The second assignment in The Joy of Love course was to photograph your loved one and “how they look”, at their best or at their worst. Try to capture the TRUE essence/expression/attitude/posture that SCREAMS your loved one.

My interpretation of that is of my youngest Reagan. These two pictures show how she looks most every day when we are at home, messy hair and random clothing combination included.

This is her “mad” face…if only she knew how absolutely adorable she is making it! Notice the Captain Crunch lined up to make Hello Kitty’s whiskers.

She started laughing, she couldn’t help it.

As I looked through these I am starting to see the difference in my pictures, in just one month of shooting completely in manual, and I know I am learning. That gives me courage to continue moving forward, knowing that I can accomplish what I set out to do.

These were taken on the second snow day of the season here. It was such a magical feeling to wake up and look out the window and see powdery white snow covering almost everything, and I’m so glad my girls got to experience it!

The girls chair on our patio

their playhouse

and their picnic table

A ride in the wagon on our snow covered driveway (yes, it is under there somewhere) and out onto the snow covered street

I just love all the colors here! I promise we are not usually this mismatched, but since we live in Texas we don’t own much snow gear

Our first attempt of the season at building a snowman

Our sad-happy little snowman. The snow was a little too powdery for snowman making.

Throwing snow at me

Yesterday I read a post on my favorite photography blog, and it really struck a chord with me. In the post, world-famous wedding photographer Jasmine Star shared her newest commercial about writing her story, and boy was it effective because I had tears in my eyes.

I want that for my life! Everything she said I felt right in my core. I want to write the story of my life in my own words, how I want to live it! For myself. For my husband. For my girls. Let’s hope I’m a good writer!

If you want to watch the commercial for yourself you can find her post here.

Several weeks ago I signed up for The Joy of Love: February 2011 online course offered free by Kelly of Willette Designs, and what a treat it has been. Every day during the month of February an email from Kelly arrives in my inbox with a photo assignment and photography tip, and so far I have enjoyed every one.

The first assignment was to photograph your loved one/s doing “what they do”…what they do for work, what they do for play, what chores they do, etc. so here is my interpretation of that. My photograph is of Brandon doing what he does…being the father that he is…making ice cream out of snow, because his Papaw did for him as a child. Our girls are blessed to have the amazing father that they do!

My 365 in Manual project has been eye-opening for me to say the least! I am facing my fear of shooting in manual, and I have already learned a few things and hope I am improving as an artist. This post completes the month of January.

Two of Reagan’s loves…her Beary Bear (or Bear for short), and her favorite cup “Noman cup”

Sweet dreams

Magical Mermaid Cupcakes

We tried to prepare Finley for not placing in the science fair, after all this was her first time doing a science project and we wanted her to set her hopes accordingly. There are just over 70 kids in first grade at her school, which could mean a LOT of competition for the top three spots, however when I found out that only eight first-graders had participated I liked her chances a lot better. Still, we told her to just have fun…it is all about how you play the game, trying your best and having a good attitude, not necessarily whether you win or lose.

At the awards ceremony I held my breath for her, and can you believe it…she won second place for first grade! She was so excited, and I was so proud of her for winning but also for what a great job she did and her good attitude.

Working on her board

The finished board

2nd Place!

Science project? Who, me? No, thank you. But my daughter Finley is actually quite interested in science, and she does well in that subject at school. Participation in the Science Fair at her school was optional, but she wanted to do it and we definitely wanted to encourage her. The title of her project was The Balloon Inflator, and we all had fun with it…yes, even me.

Brandon and Finley doing the research part of the project

The supplies

Stretching out the balloon

Pouring the vinegar

Putting the balloon on the bottle

It worked!

Does anyone else remember how popular that phrase was back in the 90′s? No Fear. What I remember most about that phrase, other than how popular it was, is that my dad wouldn’t let us have anything with those words on it. He wanted us to have a healthy fear of God, so of course that meant we could not wear something that advertised our lack of fear.

That brings me to a newspaper clip that I had cut out awhile back and just came across again this morning. The article was an interview with the only female high school football coach, who coaches at Calvin Coolidge High School, and she has some great advice.

Have No Fear (sorry Dad)
People concentrate too much on what others will say about them. If you know you can do something, just do it.

Show Up Every Day
No matter how hard the previous day was, never give up.

It’s Okay To Be Afraid
But it’s not okay to run away from what you’re afraid of.

Make Good Decisions
To do that, you must trust your instincts, and listen to the people around you.

These are all things that I can apply to my life, as well as my photography and my business!

Ugh, how am I already so behind on editing and posting my 365 in Manual pictures?! Really it should come as no surprise because I seem to have a problem with getting behind on posting, however badly I want to improve. All I can do is strive to be better!

These are from a trip to the Fort Worth Stock Show in January. Finley got out of school early so we met my mom for lunch and then visited the Stock Show. Here are my favorites from what I got that day.

I’m not entirely sure what that pouty lip is all about…

but it was gone in a second

An adorable baby calf we saw

This one was on the tradeshow floor in the Borden booth. The Borden cow was in a pen next to it, and this is her baby (or at least that is the story they were telling)

Reagan’s new love

This week the theme for the I Heart Faces photo challenge is Winter Wonderland which could not be more perfect since we just had a rare “winter wonderland” day here ourselves. So I am entering for the second time ever! I didn’t win the first time around in the Chalk challenge, but who knows…maybe this is my week. Unfortunately I couldn’t use my favorite picture from our snow day because there are no faces showing, but I like this one too.

Wish me luck!