Samantha & Family

I have been waiting to share this post with you guys for some time now! My wonderful best friend Samantha asked me a while back to take some pictures of her little family for Christmas, the only downfall was that I couldn't share them until AFTER Christmas! Well now that it has finally past, I can share this cute little family with you guys! Enjoy!

  

 

Happy Birthday Kloey!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my baby niece Kloey!

You have got to be the sassiest two year old I know!

You remind me so much of your sister Kaitlyn but you're definitely your own person!

You are sooooo spoiled, being the baby of the family! 

You're so smart for your age and when you speak it amazes me! Sometimes I forget how young you still are! 

These past two years have gone by way too fast. It seems like yesterday I was visiting you and your mommy in the hospital. 

I can't wait to see what this next year offers and what new stuff you'll learn and surprise us with!

I love you pumpkin and I hope you've had an amazing birthday :)

Adoption

If you're a personal friend of mine on Facebook, you'll know that my dogs are my children. You'll also know that I have a very deep love for my pitbulls. I've had my miniature dachshund Kasey since she was 8 weeks old; she's 8 years old now! My husband and I got our two year old pit bull Bailey in January 2009 and  that my friends, began my love for pit bulls.

My husband grew up with pit bulls and bull dogs and when we first began dating he had a pit bull but had to give her away. At first I was skeptical because of everything you hear on the news but as soon as I laid my eyes on Bailey, it was love at first sight. Bailey is the most amazing dog in the world! He is the biggest cuddle bug in the world and just LOVES  to give kisses! He's my baby and I can't imagine life without him!

Now if you've noticed lately we've had another pit bull come into our life. A good friend of mine told me that the Portsmouth Humane Society was waiving adoption fees for the month of October and that they were thinking of adopting. Now when she told me this, I had NO intention of getting another dog. We were content with Bailey and Kasey and the thought never crossed my mind. So one evening I just happened to check out the their website and boy was that a mistake! Colt was the first dog I saw and I thought he had the sweetest face. Of course my husband sad no but I didn't let that stop me. I kept visiting the website and looking at Colt and reading about him. Finally one day I decided to head up to the Portsmouth Humane Society JUST TO LOOK! I needed to see Colt and I was curious to see his personality in person. 


Of course when I got there the sight I saw broke my heart. You see, the Portsmouth Humane Society wasn't in a great part of town at the time (they're moving into a beautiful facility as we speak!!). There wasn't a lot of space for all of the dogs and the majority of them were pit bulls. I asked to take Colt out to interact with him and I wasn't prepared for what was to come. Colt was very skinny and scared and you could tell he was probably abused. We were told he was estimated to be about 3 years old and had been there for about 5 months already. I knew then and there I needed Colt just as much as he needed me. The next step would be to introduce him to Bailey. My biggest concern was not knowing what would happen when these two pit bulls met. 

By this time of course I had convinced my husband that we NEEDED to adopt Colt. We set up an appointment to do a meet and greet with Bailey so we could continue on with the adoption process. I'm not going to lie, I was scared to death. What if they hated each other and started fighting? How could I walk away from a dog that had already made his way into my heart? Thankfully, the meet and greet went great! They sniffed each other, walked around the yard and Colt was actually a little scared of Bailey. 


Obviously we told them we were ready to give Colt his 'forever home'. Within a week I went from two dogs to three! While Bailey opened my eyes and heart to pit bulls and stereotypes, Colt has opened my heart 10 times more. I look at him and can't imagine life without him in our family. Now don't think I love one more than the other, because I love all three of my babies equally! But my love for Colt comes from the fact that I know I saved his life. The Portsmouth Humane Society saved Colt from abuse and most likely death and I can't thank them enough for bringing him into my life. When I look into Colt's eyes I know we've done the right thing by taking the chance on a pit bull. A pit bull where we didn't know all of his history, yet we still let him into our home and our hearts. 

Colt thank you for making mommy a better person. You've grown so much in the past month and a half that you're a completely different dog! 

