Week 52 - You, at the End

Wow, what a difference a year makes!!! I am so stinking happy that I was able to do this challenge the WHOLE TIME... even though I was occasionally a few weeks late.. WHOOPSIES!! This started out as a fun way to help myself improve as a photographer as well as focus on taking some pictures of my growing girl. In the end, it turned out that I have had more fun tracking her growth and changes than anything else. I catch myself occasionally going back and looking at all of the pictures I have taken of her... it's the best thing I could have done haha!!! It's also so nice to know that so many friends and family actually keep up with my blog and enjoy seeing the pictures I post (even sometimes giving me crap when I haven't posted on time **cough**Kendra**cough)

I figured I should end the year with the same picture that I started with. While it doesn't really show how far I have come in regards to photography (I went back and copied my settings from January to take these pictures haha)... I love that it shows the difference in Avery from January until now! Because of the fact that I have so much enjoyed the documentation of Avery and being able to look back on all of the pictures, I am going to continue this challenge (or one like it) into next year. I mean.. why the hell not?? Who knows what will happen in the next year! They say after so many weeks of doing something it becomes a habit. I'm not sure how many weeks that is, but I am positive that it's shorter than 52 weeks. Guess I will just make this blog my habit now :) Here are the final images of 2014.

And finally, a comparison between January and December.. with my big growing girl!

January 2014                                                                                       December 2014

Until next year :)

Week 51 - Holiday Cheer

About... four months ago, Brecca and I bought these really awesome sweatshirts that said "This Girl Loves Christmas" on it. So, naturally, I had to get a matching onesie for the minion. It was a no brainer when it came to a Holiday Cheer idea... I wanted Brec and Avery in a picture together with their matching sweat(shirts)! Brec would need to be reading a Christmas book to Avery in front of the Christmas tree... it doesn't get anymore Holiday Cheer than that. Naturally, Avery had her own idea of what needed to happen while Brec was trying to read her How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Never the less, with low light, a brand new puppy and a busy toddler, we were able to get a couple of cute shots!

ISO 5000, 1/200 sec, f/2.0 

I also had to take a few outtake pictures as well! Seeing as Avery wanted to do ANYTHING aside from actually doing what we wanted her to do, she was busy putting cones on Brec's head and sitting in a teeny tiny box... the silly look on her face says it all!

I just HAD to add these as well.... because... they are funny! Our new pup and AJ... silly little monsters.

Now FINALLY, here is our yearly Christmas photo, all of us in our matching pants :) Merry (now late) Christmas to everyone!

Week 50 - Winter

YAY!! My gambling paid off.... I waited for today and it actually snowed! BIG BEAUTIFUL FLAKES!!! It started snowing while we were at the grocery store for our weekly Cheetos purchase (I  blame my Dad for my rekindled love for Cheetos) and I found myself crossing my fingers and toes that it didn't peter out before we got back to our house. It did the opposite WOO HOO!!! So, I bundled up the little monster and bribed my husband and send them outside so I could take a picture of them out in the snow. We also took the opportunity to wear our new little monster, Titan, out by letting him bound around in the snow. This post marks his first (and definitely not last) appearance on the blog. 

Once Buddy and the littles came in, I was scrolling through my images and realized I just didn't get one that I really wanted. There was no talking Buddy into going back out in the snow, but I didn't even have to bribe Avery, she all but ran out the door. Thanks to some changes in settings, I got one that I absolutely love! Little stinker even made my favorite face of hers!! 

ISO 1000, f/4.0, 1/800 sec

I just HAVE to post a picture of my thrilled and sexy hubby trying to entertain Avery and Titan while I tried to take a picture. I swear it wasn't as cold as he was making it seem in this picture.

