The Loudenback's

Sometimes, it's a little disheartening for me to do repeat sessions for my clients. No, really. It is. I hadn't seen sweet, little Ava since I did her newborn pictures when she was 5 days old. Imagine the shock I felt when I showed up to their family session last month and she was 8 months old! I know, right? Where in the heck did all that time go?!?? And look how stinkin' cute she is!

Maybe 'disheartening' is the wrong word. It's just that it floors me when you see these little boogers growing up sooooo fast. It's one thing to watch your own kids whiz by you, but to watch someone else's kids do it, is just amazing.

I will say that it's pretty cool for me to know that when Ava is searching for pictures for her high school graduation slide show, these will be top contenders.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Austin turning 3!

It only seemed fitting to me.

I mean, he DOES love fire trucks. And his dad IS a fireman. So why wouldn't we take his 3 year pictures there!?

I met Austin and his mom at the Covington Fire Department bright and early Labor Day morning. (Yeah, I'd hardly call my job "laborous" so that whole holiday is knoll and void for me.) Anyway, Austin recently turned three and his mom thought it was time for some updated pictures to celebrate the milestone. Yeah, 3 is a pretty big deal!

It was the first time for me to do a session at a firehouse, but I definitely fell in love with it. Especially for a kid who loves the place. I have a feeling I'll probably be heading back there to do a few more.

Ain't he cute!?

Landon, 6 months! Already!!!

I just can't even believe this little guy is 6 months old already. It's one thing to watch your own kids grow up and reach those important milestones...but when you watch your clients doing it -- it just seems like life is going waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast.

Landon's been my client since he was in his mama's belly. And again when he was born. And when he was 3 months.

And now he's a whopping 6 months old.

And, to boot, his mom had enough nerve to schedule his 9 month session already.

Torrie, you are smooookin' hot!! Those other two guys are pretty cute, too. =)

How can you not giggle at this picture!? Just look at that face!!!

Landon's dad does this thing with him....he'll pick Landon up and eat him like an ear of corn. And Landon just goes crazy laughing!!!

So cute.

See you guys in a few weeks!!!

When Facebook brings you clients.....who are long lost friends...

I sat down at my computer one afternoon, logged on to my Facebook, not really expecting to find much. It was raining buckets that day and I was bored out of my mind. The internet always seems to subside the boredom...

You know, I've always said that the Facebook's and the Myspace's are pretty awesome at putting you back in touch with people you lost contact with over the years. That's how I re-met my Mr. Wonderful after 17 years, reconnected with my old high school band director who was a pretty big influence in my life, and Lord knows how many other friends that I lost contact with when Life happened.

I never would have thought that I would gain clients out of it. But it just kinda happened that way.

So....back to the boring day.....I logged into Facebook and had a new friend request from someone with a name I didn't recognize. (Which, let's be real for a second, has happened to me far too many times. You see the name right in front of you but you have NO CLUE what face it belongs to.) So, I was puzzled. I racked my brain for a few minutes and decided to click on the name -- just so I could see a larger picture.

About 12 seconds later, I squealed. OMG! Are you kidding me!?!??! Where has she been? Where is she??? What is she doing?

The picture belonged to one of my best friends from 8th grade on. We did almost everything together....we played basketball together and went to dances. We walked to school together and wrote notes to one another. We told secrets about our bad-kissing boyfriends to each other.

We even had really bad perms and mall bangs together.


Oh yes. That's Staci on the left and me on the right....well before flat irons, tweezers, and suntan lotion. I was so gangly and un-coordinated -- a rubberband had more finesse than I did at that age. So much so that this was the only year that I played basketball. Ok.....attempted to play basketball.

That was 1991. A loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong ago 1991.

Now she's a wife to a pretty lucky guy and a mom of two beautiful children who have her eyes.

And me? I was the lucky photographer who got to take their picture.

Our shoot lasted for a little longer than 2 hours and it flew by like it was only 10 minutes. We chatted about kids, about life, and what happened after high school. We walked around that park like we were back in our hometown walking down Ludlow Street laughing at some of the things we did, the boys we chased, and the memories etched in our brains.

Cuteness in a striped dress...

If I could take a big ball of a wholelotta cuteness, dip it in some animation and giggles, put some dark curls on top and wrap it in a striped dress.....this is what it would look like:

If I dug deep enough, I would find pictures of me, my sister, and Miss Ella's mom, Amy, back in high school running around together. Now we're old (remember when you thought people in their 30's were old?!?), and have kids, mortgages and car maintenance to think about. Funny how fast life happens, huh?

Miss Ella is going to be a big sister before long! Hopefully I'll get the chance to catch the little guy with his big sister!

*sigh*

....it's pictures like these that make me want to have more babies.

For about a minute.

Until I realized that there is just no way possible to squeeze any more time out of my already crazy-busy life.

BUT! If I did have more babies, I'd want 'em to be this cute. (I think all of my clients are cute!)

Brairen, meet the internet. Internet, Brairen. His parents are good friends of ours and we had gone over last weekend for a little BBQ....beer, burgers, cornhole....you know, the usual. I had just finished up a shoot with this cutie and this handsome family and still had all of my gear in the truck. So, while everyone was playing around, I busted out my camera for a little fun with this butter bean.

