Babin Family - Merry Christmas!

It's been a WHILE since I've posted because I've just been doing other things. I guess I haven't thought of blogging much recently, besides photo shoots. I still do fun things, I just forget to take pictures and write about them! I wanted to post some family photos that I did a few days before Christmas though because I just love them. I did 3 sessions that weekend, and they were all a lot of fun! 

Readers, meet the Babins! Emily (light gray top) is one of my dearest friends and former college roommate. While we were roommates I came to know her family, and I am so thankful for them!

Emily and her super awesome husband, Scott.  

We shot these in downtown Collierville around the square. It was quite cold that day, but these guys were troopers! I loved all the gorgeous Christmas decorations up, especially the big Christmas tree in the middle of the square. If I lived closer, I would definitely do more sessions there.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas filled with joy and family fun! Rhett and I were on the go for a couple of days just hopping between family gatherings. It was exhausting but nice. Today we enjoyed playing with the WiiU game we bought with our Christmas money :) I love these lazy days!

Memorial Doggy Day

This post really only exists for me to share more photos of my dog. He's just s'darn cute! On the Sunday of memorial day weekend, we left him in his crate for a pretty long amount of time while we were at the lake. Since he was put up for so long, we decided to take him with us to my mom's the next day. He didn't know what to think about that long car ride!

Once again, trying to lick the camera. These are all taken with my new 16-35mm lens, by the way! It nearly caused me to go bankrupt, but it's totally worth it :) I'm excited to use it at a wedding this coming weekend. Anyway, so Chipper was kind of hyper and annoying on the car ride to my mom's, but I think he just had a lot of energy to get out. My mom and step-dad have a house in the country with quite a bit of room to walk around, so I let him explore on a really long leash. I'm almost positive he ate some horse poop, so...yeah.

While we had burgers we tied him up on the front porch (beagles cannot be trusted without a fenced in yard). He had a lot of room on his leash, but he kept tangling himself up in the bushes. He's still young, so hopefully he'll get a little smarter. haha! After we ate we sat on the front porch and had watermelon. We gave Chipper quite a bit of it, and he LOVED it! I think he'd eat an entire watermelon if we let him

I had to take a photo of my mom's little gallery. She's probably one of my biggest fans, and it's the best thing ever :) I just love her!

Chipper was pretty tired after all that exploring, so he slept most of the drive home (about 45 minutes). It was the cutest thing ever seeing him cuddled up back there. He can be a real pill sometimes when he's really keyed up, but boy when he's sleeping I could just eat him with a spoon.

The Great Pumpkin Carving

Last Sunday Rhett and I headed out to his Mom's house for some family time. Jeff had pumpkins for all of us to carve, and he had already carved the grandkids' names into some others. He gutted them for us and everything! It was awesome...we didn't have to do the gross part. We played with the kiddos outside before dinner, which is always fun.

I used a template because otherwise I would have just done a smiley face. 

The reflection of the pumpkins in the mirror was pretty creepy! I think Rhett's Jack Skellington is my favorite, but I also like Hayden's scary face one too. It was a lot of fun! I felt like my arm was going to be sore the next day, but it wasn't too bad. It was nice getting to go hang out with Rhett's family, especially the kids! They are hilarious these days.

My witch and Rhett's Jack

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you all stay safe. Rhett and I will be staying in and watching The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, a tradition that I'm forcing him to adopt. We won't have trick-or-treaters since my porch lights don't work....oops. 

Celebrating America Lake-Style

As you all know, yesterday was the 4th of July a.k.a. Independence Day in this here country. Since Rhett and his friends have been spending every weekend at the lake, it was a no brainer that we'd spend the holiday there. I got there mid-morning and the day was full of lounging, swimming, riding the jet-ski, tubing, and taking care of a stray duck that we found. I don't know what they ended up actually naming him, but I like Duckenstein. He's adorable! We think he just fell away from the pack when he was swimming with his mom/siblings. Anyway, it was a fun day, and of course today I'm EXHAUSTED. Luckily, the weekend is only two days away.

We tried to show our patriotism throughout the day with various head wear, necklaces, other flag related things. Heath wore that hat all day long, even in the water. We also had some unwelcome guests around the property, these bugs. I have no idea what they are, but they must be akin to gnats. They were on EVERYTHING. Luckily if you swatted them all away, they pretty much left you alone. I guess I'd prefer the gnat things to spiders or wasps though.