These two love each other.... so stinking much :)

Week 49 - Sparkle

I sat down to look at my options for this week and saw "Sparkle" and "Winter." Seeing as I loved the idea of them both because I LOVE this time of the year, I looked ahead to see what next weeks was to see if I really had to choose. Lucky for me, next weeks was..... "Winter" and "Sparkle." Works for me :) I then looked ahead and noticed that it would be snowing during the week of "Winter"..... well, my iPhone weather app said it would be snowing haha. So, I decided to go the sparkle route this week, which clearly involved the tree and it's sparkly lights!

Avery is in this monkey phase right now where she has to jump and climb on everything. I just recently found her on my kitchen table... which she reached by climbing up the chairs. When she is on the couch, she likes to climb up whoever is sitting there and sit on the window ledge behind the couch. Other time, when she gets bored of the window ledge, she falls down in between the couch and the cushions, where she is in this picture. Here, I just happened to have my camera handy as she was watching a Christmas movie in her Christmas onesie in front of the Christmas tree :) It worked out JUST great!!!

ISO 8000, f/4.0, 1/50 sec

Week 48 - Thankful and Emotions

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After being three and two weeks late on my last two posts, I'm pretty pumped that I'm only one day late on this puppy!!! I'm counting it as on freaking time!!!! It also helps that this week's topic was a bit easier for me to complete. We were out at the ranch this week for Thanksgiving and were lucky enough to spend time with my family. Obviously, I am extremely thankful for that! However, what I decided to take the picture of was my mom and Avery decorating our big Evergreen tree outside of our house. I am so thankful for the relationship my daughter has with her Gramma and Grampa and for the time she is able to spend out at their house. I grew up there and loved every second of it and I love that she clearly feels like it's home to her too. She's so comfortable there and constantly wants to spend time with my mom and dad. I never thought I would be so happy about my little girl wanting to jump out of my arms and into someone else's, but when it's my parents and I get to see her grin from ear to ear, it just warms my heart and makes me so ... EMOTIONAL :) I'm also very thankful for decorating trees, evergreen trees and huge ornaments!!

ISO 125, f/4.0, 1/250 sec

Week 47- Technology

I keep trying to come up with non-obvious ways to interpret these topics, but 'Technology' and last week's 'Full' weren't that fun to complete. I, clearly, went with the obvious choice this week and took a self portrait with my tripod and remote of Avery 'helping' me edit some pictures! She was NOT thrilled that I made her sit with me, haha! Oh well... got a picture and am finally caught up with week 46 and 47!!!!!!!!!! WOOO- IT'S ABOUT TIME - HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

ISO 20000. f/4.0, 1/80sec

Week 46- Full

I cheated. I am so far behind that this is a picture from Thanksgiving, after the meal.. when Avery was FULL of Thanksgiving food!! I'm so far behind that just getting this post up finally is good enough for me :) Here she is... playing with the roll basket after dinner! And yes, her shirt says "Gobble til you Wobble"

ISO 20000, f/4.0, 1/250 sec

Week 45 - Words

I got a little too excited when I realized what I was going to do with my image this week. I find myself taking everything so literal... "Maybe take a picture of her talking.." "Looking at some words.." hmmm..

A little while ago (maybe weeks, maybe months) I came across the quote on this picture  and fell in love with it. I take a look at the women in my life that I have surrounded myself with and am so impressed by how strong they are and am so happy that they are the ones that will be helping influence the girl Avery is going to become! So instead of taking a picture of the words... I took a picture of Avery at a wedding we were at this weekend and put this amazing quote on the picture. Also, if you know Avery AT ALL... I'm sure you are very familiar with the sound she is probably making at the very moment this picture was taken! Here's to strong women and powerful words!!!!

ISO 1000, f/4.0, 1/125 sec

Week 44 - Spooky!

IT'S HALLOWEEEEEEEN!!!!!