(Big fat cheeks and drool.....don't it make you want to bury your face in his neck and kiss him??)

His eyes are the most amazing colorS...yes, colors -- with an s. They start out this greenish, slate grey color and then turn this amazing, orangish brown.

This cute-ness should be illegal.

I'm shooting his 1st birthday party in a few weeks. Can't wait to see what he looks like with cake on his face. Delicious!

Kase and Aunt Pretty Girl

It's funny how life goes faster the older you get. When you're younger the days just drag on...hour by hour. But when you're older, you could swear it's only Tuesday when it's really Saturday. There's bills to pay, a career to follow, a house to clean, a yard to mow, groceries to get, friends to see....and then you factor in the kids and it goes ALL haywire....field trips to chaperone, parties to plan, practices to make, and the games that go along with it, laundry to wash, socks to match, and loads of homework. Haircuts, parent-teacher conferences and doctor's appointments.....Holy schedules, Batman!

Most of the time I'm pretty good at these things, but it never fails that the one that always gets shoved to the back is the "friends to see". Everyone gets so wrapped up in life that our visits go from every week, to twice in 6 months. Crazy.

Heather and I have been best friends since elementary school. From that point on we have been virtually inseparable. We've seen it all, done it all, been thru it all, said it all and laughed a good majority of the way. She has been my rock nearly all my life.

And even though we talk nearly everyday, we'd both tell you that we don't see each other enough. Admittingly, up until this past Sunday, I haven't seen her since Christmas. Awful, I know.

BUT! Chris and I went over to her house on Sunday for dinner (she makes killer macaroni salad) and a quick photo session with her almost-two-year-old son, Kase. Stinkin' cute....that's what this kid is. He's ornery and adorable wrapped up in one little man. He has these unbelievably long lashes and trouble-making dimples.

The entire afternoon we were there, Kase called me Aunt Pretty Girl. So, apparently he's pretty smart, too. Just kidding...kind of. "Pretty Girl's drink"...."Pretty Girl up?"...."Pretty Girl silly" I could listen to it all day long. I don't think I'm ever going to tell him my real name.

Kase is going to be a big brother, too. So, you'll be seeing more of him and his momma (and the baby!!!) around here soon!!

Interesting facts about my Best Friend Heather:

* She and I have been best friends since 3rd/4th grade. She was in 4th and I was in 3rd (even though our birthdays are less than 3 months apart). We met on the playground.

* Heather idolized Laura Ingalls. When she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was always "Laura Ingalls". And that's what she did, too. She has cows and cans applesauce, for crying in the mud! How much more 'Little House on the Prairie' can you get???

* She ran over my foot with her 1st car -- which we referred to as "the peanut".

* She taught me that just because you are related to someone by blood, doesn't make them family. And even if you're not related by blood, doesn't mean that they aren't.

* She loves the smell of her own upper lip.

* She named a calf after me for my 32nd birthday.

* We used to be cloggers together.

* And we used to be lifeguards and bartenders together, too.

* We used to live so close to one another that I could yell out of my bedroom window and she'd hear me.

* She has tried for the last 20+ years to convince me to write a book about my life.

* She's, undeniably, in love with Justin Timberlake. She once entered a Nabisco contest to win backstage passes to one of N'Sync's concerts in hopes that she'd meet him and persuade him into marrying her.

* She can do the wave with her belly. (Well, pre-pregnancy.)

* In her own mind, she's best friends with the stars. I can remember one time when she called me to complain that Brittany Spears didn't call her first before releasing her pregnancy news to the press.

Things are so crazy-busy for us, that Heather actually booked me for her son's 2nd birthday party. So, I'm guaranteed to see her in the next 40 days, which is a heckofalot better than 6 months.

xo,

e

Catching up

Ok....so as promised, I have some making up to do.

This weekend was jam-packed with all kinds of deliciousness. As ironic as it might be, all of my plans for Saturday fell through, so Chris and I were able to spend a much deserved day doing....well, whateverintheheck we wanted --and by that I mean mowing the grass. Which never happens, by the way (the days with no plans, not mowing the grass). In fact, it so rarely happens that we had that feeling like we were forgetting something. You know that feeling when you've driven to a store, gone in and shopped, and as you're checking out, digging thru your purse, you realilze that you've locked your keys in the car? Yeah, that feeling. THAT was Saturday.

So, anyway, last week my best friend asked me to design her step-daughter's graduation open house invitations. My lovely mailman delivered these on Saturday:



And then on Sunday, I had another shoot with one of my favorite clients EVER! This is the 4th shoot I've done for Miss Amanda and have a feeling it won't be our last. I'm not even halfway thru editing her images, but I had to post a quick peek:



You might recognize Harley (the cute little lady on the left) from here. Yes, she was in their wedding....and looked stunning in pearls.

After their shoot, I went to hang out with my Aunt Leah and her family for her husband, Mike's, birthday. Her grandson, Lucas, turned one the day before, and I couldn't resist. But seriously, with eyes this big, what was I suppose to do?? Plus, it didn't help that he was a COMPLETE hambone in front of the camera. He literally smiled and posed the entire time I was focused on him. Too cute for his own good!





PS. I really don't miss that whole "teething" stage.