i heart faces- props

It's been awhile since my last I Heart Faces entry, but I'm back this week.  I love when I see the challenge for the week & a picture immediately pops in my mind.  This is such a sweet, special picture.  What better props than ones that are sentimental... real life.  I was thrilled with how this photo turned out!

Please head over to I Heart Faces to see more beautiful entries!

happy mother's day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!  There has been no greater honor I have been given in life than to be the mom to two (soon to be THREE) of the most amazing little boys ever.  Motherhood is something you will never understand until you are there, no matter how many times people explain it to you.  Whenever friends of mine ask for advice before they have their first child, the best I can tell them is to be prepared for your heart to be rocked in a way you can never imagine.  You never know that kind of love until you look at your child & you will never be the same.  Well, I tell them that and that I'm a huge fan of the epidural ;)  I never knew how much my mom loved me until I became a mom.  I mean, I always knew she loved me but not the depth of that love... I couldn't understand, I had never felt it before. I am so thankful to have experienced that love.

I am also thinking of my friends & those I don't know who are having difficulty or have been told they are unable to have children.  I know that Mother's Day is often a painful reminder of that struggle, and I want you to know that you are not forgotten and are honored on this day as well.  A mother's heart is a mother's heart, whether or not you actually gave birth to a child.

What a fun day to enter a special photo into the I Heart Faces challenge this week!  The theme: Motherhood!

The last week of March I was given the opportunity to photograph the birth of a very precious baby boy, Joel.  My friends Jeremiah & Cheryl trusted me enough to be in the room & capture the first amazing, miraculous, precious moments when life is born.  This was not only my first birth I had captured, it was also the first birth I had the experience to witness (besides when I gave birth to my own children, and that doesn't count).  Oh. My. Lands.  I don't even know where to begin.  I told them it was a good thing I was already pregnant, or after that I would want to have another baby asap! Ha!  The miracle of life is something that really can't be put into words.  Neither is the emotion in the room when the parents see that precious life for the first time.  But this photo- my favorite photo of the entire day- says so much.  The love & emotion in Cheryl's eyes brings tears to my own... I think because I know the feeling, the one you can see all over her face, in her eyes, & in her smile.  The one that messes up your heart forever (in the best of ways).  The one that overwhelms you the moment you become a mother.  

I do have to add that while I was in the delivery room with this beautiful family I got a text from one of my best friends telling me that she was pregnant (with her first baby)!  So one friend was just beginning her pregnancy, and another friend was about to step from pregnancy to motherhood.  Pretty sure this was one of the best days ever ;)

If you want to see more motherhood entries head over to I Heart Faces! There will be so many beautiful ones, I'm sure!

i heart faces- slice of life

I love this natural, fun theme for this week's I Heart Faces challenge.  Immediately I knew which picture I wanted to use & thought it would be perfect.  There are many reasons I LOVE this picture, besides the fact that it is so fun.  It is also just a special picture of a fun day where I got to hang out with my friends & all our kids are friends too so they had a blast together as well.  Beautiful weather & laughter from the kids... they didn't leave this trampoline for about 3 hours!

Don't forget to go over to I Heart Faces & see all the other entries!!

i heart faces- best face photo!

Ok so it has been FOREVER since I entered I Heart Faces, but figured this would be a fun week to enter.  I have so many great face photos, and of course the ones with my kids in them will always top my list.  But I decided to use a business photo and this one came to mind.  Ashlee is a beautiful girl inside and out, and I just adore everything about this picture.

Don't forget to head over to I Heart Faces and see all the other stunning best face photos!

i heart faces- orange

Yes, I haven't done an entry in I Heart Faces for awhile.  And yes, I decided to move my entries back over from my photography blog to my personal blog.  It was time :)

This week's theme is orange.  I have so many photos with pumpkins, leaves, walls, and even clothing that is orange.  But this photo was the first that came to mind.  It is my absolute favorite shot of the wedding I did in September, and the orange glow of the setting sun is just beautiful!