There's nothing much to say about this week! My adorable little person was an Elephant for Halloween this year and we decided to take her Trick or Treating for the first time. Since she still doesn't really understand it all and doesn't eat candy, we mostly just went for a walk. On the way back home, we stopped by a super SPOOKY house and Buddy (the giraffe) took Avery up to the door! They are so dang cute :) The picture to the right is the creepy front yard of the house they went up to. So fun!! I love Halloween! I am so excited for next year when AJ will get into it as much as I do!!!

ISO 10000, f/4.0, 1/25 sec

In addition to my theme for the week... here are a couple of pictures from Halloween! Our family costume and my adorable little girl in her pre-costume outfit!! Happy Halloween from the Ferreiras!!

Week 43 - From Below

It's Sunday... and I'm posting my challenge picture!!! It's about freaking time I got back on track (no promises for next week, though.) Now, while I can take credit for posting this in time, I can't take credit for the idea. One of my best friends, Brecca (I'm pretty sure anyone reading this blog knows who she is), came over with her mom's puppy dog, Ollie, who she just happens to be doggie sitting. Today was GORGEOUS so we decided to take Ollie and Avery on a walk and maybe even take the picture Brecca had previously thought up... from below the slide as Avery goes down it. We tried a couple of times to see if she would go down without a grown up (the slide was super short) but that just resulted in a noggin to slide incident. SO.. Brecca went down the slide with her as I sat.. below... and took the picture :) I love having assistants while taking these pictures. It means so much more to have the important people in Avery's life IN these pictures!! Also, how freaking grown up and adorable does my child look at the top of that slide?? Love that little monster!

ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/500 sec

Week 42 - Fall....Again

Fall is my FAVORITE SEASON!!!! Therefore, I took full advantage of the 'Fall' theme popping up twice on my two different pages of challenge options. Plus, the first time, the leaves hadn't really started changing and falling to their full potential, and I felt like it was necessary to get a playing-in-the-leaves shot. I also found that it was necessary to share the picture of her downward facing dog pose along with her loving the little witch hats that is decorating our yard. This is also the first post in which her pigtails make an appearance... I love those damn things!!! I may force them, but they are cute as hell. This kid is seriously just the cutest thing I have ever seen :)

ISO 160, f/1.8, 1/320 sec                                                                                        ISO 640, f/2.0, 1/800 sec              

ISO 160, f/1.8, 1/320 sec

Week 40 - Abstract Color

I'm going to start this post out by being 100% honest... I have no idea what they mean by "Abstract Color." Because of this, I put off taking this week's picture for a LONG time.. hence why I am doing last week's post this week on THURSDAY!! Whoops!! Instead, I decided I would put it off and if something jumped out at me, I would take a picture. So, last night we were playing in the backyard and Buddy looked over at one of our bushes and says "Wow, the burning bush looks really pretty." I turned and looked and, what to ya know, it did look pretty. I also decided that it looked like a pretty color to put Avery in front of and make it an... Abstract Color!! If I'm way off base on this one, I'm not too worried about it. I really like the color... I love Avery's goofy Jack-O-Lantern smile (which is the result of seeing her Kitty Sister).. and I loved how intent she was when she was picking up mulch by the bush.. oh, and her adorable hair. It's getting so long and I love the tiny little curls I'm starting to see :) 

ISO 640, f/4.0, 1/250 sec

Week 40 - Fall

I'm going to be honest here... I looked ahead and saw that not only is my theme Fall this week, but it's also Fall in two weeks. Because of this realization, I decided to try something a little different this week and then do something normal in two weeks. Something different being a shot of Avery's feet in her slippers and something normal being a shot of her adorable face with Fall throwing up all over her!!!!
I was at my parents' again this past weekend so I got a bit of the whole Fall vibe.. the only problem was the fact that it was so EFFIN WINDY!! My Mom helped me and we used the truck to attempt to block then wind and she tried to get Avery to cooperate. Needless to say, cooperation wasn't the theme of the day.. from either Avery or the wind. Oh well. The slippers are so damn cute that they stand on their own (something Avery wouldn't do). Good thing Fall is pretty :)

ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/320 sec                                                                                                                      ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/80 sec   

Week 39 - Reflection

I'm not gonna lie, I was not overly thrilled by either of the themes this week... underwhelmed... that's what I was. One.. before and after, I feel like I have done that before. Two... Reflection, I KNOW that I have done that one before. Not only that, but I also kind of forgot to do my picture until today (Tuesday). Because of that, I tortured my child by taking a picture of her immediately after waking up from a nap.. hence the paci. I WAS going to us the window to show my reflection in her tiny eyeballs, but she wouldn't cooperate. Weird that a 13 month old wouldn't pose how I wanted her to. So, I ended up just settling for a reflection of the window in her big, bright eyes. I could take pictures of those all.... day.... LONG!!!! 

ISO 1000, f/2.2, 1/160 sec, 50mm

Week 38 - Photographer's Choice

I'm just not sure what to do with all of this freedom!!! MY choice?? Surprisingly, this was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Just like every week, I have all of these ideas that just don't come to be. We were out at my parents' ranch again this weekend and I was going to do another shot of AJ out walking about but.... we never went on a walk WHOOPS! I did, however, wake up early enough to catch the sunrise out there, which is truly a great gift!!! I guess waking up early with my minion ISN'T a bad thing :) I figured I would include an image of that as my choice shot of the week.
In addition to the sunrise shot, I decided I would just take a lifestyle picture of Avery being at my parents' house. She goes out there every Friday and it's so much fun to watch her walk around like she owns the place. She clearly knows where she can get the fun things to play with. My mom is one of the most patient people I have EVER met and it shows all the time when she is watching my little one. Proof: She lets Avery go over to the cupboard and pull out anything she wants! I have the damning evidence here in this blog :) Beautiful country sunrise and time with my family.... can't get much better than that!!!

ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/25 sec                                                                                                    ISO 4000, f/4.0, 1/125 sec

Week 37 - A Beautiful View

This week, I had a planned family shoot at a lake by my house. I have been wanting to shoot there for a while and figured.. hell.. why don't I take our minion along and get this weeks "A Beautiful View" picture there. I mean, it WAS a beautiful view!! So we did! Buddy came along with us as well as my best friend, Paige and we were even going to try for some family pictures!! Those weren't the MOST successful, seeing as little stinker would not smile, but I was able to get some good pictures of just her for the challenge AND some good 1 year pictures for her. I love killing two birds with one stone :) I also love this baby's serious face!!! It must be the lips

ISO 160, f/2.2, 1/500 sec, 50mm

ISO 100, f/2.2, 1/500 sec, 50mm

Here's a little family one as well. This proves to be VERY hard to do with a tripod and a remote haha!! Oh well.. at least she is kinda smiling in it :) 

ISO 160, f/1.8, 1/500 sec, 50mm

Week 36 - Upside Down

This week, I can't say that I didn't try to do this post on time. I took a few images and I just really didn't like them. I didn't want to do anything with Labor because I don't like to work so I won't make my child work (yet) and I bet pictures of a woman in labor on my blog may scare some people away. So I went the Upside Down route. I figured I would have Buddy hold Avery upside down and I would get a picture like that. I didn't like any of those, unfortunately. Then, when I got home from work today, I was really tired an plopped my lazy body onto the floor. As I was watching Avery play, I realized... "Hey, I can be upside down." So that's how I took the pictures, me and my camera upside down watching Avery play haha :) I love watching her play when she is in her own world... especially when it's playing with her Table of Elements blocks!!! She can recite them all to me..... haha jussst kidding!! Sheesh, she's only a year old! Then, of course, she notices I am taking pictures and decides she wants to come play with the lens, bringing her blocks along! Love this baby!

