try no 2 at the lady bug pics

trying out a new action. midnight gold. i feel so bad, havent posted in my blog in forever , then stop by to post one stinkin pic which is just like one (minus the action) that i have posted before! i have been soooo busy though! which is actually good!!! lol!

when kenzie woke up from her mid morning nap she was in such a great mood! cheesing, smiling, wanting to play! so , me, i thought, let me go grab those lady bug wings i bought. i put them on her real quick (before her mood changed). at first she was very cooperative. but soon, she decided that she wanted to chew on the wings, play with the wings, hide under the wings, roll over to her back with the wings! poor child! these are pretty grainy , they were taken in our bedroom where the light is very minimal.

i like it under here. she loves the color red by the way. just like her mama! lol! thats my favorite color!

trying to hide from mama and the camra

finally getting a bit sleepy

one more from the spray park

i love this one! even though its blurry, love that she's looking right at me! usually she thinks i've dissppeared once i put the camera in front of myself. and those two little fingers in her mouth, too cute!!!

still teething (did i say its been going on for a month now!). no sign of teeth though!

i took the girls to a little water spray park near our house this evening. they had fun! i had fun taking pics too! though, i was tempted to play with them! both of these pics are straight out of the camera. trying to work on my cropping in camera, though sometimes i do get carried away. okay, a lot i get carried away. i just love those tight close crops. i need to resist the urge to do that in camera and wait to do it later so i can get the best crop possible.

re: lynne and ronalyn. hey guys! i've just been chatting up people about what i do (and want to do). this guy, his name is chianti, that i'm working with on the project now happens to have started his own marketing business. our paths crossed last year when he was putting on his first benefit bball tournament. i showed him some of my photographs as well as some photo art type stuff and layouts. he was really excited about working together this year on the tournament as well as future projects. this particular job is pretty exciting because the tournament will be a big thing here. i designed a poster/ad that is running in the paper for four weeks and that will also go in to all the local 7-11's (conveinant store) where the tickets will most likely be sold. i designed the sponsership packet which he used to approach potential sponsers and, lastly , i will also be designing a program/booklet type thing for the tourney. oh, and taking pics there. this was my first freelance job and it just kinda came about. so , right now i'm working on networking and getting the word out. i plan to continue working with chianti in the future. but, i also want to do other things. i may have the oppurtunity to work with oklahoma's children's miracle network, volunteering photography and design stuff.

we are teething!

actually we have been for about a month now. but it is really in full force now! she cant get enough of putting things in her mouth, constantly chewing, chomping and gnawing. and oh the drool.....
man where is time going. i dont know if its just because its the summer or what. but, time seems to just be flying by. it seems just as soon as one week begins, its already ending!! the kids are done with summer school and day camp now and of course mikayla is always bored. i'm wrapping up the last peices of my first freelance design job! my last task will be to take pics at the event. this guy is interested in working on more projects together and hopefully this will open up more doors. the photography business is going good, working on some changing and revamping some things, plus working on an exciting new venture with my husband in that arena! i feel like i'm just blabbing, so maybe its time for a mid day nap!!

Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall

there is a replica (3/4 the original size) of the vietnam memorial wall that travels around the U.S. stopping in different cities. a few weekends ago it stopped in my city. i KNEW i had to go see it. at 17 i visited D.C. and had the oppurtunity to see the actual one. my father is a vetran of the war. and growing up we heard SO many stories of his experiences in the war. i thought i had heard them all. but there was one i must have missed. first let me tell you a little bit about how my dad grew up. his mom died during childbirth when he was about 5. his dad tried to take him in as well as several other family members. but , he ended up being sent to an orphanage. he spent about 8 years there. that in itself really saddens my heart. an orphange is no place for any child to grow up. i dont know the conditions of the orphange he grew up in but i can just imagine. a black child in the 50's....i just dont see it as being great. fast forward thru the eight years and his grandmother comes to get him out of the orphange. he goes to high school , graduates and enlists in the military. eventually he was shipped to vietnam. when they arrived there, a guy by the name of richard mckinney told him "rollins, stay with me and i will take care of you". i'm not sure how many months later this next incident happened, but they had had a night of heavy fire/bombing and in the morning they were told to go out and count the bodies of the dead (of the enemy). as my dad and richard mckinney were out, they somehow tripped a booby trap. richard mckinney got in between my dad and the explosion, to protect him, taking the force of the blast. he died a week later. too him my dad not only owes his life, but i owe my life as well. he really did take care of him. God really watched over him. thinking of this, it really saddens me to think of the welcome that many of the troops recieved when they came home from vietnam. being spit on, talked about, etc. i mean seriously, even if you didnt agree with the war, these man have just risked their lives and many did not come back! show some compassion and human kindness. direct your energy towards the ones sending them not the ones fighting to help protect your freedom. i just cannot imagine men and women so young going over to iraq (and other wars). just the entire experience. how can you wrap your mind around that at such a young age. i hear about kids fresh out of highschool going to war. i just really cannot comprehend it. man, i just wish we could all just get along. we all just really want the same things, dont we?

side of a military police vehicle

around the base of the wall, people would leave personl items. at the end of the three days all of these items were collected and buried in a vault on the grounds.

this helmet has obviously seen some combat. my dad said that some guys would string the ammunition for their machine guns around their helmets , like this one.

when we were walking by this uniform all i saw was photo on the shoulder. it caught my eye immeadiately. this gentleman had fought in the war and gotten wounded. he woke up in a hospital and his commander told him "i have good news and bad news". "the good news, you're not dead, the bad news, you're going back as a combat photographer".