Myrle's New Ride

Their last trip to the dealership was in 1991. They bought their truck that would last them even until now. But it's sort of, no it IS on it's last leg. It was a great day for my mother-in-law Friday! For she got her a set of (very much needed and deserved) new wheels! WOO HOO! Congratulations Myrle!

Their photo that the salesman took of them.

Much Better

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I'm feeling much better!Thank you for your prayers. I read a book by Jenna Bush while I was down and wow am I blessed. Sometimes it's easy to let little things (and I do mean little) dirty walls that need to be repainted, broken kitchen tile around the sink, yard work, the horrible dilemma of "not having anything to wear," gas being high, zits on your chin, bad hair days (and I mean REALLY bad), your children acting as if you've never taught them a thing about manners, having a leak in your air conditioner in your car for which now is leaving a musty smell on the carpet of the floor board. You get my drift. So this book, Ana's Story has opened my eyes to see that I am truly blessed. My "problems" are always better than someone elses'. It made me realize that I am a bit selfish and think a little too much about me. Whew. Confessions are hard especially if they are about you seeing the truth. Now, I am going to have me a blessed day. He has blessed me with so many things, people, and His word. It brings me such comfort to read it. It's real. This is such a world changing scripture:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phillipians 4:8
I'm gonna go get my praise on y'all!


Jenna is signing our copy of Ana's Story and Jerry Ann Guidroz took this of us. Thank you!! We were at the lovely River Oaks Country Club in Houston.

This one cracks me up. MyRick said something funny to Jenna (I know. Shock right?) and she looked up at him. I of course was watching her sign our copy of Ana's Story and was all into the moment. Very cool time. The man that took our photo did not tell us when to look up or even say "ready?" Ugh. Did I say that I love this picture of MyRick? He's so funny and this is totally him.

Forced to eat grapes

I want a BIG Frosty and I mean BIG. Like BIGGIE. Chocolate. Not vanilla. Pu-lease. My phone is not working at this moment. I have no car-at this moment. I'm sick-at this moment. Really. I spent $20 at SuperTarget last night getting a bottle of Vitamin C (chewable so we can ALL get in on the benefits of the stuff) A package of Theraflu, the kind you drink. (yuck!) NyQuil capsules. Cough drops with Vitamin C and a Coke. (YUM!)

Anyway, all I want is my delicious, chocolate Frosty all velvety-smooth, creamy, and cold. But there is NO WAY to get one! No way to have anyone bring me one! And so now I am forced to sit here and eat a totally healthy snack: crispety, crunchety, red grapes and drink an orange Juicy Juice. Pure healthy. Pure not what I want right now. At all. Oh Chocolate Frosty Dahling, anotha day.

There's nothing like B&W.

***Added to edit.

No sooner than I clicked the publish post button and MyRick and the girls walk in from visiting with my mother-in-law. "Hi babe. How you feelin'?" "Oh okay. I tried to call you. (in a pitiful tone of voice) I was gonna see if you'd get me a Frosty from Wendy's. My phone's not working though." "What?" "I'll go get you one." "No, I'll just go get it." "No. I'll go get you one. Do you really want one?" "Yes." "Okay. Chocolate or vanilla?" "Chocolate." Cough. Sniffle. Big, sad, blink, blink with my pitiful eyes. And a few glorious moments later I had my cold, smooth, delicious, creamy chocolate Frosty. I love that man o' mine.

Three Words Please

Dear family, friends, clients, photographers, stalkers, whoever you are, I need three words from you -please. I am wanting to know what YOU see in my photos that make you go ooohhh! awwwww! What three words of yours describes my work? You can also describe my personality too. What do you see in my photos that makes my photographs unique, striking, interesting? What is captivating to you in my photos? Light, posing, expressions, connections? What made you choose me over the bagillion other photographers out there? What draws you to my work?
I greatly appreciate your time and words. Even if you don't normally leave comments, I urge you to do so this one intsy wintsy little time. Don't be shy. Lord knows with the last post I did, I put myself out there! Just kidding. (I think?) This is extremely important to me as an artist. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all of you who stop by here daily to see what in the world is going on with me. I love your support and comments!!! Actually, I cherish them! If you want to include your family and friends in this poll, by all means, send them this link and let them have at it! Now, if you need to take another look at my photos before you decide what to write...click the link to my website. http://jamiephotos.com/
Anxiously awaiting your 3 words... -Jamie
Oh! I almost forgot my three words that I describe my work with (well, top three):
1.Dramatic
2.Bold
3.Artistic

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

They looked at each other in utter disbelief...