ISO 4000, f/1.8, 1/640 sec

ISO 4000, f/1.8, 1/640 sec

Week 35 - Blur

This week had two topics that I was particularly excited about, Blur and Low Angle. First off, taking a low angle shot on someone who is SO low to the ground already is pretty tough. Secondly, I like taking in focus pictures of my daughter, not blurry ones. I decided I would make the bubbles blurry and still focus on my little stinker :) Problem solved!!!! Actually, I tried focusing on the bubbles but I didn't like any of those so I went with an in focus Avery picture!! Big shout out to Buddy the Bubble Blower.. without him, this process would have been very hard. Blowing bubbles is hard whilst taking a picture! I ended up picking this image because I love her tiny ear curl.. and want to kiss those big ol' lips... and the focusing eye brows haha!! MUST..GET..BUBBLES!!!!

ISO 320, f/4.0, 1/250 sec, 70 mm

Week 34 - Movement & Favorite Place

I figured I would be early on this week seeing as I was so late last week. Even though Thursday really isn't THAT early. I figured this week would be an easy one seeing as Avery is moving like crazy now. She is dancing, walking, crawling and smiling like a maniac!!!! It just worked out perfectly that we were going to my favorite place (and Avery's as it turns out) this week to take some pictures on the Ranch for my Dad. So during our little adventure, we decided to stop and snap a few pictures. Avery isn't quite sure how to handle walking on the dirt road with those big rocks, so Gramma Sarah had to lend a hand. With storms rolling in over the mountains (missing the Ranch luckily....hay down....you farmer/ranchers get it) it looked AMAZING standing on the East most side. I love that place so much and it makes my heart burst with happiness that my tiny person does, too!!!

ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/250 sec                                                                                                                                 ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/400sec

ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/400 sec

Week 33 - Red

Phew, I'm a bit late on this one this week. It was Avery's first birthday this week. Can't believe I have a ONE YEAR OLD!!!! Pretty crazy. We were also lucky enough to have my best friend, Kendra come into town for her birthday. Kendra... is from Canada. What color do you think of when you think of Canada???? RED!!!!! Perfect! It was also great that Kendra gave AJ an adorable red Canadian T-shirt for her birthday. So, I figured it would be perfect to take a picture of the two of them together in their Red shirts. Kill two birds with one stone.. get a picture of them together and kill my challenge. Luckily, Avery LOVES Auntie Kendra and was able to focus on the book for about... five seconds :) Two of my favorite people in one big chair (Just imagine the Red shirts in the BW images)!!!!

ISO 5000, f/2.0, 1/125 sec, 50mm

And.... here is a little comparison of my tiny person from Month 1 to Month 12.... Such a big girl :)

Week 32 - A Hobby

One of our favorite things to do during the summer is work in our yard. More specifically, hang out in our yard after we have worked in it. This summer, after last summer's summer of pregnancy, we were able to put in some really awesome raised beds for gardening and our tiny garden is really flourishing. It has been so much fun eating our own goods. Avery is in love with our home grown beets. Sometimes, it's the only thing on her plate that she will scarf down. Makes my heart happy. Today, Buddy was mowing the lawn so Avery and I decided to go outside and hang out. Avery, in the past, just sits in one spot on the grass, but she was ALL over it today... crawling and walking (assisted). So, here we have a picture of a small part of our fabulous garden and Avery baby playing in the backyard. I love her little smirk :)

ISO 320, f/4.5, 1/160 sec, 67mm                                                                                                 ISO 250, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, 70mm

Week 31- Silhouette

Here I am... two days late again, and scrambling to not just post my challenge picture.. but TAKE it!!! I realized yesterday (Monday) that I had just completely forgotten about taking a picture.. I blame our family flu that we had over the weekend. So I decided I would take my camera on our little family walk to the park and hopefully snap some pictures that I can use for Silhouette. We get to the park, I find a great bench, the sun was perfect... grab my camera.. and I had forgotten to put an SD card in it. SON OF A B..........!!!!!!!! So then as a last ditch effort, I figured I would get a cute picture as Buddy is putting Avery to bed. The sun comes in bright and happy through her shades in her room (thank the lord for blackout curtains) making it perfect for a silhouette. I sat down this morning to edit and post and I just couldn't bare to mess with the image enough to make it a silhouette.. plus... I had taken it almost perfectly and it wouldn't have even worked :) I figured I would just post it.. who cares if I miss one week following the actual challenge, right? WRONG!!! WE DON'T DO THINGS HALF-ASSED :) I say that only because right before nap time, Avery was "reading" her books in her nursery and it just set itself up perfectly for my best attempt at a silhouette. So her is the challenge picture and the ALMOST challenge picture, which just so happens to melt my heart! 

