This one's gotta make you giggle. His mom sure did! I guess the family pictures were taking a bit too long...this little guy just couldn't wait any longer.

You just never know when I'll snap a photo. I have a feeling he may hate me when he's a teenager and this one gets pulled out. But for now, it's pretty darn cute.

It was busy at the studio last weekend...here's a sample.

My boy has become quite the golfer. He loves it. His golf league is over now for the summer and he passed to make his way up to the birdie level for next year. Yesteday we went to the driving range so he could hit a bucket a balls and he was nailing them. 150...175...even 200 yards drives. and they were straight. A tip that didn't come from me! Between lessons, tips from his grandpa (an awesome golfer) and a few from me (very much an amatuer), none from his dad (a non-existant golfer) he is learning well. And it's a sport he can play his whole life, a great thing about golf. So I'll probably take him back out today so he can crack out another bucket of balls. If he hits them at all like he did yesterday, we may have another Tiger on our hands!

Well, almost! :)

The national archery tournament has been in town all week. People from all over the U.S. are here competing for the top prize of $12,000. My husband and I took part in a small part and shot a tournament called the Whitetail Classic. It was 3 hours of shooting at 3D targets. In other words, fake animals. The closer you are to hitting the vitals, the more points you get. I only lost 3 arrows. Yes, lost them. Completely shot over the animal/target. I asked if you could get a point for effort but no luck. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to be hanging out with my better half, asking for pointers all along the route. And it was fun to see these guys seriously shooting with their top notch gear and matching shirts. Most of them were very friendly and seemed to be loving our town.

I learned a ton doing this little shoot. Like how not to shoot over the target and shooting the bear in the arm will not save your life. It was fun and I'd do it again. This time bringing some extra arrows with me.

The senior photo sessions have begun! I spent a couple of hours with Cassie yesterday and we had a blast! Here's just a sample...we took lots of pictures but look at how photogenic she is. How could I help myself?! So, my senior season has begun and I'm geared up and ready to roll...

My Wordless Wednesday picture...

once in awhile they all DO get along!

The other night, my hubby and I just happened to come across this show on the travel channel. They were talking about the greatest hot dog joints in the U.S. Chicago was one of the highlights with a little spot called SuperDawg. It's been in business for over 40 years and the hot dogs looked awesome. They piled on toppings that we never would have thought of. MMMMMM...it made us hungry. I mentioned that it would be fun to make those at home. So....after a day at the lake, we stopped at the store, picked up the best dogs we could find with toppings to boot. We grilled out and piled 'em up. Not quite like the SuperDawg joint but pretty darn close. There is nothing like a good chili cheese dog to make you feel like you have to run an extra 5 miles to burn it off! Not very healthy but they were so goooooood. A perfect summertime supper I think, one we can enjoy every once in awhile. I think the next time we go to Chicago, we may have to check this hot dog place out. Afterall, they were our inspiration this weekend to the makings of a dog-gone good meal!

I call this the sweet spot. It's right across the street from my house--my studio--and where I take kids, seniors, families, whoever I have for pictures. If it's a nice day, we always head to the sweet spot. What I love about it is that it's about half a mile of options. Everyday I go there, there is something new that has sprouted. Or some new grass. There's trees and cool wheat-looking grass. It's just helps create these great relaxed pictures. And of course I love the obvious trail. Trails always lead to something and in this case it leads to the lake, a park and a campground. People love it. I can use it all year round too. The fall is beautiful back here and the winter looks even better. And the other reason why I love it? No one else comes here. I am the only photograher back here, the only one so close to this trail. I like to keep it a secret. It's my own little haven. So now you know what and where the sweet spot is. I think I was meant to live in this house. Otherwise I would never know just how sweet this spot is.

Can't believe the 4th is over already! Our party was a hit and everyone had a blast (no pun intended) :) With 20 friends over, we had more food than we could eat and enough fireworks to keep the neighbors up late. They understand though. Since we live outside of city limits, it is legal to shoot fireworks at our house so for the past 7 years, we have held the tradition of having the 4th of July party. Same friends come out and we just have fun. One thing has changed throughout the years though...the kids are getting older and it gets, well, less chaotic every year. They can light their own fireworks, they can get their own food, they don't spill, etc. One year, they will get old enough where they won't even want to stay home on the 4th. Gosh, I guess that's why we don't mind stock piling up on the fireworks because one day, we won't get to watch them have so much 4th of July fun.

www.godtube.com

If you haven't visited this site before, do it now. I just did. The videos gave me goosebumps and reminded me of things I forget about. I'm putting it on my son's computer so he'll get the goosebumps too. With all the icky sites out there, this one rocks! It's one of those sites that does something to you. Then again, maybe it's not the site but God working in the awesome way He does, through this site. Hope you get the goosebumps too.

A few photos of the lake...and my son fishing in it.

Sorry I don't have a photo for this. Try and picture it in your mind although it may not have quite the same effect. Anyway, my 8yr. old daughter has been having some trouble with the putting her head under the water and she said maybe it would help if she had a nose plug.

So we went to WalMart and got a pack complete with ear plugs, nose plug and goggles. We were getting ready to go to the pool and she came out all smiles, "I'm all set!"

All I could do was laugh...she had the ear plugs individually stuck into each nostril. She totally thought those were the nose plugs! It was hilarious! When I corrected it, she just giggled and said, "Oh, I didn't know! Oops!" And off to the pool we went.

Needless to say, I threw the "ear" plugs away after being shoved in her nose. I'm just glad we caught it BEFORE we got into the water!

So the 4th is in two days, we're having about 20 people to our house for our annual 4th of July party, and I'm not prepared for it. Yesterday, the kids and I spent the afternoon at the pool swimming and me getting too much sun (ouch!) and put off the grocery shopping until last night. Which really worked out better because then my hubby could come along and help stock us up. We are in charge of the burgers and brats and grilling them so today the fridge is full of meat, ready for Friday. After the shopping, we decided to be adventureous and hit the firework stand. We stocked up on smoke balls, artillary shells, tanks, firecrackers and roman candles and a bunch of other stuff I don't even know what they do. My hubby is like a kid in the firework shop. He said his brother used to love shooting off fireworks and I think it's true for him too. It really turns out to be a fun-filled night with our friends. And it's nice the 4th falls on a Friday this year! Although, I am running a road race Sat. morning about a half hour from home so I'll be up early...I figure by the time I get home, everyone else will still be asleep! They won't even know I'm gone. So the 4th should be a good one this year, spent with people we care about, lots of good food, fireworks and a road race to boot!