The Happy Bryan Family

I had the pleasure of taking some family pictures of the Bryan family two weekends ago. Shawn is Ken's cousin and Shawn's wife, Tiffany, is such a doll! They have two beautiful girls, Brooke and Katie. They are such a neat family- when you're around them you can see their love for each other just pours out. We shot them in Gran Gran's awesome backyard- it's so big, green and has a great swing hung from a monstrous tree! I had fun doing these!

Wedding Bliss... with a side of pressure.

Oh my goodness... well, I have been tootling around in the photography world with a Canon Rebel professional camera for about two months now and I am loving it! I have learned so much about how cameras work and have been shooting all in manual to force myself to learn it the hard way- which will make all the other stuff easier in the long run... I think. :)

I have taken pictures of just about everything from people, animals, plants, and I hit an all-time "looking-for-something-to-shoot-for-practice" low and shot some moss on bricks on Monday. I was actually surprised at how neat it looks though. ...and I was really going out on a limb trying to see if I could make it look interesting. I don't know if I did, but here it is! Does this interest you??? NO? OK- well, I gave it a try. :) I bet you've never seen a polka-dotted brick, though!

I've also been playing a lot in Adobe Photoshop programs and have found some neat ways to edit the photos... it is absolutely amazing the things you can do with pictures. The software is no easy thing. No wonder professional photographers charge a fortune- their time is eaten alive by this program! Once you learn it I am sure editing life gets better but until then- sheesh!

When I first opened it up I believe after a couple moments I might have felt the most dense I've ever experienced. Once I pulled up a picture to edit, I must have sat here at this computer literally staring at the monitor for minimally thirty minutes... and had not changed a single thing. The main task menu is just symbols and there are lots of drop-down menus with tons of commands certainly not written in plain English! The manual needs a manual!!! It has taken all of these two months to learn anything in the editing program but after just being brave and clicking on things I had no idea what they did, I have come a long way! There is so much more to learn but I enjoy it all!

All this being said, Ken's super sweet cousin, Chelsey got married last weekend. The weekend of the mean ol' Ike hurricane who's wrath hit her, too! Because of the horrendous rains and winds her dreamy outdoor wedding turned into an indoor wedding minus the photographer and band who both cancelled the day of the wedding! A woman's nightmare! So, Ken's mom called and asked if I would be the photographer! I told Ken about it and he said, "Hunny- your first wedding!!", with a big grin on his face! We laughed because, talk about pressure! The whole wedding I was tense and just crossing all my fingers and toes that the pictures would turn out. It was a great experience and I am so happy that I was able to help her out! Ken and I joke that it was my first and LAST wedding! Too scary that it's all in my hands for those precious once-in-a-lifetime memories! :)

Awakening Subject

A pic of the beautiful sky at Sulphur Springs Airport.

Hello all... Ken's Uncle Terry is a wonderful minister, (he married us at the Biltmore in NC), and writes these amazing daily reflections at the wee hours of his mornings for us to all ponder on. He calls them "Early Light". (If you're interested in receiving them just let me know and I'll let him or his wife know to add you to their email list.)

Each of these "Early Lights" are so beautifully expressive. I love to see what they are each day. This one struck me as such an eye/heart/mind opener that I knew I should share it with more people.

Some pictures that make me ponder...his writing below those.

A sunset on a trip Ken and I took to San Diego. This was our first trip we took and I already knew then that I would marry my man. This was a momentous sunset for us to sit and watch. God impressed us, as usual. The first bouquet of beautiful flowers Ken ever sent me... They were for my birthday and he sent them to my work back when I worked at David Weekley. Ken's mom, Kim was my boss and only she and I knew about us dating... we were trying to keep it such a secret from all the other employees and him sending these and signing it anonymously really drove all the other women crazy! They were dying to know who they were from and I just had to play "dumb" and say, "hmmm... I don't know who they're from!!" He did that on purpose, come to find out. :)
Saw this cone out at the airport... thought it was interesting that grass is so hearty (stubborn) to just keep doing it's job no matter what. (That's little Palmer, our dog, in the background- he was exploring!)


This is a picture my amazing brother took in the walled gardens at the Biltmore during our wedding trip. This is another beautiful pic my brother took while we ladies were playing croquet at the wedding- (at Biltmore), such beautiful setting. Everywhere we looked was a perfect picture of God's creations.
I love this one, too. He would get up early and go walking to capture the scenery. He's an amazing photographer! Another one of God's stunning creations. All the colors and layers, so peaceful.
These pics remind me of some of the simple things that make me sit still and be thankful for my life. I am so blessed to be healthy-able to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel all that is presented everyday. I just need to focus more on putting these senses into action more throughout the days. I know I miss so much because I am in a hurry-- but am I really in a hurry or do I just think I am in a hurry?