ISO 2500, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, 35mm

ISO 12800, f/4.5, 1/160sec, 35mm

Week 30 - Biggest Fear & Inside

I guess, in a way, I cheated this week. Hmm... maybe I cheated in two ways, seeing as I kind of am for both of the themes. At first, I was kind of underwhelmed by both of the themes. Inside is kind of boring because, well, for a few months at the beginning, I could only take pictures inside. As for Biggest Fear, my biggest fear isn't something that I really want to photograph... or really even think about. SO.. I kind of did a cheating combination of both.
My biggest fear in the whole wide world is having to live without some of the people I love most in this world: Avery, Buddy, my family, my friends. Also, I'm deathly afraid of E.T. but, there's NO way I was taking a picture of that horrid thing. So my cheaters solution was, surprise surprise, an image of my daughter!
Inside... instead, we took a picture OUTSIDE... where the animals we were seeing are in captivity... also known as INSIDE. Pushing it??? Oh well... Avery is INSIDE the Zoo :) Which I mostly just wanted to use this image because it was her first time to the Zoo. A monumental time in any tiny person's life. In this particular picture, she was looking at the monkeys. They were not, however, her favorite. She LOVED the Elephants, Giraffes and the Zebras... pretty much anything big that moved. I didn't get a picture of those because ... well... sometimes, you just gotta hang out with your kid and watch them light up :)

ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/160 sec, 40mm

Week 29 - Reflection

I guess being REALLY early one week means being REALLY late the next week? Whoops! I guess keeping up with a crazy on the move baby really makes the time fly!!! I don't have much to say about this image aside from I knew I was going to do something with a mirror..haha DUH!! I did think, for a second, about trying something with water, but that just made me want to go to the Caribbean, for some reason. So, we went with checking ourselves out in the mirror after a bath. I just love how excited she gets when she sees herself. You can also see her new little tooth on the bottom to the right!!! This little girl is growing toooo damn fast... teeth and all! 

ISO 1000, f/4.0, 1/50 sec, 67mm

Week 28 - Play

Wait a second... is it.... Thursday???? It's been quite a while since I have actually posted my weekly picture before the weekend. However, the only reason I have is complete luck. I'll take it though!

Yesterday, I was reading something on Facebook working, and I was inspired to try and take an image every day, even if it's just one. I took that with me and decided I would really try, knowing it won't happen EVERY DAY but at least the effort will get me clicking a little bit more and maybe even getting some images I really like. So I get home and am playing with Avery in her awesome playroom and realize... this is freaking cute. The sun was hitting her eyelashes perfectly and the colors are just so fun. I ran quickly to grab my camera, figured, I will snap a few images of her in here. Naturally, by the time I got back, she had moved and was no longer playing in the sun. So, I impatiently waited and she ended up crawling back to my favorite spot :) I was able to snap a ton that I loved! Imagine that!

As we moved to the living room, I yelled out to Buddy.. "I'm going to check what my theme is this week to see if I can use any of those images."

AND

GUESS

WHAT!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it! I logged on, checked it out and PLAY was my theme for the week. How freaking perfect is that??? I think this totally means I'm psychic!!!