So if you're in the area and thinking about bringing a pet into your life, check out the Portsmouth Humane Society! They've got TONS of amazing animals and the staff there is incredible! 

(I'll be posting some of my recent shoots to the blog soon! I had finals this past week and a handful of shoots I had to get out before Christmas so bare with me!)

Danielle-Class of 2012

Danielle and I have worked together for a couple of years now; she came into the firm I work at when she was FIFTEEN! She is the most hardworking person I know, which I guess is why she is at the top of her class! 

When Danielle asked me to do her senior pictures I was so excited! You see, Danielle plans to go to Law School and become a Family Law Attorney. I've been wanting to shoot at Regent University for months now, so I thought why not do it there? It's a Law School and and BEAUTIFUL campus! We had an amazing time, even though there were three other photographers out there shooting! 

Danielle, thank you for the opportunity to let me not only take your senior pictures, but to get to know you these past few years. You're such an amazing person and I know you're going to go far in life. Maybe one day I'll be your Paralegal! 

 

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Five years ago today, a little after 9:00 at night my beautiful niece, Kaitlyn Sierra Holcomb came into this world at 7lbs. 7oz, 21 inches long.  Since that day 5 years ago, I have been wrapped around her little finger!

I remember your mommy letting Uncle Lewie and I keep you over night when you were a week old! I just sat there and watched you most of the night because every time you made a noise we would be right by your side. 

I am so blessed to have watched you grow up. From the first time you crawled, to your first step; I've always been there and I promise I'm not going anywhere!

You mean the world to me Katybug! I wouldn't trade our relationship for the world!

It warms my heart every time I see you smile, or every time you see me and run up to me and give me the biggest hug!

I promise to always be there.

 I promise that I will pick you up until my back gives out.

I promise that I will continue to spoil you!

I promise that you will always be my baby, even when your grown and in college.

I promise that I will never stop loving you.

Happy Birthday babygirl!

I hope you have a great day and get everything you want and more!

Love, Auntie Jess

Happy Birthday Derrick!

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite 3 year old's! 

I was able to capture this adorable photo earlier this summer when Derrick's mommy (one of my best friend's) had me take some picture of her two precious little boys.

I hope you get everything you want and deserve on your special day baby!

Pacheco Family

Pretlow has been a friend of the family for as long as I can remember. Though we may not see each other much, our families have always been there for each other during the ups and downs of life. I remember the day Ashton was born; it was New Years Eve 2000. I remember eating Chick-fil-A nuggets and my mom getting the call from Pretlow that Ashton had been born. Crazy that I remember that, seeing as I was only 10 at the time!

We got together recently for family pictures and here are a couple of my favorites!

 

 

 

Hawes Family

CJ has got to be one of the SWEETEST people I know. When she asked me to do family pictures, I was excited because I just love to shoot this family! I did a mini maternity session for her a while back, and newborn pictures of little miss Allie earlier this summer.  This will be our third session together and definitely not our last!

CJ thank you for being so amazing! I love you and your family!

Here are a few favorites from the day!

 

In the middle of the shoot Eric ran over to Lewis and said, "I want to give you a big bear hug!" How cute is that?!?!?

 

 

This was the first time I had seen baby Allie since our newborn shoot. My best friend Jesse (and CJ's twin sister) has been telling me for months how much of a happy baby she is! She definitely didn't disappoint with that smile!

 

 

 

 

Couples-Janie & Cody

When Janie contacted me about taking pictures of her and her hubby, I was super excited! What made it even more fun was that she wanted to include her dog Stella! If anyone knows me and Lewis, we're ALL about our dogs! They're like our kids, so of course we had no problem including Stella. It was a lot of fun and this couple definitely made my job easy tonight!

I had a hard time deciding which ones to put on the blog because they were all so good! These are definitely some of my favorite :)

 

 

I'm pretty sure this one is by far one of my favorites from the night!