Olivia & Sophie

I had the pleasure of photographing cousins Olivia and Sophie last week. It was a hot, muggy morning and  Sophie decided she would rather take a nap than pose for pictures. Turns out all she needed was a short little snooze, then she was up and ready to smile. Such sweet girls! Here are a few of their pics.

Goodbye to My Sweet Girl

Just a few months after my husband and I were married 16 years ago, we went to the pound and picked out a Border Collie puppy to adopt. We named her Dottie, and she was a very smart, active, sweet and cuddly little puppy. We had Dottie for 5 years before our son was born. She was so good with him - very gentle, but often jealous of the attention he was getting. He has been so fortunate to have a dog like her to grow up with.
I can't say Dottie was always an easy dog to have - she definitely wasn't. She had an extreme fear of storms and kept us up more nights than I could count. She had a lot of anxiety issues. But we wouldn't trade her for the world because she was so special and dear to us in so many ways.
Yesterday we had to make the decision no pet lover wants to make. Dottie was 16 years old and having a lot of health problems, so after weeks of tormenting ourselves over the decision we finally took her to the vet and had her put to sleep. There are no words to describe the anguish and guilt we felt. But we knew it had to be done, because she was so miserable and feeble. I will miss her terribly. I will miss the sound of her bark, the feel of her soft hair, the jingle of her collar, and just the comfort in knowing she was there.

“God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.”   — Billy Graham

I Heart Faces- Fix It Friday

This is my first time participating in the I Heart Faces Fix-it-Friday, where we take an image and make our own edits to it. This is the before and after showing my edits of the photo. Happy Friday!

Before 

After

Uptown on a Sunday Afternoon

On Mother's Day we decided to go uptown just to walk around and enjoy the beautiful day. We live in a suburb of Charlotte, and don't work uptown, so we are rarely ever there. Charlotte really has a nice uptown, with lots of trees, fountains, restaurants and areas just to sit and watch people walk by. 

Celebrating Mothers

On this Mother's Day, I'm so thankful to be a mother, and I'm also thankful to have such a great Mom. So, I decided to list some things about my Mom that make her special to me.
-Mom was born in the south and she had a huge family with 8 brothers and sisters
-She married her high school sweetheart (my Dad)
-She is a great cook
-Mom worked 2 jobs for many years to support our family, and still managed to cook, clean and do laundry.
-When we were kids, Mom use to fall asleep every night on the couch and then wake up and start asking questions about the tv show we were watching
-She loves flowers and has a green thumb
-She raised and put up with the ups, downs, and emotions of 3 daughters
-She never let us say “fart” or “shut-up”- she preferred "poot" and "hush"
-Mom taught me the importance of sitting down to dinner every evening as a family
-She tends to go way off the subject sometimes when telling a story
-She has a great sense of humor
-Mom is easy going and not temperamental
-My Mom loves dogs and every dog she has owned has been like her child (spoiled rotten)
-She laughs pretty loud, but when she get really tickled there is no sound
-She hates confrontation and breaks out in hives when she gets upset or nervous (thanks for passing that trait on to me, Mom)
-She is not mushy-gushy but she is kind and caring
-Mom encouraged me to be an artist and still encourages me to follow my dreams
-Mom thought the world of my Dad
-She loves her family with all her heart
-My Mom is awesome!

My Kind of Weather

This weekend has been gorgeous. Beautiful blue skies, temperatures in the 70's, and no humidity. With all the storms and wind we have had lately it has been such a nice change. Since the weather was so perfect I decided to go with my guys to a festival Saturday evening. We avoided the rides but enjoyed some other usual festival fare:
live music:

• funnel cake
• magic show
• people watching