Throwback Thursday

I love everyone's new "Throwback Thursday" themes on their blog, so I thought I'd start one myself. I find it appropriate that I begin with our wedding. It's only fitting due to the hurricane weather we are having now.

Yes, it was hurricane like weather on our wedding day, and we had an outside wedding. My luck! The day was beyond perfect. We started pictures early, and the sun was with us all throughout the wedding. He left during the reception, and the clouds rolled in about 30 minutes later. We had a beautiful day. . . no complaints! Our reception got cut a little shorter than planned, but we love everyones "hurricane Heather" stories from that day.

Photos by Patrick Remington

This is the house on Grenada Lake where we got married. 

 Arthur III, Arthur IV, and Arthur Jr. 

And then came the rain. . . 

The Bakers

Abbie and Tony got married in Yazoo City in early May. They have had to hold out a great deal of patience with me while we moved. Note to self: next time I move and plan a 2 week vacation all in a month, I will hire a babysitter to watch AE while I finish up all galleries. It's quite annoying to have a "to-do" list hanging over your head amongst such chaos!

Back to this sweet couple. . . They got a reveal before we moved of raw shots only, but as of today. . . ( a little tardy, right?), they have a full gallery of edited and touched-up photos of their sweet day.

Colored Rice? Seriously!

A few weeks ago, I posted a picture on Facebook of 80 lbs of colored rice & promised to blog about it later. It's taken some time, but here it is!

The colored rice is for our new sandbox. Arthur & I have been hard at work in the back yard building that sandbox, & it is finally finished! Yay! This is our birthday gift to our sweet girl. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard. I can't wait for her to get up from her nap & try it out for the first time.

Colored Rice:
Take five cups of rice & put in a ziplock bag. Separately, mix 5 tablespoons of alcohol with a few squirts of food coloring. Poor the mixture in to the rice bag & spread it around evenly. I left them in the bags for about 30 minutes then spread them out in a large container outside in order to dry. The alcohol will evaporate & leave you with fun colors of rice!

Don't I have such a cute handyman?

It's Almost Birthday Time

We are spending this week preparing for Anne Elise's FIRST birthday party! Yay!

We have lots of work to do, but mommy is enjoying all the projects. It's keeping me occupied!

This week we are hoping to finish up the patio project. I'm so thankful our amazing builder, Mr. Rusty Crane, has put off a few projects to come help us. Rusty has been amazing, & we can't thank him enough for all his hard work.

Our patio furniture should arrive this week, I'm hoping to put together a few Candyland decor candies together, finish details with the cake & food, wrap up all moving-in type projects, & clean! Whew! This should be fun. O yes, & AE & I are working diligently to learn how to blow out a candle. You can tell her to "blow out your candle," & she puffs out the biggest breath she can muster including a little spit. However, you put a flame in front of her, & it throws her off. Not sure if we'll have this trick worked out by Saturday!

She is so excited! And she has been quite the "helper" for me this past week while we decorated the patio. She preferred to do it all naked.

Prayer

While reading on the Gospel Coalition, I clicked on one thing which led me to another, and somehow landed on this page. I really appreciated the author's simple approach to an explanation of prayer. He ended with this poem. 

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Utter'd or unexpress'd;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear;
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near. 

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high. 

Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry, "Behold, he prays!" 

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
Our watchword at the gates of death;
We enter heaven with prayer. 

The saints in prayer appear as one
In word and deed and mind,
While with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.

Nor prayer is made by man alone,
The Holy Spirit pleads,
And Jesus on the eternal throne,
For sinners intercedes.

O Thou, by whom we come to God,
The life, the truth, the way!
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray.

--James Montgomery, 1818

You are who You are

Mercy Me: I will Praise You in this Storm

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

I feel like this is my life-song right now. I feel completely humbled at the way God is moving in my life. I am very confused as to why, and I also feel a little hurt. . . Ok, very hurt. Because it is so overwhelming at the moment and all new to myself, I'm not ready to share my innermost thoughts, fears, and struggles. I feel like it is a very private thing to me right now. . . Is that the right way to go about this? I'm not sure, but like I said, it's all new and overwhelming. I don't know which direction to run right now, but I do not which direction to look. . . and that is up. I'm not sure I could possibly look any other direction right now. 