Don't forget to head over to I Heart Faces and see other orange entries!

i heart faces week 37- completely candid

this week's theme on i heart faces is "completely candid" and immediately when i saw that category this picture came to mind. i LOVE the precious smiles between my friend and her son. you can see how much they love and enjoy each other. and the best part about it is she had no clue i had even taken this picture until i printed it out & gave it to her @ church a couple weeks later :) make sure to head over to i heart faces to see more candid shots!

i heart faces- week 36- contemplative & pets

it has been awhile since i have entered in i heart faces. i either didn't have a photo or was too busy. but this week i have a chance (and photo!) to enter in both categories! hooray :)

the theme this week is contemplative. i love this picture of sean. i captured this shot of him when we were at the splash pad one night this summer. i love how the splash pad is such a fun, happy place, yet my toddler was caught with this deep expression on his face. since moments with him being still are few & far between, this picture is priceless... i'm sure he was wondering where to go next & took off a half second after i pushed the trigger :)

and ok, i have a confession- this flamingo isn't really my pet (i'm sure you all thought it was! ha!). i don't ever have animal pictures but i did capture this photo when we went to the zoo about a month ago. i love flamingoes, love the colors, and just love this picture.

make sure to head over to i heart faces and see more beautiful photos!

i heart faces week 29- silly faces :)

i'll tell you what... there's nothing like beautiful sisters in bright, bold clothing standing on train tracks on a fabulously foggy day. that is, of course, until they all decide to let their "real" personalities out :)


head on over to i heart faces for more crazy, funny, & silly faces. this will be a great week to look if you need a lift me up... i tried to pick one that literally made me laugh when i saw it! hope you enjoy!

i heart faces week 29- the beach!

this week over at iheartfaces is beach week! woohoo! who doesn't love the beach? because i, for one, LOVE the beach!! this is a picture of sean, my oldest, and it has always been one of my favorite pictures of him. i love how you can see the ocean, surfboard and pier in the background, not to mention his shadow in front of him.


and please remember to keep stellan in your prayers! God is good, he was out of svt for an hour & a half earlier which gave his little body a bit more strength that he desperately needed.

i heart... feet?

this week over at i heart faces they are taking a break from faces and focusing on feet (cuz lets be honest... feet are fun!) so, my entry is one of my favorite feet pictures ever! this is my little nolan's feet, when he was about 5 days old. i love the contrast of my husbands large & rough hands holding his tiny & smooth feet. i feel it is symbolic of so much... it is by those hands our family is provided for!
click on image to enlarge

4th of july weekend!

this week over at i heart faces everyone is sharing their 4th of july stories, and since i need to post my pics, of course i am joining! :)

the weekend started out with me getting my new lens in the mail! i am absolutely in LOVE with it (can you be in love with a lens?)!! i had been using just the basic lens that came with my camera!

friday night our church did an outreach in the park downtown. it was so much fun and God really did some amazing things! our worship band played, the stomp team performed, & several people shared their hearts. all in front of a beautiful fountain that made for some awesome pictures!!

here are some of the kiddos banging on the "drums" during the band's warm up. we said it was the worship team & the future worship team :) mine is the cutie with the hat!

this is my oldest son sean, and below him is my youngest son nolan. of course i can't post anything without pictures of them :)

and now to the 4th (my second favorite holiday besides christmas)...
so the day started out with lots of cleaning, because we had a houseful over that night! probably 50 people came by at one point or another during the evening. we grilled out, ate TONS of good food, laughed & enjoyed each other's company. of course we had to start the festivities later, because nothing is fun unless a nap is taken :)

i busied myself in the kitchen for two days doing one of my favorite things (besides photography lol)... baking! this is a pound cake with cool whip and fruit. so summery and yummy!

