A Merry Little Christmas

We had such a great day on Christmas yesterday. It was so nice to have my loved ones around me. I hope they all know how precious they are to me.

A shot from Miles's visit with Santa:

Hope everyone reading this post had a Merry Christmas too!

Family Portraits 2007

We had our yearly family portraits done a few weeks ago, this time here in Denton. Rhonda Petty, owner of Sunlit Portraits in Sanger, did the session this time. She got permission from a friend of hers to use their land to shoot on. Their land was so beautiful--the whole time I was there it felt like I'd found the land of my dreams--only someone else already owned it! Rolling hills covered with golden grass, a pond with a pier and a little rustic shed, a stone wall, fall foliage, a classic red barn and the road winding through it all made such picturesque backdrops for our portraits. Below are only a few of the images Rhonda shot.






























































I will be sending out Christmas cards with one of the images on it, but you are welcome to get any of the photos you want through smugmug (Grandparents and Great-Grandparents: don't order yet, because we'll be including portraits as part of your Christmas gift!).

To see the rest of them click here. The password is "griffin" (not capitalized).



Thank you so much for the beautiful photos, Rhonda!

In the Field

I'm always so busy photographing other people's kids, sometime I neglect taking them of Miles like I want to. Not to mention, he is the HARDEST kid for me to photograph, I guess since he is so used to it that he either ignores me or says "No! I don't want to take pictures!" Anyway, I took him to a field this past week to try to get some creative shots of him and possibly some of me with him (using the camera on my tripod and the timer). I got some good ones, and then he said he wanted to take some, so I put the camera on the tripod and let him snap away while I posed. It was so much fun, and he did a really good job! I'm so proud of Mommy's little photographer!

Our Trip to the Mountains: Celebrating 10 Years

Chip and I took a trip up to Beaver's Bend in Oklahoma two weeks ago tomorrow to celebrate our 10th anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long! Beaver's Bend is a resort park in Broken Bow and is nestled an area of small mountains. While we were there, we drove farther north about an hour to the larger Kiamichi mountains (these mountains are beginnings of the Ozarks). We drove most of the 56-mile Talimena Drive. The area reminded me so much of north Alabama where I lived a few years as a child. It was absolutely gorgeous! Who knew there were mountains like this so near home!

At Beaver's Bend, we stayed in a cabin in the woods. We walked two nature trails, went canoeing, and mostly just relaxed. One evening we sat by the fire and celebrated with a little red wine. Very romantic!

I'm so looking forward to going back to Beaver's Bend and the mountains. Chip and I are also planning on going a little farther north east into Arkansas and the Ozarks sometime too. I felt so at home there surrounded by those mountains. Some people are ocean people; I'm a mountain person all the way.

A few photos from our trip:

At our cabin:




The Talimena Drive:












Outside our cabin right before we headed home:

Pumpkin Time

I can't believe how fast Halloween is coming this year! This is the first year I think Miles has a little more understanding of what Halloween fun is all about, so it should be really fun! We've bought several small pumpkins this year for painting and just to have around the house for a festive feeling, and we've gone to a couple of pumpkin patches. The photos below are of the one at Miles's school. He was so proud of the little pumpkin he got earlier that day, which his teacher had written his name on the bottom. I thought this pumpkin patch would be the perfect photo opportunity, so I asked Miles to give me a tour as I captured these shots.

My adorable little cherub!