Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. . .
Today is THE day! Our sweet, silly, tomboy is four years old. I seriously can’t believe we are already here at this milestone. She is like a for real kid now. Like is argumentative, opinionated, sarcastic, but still cute so it’s kind of funny kid. She is everything and more than I hoped for in a little girl and I wouldn’t change her personality for anything… well depending on what day you ask me on.
This child is bull-headed, hot-tempered, and full of independence. She really doesn’t need me there. I just follow along because, well, she lets me. 
She is Idgie Threadgoode… but kind of cuter.
I have thought about doing a Fried Green Tomatoes themed shoot for awhile now. I’ve bounced around ideas for wardrobe and props for at least a year or more. I finally decided to shoot this past Saturday. I literally had one outfit pulled together. So at 10pm, on Friday, I went to Walmart to see what I could find. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but this is how it happens. Every. Single. Time.
Shout out to our local honey makers – Jennings Apiaries – for the sweet prop!
I’ll admit that part of the last minute “go ahead” was because I hadn’t shot her yearly birthday picture. We didn’t even plan a party this year. Our whole life is still kind of crazy at home. Remodeling is still happening, work is busier than ever, and we have been sick on top of it all. So basically we just suck this year. Next year, we will go all out. Promise!
Ryan Kate knows that she isn’t getting a party this year, but she honestly could care less. Or, at least, that is how she is acting. We plan on keeping it pretty low key today around the house. Then on Saturday, she will have her first gymnastics recital and we’ll have pizza and cake with family.
If I’m being completely honest, I wish this was how every birthday was. Party planning stresses me out! I always want to give her the moon and the stars and I end up going way over budget and I hardly even get to stop to take pictures or enjoy the friends and family that come. I miss the days when everything was so much more simple. If you had told my four year old self that we were going out for pizza and ordering a cake for my birthday I would have been so excited. I can honestly remember maybe four actual birthday parties. And for no other reason than people just didn’t do Pinterest parties every year.
I want Ryan Kate to be raised this way, in a way, too. I don’t want her to expect the moon and the stars. I want her to appreciate them when they come but not anticipate their yearly arrival.
She already thinks that the world revolves around her on a daily basis, so we needn’t prove that to her on her birthday! ...that’s not entirely true. She doesn’t think it just happens to revolve around her. She makes it revolve around her. If something isn’t happening the way she wants it to, she figures out a way to make it happen. I’m not talking about her throwing a fit to get her way (because that does happen). What I’m talking about is so much more than this. Watching her figure out ways to become more independent blows my mind. If we tell her no, because we are too busy or it’s not time for whatever IT is that she wants; she will figure out a way to get it on her own. It doesn’t matter if she has to run all the way across the house to get her stool to stand up on top of it to reach something, or if she has to run out in the rain (barefoot – mostly naked) to get something out of the car. She’ll get the job done. With or without you.
I love that about her. I love so many things about her. Her fearlessness is by far my favorite though. I hope she never loses that. I hope that she never doubts herself or thinks that she can’t do something because she doesn’t have someones help. I hope that she always finds a way, her way, on her own.
Happy Birthday, my sweet, Bee Charmer.
Music credit: Thomas Newman – Ghost Train (Fried Green Tomatoes Soundtrack)
Nana was never a person with a huge amount of monetary means, but she always knew how to make the most of what she had. She ALWAYS put others before herself. I can’t tell you how many times I came to her house to eat in my late teens, early twenties because I literally had used my last dime to eat with the day before. She never said a word about it and I didn’t have to explain myself. She just loved me and fed me. She was this way with literally everyone she came in contact with.
That’s all anyone needs, isn’t it? To be loved beyond measure, with no expectations or consequences. To be remembered on their birthdays and fed when they can’t feed themselves. To know someone is thinking of them always. That is who Nana was to everyone mention above.
She sent each card, every single year, without any expectations of even getting a thank you. You see, she got it! She knew the true importance of giving. Giving without receiving. She knew it’s worth!
I’ve chosen to donate one dollar to 
I don’t want this day to be lost because we lost her. I want to always remember who she was and to continue to give back the way she did. In small, monumentous ways.
I guess, to be honest, it’s no different than getting inspiration from movies, magazines, life events, etc. but it does kind of feel wrong. I feel like I steal away her little thoughts. The only way I know how to keep them hers is by turning them into reality… or as real as we can imagine them to be.
Well, here we are in December and her love has not faded. She’s asked for one from Santa, she’s asked for me to take her picture with one, and she’s picked out her yearly Christmas ornament which happened to be (drum roll, please) a baby elephant. 
If you haven’t noticed by now, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for her. Pretty much anything and everything that she’s ever wanted – she’s gotten. She wanted a puppy; she got Daisy. She wanted a unicorn; she got a pink unicorn for her birthday. If I could figure out a way to get an elephant here for Christmas Day and still be able to feed her for the rest of her life, I would do it in a heartbeat. Some say I spoil her, but seeing her face light up and hearing her talk about it afterwards brings me as much joy as it does her.
Since these pictures were composite, I decided to include a couple before and after pictures. 
She is 51 years old today. (I’m legit texting her right now to confirm this. For some reason my parents are stuck at the age 35 in my mind. After those birthdays I lost track and have to ask or do the math… every year.) When I tell you our personalities are like oil and water… I. AM. NOT. LYING. We butt heads a lot. I think this is typical of mother daughter relationships, but there’s no way to sugar coat ours.