"Hey, I've got an idea that'll be fun.." "NO MOM. WE"RE NOT TAKING PICTURES." (uuuuuuuh, that PKS (Photographer Kids Syndrone) grows worse with every passing day!) "No. I was going to see if y'all wanted to dress me up, fix my hair and take pictures of me?" And they ran straight to my closet for my wardrobe. Yep, they did all of my hair, wardrobe, told me what to do for my photo session, AND took the pictures! (each one got to shoot me in the outfit and hair-a-do they created) They had a ball! Okay, my 6 year old dressed me in the leopard outfit and my 9 year old dressed me in the cream jacket and teal skirt...and accessorized me with our cute devil dog -Bella. She only looks sweet and innocent. I'll post more about her and her sister later. But for now...here's the result of two very creative minds...



"Look over there Mom."

"Now look down."

"Now come over here and get on the fence."

"Like this?" "Yah, that's good."

"Oh sweet little devil dog Bella! We love you!"

And here's the most amazing stylists and photographers ever!

It's Been Five Years

As she walked across her living room floor in her green knit dress and walker in hand she said, "I can't do this any more." She was fresh from her second surgery-this one, 6 hours, to remove the beast that had taken over her body. And with those words she slipped into her room from where she didn't come out again. It was 9 days in there that we all spent with her. I can still hear the oxygen machine whistling and Elvis singing gospel music in the background. My Aunt Tiggy-Mom's sister took care of her. All the calls to the Dr. and hospice and nurses and giving her pain meds -she did it. That dumb Renal Cell Carcinoma had bolted in her body like a flash of lightening. Oh how I wish she were here. No matter how many tears fall from my eyes it won't bring her back. That makes me mad. Oh, we'd still get on each other's nerves if she were here. But there's nothing like a Mother's unconditional, love -like -no- other love. I crave it so. I miss her smell-the Oscar de la Renta that she wore for years. Mom was taken from this life on Father's Day 2003.


In the midst of my grief, two things happened yesterday that I believe to be gifts for me. My middle daughter got baptized in Jesus' name. And her Daddy was the one to baptize her. He was elated!!! She's been wanting to get baptized for a while now. She received the Holy Ghost in 2006. We wanted her to understand the purpose of being baptized so we thought it best for her to wait until now. So yesterday, her sins were washed away in the lovely name of Jesus. Sweet little girl.

And also my youngest daughter lost her second tooth. They had just gotten through swimming and she was biting on her towel and her tooth came out! She was so excited about it. So were we.

I wish mom could've been here. I don't know how to end this so I'll do it with some photos. Enjoy.



Mom.












Waiting for her friend to get baptized. I love this photo.

.

B and her missing tooth.

Me and Dad.

Downright Good Time

Ouch. Oh my muscles had a serious workout yesterday! Muscles (that I haven't obviously used in years) are sore to-day! My brother-in-law called Thursday morning and asked if we wanted to take a little road trip with them. MyRick asked me if I wanted to go down the river. New Braunfels to be exact. Immediately my brain went to thinking about aaaaaaallll of the trips to New Braunfels we took when I was little. Memories seem to have a hold on me lately. I'm sure the girls will like it. They'll have someone to play with. AND I know that we'll be laughing the whole time because my sister-in-law will be there. I'd like to get away. Yes, let's go. So we pick up our oldest daughter from camp and head out. We get to the Guadalupe and the smell of the water is just like it was when I was 10. We rode the river for 7 hours and (7 hours of hooping, hollaring, relaxing, back paddling away from rocks and people, pure enjoyment) then went to The Gristmill for dinner. It was delicious. All of the girls (there were 7 under the age of 13) were falling asleep at the table. One even layed down on the cobblestone next to our table and almost fell out. We had a blast and I'm ready to go again. I didn't take my camera for many reasons...water being the most obvious. And I didn't want to leave it in the car all day in the heat. We bought a water camera and took some pics with that so I'm anxious to see how they turn out. Especially since my girls took most of the pictures. So no pics to put in this post. BOO. BOO. BOOOOOOOOOO. But hopefully later I'll put some up as Father's Day is tomorrow and all. Be back soon. -Jamie

Just A Swingin'

"Little Charlotte she's as pretty as the angels when they sang..." This is not Charlotte. This is Kellen, my cousin. The girls and I went to visit him the other day. So when I was thinking of a title for this blog entry, the song Swingin' by John Anderson came to me. Wow how that song brings back memories. Oh no. Open the flood gate of memories because here they come! When I was little my uncle had a bar in Galveston that we went to EVERY weekend. His name was Carl (of Carl's Lazy Bend) but for some reason that I can't remember, we called him Uncle Mutt. I was about 9 or 10 when these memories were being made. I used to play Ms PacMan and got all the way to the pears if I remember correctly. The barbque plates, candy bars, and free Cokes were enough to make any child happy. Sorry to say that I wasn't though. I truly felt that I was always missing something in my life-even as a child. I had a void that was never filled by anyone or anything until I received the Holy Ghost (God's Spirit) in 1995. I praise Him for that and I've never had that empty feeling again. Back to the memories...My favorite memories of Uncle Mutt's place were the piano that I used to play and the jukebox. I was much better at playing the jukebox! Elvira, New York, and Swingin' were my favorites. Oh music...speaking of music, there used to be a band called Salty Dog (I know right?) that I thought was awesome. And for the main reason...Tommy. He was 21 and I was like 13. There was simply no hope for "us."He played the guitar in the band and man I thought he rocked! Oh young love/crushes. Oh young...Kellen. Is he having a ball on this swang or what? He was a joy to be around. His favorite thing to say is: Awwww NOOOOOOO! (Oh no!) I just love this series of shots...

