Birthday Party at Mine By Design in Abilene

Saturday morning, we celebrated Brianna's 5th birthday party in Abilene. The Party was at Mine by Design - It's a painting/pottery studio.

Brianna, the birthday girl!

The Ballerina Birthday girl, got a homemade, handcrafted cake made by Erin.



The studio was so colorful. I loved it!

Chey picked a mug to paint.   
While the big kids were painting, Dakota walked around wearing an apron...

or in her case, an over-sized bib. She was eating applesauce.



It was another great day trip to Abilene. While I was in town, I picked up gifts from both sides of the family. Based on how many gifts are already under our tree…the girls were good this year.

Later that night, we went to Prairie Lights with Drew, Amanda and family. We all piled into there SUV, kids and all. The wait to get in the park was 2 hours long! I'm glad I was in good company and it made the lights and wait, worth it.

Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker - Our First Ballet Together

Last night, we went to the Nutcracker at Bass Performance Hall courtesy of Dee Dee! This was Cheyenne's first full lenght ballet experience!
  
I surprised her with this new dress, for the special occasion. I wasn't sure how she was going to react, since it's primarily black (She lives in a pink world!)…to my relief she loved it.

And sweet Bella was also excited. Both of the girls were good - not perfect, but overall I was impressed at how well they behaved. I told them it's important that they behave and listen to me, especially when we are out in public -- because if they do, I will take them out more often (to special events).

 
We had fantastic seats on the Orchestra floor --- seated  in the center aisle, right side. The girls are short and would've had a difficult time seeing over peoples shoulders, so we rented cushions from the hall. The girls didn't miss a thing. Trey didn't join us because he had to work.

    
          
THE BEST thing about the show was at the end of ACT I, snow fell on the entire audience. It was so magical and fun! It was a night full of wonderful memories that I will cherish forever. I'm so glad I got to experience it with Chey, my sister and niece.  

Where was Dakota?
Well, Mrs. Amanda volunteered to keep her overnight for me. I was like, WHAT? Are you SURE? But my baby...And I'LL MISS HER….
But then after thinking about it, I was really grateful and said yes, thank you. I'll see her in the morning.

Don't worry about Dakota, she got lots of attention too. Luke made sure to massage her feet and they took her out to Olive Garden for dinner. You guys, I'm so thankful for Mrs. Amanda (and every time I see Mrs. Erin, I thank her for recommending her to me). Amanda is a wonderful friend and childcare provider.
    
I'll leave you with this video: Well, I thought it was 1 video, but it seems to be some kind of playlist. I'm too lazy to figure it out so, here's a million of my YouTube videos too. Haha! Merry Christmas! 

I Like to Party with These People

Here are a whole lot of pictures from our (family) Sunday School Christmas Party. These people are pretty neat, if you ask me.

Can we talk about how cute this couple is??? Seriously! And Jessica is one of the sweetest girls you will ever meet. She also gives the best hugs!

Gene there in the middle, likes to blend in with the kids.

A 2 girl family. I can relate.

Speaking of girls.

It's 6 days until Christmas and Santa needs to get gifts! We are not prepared. Santa, help!
  
Kiss this girl

And this one too!

Meet the youngest member of our class, Isreal.

Lots of love in this class

Some sweet girls, they basically host every party and event that occurs at the church.

And their animated kids

So, that was just a few faces from our Sunday school class. There were more faces, wondering about, but you know, not everyone is photogenic. I KNOW, Crazy, right??? If your last name is Anderson, you don't have an option. :)

I can't leave this post without including the cutest picture of the bunch.

New Camera Bag That Doubles as a Purse #KellyMoore

But first this…I LOVE this picture! This is from Clara's Tea Party.

Okay, now for my post…
For about 3 years, I've been eyeballing kelly moore bags. A Purse (slash) Camera bag, what's not to love?

This is a still frame from the Crummel wedding. It's hard to see but this is what my typical get-up looks like…I film with a 5D Mark III and while I film, I wear a crossover bag.

Here is the purse I've been using for years. Very pretty, but not so practical.  

Whether it's a wedding or photo event like pinning, I always have a crossover purse on, while I work. The only exception is studio.
In my tiny purse I carry:
- 1 Camera Battery
- 50 mm lens (sometimes)
- SD/CF Card Wallet
- 4 AA Batteries
- Business Cards
My little purse is starting to rip! For years, I've been meaning to replace it with another crossover suitable for formal occasions.
What I'd also like to carry in my purse, that I haven't been able to carry, due to size limitations:
- iPhone
- More AA Batteries
- T2i Back-up Camera
- Back-up Battery for VidPro LED Light

Here's the solution: a Kelly Moore Posey 2 purse. 

Instead of buying online, I went to one of the local camera shops in town, Arlington Camera. The sales guy wasn't sure if the bags were still on sale, so he asked (I'm assuming the manager) and he said sure, give her the discount! Yay, 10% off! Here's a video of Kelly Moore talking about the bag. She said the reason she created this bag was because it was the perfect size to carry when filming weddings. I totally agree! Perfect size!

Posey 2 Bag from Kelly Moore Clark on Vimeo.

MeFoto Globetrotter 
While I was there I also got a MeFoto Globetrotter tripod. This tripod is so adorable. Can I call it that? I haven't had a chance to play with it too much, but I reallyyyyyyy want it to work out for taking studio portraits. I hope it does. I need something light, but sturdy enough to hold a large DSLR. This can hold up to 27 lbs. It also doubles as a monopod and folds away so tiny! At the bottom of the picture is the bag. I told you, T-I-N-Y.

Trey Likes Minivans

Trey and I went to the Honda dealership to see how much they would give us for a trade-in. While we were there we test drove a Pilot. We both like it, if we go with an SUV we will most likely be getting one of those…While we were waiting Trey was drooling over an Odyssey. Trey is a minivan kind of man, who knew???? Maybe when he's going through his midlife crisis he will get one.

I get it, minivans have a ton of room and they are spacious and convenient…but they are not for me.

We spent a few hours at the dealership, so the sales guy gave us tokens for lunch. Now, I feel like I have to buy a car from this guy! I mean, it's only fair.

Erin and Mike spent a few nights at our house. So, while we were test driving and such, Chey was spending time with Brianna. They went to breakfast, shopping, got matching outfits and then went to the trampoline park. Like their shirts say, BEST DAY EVER!!!

Dakota was having fun too. She was with us you know, wearing poofy clothes and creating more crumbs in the backseat for me to clean. Thanks.