Testing,Testing

As many of you already know, my Jaycee baby is going to be turning 1, one week from today. June 2nd! {Insert teary~eyes here} It is  bittersweet and I am trying to be strong about it. I just don't know where the time has gone and it seems like with the second child time flies even faster.

ANYWAYS,

I want to keep her party simple and have decided to do a cupcake them for her party. I  also mentioned that I wanted to do a cake smash session with her and once I found these I knew I had to "try" and bake them.

On Sunday, my lil' helper & I decided to attempt these cupcakes while baby girl was taking her afternoon nap.

We mixed the batter according to the directions from the website and when I came across the part where it said add sour cream, I thought to myself..."sour cream? In cupcakes? That's strange." I added it of course and let me tell you....these cupcakes are the best cupcakes I have had. YUM!

After the batter was mixed we divided the batter into 5 bowls, only because I wanted 5 colors. It worked out to be about 2 cups of batter in each bowl.

Then came the fun part....adding the food coloring. I had picked up these and they were perfect. Just what I needed. JL loved mixing all the colors. =]

Then came time time to put the colored batter into the cupcake liners. JL did a great job of placing all the liners in the pans. We did some with white liners so you could see the colors and we did some with foil liners so they would be a surprise.



{Mommy's lil helper}

Now this was the part that took the longest. You take your first color batter and put about 2 teaspoons{this is what the site says to do, but I think for 5 colors I need to do about 1 1/2 teaspoon} into the liner. Use your finger and spread it out. TIP: use a cup of water and dip your finger into the water then spread the batter around. This helps keep the batter from sticking to your fingers. Now pick your next color and do the same thing. Spread it out. Basically layering the colors. When finished layering we stuck them into the oven and baked them according to the directions on the box or as my mother always taught me, "when the toothpick comes out clean."



Not too bad for our first batch, right? I think they will be perfect for Jaycee girl's first birthday party and even better for her cake smash session. Such bright colors!

{he is definitely like his father}

And here's a cute little picture of my niece and John Logan at their Pre~School Graduation from last week. {insert another tear} Aren't they just cute?!? They are getting so big!

 My family and are headed to the lake this weekend! So excited for some fun in the sun! I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday weekend. Please be safe and let's not forget all of the fallen heroes. ♥

What a beautiful girl!

In the beginning of March, I had the opportunity to take some pictures of a girl who is a Senior at Bisbee High School. I tagged along with 2 other ladies, who are also "learning" photography. We had such a good time and this girl got some amazing pictures that herself & family can cherish forever!

Enjoy!



And just for some fun...I made this!

I was pretty pleased with the outcome of these! What do you think? I am open to any constructive criticism! Please help me learn. =]

Thanks Nicole for letting me have the chance to "shoot" you! LOL

You are such a beautiful girl both inside & out!

Busy Bee......BuZz...BuZz....BuZz

Man o' man! I have been one busy bee these past few days. Where do I even begin?

Saturday I posted all the things I needed to do over the weekend and I don't think I got everything I wanted accomplished, BUT I did do a lot. 

JL went with "mommas" {my mom} on Saturday afternoon to go see the movie Rango. What a nice break. Me & babygirl just hung out and enjoyed some peace~n~quiet. When JL got home, we went over to my mom's house and had dinner with her, "Old dude" {my step~father} and my sister who came down for the weekend from college. I love when she just shows up. I miss her so much. ♥ After dinner we came home and were in bed pretty early.

Sunday was a very busy day. My day started off with taking my first ever Senior Portraits of this BEAUTIFUL girl named Nicole.

She was the sweetest person I have ever met and I can't thank her enough for letting me have this opportunity to photograph her. We had so much fun! Thank you Nicole! :]

On our way to our first location we came across these cows. These things were so BIG that I don't even know if you call them cows when they are that big. I couldn't help but take a picture of this thing after we were done taking pictures because I thought it was just so neat.



{Look at that bad boy...YIKES!}

We moved on to our next location and got done shooting around 2:15ish. I had to leave because I had another photo shoot at 3:45pm. I am trying to get as much practice in as I can. 

The second photo shoot I did was with Ambrosia & Stephenie of this beautiful couple and their 2 year old daughter. 

Taking pictures of little kids I find pretty difficult. It's hard to pose them and they usually just want to do what they want to do. Does anyone have suggestions when photographing young kids? It's almost like you just have to get the candid shots, which I am totally okay with. 

We wrapped that photo shoot up around 5:30ish and then decided to play. We used some of Stephenie's props and put Ambrosia in front of the camera. 

After playing we headed to Ambrosia's for some BBQing. We ate steak, corn on the cob, grilled peppers, and some delicious Red Velvet cupcakes. I swear I ate like 4 of them. And now that I know they make Butter Cream frosting in a jar....I'm in big trouble.

So there you have it. I had a busy Sunday and I did it all with my back pain. Went to the Dr today so I'll fill you in with what's going on there a little later.

Hope you all are having a fantastic week so far! Thank goodness tomorrow is Hump Day!

Happy Monday Photo Challenge

I know today is Tuesday and this is a Happy Monday Photo Challenge, but I couldn't resist not linking up with this photo of my 8 month old daughter, Jaycee Lynn. She was down and out with ear infections and she has been trying so hard to get those bottom teeth in. She was tired! I decided to get my camera out and take a picture of this precious moment. I just love sleeping babies.



{look at those lips...LOL}

There you have it! Now it's your turn. Go link up to Allie's Happy Monday Photo Challenge! 



Photo Challenge: Yellow

 I'm entering another photo challenge...can you believe it? I surely can't. I am not pro but I figured linkin' up with challenges may be a way for people to help me learn things.

I was going through some pictures in my computer and came across a picture I took back in October while visiting Apple Annie's Orchard and knew right away that it would fit Angel Perry's YELLOW photo challenge.

When we got to the orchard and I saw the field of sunflowers, I knew I wanted to get lost in the middle of it and just start snapping away. This was even before I wanted to start learning photography. The husband & I grabbed the shears and headed into the field. We were looking for the perfect sunflower to cut and bring home. I think they even had a sale that day....5 for $5! :]

Anyways, as he was going up and down the rows, I was too busy snapping away. I think he was getting a little irritated but oh well. ;]

Here's the shot I got.

I even caught some sun flare! Ambrosia would be so proud of that.

Hope you like it. You should go see all the other entries! Some people just amaze me with their talents!

WOW!

OMGoodness! Today was a good day and it all started when I was reading up on some blogs I follow and found out that the picture I took was chosen as 1 of 2 favorites. EEK! You have no idea how excited this made me. I mean....really, I am in no way a photographer but I have been eagerly wanting to learn and I couldn't believe that Becky chose mine as one of her favorites. It just makes my heart smile.

Becky has been so generous and teaching everyone out there in the "blog world" what she has been learning in her photography class. Perfect for me since I am a BEGINNER~BEGINNER~BEGINNER! :]

Every week she posts what she has been learning and then asks people to link up with their pictures. I think it's pretty cool and not as intimidating as other "challenges" because it seems like a lot of those participating are beginners. This week she is teaching everyone about Simplicity so I gotta get out there and play with the camera. I have thoughts of what I want to shoot but I just hope it comes out like I picture it. Does this happen to people a lot?

I was just so thrilled that my photo was chosen and had to share  with everyone my excitement. See the photo I linked up with here.

Now...this week I will be trying to link up with Ambrosia's scrabble photo challenge. I really gotta get the creativity flowing for this because so far there are some really neat photos. Head on over and join on in! It's all fun and games, right?!?

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far! Just think tomorrow is Wednesday. Thank goodness!