know the truth). So in a matter of a day and a half I was able to create three beautiful albums that I would be proud to print and show off. Yes, I will add more pages and maybe some more little embellishments but I’m a simple kinda girl and I don’t like a lot of fluff on my scrapbook pages, so these pages suit me just fine!

This video will show you all the awesome things that this software can do:

My husband was telling me the other day how he’d like for me to start printing more photos so that we could look through albums again. I was kind of surprised by this but then again not really. Like I said before, who wants to crowd around the computer screen. My Memories Suite has so many options that you are sure to find the type of album that you need. When you download the software you are given awesome templates, papers and embellishments. There are so many options that you won’t have to make the same page twice…unless you want to! You can also use any of the papers and embellishments that you have in your personal digital stash. The software is not very difficult to figure out and if you need help with something there are video tutorials online. It’s like they hold your hand and walk you through it so you have no excuse to not be able to make the software work for you. They also have a TON of digital products to help you in your quest for the perfect layout. I will admit that I am picky when it comes to digital scrapbook supplies and I have a specific style that I look for. The designs at My Memories are awesome. I found myself making a list of all the kits I wanted to buy…*shhhh* don’t tell my husband .

Here are some more details about this great scrapbook software straight from their website:

My Memories Suite 2.0 is a fun and creative way to keep and share memories, whether you have a Mac or PC. The scrapbooking software’s design tools will help you to build entire albums effortlessly using one of the many installed templates, or designing your very own pages from scratch. Version 2.0 includes 20+ new templates, over 1,500 new papers and over 1,300 new embellishments. There is even a new color swatch library with matching sets of papers and embellishments. And if you’re searching for even more templates, visit My Memories Suite’s online Design Shop, which offers a growing library of digital scrapbooking templates, papers, and kits to inspire your creativity!

My Memories Suite Version 2.0 software is bursting at the seams with new features! With Version 2.0 you can…

• Drag & drop page elements such as embellishments, backgrounds, and layouts from a convenient sidebar with the Resource Gallery.
• Have precise control of your page design with Zoom.
• Position journaling around circular and angled shapes.
• Create your own word art with effects like bevel & emboss, gradients, warping, and more!
• Space elements on your page evenly with advanced align function.
• Search through thousands of embellishments quickly to find the one perfect graphic.
• Layer multiple background papers—perfect for mats, paper strips, frames, and more.
• Combine pages from albums with different shapes.
• Edit your text directly on your page with precision.
• See your effects on your page as you add and adjust them with intuitive preview.
• Duplicate and mirror your pages easily.
• View your page layouts one at a time, or together as double-page spreads.
• Easily share your album with enhanced photobook, calendar, and card wizards.
• Add multiple pictures to your layout quickly with FastFill.
• Burn your creations onto a CD or DVD with better optical device support.

You have to go to the website and check out all the great things you can do with your pages once they are created. Gone are the days of scrapbook pages lying dormant on your hard drive. Share your album with your family and friends by getting it printed, burning it to a CD, and posting albums online. Bring  your memories to life. The great thing is that after you create a great scrapbook page you can take it a step further and add video and audio to the page. I have some great video of Hannah laughing at Naomi and Micah so I added it to the scrapbook pages of her. I can burn that all to a DVD and watch it on my TV. Not only do I get to see beautiful images of my daughter but I get to hear her laugh as well. Amazing! That’s what capturing memories is all about.

Let me tell you about a few other things that My Memories has to offer. They have a Design Club: you pay a discounted price upfront and get 5 digital packs each month and a discount on all other downloads.  They have weekly challenges to get you using your photos, creating beautiful layouts and preserving your memories. There are great software tutorials to help you when you’re stuck. They also have a YouTube site so you can get even more information The MyMemories site is very well organized and you can search for kits by the designer, themes, bestsellers, top products and they even have a DOLLAR STORE!! yay!! If you know me you know how much I love the dollar spot at Target and the Dollar Tree so this is right up my alley. Not to mention the freebies that you can download and use right away with your awesome digital scrapbook software. Okay, enough talking already…let’s take a quick peek at something I whipped up in a matter of minutes.

If you’re like me you are a digital scrapbook paper/element hoarder. My Memories Suite allows you to use papers that are on your hard drive. It’s super easy to do and you will have an album done in no time flat. It’s high time we get these amazing memories off our computers and into our lives!!!

The possibilities are endless! Think of all the hybrid cards you can make with these great templates and supplies. Everything is printable so you can make tons of different items for your home. I will share more projects that I’ve done with this great software later in the week…

My Memories Suite v2 sells for $39.97 which is a fraction of the price of many other digital photo editing programs. That is a steal of a deal when you realize all that My Memories Suite can do. But you my readers are in luck…I’ve got a COUPON CODE!!!

Go to MyMemories.com and enter this code: STMMMS59866 to get $10 off the price of the software…but it gets even BETTER. Once you download the software the nice people at My Memories will give you a $10 code to shop in their store!! Yippee!! That’s like a $20 coupon! Trust me you won’t have a problem finding something to spend your $10 on once you have this amazing software!

The coupon code can be used anytime!!! But the giveaway is being hosted at The Trendy Treehouse, so head over there to enter to win the software.

Good luck, I really hope you win because this software is amazing!

{Jackson, TN lifestyle photographer}

Do you ever see a great idea implemented somewhere and think “I can totally do that!” ? I say that to myself all the time. I think in my head that certain projects will be simple to pull-off, take no time at all and come out better than the inspiration itself. My head is very generous and kind, but my reality is very different. On a whim I decided to try something I saw once. Kids on a bed in between white sheets, easy enough right? Well, it wasn’t terrible. The outcome is not perfect. I’ll want to try again. I had to push my ISO pretty high so the shots are grainy and not clear. But in my trial and error I find that I don’t mind a little grain once in a while. It’s not really my “style” of photography, but it’s good to try new things now and again.

The kids and I were playing outside the other day when Naomi noticed something by the gutter. She thought it was a bee, then I looked at what she was talking about and realized it was a dragonfly. I don’t see dragonflies all too often, and when I’ve seen them before they seem to fly away pretty quickly. This dragonfly stuck around for a while and allowed me to grab my camera and capture a few frames before it flew away.  I was tempted to get a chair and get closer but I didn’t want to scare it away. I love how these images turned out. This was totally different for me and out of my league of photography but it’s good to be stretched and to try new things. I would love to try some macro photography…guess I’ll have to rent a lens and try it out. Here’s our little dragonfly friend!