Sweet Baby Ryan at 6 weeks.

I think I have the best job in the world because I get to spend my mornings taking photos of precious little bundles like this.

Meet Baby Ryan.  Don't you just love her name - Ryan Keaton. Very non-traditional for a girl, and I absolutely love it! 

Ryan's older brother, Jaxxon, is one of Molly's classmates. Molly was so excited for Jaxxon.  I can tell that Jaxxon is going to be a wonderful big brother.  I am sure he will look out for his little sister.

I think Miss Ryan might have gotten a little bored with us. :-) 

After a while Ryan needed a little break so she had a little time with mom.

After a few minutes with mom we were able to get a few precious sleeping shots.

Baby girls are so much fun. They always have the softest, sweetest blankets to use.

And the best accessories. ;-)

The nap didn't last long. Ryan has the most beautiful nursery filled with pink ruffles and antiques.

Kari, Jaxxon and Ryan ,for letting me spend the morning with you.  Congratulations Kari and Landon.  She is precious!

Janet and Ken - A fairytale beginning.

I met Janet several years ago through my sister-in-law, Angie. I love Janet.  She is such a fun person to be around. Janet has met her Prince Charming and in October Ken asked Janet to marry him. She emailed me right away to ask if I could take their engagement pictures. I was already planning a session in Franklin in a few weeks, and we were both thinking downtown Franklin so it worked out perfectly. I was thrilled that we were able to get together for this fun session. I had only met Ken once before, but I knew with Janet we were going to have fun.

This may be a little longer than my normal preview, but I have many shots I wanted to share. While we were together that afternoon, Janet shared with me the story of her proposal. I am a romantic (and am married to one), so I always love a good romantic story. I thought I would also share it with you!

I've dreamed of getting engaged, and married, for as long as I can remember. I'm a romantic at heart. My dreams have ranged from simple-being asked over a quiet dinner in a really nice restaurant-to exotic-being on a trip with my girlfriends when HE shows up and whisks me away to a secluded beach and begs me to be his forever. Now, honestly, I've never really had the man to put into the storyline. It was just a dream, something I really thought might never happen. God doesn't promise us a mate, but he does promise He will take care of us forever-husband or not. And then, I met Ken. Ken is just as big a romantic as I am. He's also a planner just like me. I've loved that about him from our very first date. He always has a plan.

So, Ken says that I gave him many, many scenarios for how I would or would not like to get engaged. I never did this intentionally, but I talk a lot. Whenever he met my married friends, he heard their story from me along with my evaluation of whether I would like that particular proposal or not. Well, he listens very carefully!

 On Thursday, October 1, I was sitting in my office at school. The secretary called and asked me to come to the office. In the year that I have been there, this has happened two other times. Each time resulted in me bringing a gorgeous bouquet of flowers back to my office. So, I was a little suspicious. I walked into the office and sure enough, there was a gorgeous vase of flowers! The attached card read, "Happy Birthday Weekend! Pack a bag for 3 days and 2 nights and be at my place after school tomorrow." I was so excited! I squealed!

Ken has been telling me for months that he would plan my birthday, but I was getting skeptical since I hadn't been told of any plans. That evening, Ken told me what to pack. My only clues were that I should pack for 10-15 degrees cooler and that we would be driving. I ran thru all the places I could think of-north, east. I really wasn't sure. I kept telling myself not to get too excited-it was my birthday. That didn't necessarily mean we were getting engaged. Oh, but I was so hopeful! 

 So, after very little sleep Thursday night and a long work day Friday, our trip was about to begin. We started driving east. Ken kept asking if I knew where we were going. I said no. He finally said we had dinner reservations in Knoxville with friends. Oh, I was a little deflated. Dinner with friends did not exactly translate into romantic weekend, neither did a football game. I became convinced that was what we were doing. After dinner, Ken said we had to get to the hotel. We got in the car, and I was preparing myself for a nice little Hilton downtown. We kept driving. I thought, we must be going to the mountains. We passed all those exits.

Finally, again, he asked where I thought we were going. I guessed Asheville. He asked what was there-the Biltmore. Where do you think we are staying? The Biltmore-I said. You've got to be kidding, way too expensive! Well, we finally arrived in Asheville, and we pulled right up to the security gate at the Biltmore. Really, we're staying here, at the Inn? Big grin!

I felt like I had arrived in Cinderella's Castle. I have traveled a lot, but I have never stayed anywhere quite so nice. It was gorgeous. Ken told me what all we would be doing while there-touring the house and the winery and maybe a few other things. Needless to say, I was so excited!

We got up the next morning, and we prepared to go to the house on our tour. It was so fun! Ken went downstairs to find me coffee and danish for breakfast while I got ready. Once I finally was ready, we took the shuttle to the house to start our audio tour. I so enjoyed hearing all the history that surrounds that house. We left on the shuttle after taking tons of pictures and headed to the winery. We took a very quick tour of the winery because Ken said we really needed to hurry. He had arranged a picnic lunch for us. He had to jump off the shuttle at the hotel and grab our basket. We rode back to the house. We got off at the gate and walked to the top of the hill that overlooks the house. There stands a statue of Diana-goddess of the hunt and keeper of love at the Biltmore.