Please enjoy. Enjoy your all your time each day.

EARLY LIGHT, By Brother Terry Bryan

SENSORY DEPRIVATION
Jeremiah 5:21---"Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears; and hear not:"
Having been a school bus driver at one time in my life, we were drilled with a valuable lesson concerning railroad crossings. I believe this lesson would also be a good approach to life. STOP, LOOK & LISTEN!" In other words, give your full attention to what is going on around you.
Thanks to these Early Light times on my front porch, I have come to realize that I am beginning to suffer from "sensory deprivation"----that is, my senses aren't as keen as they once were. Sadly, this has occurred because of my own doing. I have allowed the busyness & complexities of life to dull my senses to the point that I am missing many of the awesome things that God has provided for my enjoyment. Could this be happening to you? Think about it, how many things do you just tune out from your hearing everyday? How many things are you overlooking as you go about your daily activities? How long has it been since you've felt the tenderness of a child or grandchild's hand in yours? Have you even taken time to taste any of your meals lately? Do you still notice and appreciate the smell of rain or flowers in a field?
I'm truly fearful that too many of us have been reduced to only utilizing our senses to experience the "bad stuff". We only see the tragedies, hear the bad reports, feel the pain, smell only the foulness, and all this leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths. Well know this; if something doesn't change, you will become sour on life. This is not what God intends for any of His children!! Let me encourage you to "STOP, LOOK & LISTEN" right now!!! Don't get hit by the train of despair. Regain your appreciation for all the wonderful things that God provides for us every day. Let's stop and smell the flowers and give thanks to the one that gave them to us.
Regaining my senses,
Bro. Terry

There is no real happiness without God and no peace when we separate ourselves from Him.

-eprayer.com

Labor Day- No Work Allowed!

We took a day off from working on our land this Labor Day! (Now it is just raining and raining so we have not worked since Sunday!) The Goggans' families came to Sulphur to visit and spend the day having fun!

Kim cooked a huge lunch for all of us and we gobbled it all down! It was a great lunch and fun to have everyone there. There was little left over. Afterwards, we decided to go to our new land and swim, which involved some preparation prior to lunch.

So knowing we were going to go to the pond or "pool" as a lot of people in Sulphur call it, we decided to search for some sort of boat to get. Kim called Tractor Supply and they happened to have a large canoe so Ken and I decided to go get it... it's so cool!! We are needing to find a name for it because you're always supposed to name your boat! If you think of any names please leave them in the "Comment" section at the bottom of this post. It is a dark green canoe that seats three...

There are two trees in the water that some young boys nailed boards to in order to have stairs way up the trees to jump off of! I bet the top board is 30feet up-- way too far up for this girl. I am so happy to stay below and cheer others on! All the guys jumped off it- and so did Karson! She is way more brave that we were!!

See the boards between the trees way out there? I say, "no thanks!" to climbing up that!

Candace and Chase decided they would fish and they did a good job at it! I think they caught three fishies, and put them all back, thank goodness because I don't prefer to witness any animals being hurt. Candace was so brave and would put her own worm on the hook and even take the hook out of the fish's mouths when she'd catch one. But, she didn't like it too much when Chase attempted to have that fishie give her a big smooch! Those hot pink rubber boots were movin'!!! YIKES!!!

After we all swam we met back at Kim and Danny's for watermelon and some down time. After watermelon all the guys collected up their guns and they, and Candace, shot skeet. Alisha shot a couple times, too- each time she'd shoot it looked like she was going to fall over backward. The gun is close to weighing as much as she does!! And Candace had her pink shotgun- one of a kind!! She was so fashion-aware having her pink boots and matching shotgun. Never seen that before, huh?!


Danny, Candace, Papa all competing for the same little skeet!

Ken and his brother Kris.
Papa taking a break...
Danny, Candace, Papa, Kris and a skeet way out there!!
The whole gang- Chase was trying out Candace's fancy-pants gun...secure man!
My hottie husband!
Last but not least, us girls got a little side-tracked while the guys shot so we decided to do handstands... wouldn't call it a total success but a lot of fun!! We attempted to assist Alisha with hers against the hanger side. I don't think we were much help!





Fun day!

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
-Plato