Mom is the definition of a feminist. Her picture is right there beside the definition. I know that because I have to look in the dictionary every time she speaks. I never know the huge words she uses. Ok, not every time, but a lot and thankfully I’ve learned how to use context clues. Thank God for Google too! I’m not exaggerating. She is freaking brilliant. Right now she works for some company doing some important thing that I don’t understand. I could probably call her and get her to spell out what she does, but really all you need to know is that she is super smart AND that she is still in the aviation field. 
Mom got her degree in Aviation from Louisiana Tech. She was a young mother and wife during that time, but she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her dream of becoming a pilot. Not only did she not let that stop her, but she didn’t let the huge factor of aviation being a male dominated field stand in her way either. It makes me extremely proud to tell people she is a pilot. 
I think my strong will of doing and becoming who I want to roots back to being raised by her. She taught to me be independent and to not rely on a man at a very early age. See there is her feminist trait rearing up again. I am extremely grateful for those lessons though. It has gotten me to where I am now. I will do everything in my power to pass that down to Ryan Kate as well… not that it will be hard to do. Just look at her. lol 
You know how they say some genetic traits skip a generation? Well I’m pretty positive that personalities do too. Before my Nana (mom’s mom) past away last year she told me that Ryan Kate acts just like Mom did as a child. I didn’t really agree until now. Ryan Kate has the biggest imagination. Sometimes when she tells me stories they sound just like stories Mom would tell my brother and I when we were little. I have a pretty good imagination myself, but I have to sit on stories and build them up as I go. Mom and Ryan Kate can just spit them out of the top of their heads like it’s as simple as breathing. So I’m not sure if the tradition is going to carry on with Ryan Kate’s and my relationship since she is so much like mom. Let’s hope for oil and vinegar?!
In honor of Mom’s birthday I decided to take her pictures at the new Ruston Regional Airport. And I say “new” because she when she was flying in Ruston, 20 something years ago, the airport was at a different location. 
I probably could’ve bought her something that she’d really enjoy (like an encyclopedia or something smart people like), but I knew she would treasure these pictures since aviation is a main part of who she is. 
To be honest, I feel like it is a little of who I am too. I grew up flying all of the time with mom and loved every second of it. I kind of always thought at some point in my life I would get a pilots license too, but so far it hasn’t even been on my radar of things to do before I die. (According to my husbands fear of flying – I would die if I flew anywhere. So it may be my last dying wish.) I’d be lying if I said I didn’t leave the airport that day thinking about it though. I even shot a text to my dad and told him that. His response was, “It’s in your genes.” He isn’t kidding either. My mother, father, uncle, and grandfather are all pilots. Can you imagine if Ryan Kate grows up to be a pilot?! Part of me wants her to just so I can do a transformation side by side picture! Fly, baby, fly!
Happy Birthday, Mom! We love to you to the sky and back! 
Watch our full session 
I could probably write a novel or three on my dad and the life he has lead. The accomplishments, the heartache and the love that he carries in him. I am so proud to call him my dad. I am sure at some point or another I will write a detailed post on who he is, but today I just want to share the parts of him that I love the most.
Dad, 
My very first model was my niece, Grace. She was my first baby. I spent so much time with her as a child.
Bienville is my home. It's my families home. Both sides of my family. My paternal grandmother "Mimi" was born there (in the house pictured above.) My roots started there.
I am often questioned on how I got started in photography. My answer is always the same. "My husband bought me a camera for Christmas." But if I really dig down deep and answer the question honestly… my love for photography came long before I ever even owned a camera.
Monday I picked up my very first model/niece, Grace, and took her on a tour of Bienville. I wanted to show her where we came from and what we did as kids. 
It was so much fun telling her how the water tower (pictured above) was put up by her Poppa (my dad) when he was the mayor. And how sometimes when he was called out by the fire department me and my brother would have to tag along, but we would get to turn the sirens and lights on.
How my deep my roots are planted there.
How I will never let it be forgotten. Even as my favorite houses fall down.
The poor baby was ate up by fleas so we took her straight to the bath and bathed her in two different flea shampoos. 
She is the most precious thing ever. She is so calm and has the sweetest face. The next few hours were great. They were full of sweet snuggles and smiles.
Around midnight I started to itch. I don't mean like a little bug bite… I mean like full blown hives. I immediately thought about taking Benadryl, but what in the heck was I going to do with diarrhea dog when it knocked me out? SO I put it off — until my throat started to close up. Apparently, I'm allergic to flea collars. I had no choice but to hand her over to Justin, take Benadryl, and get the heck away from that room. Of course, the puppy slept through the rest of the night with him.
She was pretty much a different puppy within the next couple of days. But believe me when I say NOTHING stopped Ryan Kate and her from bonding.
She totes her around everywhere she goes and if she's not holding her then the puppy is following her every step.
I wanted Kutter to hold roses, but if you didn’t know… all florist shops in North LA close on Saturday’s at 12pm. Okay, I haven’t really checked into this, but it sure felt like it this day!
We planned to shoot right at sunset. It is the absolute best lighting of the day, but it was definitely the coldest part! BUT I have found the key to get good picture of Ryan Kate easily… You just add in a little Kutter! She is kind of smitten with him, I think. They’ve grown up around each other and are only a month or so apart. They have always played so well together, so he is my go to guy when I need a boy tot model.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t still get my share of mean mug and eye rolls. They just happened to come from Kutter this time!
We had to tell them that there were deer out there and they like to eat roses! RK has been talking about shooting a deer with a rose since that shoot. You can’t take the tomboy out of this silly girl.
So maybe I did get some cute shoots of them, not what I planned, but sometimes those are the sweetest shoots. To view their whole session, visit 
Raising Ryan Kate 