My Valentine.

  My sweet, silly 2 year old Sarah Beth.  Oh my goodness, do I love her.  Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the photo I talked about in my  Day 27 Post.  I had all these fun props ready for her Valentine photo, but ended up with just this simple sticker she put on her face.  Perfect, since she has stolen my heart completely.

I entered this sweet moment in the I Heart Faces: Hearts photo challenge this week.  Want to see more happy hearts?  Click the link below.

I Heart Faces: Family Fun

I haven't entered the I Heart Faces photo challenge in a while, but since I'm on a roll with my 365 photo project, I thought I'd get an entry in this week as well.  Especially since I know exactly which photo I want to share.

This beautiful boy is Eli along with his proud parents.  Eli was adopted at birth, and God could not have made a better match for a family.  It was wonderful to see the happiness and love these three have together, and to capture it with the camera was my great privilege.  See the full preview here.

Check out lots more family fun at I Heart Faces!

I Heart Faces: Laughter

This week's photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is "Bust a Gut!"  You know, the kind of laughing that leaves you gasping for breath and your stomach hurting from all the giggles.  As soon as I heard the theme, I thought of this photo.  I loved these girls.  Little Miss Sydney had the most contagious laugh!  I entered another photo of them back in May, but this image seemed perfect for this week.

Need a laugh?  Head over to I Heart Faces and just try not to smile at all the unbridled joy in all these photos!

I Heart Faces: Hands

The photo challenge theme at I Heart Faces this week is "Raise Your Hands."  This photo immediately sprung to mind - one of my favorites from this year.  Sweet little Ben resting comfortably in his Daddy's hands.

Head on over to I Heart Faces for many more beautiful, funny and inspiring images.

I Heart Faces: Beautiful Eyes

Fresh from a long vacation in the mountains, I am back just in time to enter one of my favorite photos in this week's I Heart Faces photo challenge.

This is my daughter Sarah Beth at age 1.  She has the most beautiful eyes and the longest eyelashes I've ever seen.  We have this print hanging on our bedroom wall and it makes me smile every time I pass by those baby blues and chubby little cheeks. 

Head over to I Heart Faces to see more beautiful eyes and amazing photographs.

I Heart Faces: Bright and Vivid

This week's challenge over at I Heart Faces is "Bright and Vivid." I thought of this photo I took of my daughter all dressed up on Easter morning, wearing her signature hair clip. She was happy because she was holding a delicious Petit-Four in her hands from our favorite bakery. 

Check out more beautiful bright and vivid photos over at I Heart Faces!

I Heart Faces: Best Face from May

Fresh from a week's vacation in Charleston followed by a long Memorial Day Weekend, I thought I'd sneak in an I Heart Faces challenge photo just under the deadline...

This is from my most recent photo shoot with Sara Lauren and her little sister Sydney.  Sydney is an absolute gigglebox, and I love how this photo captures her big sister's mild annoyance at having to put up with such silliness. 

Check out lots of great May faces at I Heart Faces.

I Heart Faces: Slice of Life

This week's challenge over at I Heart Faces is "Slice of Life" which basically means capturing a real moment as it happens messy, unplanned, and beautiful.  I took this yesterday when my little one just woke up from her nap and she was still a little sleepy, gazing outside at the rain, rain that won't go away.

Edited to Add:  I was named an "Amy & Angie's Favorite" this week!  Yay! Each week they have a guest judge who picks a top ten and then the founders also pick their favorites.  They picked my image below along with 6 others out of over 600 entries.  I am so thrilled!  Check out the winners and other favorites here. 

Check out more "Slices of Life" at  www.iheartfaces.com

I Heart Faces: Anything But a Face

This week's I Heart Faces photo challenge theme is "anything but a face" which makes for a lot of fun and creative images to browse through.  I have a slight obsession with taking photos of shoes, feet and hands, so I had tons to choose from, but in the end I went with this one because I just plain love this shot and I have it sitting on the shelf right above my desk.

This is my little chipmunk foraging for acorns in the backyard.  We just got back from a friend's baptism so she was all dressed up.  Not that it stopped her from digging around in the leaves.  She already has one acorn in that tight little fist and she's hunting diligently for more treasures.  Goodness do I love this little girl!

Check out more "face-less" entries at I Heart Faces! 

I Heart Faces: Hearts

This week's challenge over at I Heart Faces is "Hearts."  I racked my brain over the weekend trying to come up with a creative idea, then I realized I already had the perfect photo from last week's shoot. So forgive me for being redundant but I had to use this photo because I heart it so much!

Last week I did a volunteer shoot for Operation: Love Reunited which offers free photo shoots for military families going through a deployment.  This young soldier just came home from Iraq for a few weeks R&R before heading back for another six months. As soon as he arrived back in the states, he and his lovely fiancee got married!  They were heading off on their honeymoon the day after our shoot.  She wore the perfect earrings for this moment, don't you think?

Check out more Hearts photos at iheartfaces.com...

I Heart Faces: Innocent Wonder

The theme of this week's photo challenge on I Heart Faces is "Innocent Wonder" which immediately makes me think of my little girl who looks at the world with amazement every day.  She is the great explorer of our backyard and nothing escapes her big blue eyes.  This is one of my favorite Sarah Beth shots, showing off those beautiful eyes of hers.

Check out I Heart Faces for more wonder-ful photos....

I Heart Faces: Silhouette

I shot a beautiful wedding at the most amazing place on Saturday, so imagine my delight at finding out that "Silhouette" was the challenge this week on i heart faces.

This sweet couple has quite a love story.  They met as teenagers working at this lake as lifeguards, reunited nearly 20 years later and married at the very place they met.  Congratulations Antoinette and Jeff.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day!

Check out other amazing, inspirational silhouette photos at iheartfaces.com

I Heart Faces: Random Acts of Kindness Week

My favorite photography website and source of inspiration, I Heart Faces, runs weekly photo challenges, and this week the theme is Random Acts of Kindness, in honor of a wonderful charity called Inspiration Through Art (Littlest Heroes Project).  This charity centers around Professional Photographers taking photos for families of children who are ill.    

They asked for photographers to link in stories of Random Acts of Kindness that they have performed with their photography talents.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to promote Operation: Love Reunited and hopefully inspire other photographers to volunteer.

Operation: Love Reunited is an organization that matches volunteer photographers with military families who have a family member deploying or already deployed.  Photographers agree to donate a photo session and send a 4x6 album to the deployed soldier free of charge.

I am about to ship the albums from my first OpLove session today: one to the family and one to a brave soldier in Afghanistan.  This family was so sweet and grateful.  It was heartbreaking to think of this young father saying goodbye to his 4 month old son for a year, but I am honored that I was able to show my support and give them something tangible to hold on to during their separation.  I already posted some of the pics here, and below are a few more of my favorites:

Click the button below to be inspired by more Random Acts of Kindness:

And visit www.oplove.org to learn how you can volunteer for this wonderful organization.

Disclaimer:  The photos and other content of this publication do not imply any endorsement or recommendation by the Department of Defense.

I Heart Faces - "Babies" Photo Challenge

I Heart Faces is a fabulous photography site that has weekly photo challenges.  This week the theme is babies - does it get any cuter than that?

Here's my entry for the challenge: one of my favorites of my daughter SB at 8 months, rocking her rainbow legwarmers in our hallway.  Click to see it larger.  

Check out I Heart Faces for lots of precious and creative baby photos or enter one of your own!