We spread out our lunch. Ken got me shrimp and grits. We prayed and blessed our meal. Just as I was about to take a bite of food, he said, "I'm sorry. This would be the perfect time to propose. It is beautiful here and we are having so much fun. But, your ring isn't ready. I thought about just bringing the setting but that didn't sound good." I was CRUSHED. I was trying to keep in mind that this was a really nice birthday weekend. But, oh, how I wanted to get engaged. I didn't think I could eat. I thought I might cry.

I was doing a lot of talking to myself and a lot of praying. Meanwhile, Ken was taking a bite of his sandwich. He said, will you hand me the salt? I found a box that was labeled salt in the basket. I opened it and inside was a ring box! I squealed. He smiled and got on his knees-Baby, will you marry me? Yes, yes, yes!!

Don't you just love a good romantic story? Janet and Ken, I am so happy for you, and I know you are going to live happily ever after!

All in the family.

My sister-in-law, Amy, asked me to come to Franklin to do a family session.  So a couple weeks ago, I drove up on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.  We started out at a park, but quickly moved from there to downtown Franklin.  I love downtown Franklin, and we were able to get a lot of neat shots. Here is a little preview!

I loved the way the colors popped against the white wall!

This is my favorite of the kids. I would have to have a gigantic gallery wrap of it.

I always try to get individual shots of the kids during a session.

This is Miss Anna. 

This is Sam. He went hunting with Chris for the first time the day before!

And this is Wild Man Andy.  I always say 2-year-olds are the hardest age to photograph.  They can also be the most fun when you get shots like this. :-)

This is one of my favorite family shots.

And this is a close second of my favorite shot of the three kiddos together. I love the expression on Andy's face!

I don't know whose yard we were in, but I really appreciate them letting us use it! ;-)

 Hope you like the preview, Amy and Steve! Will have the rest for you as soon as possible!

Ryleigh - Take 2.

I met up with Ryleigh after school one day a couple weeks ago.  We had planned a fall shoot back during the summer when I did a her family's session.  I was really excited about this one.  Ryleigh is just a natural beauty and is natural in front of the camera.  I knew we would have fun and we did!

First we headed to a spot I had used the week before. The leaves were just turning then and I thought they would be beautiful after another week.  Still just enough green. Perfect. 

Ryleigh has such an ease about her.  I seriously could shoot her all day long.

From here we traveled to another favorite spot of mine now. We were at the train tracks, but I think my favorites were in the road in front of the tracks.  It wouldn't matter with Ry though.  All my spots are favorites when working with her!

This next one may be my favorite.

Of course we had to take some of her with her car. I'm all about the car! This made me miss my Camaro days! 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

I had been watching this cotton field. I was hoping that they wouldn't pick it before I got to use it.  I knew it would be awesome. And it was! This runs a close second for my favorite.

 As we were walking out of the cotton field, Ry asked me if it would be ok if she laid down in the grass.  We did a quick check first to make sure there were no critters hiding.  I'm really glad she asked because otherwise we wouldn't have this.

 or this...

   

OK, so how lucky am I to have Ryleigh as a spokesmodel? Such a beauty inside and out. All you seniors make sure you see Ryleigh for a special offer before contacting me to schedule your senior photo shoot!

The Blackwoods - Sneak Peek.

I just want to start off by saying I LOVE THIS FAMILY.  They are some of our dearest friends. You will never meet more genuine, kind, caring people than Tim and Shannon.  I am so glad that their family is a part of our family's life.

Tim and Shannon are also one of my favorite couples to photograph.  Is there any question why? For those of you who don't know Tim and Shannon , but think you recognize them it is probably because their photos are all over my website.  They are so comfortable together and in front of the camera.

They have three beautiful daughters. Katie is a freshman in college. She is a drama student and is a very talented actress.

Miss Carson is a 4th grader. This girl always makes me smile. She and my Elizabeth love playing together.

Sweet Emma Bee as her mom calls her. She is a sweetie.  Dont' let her size full you though.  She can hang in there with the best of them!

Shannon had a location in mind, but when she revisited it it wasn't as she had hoped.  She searched for another location, but we ended up doing the shoot at their home.  I don't think we could have found a more perfect place.

Shannon and Tim are two very kind-hearted people.  They have given a home to several dogs. It is obvious that the dogs love them because we had to move them out of the frame after every other shot. I love this next photo.  I love all the real smiles and laughs here.  What you don't see is their basset hound, Annie, running figure 8's around me as I am lying flat on my stomach. Who new being a photographer was such a dangerous profession?!

Guy, just like always I had the best time with y'all.  It was so much fun haging out with my dear friends on a Sunday afternoon.  Love you!