So why do I share this if it's so "private?" Well one, I don't feel like I have anyone to relate to in this, so this is a way for me slightly put my feelings out there. Second, I want prayer. I want warriors who can call on the angels for me. I don't want your sympathy, questions, or help right now. I'm being very stubborn. I just want deep, sincere prayer. . . for me, for my family, for our lives. 

And I want to Praise God in this storm. I cannot thank Him enough for my many undeserving blessings. I have the most beautiful, fun-loving little girl a mother could ask for. Of course, I'm a little bias, but I cannot thank God enough for this perfect little bundle, and I pray hard for her soul. I pray I will be the best guidance towards the truth for her. I pray that I will be disciplined woman of God as an example to her. I praise God for my loving husband, who has guided and provided for our family more than we need. I praise God for a roof over my head. . . I've complained about that roof for so long now, but thanks to this humbling experience, I must say that roof is far more than I deserve. I praise Him for my family and all the love they have relayed. I praise God for my close friends who live out such amazing Christian examples for me to observe. 

I praise God for the amazing year we had at Lawndale, and for the amazing Christian friends I gained during our time there. I cannot tell you how much each of you have meant to me. I so dearly want to go back to the play room at Candace's house, sit in that little red childrens' chair, and just let it all out. Or escape to Peru with the Ueltcheys to see God's hand at work. Or a quick trip to the gym to blow off steam! You girls are amazing, and I feel so blessed to have been a part of that uplifting network. 

Ok! Whew! I know that seems likes like a blog-post overload, and you are probably a little concerned about me (if you even continued to read after I threw my online pity party) at this point. I'm ok! Just squeeze me in your prayers! I would appreciate that. 

Russell and Amanda. . . Chic BBQ Shower

Arthur and I recently helped host a couples shower in Jackson for his old MC roommate, Russell  and his beautiful fiance, Amanda.

We had a blast seeing old friends and catching up. I volunteered myself for the decorations, and they shockingly came out pretty cute. Of course, Pinterest brought all the inspiration.

Chic BBQ

Menu:

BBQ Chicken & BBQ pork

Baked Beans

Cole Slaw

Corn on the cob

Desert: Red Velvet cake

I got the cute mason jars on Amazon as well as the mini tasting spoons and tied them on with raffia. 

The corn on the cob was put on skewer sticks and stuck in the moss. For that display I use hot-glue to attach the moss to styrofoam blocks. 

For the silhouettes, I asked the bride and groom for a profile shot. Nothing fancy, they both were just quick iphone pics. I cropped them to similar proportions, then sent them to Wal-Mart to print in 8x10. (Sidenote: I NEVER, EVER print at Wal-Mart. As a professional photog, I will tell you, it will be the worst mistake you ever make. The photo quality is compromised, the colors usually turn out with  darker hues than expected, and they age faster than professional printers. Splurge a little on your precious pictures & use an online company like snapfish, shutterfly, mpix, etc. Off that soapbox)

BUT for this project, and 8x10 from Wal-Mart was the exception.   

I set the picture on top of black construction paper, cut it out, then set it in front of butcher (kraft) paper and framed it. . . EASY as pie! 

The photo booth was a great hit, and was EASY BREEZY! If you don't have a single creative bone in your body, you will still find this surprisingly easy to assemble. 

I asked all the host to bring any props for the booth, hats, scarves, costumes, etc. We had some funky pieces and the guys loved it all the most. 

So I draped an old quilt and set out a trunk with all the supplies. I left the polaroid camera there for groups to self serve. 

The polaroid film was a little more expensive than I expected, but the fun was worth every penny. I guess it was cheaper than hiring a photographer to do it all. We got a cute album from etsy for all the guest to put their photo in and write a cute note to the couple. 

I also ordered the cute prop set from etsy. 

Shipping Out

It's always a relief when I get to take another wedding to the post office. First, it means no more sitting in front of the computer for hours of photoshop. Second, it also means another set of amazing clients are about to see their images for the first time.

This precious couple has been so unbelievably understanding and patient with me during our move. I know they are so anxious to see their pictures.  Their day was absolutely beautiful, and it was so much fun. When I got off the clock at 9:00 that night, I decided to stay for a little celebrating myself. . . Don't worry, they are not perfect strangers! I went to the same high school as the groom, and I've know the bride for several years.

Congrats Nolan and Sarah. I wish you both the best, and I can't wait for you to open a special package this week.

Love this chapel. 

Such and adorable couple 

One of my favorite shots

Chapel of Memories, Starkville, MS 

Best wishes to you both!