Family Favorites

So we live around Indianapolis...therefore we cheer for the Colts. Dusty's brother Joel lives in Illinois...he cheers for the Bears. I couldn't resist taking this photo of both of them with their daughters. Just remember who won last year's Super Bowl!!! Truth be told Joel would have preferred to be in a Cowboys shirt. :)

Here's one of my favorites that I took of Makenna and Joel.

Thanksgiving Wrapup

Back from Thanksgiving in Illinois

• Hours in car (round trip) - 6.5


• Happy Meals ate - 2


• Bags of trash taken out of car - 1


• Tanks of gas - 2


• Thanksgiving dinners - 2


• Football games won by the Colts - 1


• Desserts ate - Won't admit to it :)


• Photos taken - 145 (Took Makenna's baby pictures)


• Friends from high school run into at Dimaggio's in Flora - 3


• Times I heard "The Incredibles" from the back seat of the car - 2


• Days until we leave for Illinois for Christmas - 27

Aaron's Friends

Since Rachel's friends got a mention last week, I need to include Aaron's friends. This is Aaron and his friend Nathan. Nathan live down the street and they spend quite a bit of time together. Nathan's family could probably use Aaron as a tax write-off during the summer since he's there so much. After this nice posed photo they proceeded to do mock Kung-Fu fighting for me to photograph!

Back from Nashville

My friend Sarah and I spent 3 days in Nashville, TN this week at the National Women's Ministry Forum. I really enjoyed the speakers and I picked up a lot of great ideas for our ministry at Hope. I got to hear from Kay Arthur, Shaunti Feldhahn, and several other authors. It was nice to get away for a while and since Mom stayed with the kids while I was gone, the house looked great when I got back! THANKS MOM!!! I don't think Sarah was quite as lucky. :)

I'm taking family photos for a friend from church tonight and then I should have a break for a little while. We'll be leaving for Illinois on Wednesday evening. The only downfall - we won't be around here for all the after Thanksgiving sales. Aaron is going to buy a Nintendo DS with his money and he's heard that they are going on sale on Friday. I think the plan is for Dusty and Aaron to go to the Wal-mart in Charleston, IL early on Friday. Then it's off to Flora on Friday to see Dusty's family. It will be good to see baby neice, Makenna. I'm sure she's growing fast. Well I'm off to edit photos. Have a great weekend!

Full House!

I took family photos for my good friend Dacia this evening. Dacia and Brad have 5 kids: Jackson - 3 1/2, Gabrielle and Connor - 2, & Brady & Cooper - 1 month. That's right, 2 sets of twins! Needless to say, we were hopping. They're a great family and I had a fun time. I think we may have even snapped a few where everyone was looking at me. Here's a couple from this evening.

Rachel's Friends

There are quite a few kids at church that are Rachel's age. She loves to go to church and play with her friends. This is Rachel and her friend Hayden. We watched the Colts game Sunday at the Painter's and Rachel and Hayden were both decked out in Colts gear. They made a cute little team. We have Mom's group every Tuesday morning and Rachel always talks about playing with friends. I would sing silly songs about "all my friends" when I was getting her ready in the morning. Now on Tuesdays she dances around and sings, "All my friends....gonna party...party!" Sometimes it sounds like she's saying, "gonna potty....potty". I really wish she would! I bet my friends with the toddlers would agree.

We tried to wear big girl underwear today since we were going to be home. After making it to the potty once, we had to deal with a spectacular mess that required many wipes to clean up! After that the diapers came back out. I need a new approach.

A couple more pics

Here are a couple of my favorites from the last week. The first is Ben, who's a member of my church and is a senior this year. I had a little fun with the photo. I don't usually get to do edgier things like this with the little kids. :) Then there is Lauren. She's my friend Sarah's daughter. I think it's representative of her personality. She's usually in a laughing, giggling mood. I'm working on getting used to the indoor lights. I'm still learning a few things, but I'm pleased with the results so far. It will be fun to be able to take photos all winter and not have to rely on the natural light.

Today I'm trying to get caught up on laundry! It just keeps coming. I've also been switching out the warm weather clothes for the long sleeves. Aaron has been requesting a pair of gloves for the past 2 days. I finally got them down out of the attic. Well I heard the dryer turn off; time for the next round. :)

A Birthday Party and Photo "Free-for-All"

Monday was Mom's birthday. Her and dad came over and we chowed down on pizza and cheesecake. Later I set up my new lights and backdrop to practice and play around. Here are a few shots from the evening. Mostly it was a "free-for-all" with the kids running through the room and me snapping them when I could. We did manage to get them to hold still for a few shots, but just for a few. (I need to remember to iron out the muslin backdrop before the next time!)

Baby Makenna Kate

We got to go to Illinois and see Makenna yesterday. She sure is a pretty little thing! Makenna, or as Rachel calls her "Baby 'Akenna" came home from the hospital yesterday. She and her mom are both doing well. She's sure to be the hit of the family Thanksgiving dinner this year!

Pictures...Pictures...Pictures

I've been busy taking fall photos lately. I counted it up and I will have had 15 different photo shoots in the last 2 weeks. They are mostly for families in our church. Everyone wants a photo while the leaves look nice. This one is one of my favorites. This is my friend Heather's daughter, Allison. She has a smile for everyone. You can't help but be in a good mood when you see her cute little face! Her brother J.J. usually just looks at me as if to say, "Oh...it's you with the camera again". But he did great and we got some fun photos of them both. We're off to Illinois tomorrow to see our new neice.

A New Hackney

We have a new neice! Dusty's brother, Joel an his wife Sarah are the proud parents of a baby girl. Makenna Kate Hackney was born at 4:24 PM today and weighed 7 lbs and measured 18 3/4 inches long. Rachel is excited about going to see her new baby cousin on Saturday. She was helping me pick out some gifts for the baby earlier today.

The Pirate & Cow!

After much debate and thought, Aaron settled on being a pirate for Halloween. Fortunately his good friend, Nathan was a pirate last year and still had the gear! This came in handy as Aaron made this decision on Monday evening! Rachel was going to be a Colts cheerleader, but we found this cow outfit in some clothes that were given to us and she loved putting it on and running around the house saying, "I a cow....Mooooooo!" We did a quick turn about the neighborhood with our friends, the Painter's and then headed to church for Trunk or Treating and then Awana. Lots of fun.....Lots of candy. Let the rationing begin!