Our little girl Elise is growing up so fast!

She began ballet classes this past week with Miss Jacey from the City Dance studio. At 2-and-a-half her pirouettes could use a little work still but she’s nailing the summersaults and wiggles

The hour-long class does tucker her out, and soon you’ll have to suffer through dance recital photos (after more of David’s soccer photos, of course), but it’s just fun to see her “minding” someone occasionally

Did I mention she’s 2? and-a-half?

More beautiful images of our gorgeous Southeast Texas Brides coming soon!

Elise loves her ribs, to our surprise, at my recent birthday party.

More wedding photos coming soon!

It was fun, but HOT! LOTS of beautiful weddings tho, for sure.. stay tuned for their albums as I post’em

Did you know the Southeast Texas Wedding Preview will be here in just a few weeks? I have 2 free passes available to the first bride to comment in the space below this post

Unfortunately I won’t be attending myself, I’ll be in New York City attending a weeklong photography seminar with several world-renowned photographers, truly some of the best in the world at what they do. I’m looking forward to learning a lot, eating too much in Little Italy, walking more than I need to, and continuing my “at night” series. One lucky Beaumont bride will be bringing along her bridesmaids for a once-in-a-lifetime bridal session in and around the best places in Manhattan, be looking for her photos in October.

Before we say goodbye to Summer 2010, here’s a few photos of the kids enjoying the Splash Park in Port Neches Labor day weekend:

Time to put the swimsuits away and look forward to pumpkin and turkey

Up next are Erin and Mike’s engagement session here in Beaumont and Ashleigh and Tyne’s wedding in Port Arthur!

Here are a couple of photos from the other night. Winding two toddlers down for bedtime can be challenging, Melanie is excellent with them, usually reading a bedtime Bible story helps a lot:

I love the peacefulness shown in them – David paying attention intently, Elise in her own little world

A few of my favorites from Christina’s bridal session up soon.

nite

We’ll make some ice cream tomorrow, spend some time with family and watch the fireworks tomorrow night in downtown Beaumont – it should be a great weekend!

Next up is Johnna and Adam’s wedding and Samantha and Blake’s engagement session – both beautiful!

Some other stuff as well, but it all spoke of the many years I drove ol’ Bessie and the fun places we’ve been and the struggles we had keeping her running in the last few years. It was time for someone else who didn’t positively have to be at a wedding or airport on time to give her a good home to while away her remaining time.

Here (I don’t have a name for her yet) is my new Mercedes – if you look in the lower left hand corner of the photo and squint a bit you’ll be able to see her:




A big difference from Bessie for sure – for one, if you see me around town, honk and wave, but if you see me struggling to get up an overpass, please be a sweetie and give me a pull. I’m going to have a hook mounted to the front just for such occasions

Lauree and Trent’s engagement photos up next!

Held in the Fountainview room of the MCM Elegante’ hotel, it was standing-room only for friends and family of the groom and his bride. Note: If you are viewing this on our Facebook page, the images are much nicer on the actual blog post.

They look so young still, they were obviously married as small children:





Mom, dad and I went to hotel the night before for a few portraits:





Little did mom know, dad had a reason for doing so, as he shaved his beard of 20+ years off the next day in preparation for the evening’s festivities. When I saw him the next day I only knew it was him when he was talking – he looked like a completely different person

As the party began, people from all over Southeast Texas began coming in for the celebration. Some we’ve seen every day and some we hadn’t seen in 10 or more years, but all were affected in a positive way by the couple – mom recently “retired” after more than 30 years working as an RN and caring for cancer patients, dad still running his business Ayres, Inc. 6 days a week for the last 40 years.

Speaking of legacy, here are a few of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that were in attendance:





Cake!





Mom and dad cutting their cake, they make such a lovely couple





See? I told you he looked different!
Dancing and toasts soon followed:








That’s how much he loves her, I’ve never ever seen him dance before! Mom did a little more singing and dancing with her BFF Freda:






Great evening! The couple will celebrate their half-century of wedded bliss with a tour of the Ireland coast (and hills) this Spring.

Here are a few of my favorites from the last few weeks – from 7 months to 96 years young, I really enjoyed being a part of your family for the holidays, even for a short period of time. Note: If you are viewing this on our Facebook page, the images are much nicer on the actual blog post.





I usually take large group photos and then break the groups down into individual families and even quick individual portraits. It gives the families a way to remember the time together and get some nice images of their favorite aunt, grandma and puppy

Oooohh, Christmas-time with babies is extra special!











5 generations!











Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I’m really looking forward to a great 2010 But first, coming up is my parent’s 50th anniversary celebration at the Elegante

Note: If you are viewing this on our Facebook page, the images are much nicer on the actual blog post.

Here’s a couple of our favorites – they’re not perfect, but with kids this dern cute they don’t have to be – and they have a couple grandmas that will tell you that themselves





Those faces just make you grin no matter what.

This one made it to the Christmas card too:





They’re getting so grown up! If we can keep the ornaments on the Christmas tree this year it’s going to be a fun week next week.

Merry Christmas!