and here are my famous cake balls! these are always a huge hit! if you've never made them, go here for the recipe, then make them. if you're single, make them for a guy you have your eye on... because i got proposed to over these! LOL one of the college guys said "man if dathan didn't already marry erica i'd propose to her right now" after he ate one haha
man i love my little man's sweet smile!!
this is my oldest sean and his "best friend' elana (her parents are our best friends & we have decided we wanted to take up arranged marriages for these two!). they have spent every 4th of july of their lives together ;)
look! the photographer made it in a pic! i just love my family :) :) :) we are waiting for the fireworks to start here
the night ended with all of us on our front lawn to watch the fireworks. we live just down the street (about 1/4 mile) from a bluff overlooking the river, & every year a barge shoots off fireworks right in front of this bluff. we have practically perfect seats for the fireworks! all of the young families stayed in our yard w/ the kids to watch the fireworks, & all the teenagers walked up to the bluff for the show.

hope everyone else had as fun of a weekend as we did!!

i heart faces week 25- wedding bells

although i haven't actually photographed a wedding yet, i was able to get this sweet picture at our friend's reception... despite being a bridesmaid, very pregnant, and terribly sick! ha! but it was worth it to be there for our good friends on their wedding day. the love in their eyes & joy on their faces just makes me smile in this pic! make sure to head over to i heart faces to see some more amazing wedding pics!

i heart faces week 24- oh boys!!!

well of course this week's theme over at i heart faces is near & dear to my heart- lets hear it for the boys! being the mother of 2 awesome boys and the wife to the best big boy ever, i had lots of pictures to choose from! here are a couple of my favorite as my entries!

since it's in honor of father's day, i just had to put up this sweet picture of my husband and our youngest! nothing is more precious than a quiet moment between father and son!

and here is my kids entry... probably one of my favorite pictures of our two boys together! nolan was just 5 days old here and sean couldn't help but love on him!

don't forget to head over here to check out more amazing photos of boys boys boys!

I heart faces week 23- sepia toned

this week is sepia theme for i heart faces, which i'm really excited about! i love that look, especially where there is a slight tint of color left in the picture. make sure you head over here to check out more amazing sepia pictures!

my adult entry is a picture i took on a prom photo shoot for a couple girls from my church. this was back before i had a digital, so i had to get the film transferred to cd then edit them on the computer. i don't think i miss my film camera ;)


and my children's entry is my sweet sean, who is now 3! boy does time fly! he still loves going out to his papa's house and playing by the tractors! and tractors almost always look good in sepia ;)

my vacation story in photos

once of my favorite sites, i heart faces, is having a fun category this week- a vacation story in photos! this week it is not a contest but just a fun way to share & blog about some of our best memories. since i never got a chance to blog about our trip back home to california last fall, i figured this the perfect opportunity! i hope you enjoy, feel free to leave comments or check out the i heart faces site for other awesome vacations! *warning: this post contains many pictures, which is why i made several of them into collages. clicking on any picture will make it larger

last fall my parents flew sean & i out to california for a 4 week long visit. for those of you who don't know i was born & raised in cali but my husband & i moved our family to alabama in dec of 2006. i was about 20 weeks pregnant with nolan and literally found out we were having a boy 2 days before we left! dathan was not able to go but ended up surprising me half way through the trip & joining us! it was one of the best surprises of my life, i had NO CLUE it was coming!

so the trip started out with a visit to the pumpkin patch (it actually almost burned down a couple years ago in one of the infamous "california wildfires" but they were able to restore a lot of it!)
and what is a trip to the pumpkin patch without a happy dance in the dirt/hay??


my dad is a california highway patrolman, or chp. we had a little "field trip" one day where sean & my best friend lyndsey's daughter kaylie got to look at the car. sean LOVED it. he's such a boy.halloween also came & went while we were in cali. so sean dressed up as a puppy and we headed off to my home church for their family festival. sean had a blast "playing" all the carnival games to get his candy.

dathan came mid-way through the trip. right after he got there we went with my parents & took sean to make his first build a bearand then probably the best part of the trip- DISNEYLAND!!!!! it was sean's first time and he had a blast! this first picture is probably one of my favorite pictures of sean ever!and i cannot forget that my good friend amanda took me to go see carrie underwood in concert! we had SO much fun and carrie was amazing live!! if you look very closely behind us, you can see her on stage ;)

it was such a fun trip! we have to make the most of our time with my parents since we all live so far away. sean still remembers and talks about his trip on the airplane to see memaw, papa, & disneyland in california :)