Mandy and Jace

I love taking photos with my iPhone, especially since I started using Instagram to put cool filters on my photos. I have so many on my phone I wanted to share them with you guys. I’m going to start doing a “my week in photos” post on Fridays that I will put up all of my random photos I take during the week. This set is actually from the past couple of weeks. I took lots at Christmas and them several after so I wanted to show those off too.

Today we celebrated Easter with our wonderful friends and family. We went to church this morning where we watched and were privileged to meet our guest band The Crabb Revival. They were amazing. We were expecting the normal Crabb family southern Gospel but what we actually got was an anointed and very talented group of musicians. Jace made the comment that not only was the Holy Spirit in the building but so was the holy spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The guitarist was very talented.

I watched all the kids at church hunt Easter eggs and sat and talked with friends for a while. Then we went to eat at Memaw and Papaw’s house for lunch. I was surrounded by friends and family all morning then, I just relaxed with my husband this afternoon. Now, I am sitting here overwhelmed by all the blessings God has given me.

We are learning now more than ever that when you are faithful to God, He will be more than faithful to You. We have been blessed more in the last two weeks than we ever have, and it’s all because I know we are right where God wants us. I am sitting here now thinking about the wonderful friends and family we have and fighting tears. He is an amazing God who never ceases to surprise me when I think nothing can be done. What a great day!

Last weekend we went with our church youth group to Lone Tree Bible Ranch in Capitan, New Mexico. This camp was one of the highlights of our teen years and we were so excited to get to go back as sponsors and create new memories with these teenagers. This is the one place that I can go to and not want to come home because of its absolutely stunning beauty. It has an amazing view of Sierra Blanca and the smell of the pine trees takes your breath away.

One of my favorite things to do when we go is to get up early the first morning that we are there, and sit on the porch with a cup of hot chocolate. Then, I get to watch everyone’s faces as they come out of their rooms and see the beautiful view. I don’t know why but I always feel closer to God up there. He really outdid Himself when He made this place.

We both climbed the alpine tower this year. I was very proud of myself because this is the first time I have ever climbed. I actually made it to the top on my first try and didn’t have a panic attack! I threatened to give up several times but my pride got the best of me and forced me to press on even though everything inside me was screaming to stop. I really didn’t want to be the panicked girl half way up wanting to get down. I was even more proud of Jace who climbed to the top of the one side while we were trying to talk a terrified girl, who was squealing very loudly and would not go up or down, into coming down.

It’s amazing how easy it is there to go from the adrenaline rush of the high ropes to sitting around on comfy couches playing music and games. We had an amazing time and I already want to go back.

You can see all of my photos here.

When I graduated from high school in 2003 I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I just knew I was going to be a photographer. I quickly enrolled in all the photography classes I could take.  Then I found out how hard it is to get a photography business up and running and how much competition there is in the field. I quickly decided that it would just be a hobby. Through the years of taking photos, I learned that I’m much better at photographing objects or just candids of people instead of portraits. Here are a couple of my favorite shots over the past year or so.

This one was taken in Dallas just a couple of weeks ago. I love the lines and the beautiful blue color.

I shot this one a couple of years ago on the 4th of July. My cousin Keely was throwing poppers and I caught her in the air, mid-throw.

This was my favorite photo from our trip to Dallas a couple of weeks ago. I love the curviness of the tree in front of the clean lines of the buildings.

This is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken mainly because this is a candid. My cousin Braz just happened to be playing in this bin and look over at me when I had my camera out.

This was taken at church during our youth revival last year. I didn’t have a tripod so I didn’t get the clarity that I would have liked but the colors came out amazing!

My dad’s 1958 Cadillac. Enough said.

Jace’s cousin didn’t want her photo taken but I caught her right as she was getting out of the pool. I really enjoy shooting in natural light. It come out so beautiful.

Matt was privileged to play his bass at his graduation. I loved getting this shot. I was so proud of my little brother.

I took this shot just messing around after church. I had just bought my first pair of Louboutins and they were hurting my feet after being on stage.  I took them off and laid them on the piano and when I looked down I immediately went and got my camera.

(click on the photos to make them bigger)