Wednesday was the third wedding anniversary for my husband and I. We planned a lovely evening, going out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and then out to see a movie. Sometime during the movie it began to rain, which was very welcome as it's been incredibly hot and humid here lately. All the way home we talked about the parts of the movie we enjoyed. Just before we were about to turn into our driveway, we passed what looked like a large leaf....unusual because the neighborhood is new construction and there aren't any large trees. I told Chris to back the car up carefully, and through the steady rain we could see a HUGE toad in our headlights. I didn't want someone to run over the poor guy, so I hopped out of the car and into the rain to carry him to the safety of our lawn. My husband, of course, laughs at my lack of concern over the rain...especially because it's replaced by concern for the large toad. I escort the toad to the our yard while my husband parks the car and then joins me to look at just how big this guy is. And a "crazy photographer" moment strikes :-) You all know the ones I'm talking about.

So I look at my husband in the way that only women can, and ask if he would pretty pretty please bring out an umbrella and a flashlight while I get my camera....so that I can take pictures of the toad.

As he smiles, shakes his head, and starts towards the house to retrieve the requested items, I'm struck again by just how much I love him. It's not everyone in the world that would share my joy over a large toad found in the rain. And those who would patiently hold an umbrella and flashlight while I snap away with my camera must literally be one in a billion.

A monarch butterfly feeding on sweet clover in my backyard. Taken in the afternoon (lots of sun) with my 70-200mm macro lens. I was attempting to get some dragonflies, but they're a little harder to snap than I thought they'd be!

Now that some of my landscaping has started to bloom, I'm the crazy camera lady who's always taking pictures of her flowers. Every time a new plant blooms, I inform my friends how many currently have flowers :-) It sounds strange, but considering I put them into the ground looking like nothing more than detritus, I'm very happy to have some good sized healthy plants!! Now, if only the butterflies and hummingbirds will take notice I'll be in business.

Long time, no picture

Here's my valiant attempt to start this up again! And on my third wedding anniversary, nonetheless. Life has been quite busy lately--getting the new house settled into and finishing up jobs with two of the families I nanny for. Now things have settled down for a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to another job search, which will hopefully end in me teaching Pre-school! But, along the way I had the pleasure of being asked to take some engagement photos for two of my friends.

They live out of town, but came in for a weekend. It had been raining a couple of days before their arrival and I was really worried that the weather would ruin the outdoor shoot we had planned. Luckily, the rain stayed about three days off and we were blessed with plenty of sunshine. The only thing that had me concerned then was that the couple wanted to go to lunch with a bunch of people before the shoot...meaning we'd be shooting in some pretty harsh afternoon sun. Nothing to do about that I suppose. Though it was an experience snapping pics at such high shutter speeds! I've spent some time editing the 400+ shots that I took of the couple, and they gladly gave their permission for me to share some here :-)