ISO 640, 1/160 sec, f/4.0, 45mm                                                                                 ISO 1000, 1/160 sec, f/4.0, 45mm

The other theme for the week was Love/Hate. While we were playing, Maggie the kitty sister came over to the playroom and meowed at Avery, enticing Avery to come over and see her. Naturally, I took a picture. I would think it's safe to say these two have a Love/Hate relationship (Avery LOOOOOVES Maggie sooo much... Maggie sorta Hates when Avery pulls her hair).... so I figured I would post it :)

ISO 1000, 1/60 sec, f/4.0, 64mm

Week 27 - Red, White and Blue

I guess this is kind of an obvious theme for this week, what with it being the week of the Fourth of July and all!! I was actually pretty excited about this theme because my blog was in need of a patriotic post... and I love Avery's little red and white star outfit! I had this idea to give Avery a little flag and let her play with it and snap a few images of that. Sounds easy enough... right? I went to buy the little flag, and of course, my King Soopers which sells BEDS doesn't have a tiny flag for Avery to play with. So, I phoned a friend and my friends really came through, both bringing beautiful little American flag to a BBQ at my house! I guess I made it the price of admission. Now I have all these fabulous flags! Thanks Julie and Brecca... you guys really came through!!

Once I conquered my first hurdle, it was allll smooth sailing from there. Avery LOVED the flag... actually waved it around for me, which she is doing in the first image. The second image, I just HAD to post. In my head, I hear her saying "I hereby claim this land as 'MERICA!!!" She makes me laugh. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!!!!!!!!!!

ISO 640, 1/200 sec, f/4.0, 58mm

"I hereby claim this land as 'MERICA"

Week 26 - Dancing!!!!!

Who doesn't like dancing??? My favorite thing about this blog and challenge is that I am documenting my adorable child's life. It's just perfect that this theme came up this week around the same time that this little stinker has started "dancing" to music. Her dancing includes bouncing up and down on her knees, on her booty.. really, any movement... already a better dancer than her Daddy.. hehe!! My one problem, however, was figuring out a way to capture her little dance moves. Pictures don't really show just how awesome these moves are.. video is where it's at for those puppies!! So, I figured, what the hell... I'll get in the picture this week and dance with my little Tootlebug!!! Finally, a chance to break out my remote... that I bought MONTHS ago. .clearly it was a necessary purchase!
We were at my parents' ranch again (surprise surprise) checking out the new little lambs that have recently entered the world.. don't worry, they made the blog, too! It's like a goldmine out there for pretty backdrops. The only problem was the fact that the sun was out in full force, ALL...DAY....LONG! However, along with my trusty sidekick, Paige, we were able to find some awesome shade by a full sump (where the big sprinklers get their water..for those of you who have no clue what a sump is.) So, I set up my tripod in the pickup bed, set my camera to remote, grabbed the remote and grabbed my child. As I am sitting here typing this out now, I realized my biggest mistake.. maybe we should have put some music on to dance to. Either way, Avery and I had a great time dancing for the camera and for Paige. Avery seemed a little more interested in Paige than me seeing as that's where she is looking in this image... I'm cool with it :) Another great day at the Ranch.. another green infested image!!!!

ISO 640, 1/400 sec, f/4.0, 50mm

Now.. what about those lambs!?! Here are a few of the lambs of Sister Sheep :)

 My mom is such a badass Bo Peep!!! Seriously though, aside from the occasional help on big things.. like building lanes and sheering and such... this woman takes care of these sheep on her own. Even banded all of the babies... free-handed.. all in an afternoon's work.

I also have to share this picture of human Paige and lamby Paige! We decided to name the lamb Paige, without Bo Peep's approval, because of the striking similarity in their hair... curly, a little out of control, sometimes frizzy and, obviously, BEAUTIFUL!! :) 

Now some babies!!!!!!! 

And, I can't take pictures of the sheep without snapping a few of the world's (second) BEST subject. The number of images I have of Kuzco may be able to rival the number I have of my child!! Ok, maybe not THAT many.. but I just think he's so much fun to take pictures of :)