Sweet Escape

Every now and then it's nice to escape to the country. There's something about no cell reception, dirt roads, and open fields that just put me in my happy place. 

Josh and I went to find his family's old ranch...sadly it was not for sale like we were hoping. The biggest perk-it was close to good ol' College Station, so we stopped and had lunch with old friends. 

Anniversary Month!

Josh and I will be celebrating our first anniversary in a few short weeks. 

Crazy!!

But March is also when SarahD and Hofmann celebrate their anniversary. Their day ended up being a celebration for me, too! I'm pretty sure know I got the better end of the deal because those two love birds went out for an anniversary dinner and I stayed home with lil Cason! 

Who wouldn't want to soak up as much time as possible with this little guy?! He's so incredibly happy all. the. time.

Sarah-I tried to get a picture of him sticking out his tongue...this was the best I could do. 

Here are some of my iPhone shots to document our day. Sorry for the photo overload...but I just cant help it. 

 Time for squashhhhh

Hahaha

Time for bath/bed and he's still happy!

I loved spending the afternoon/evening with him. Sarah and I went and picked him up from day care, headed to lunch, and then Sarah had to go back to work (sad). Cason and I had a blast!

He's just so stinkin' cute! I love him so much! 

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Sarah and Hofmann! Follow their cute family here

Bald Eagles

I've been dreaming of getting a decent picture of a hawk for a couple weeks now. I just knew my dad would love it. He's such an outdoorsman and would appreciate wildlife pictures much more than the kid pictures I tend to bore him with. Up until this weekend, this was the best bird picture I had:

At that point in time I was happy with it. It wasn't the puffed up Red Tailed Hawk I was imagining, but it was sitting in my backyard...so that upped the cool points for me.

That was until I found out about a family of Bald Eagles living just around the corner. My mom and I were heading over to see my Grandma so I grabbed my camera and the biggest lens I own. I'm so glad that my mom called and told me to. Mother's always know best, right?

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Just know that it was a whole family! Seriously, 2 adults and a baby!!! 

I hope you feel like a proud American now. These beastly birds are majestic...especially in person. Pictures like these are all about perfect timing and patience and being in the right place at the right time.

Stars and Stripes

I had the ultimate privileged of documenting a HUGE milestone for my dear friend, Jess Payne. She trusted me with photographing Tyler's return home. To put their story in a nutshell, Jess and Tyler have been married for 5 years and have 2 beautiful daughters. They are the perfect example of the All-American Family. Tyler serves our country, and for that I so am grateful. He is a selfless man and is married to an equally selfless woman. They survived a year of deployment, and their raw emotions show the joy and relief of holding Tyler in their arms again. 

To see the photos, visit Jessica's blog here

They have a beautiful story and her blog is so fun to read. 

Thanks again, Jess for trusting me with this job. I'm so happy to know y'all are all together again. Love you!

Giving Thanks

Well, I'm a terrible blogger. I blame the following issues:

Me

Having a job that sucks up all my time

I have a new house that I'm still trying to completely move into

My rockin' Dell Desktop is not mobile

I fall asleep way earlier than I should at my age

I don't have tons of things to actually blog about 

I haven't imported my next round of pictures into my computer 

(because it cannot handle too many pictures at once...cause it's a 2005 Dell Desktop)

So here I am, blogging about my Thanksgiving. My aunt was overly gracious and had 30 people in her home this year. I love seeing all my cousins...the boys flew in from California and turn any situation into a blast. I didn't take as many pictures as I really wanted, but the ones I captured are priceless. 

Here is the Noe Family being precious

And then there are the less than precious...and by that I mean, me.

Did I mention that my cousins have the cutest little man on their dad's side. I could just follow him with my camera all day...but that would make me a creepy distant relative. Non the less, here's the proof:

Ladies, please don't kill me for putting these up.

Sweet Cason

My sweet sweet Cason Hofmann has arrived! Let me tell you, I have been counting down the days for this little man's grand entrance. His mom, SarahD, and I have been close friends from the moment we met at Fish Camp 7 years ago. I can't believe it's already been that long, yet it feels like I've known her forever. Hofmann and Josh have become close friends, too, which makes hanging out with them a blast. 

Sarah has been updating her blog along the way, so feel free to follow their story here. Here's my viewpoint in the birthing story:

I work an hour from my house (yes, it's important to the story.) I was so excited when I found out a teacher that works at my school lives in my neighborhood...and we started carpooling. (Well, really I jumped in on an already formed carpool, but I'm super thrilled they let me in!) Last Tuesday was my first day to ride with them. Well, last Tuesday was also when I got a text early in the school day that Hofmann and Sarah had headed to the hospital. What?! I was trapped. No car...and I needed to get down there. My mom came to my rescue and picked me up from work early so I could get home to my car and down to the hospital. An hour to my house, a few minutes to change, and then an hour to the hospital...it felt like forever. Good thing I made it in time. I joined the rest of her cheering section and Josh joined me after work. She did great. Mom and her boys are all happy and healthy. I was so happy to be there to capture little moments with my camera. I want so badly to be a better photographer and I fully intend on practicing with Cason. I'm headed down there to see them this weekend to do a newborn shoot :)

Here he is just minutes old

 After meeting him for the first time and heading back into the waiting room, everyone busted out their phones to spread the news.  Here are the proud first-time-grandpas

 He is already so stinkin' cute

Josh came up with a nickname for him the day we found out Cason was a boy. In our house we affectionately refer to him as "Gus." Josh and I were beyond thrilled when they asked us to be Godparents. We already love him like he's our own.