Like Mother...yah.

Love the old fashioned look here.

You know your mother is nuts don't you?

So I was feeling delirious and grabbed my camera. Did I mention that it was 12:30 in the morning? You know how you get that crazy wabbly/laughy feeling when you're really tired? Well, it was all over me and I had to act upon it. I grabbed my camera with my flash all mounted and started snapping. "BABE. WHAT are you doing?" I'm just practicing with my flash. (all while laughing and feeling that wabbly-gut laughy feeling) I just want to get some pictures of y'all. It's 12:30 in the morning! I know. Haahaahahahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I can't believe that I was able to hold my camera still enough to get anything. So I take a few of Mr. J and my little one see exhibit A. He looks at her and says, "you know your mother is nuts don't you?" Yah dad. Okay, onto room #2. "Hey, it's time to go to bed. What are you doing up?" I'm reading Mom. "Well, go to bed." All while I'm snapping. "Mom, what are you doing?" I'm just taking a few pictures. "NO MOM! Stop!" Then comes the laughing. See exhibit B. (Why my girls insist on wearing Dad's T-shirts to bed and not their cute little PJ's is beyond me.) What a lovely spaghetti stain you have on there A! Last stop. Ra-Ra. Ra-Ra. Ra-Ra. (robotic sound) That's the sound of my light meter trying it's hardest to find something-anything to meter off of. For it was dark in this room. Very dark. This girl was fast on her way to la-la land and some crazy woman (her mother) was taking pictures using a flash that was sure to blind most anyone-especially in a totally dark room. "Mom, what are you doing?" As the red light finally metered on her face, FLASH! MOOOOOM! What are you doing? All while we both were laughing! Good thing Diba (long I sound) and Bella were out of harms way or they would've got it too!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

FLASH!

20th Anniversary

We gathered in the most elegant edifice to celebrate 20 years of service from an amazing family. Absolutely they serve the one true living God and His people.
She came around the corner wearing an extraordinary red suit with a ruffled white shirt of delicate detail. Her floral shoes were the perfect splash of color to her celebratory attire (besides the slick red satin purse and it's amazing red bow!) Our eyes met as she was on her way to greet the ministers and their wives in the green room. She flashes that smile of hers and begins to minister immediately with her ever so pleasant words and affections. She forgot all about what was going on, a huge celebration in honor of them, and took time to dote on a young woman, who along with countless others are in awe of her. And this is why she and her husband are successful in leadership...selflessness. His sentiments and actions were the same. I watched as he introduced people to one another-excitedly and upbeat. He made sure that everyone had been spoken to and made to feel at ease and appreciated. And they did. Rest assured, the desire in this couple's live's to serve and lead are seen and felt whole-heartedly. What cause to celebrate!

With that being said, the night was full of genuine doting and admiration of this rare, remarkable couple and their family. My most memorable quote of the evening though was this: "You could've had idiots!" -Rev. Nathan J. Hurst Yes, there was laughter, tears, and accounts of the impact that they've had on countless lives that they've had relationship with over the past 20 years. Certainly God has blessed the city and people of Pearland with a faithful, loving, Godly Pastor and wife.

The following photos express the details of this 20th Anniversary celebration in one way or another. You may laugh. You may cry. You may scratch your head. But one thing is for sure...you will have memories and relive the emotions of this night for years to come. Lord bless and keep you always.
-Jamie

Congratulations to Rev. and Mrs. Ken Gurley and Family of Pearland, TX

Milestone.









Loved.









Adoration.









Powerful.








Modern version of:


Hear no evil. Speak no evil. See no evil.









Brotherhood.

Proud.

Passionate.

Stunning

Today is the last day of school. Stunning. I had an Iced Caramel Machiatto with EXTRA caramel from here this morning. Not stunning. I bought the most awesome blouse yesterday to wear to a wedding this coming weekend. Stunning. I paid in the single digits for it. STUNNING! God is always with me. Knows all about me. Loves me. Helps me. He is...Stunning. I went to Super Target yesterday for some groceries. Not stunning. The Dollar Spot in Target. Stunning. Washed my hair for the umteenth time yesterday with Head and Shoulders. (hey, it smells good and washes those flakes away!) Not stunning. It's power...Stunning. Godiva and Bella gathered around me for some attention and love this morning after I took the girls to school. Well, they actually wanted me to feed them. Not stunning. The photos below...especially the first one: STUNNING.