A few photos from the last few months

Miss Shelby is Six

I can remember when she was born. She looked like a doll I had when I was a little girl. Every single facial feature was absolutely perfect, and people commented (even to this day) that she is the most beautiful child they've ever seen. I can honestly say those people are absolutely correct.... and I love to photograph her, though I love it when she calls me Nana Terri even more.

Cute & Funny

Snow on a birds beak. It's funny... am I right?

Bedding down

Alex moved out last month (sigh....) and now I only have 2 of my 4 children at home. And if you count my two other "daughters" - I have 2 in and 4 out. (pout) The only things that's good about all this is that we have a bit more room. Jake just moved into Alex's old room and we painted it black and white - it looks really cool. I loved it! He accented it with red and it really looks great. Here he is sitting in his empty but freshly painted room, right before we carpeted it and moved everything else in. And for my anniversary this month all I really wanted was my bedroom painted green (my favorite color) and a new bed. And this is how that turned out. My mother-in-law did the painting. It's my favorite that she's done. I really do love it. Scott did all the painting in our room. It was exactly what I wanted.

And, in case you're curious, it was our 18th anniversary.

Birds in Flight

I've recently become obsessed with birds, more specifically, birds in flight. Here's my favorite shots from the last few days.
The last photo is of 3 cardinals, but take a close look at the lady on the right. She's flying straight my way... and I thought this shot was absolutely amazing!






Cropped a bit so you can see her a bit better. I had her in my lens and it looked as though she was dive-bombing right towards me... but, she was actually flying from the tree branch to the deck railing.

Walking in a winter wonderland

I've missed snow. A good snow, that is. The kind that sticks together so you can make that perfect snowman or winter fort. I remember when I was a kid - in the late 70's - and a huge blizzard hit. We build tunnels and forts throughout the entire yard. It was a lot of fun. I miss that too. So I was glad to see the snow fall today. It wasn't a lot, but it was perfect for building snowmen. Silas loved it, and we spent most of the day today outside playing. He named his snowman Silas, and he made sure he had all the proper items such as a carrot nose and a nice scarf. Jake wouldn't let us touch his tophat, so we added branches to Snowman Silas's head for hair. It turned out really well.

Ladies Night

So... my girls dragged me out of the house and in to a bar - and then to another bar. And okay.... I must admit, it was fun. I had a good time. The heavy metal 80's band sucked and someone puked on the dancefloor, but the night was a blast.

I love my girls.

Yes I'm a Ralph Stanley fan

I was just saying a few months back that I didn't want to miss the next Ralph Stanley concert because I seemed to have missed him several times over the past few years, and I've always wanted to hear him sing live. So, off we went tonight and it was definitely worth the wait. My only disappointment was that he didn't sing Man of Constant Sorrow, but he made up for it when he stood alone on the stage and belted out Oh Death. It was both haunting and beautiful. He also sang with his son, and I just loved his voice, and played with his 14 year old grandson. Both the grandson and the son were quite sweet and I enjoyed meeting them. I do hope I get to see them play again. Their bluegrass made me even more proud to be Appalachian.

Untouched & Unaltered Beautiful Winter Photos

Letter #1 from Billy (in Iraq)

Greetings! I've received photos from Billy and I thought I'd share them - and his emails - with everyone.






Billy wrote:
these pictures suck pretty bad, i know. i finally got someone to let me put some of my pictures on their computer so i could send them. trust me i have more that i will send here in a couple days that are A LOT better. the ones i sent are of our tent we lived in while we were in kuwait, and a couple pictures of some herds of camels and sheep also in kuwait. there are a couple of my room here in iraq too. like i said they aren't that good but i'll be sending more soon. i hope everything's going alright and i'll talk to you soon. LOVE YOU! Bilsif

Letter #2 From Billy

so i finally got some new pictures for you guys. hope you like 'em! the ones that say Mosul 020 and 027 are of me while i was on mission the other day. we went to a palace that one of saddam hussein's sons used to live in. the Mosul 039 is a couple of iraqi kids we gave candy to and they wouldn't leave us alone. they were cute though. iraq 014 is a picture of the Tigris river. not very impressive. plus, it smells like shit. and iraq 015 is a picture of the near-beer we get over here. ..... hope everything's going ok! Love you!!! Bilsif