This poor buddy is now smashed up on the front due to Rhett and Cody crashing it into the sandbox. I think that was the most exciting part of the day. Luckily, I wasn't riding it at the time. With my luck, I would be typing this from the hospital had I been on it.  I don't know a thing about watercraft, but hopefully it's fixable! If not, they definitely got several thousand dollars worth of fun out of it (and that's awesome considering it was free).

The ribs that we had for dinner were delicious! I'm used to ribs dripping with sauce, so the dry rub was new to me. As you can see from the poochy belly, I ate plenty! We also had some homemade ice cream, which is one of my absolute favorite things about summer. Let me also take a minute to talk about maxi skirts. I've been wanting one forever, and I finally got one to wear on the 4th (because it's red/white striped). Who the crap decided maxi skirts were good summer-wear?! Maybe I got the wrong material or something, but I was burning up in that thing. Unless the wind was blowing, my legs were just dripping with sweat. I just wanted to throw that little P.S.A. out there for anyone that's wanting to wear a maxi skirt when it's 100 degrees out.  I won't say I regretted wearing it though, because I do think it's pretty.

We ended the day with a pretty sunset, and I even saw some fireworks on my drive home. Overall, it was a wonderful holiday. I kind of missed out on the lake lifestyle when I was younger, so spending the whole day there was kind of like fulfilling a childhood dream. I know, I know...so cheesy.

Christmas 2011 Recap

Hey friends! I just wanted to share a few pictures from Christmas this year. It was a pretty good one. I will admit it felt like something was missing since Papaw wasn't there. It was great to spend time with the family though. There's really nothing better than getting together with family!

Tina got a bike!

My sister and cousin goofing off on Christmas Eve

 Sister kisses

My Nana Emma has a knack for giving us some very eclectic gifts. This year we got these crazy furry house shoes and some hats. The house shoes are so crazy (and warm!) and I kind of love them. I will probably wear them a lot around the house when it's cold. We had to get a picture of all the girls in their house shoes and hats :)

I also went to Rhett's on Christmas eve. It was fun to play with his niece on her first Christmas. She's so adorable...I just...I can't even explain. She's got the cutest personality! Anyway, Rhett gave me a Roku, which I can use to stream Netflix to my tv! Hooray! No more watching Netflix on my ipod or computer. I've already been using it a ton. He also got me a gorgeous skirt from Etsy. I might wear it when we go out to eat tonight! 

It was a rather non-Christmasy Christmas here in West Tennessee. Blue skies, nice and breezy. I'm not complaining, but it's weird for it not to feel like winter. I enjoyed playing with Mom and Guy's dog though. He got hit by a car recently so he's not moving around much. I gave him plenty of snuggles and belly rubs though! He kind of reminds me of my childhood dog, Moose. 

In addition to my gifts, mom sent me on a scavenger hunt for cash. It was a lot of fun! The undesirable chore in the first clue was polishing her silver. I always point it out. haha! I'm a terrible daughter...anyway, she had hidden a 20 and another clue in one of the silver pieces (it's a serving set). The Christmas angel/large black cat was Dudley. Dudley is from the movie The Bishop's Wife, so I found the dvd and there was a 20 and another clue in there. The next clue led me to coffee mugs, and it was in one that my roommate made. It was a fun little game to play on Christmas morning.

The last two pieces from our Star Wars Lego "advent" calendar. Definitely not your traditional advent calendar, but it was fun to put the pieces together for each day. Also, Yoda looks like a gremlin.

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season! I can't believe it's about to be 2012 already. I say that every year, but it always feels like the year went by way too fast! Everyone have fun and be safe tonight. See you in January!

Holiday Cheer

I've had a rough-ish week, guys. I don't want to be a bummer on such a beautiful Friday, but my Papaw Jerry passed away this week (step-mom's dad...don't let the "step" fool you, they are absolutely my family). He has been sick for over a year, and just the last few weeks have been really bad. Anyway, I needed a little cheer in my week so we decided to decorate the house last night.

We put up the old tree in the living room and a few ornaments. I'm still building up a collection, but I love the ones I have. I think over half of my ornaments feature cats :) I also put some stockings up and some little figurines around the room.

I'm planning on making a curtain to cover the fireplace since we don't use it. It's on my to-do list! Also, don't you love the tree skirt?! My Granddaddy's sister made it years ago...I think it's absolutely gorgeous. 

I also tried to put Dudley's Santa costume on, but in true Santa fashion he was too big for it. Sometimes I forget that my cat is twice the size of a normal cat! Anyway, we also put some lights around the porch outside and garland on the stair rail. I made a wreath last week and I'll post all about that another time. I'm really proud of it, I just wish you could see it from the road. It blends into the door...I'm tempted to paint my door. Is that a little extreme? (Yes...it is, I'll answer my own question).

All the holiday cheer did make me feel a little better, but I know the holidays just won't be the same this year. Rest in peace, Papaw! I'm glad you're no longer suffering.

Gift Ideas for Mom, Dad, and Friends

I've been the worst blogger this week! I was kind of on a roll for a while, but I guess things have slowed down...I haven't done anything exciting lately. Since I don't have any tidbits of my life to share, I thought I would give you guys some great gift ideas since the holidays are fast approaching (2 months as of yesterday!)

Mom:

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My mom isn't much of a decorator...bless her heart, she tries though. She has some really pretty pottery, antiques, etc., she just doesn't really know where to start in arranging them. Anyway, if your mom is anything like mine, a great gift would be to help her decorate! I'm planning to help my mom with the wall above the couch. My plan is to do some shelving and framing in a cluster like the one pictured. Her living room is more dark and cozy, but I think the concept will still work.

Dad:

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My dad loves a good steak! Men, especially my dad, are so difficult to buy for, but I've found that they're almost always happy with food. Omaha Steaks has some wonderful options, and are always running specials. One warning though is that once you buy from them they will BLOW UP YOUR PHONE. They were still calling me a year after I ordered from them. My advice, add their number to your phone so you can just ignore it.

Close Friends:

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I've discovered that throw pillows make a HUGE difference in a room. They are a cheap-ish way to completely change the look of a room if you get bored with your decor. My friends are at the age now that they are decorating their apartments or houses, so throw pillows are a great gift for them! Of course you have to be pretty close friends with someone to know what they would like. There are TONS of great places to buy throw pillows, but I highly recommend buying handmade from Etsy. One shop I've bought from is pillowhappy...and she offers tons of options! Just be aware that these are covers only, so you'll have to get your own inserts.

I'm not even going to attempt boyfriend...in fact, if any of you have ideas for a boyfriend gift, help a girl out! My honey is so hard to buy for. Unless he tells me EXACTLY what he wants, I'm clueless. Embarrassing fact: For the first (or maybe second) birthday he had after we started dating, I got him a Wal-Mart card. My logic was that he could use it to get gas for his massive truck. Of course looking back, I realize that was a terrible gift, and he will never let me live it down.

4th of July in South Carolina

Well, folks, this is my last South Caroline post. Are you bummed? Ok, I didn't think so. Our last day there was the 4th of July and also the day we happened to go to the beach. We ended up going to Foley beach, and I really loved it there! It wasn't terribly crowded because we drove pretty far down before we parked. The sand was nice and packed from the tide, so I didn't get a lot sand in my things, and it was just all around a great beach.

We spent about 3 hours on the beach and then decided to go get something to eat. We found a place on the corner called Crab Shack. Besides the extremely loud family at the next table, it was a great place!  I got some delicious grilled shrimp with veggies and potatoes. YUM! The shrimp also came with this interesting sauce. I don't really even know how to describe it, but trust me it was good.

Later we went to a huge fireworks show. It.was.amazing. I can't even...I don't...I don't even know how to describe it other than amazing. I'm from a pretty small area of Tennessee, so fireworks shows here are just people shooting roman candles and the occasional artillery shell. This show was like a million times more exciting and elaborate! I think my mouth was wide open during the entire thing.

Here are some pictures from the night, and make sure to watch the video at the bottom (if you enjoy fireworks). Be aware that I "woo hoo" quite loudly during the finale, so you might want to turn the volume down. ha!

I love this bridge. The fireworks were just across the bridge.

 we were red white and blue without even planning it!

 Ana and Mallory

getting dark...almost time!

what...a night

Check out more posts from my vacation here