The Ramirez family dogpile

Christmas weekend I spent in San Antonio with my family. One of the days I got to take my cousin Renee's family portraits with her husband Reuben, his son Reuben Jr. and their boys Isaac, Nathan and Aren. And their two pugs Sadie and Charlie. We staged our photos on a beautiful day in a park in Cibolo not far from where they live. Renee is so beautiful, and the boys of the family made my photographs pop with their antics. Hope you enjoy a few of my favorites!

Aren the monkey

Isaac's got a great smile.

Portrait with the dogs!

My favorite group photo of the day

They're not related. :-)

Cutie boy always posing for the camera.

I decided to go for some action shots so I had the guys throw the football around. Nathan was super serious.

Trying hard

Isaac is a pro

Renee suggested a dog pile. Brilliant! I LOVE this photo.

Success!

The inspiration for the dogpile-- adorable PUGS! Their fur looks awesome with this filter, I think.

Let it rein

I've been spending this weekend catching up on photo editing, and I figured it's about time for me to share some photos from the NRHA Futurity! I was there to work the APHA booth, as I wrote about here. I also had some friends show, so I was excited to be able to take photos of them in my off time. Here are a few of my favorites.

Quincy Allen

Katie Cahill

Fred Thomsson

Clayton Eggers

What do you think? I love to take photos of horses. I guess that's a good thing, since I spend a lot of time doing it for work! Reining is my favorite event to ride in and to watch-- and especially take photos. 

I've got more photos to work on, so I'll let you go. Look for some family portraits and senior portraits soon!

Honestly, Abby

This post has been taking me a long time to finish! I've been nominated by my friend Katie to receive the Honest Scrap blogger award! Basically, I have to tell you "10 honest things about me that you possibly do not know." A lot of you know me very well, so we'll see how this goes. Check the end of the post to see if I tagged you for the award too!

1. I wish I'd given campus tours at A&M. Maybe it's because I'm a tradition freak and I love to know and share trivia, but this is one regret I have from my college years. I think it would have been fun to walk backwards, telling potential Aggies all about the school I love. I also wish I'd written for the Battalion school newspaper.

2. I was a voracious reader as a child. Before the 8th grade, I read every book in my mom's library and my own bookshelves at least once. Sometimes more than that. And many of the (grown-up)fictional books at the church library. My brother David thinks I read faster than anyone he knows. I don't know about that, but I do read pretty fast! I still love to read, even more now that I have time after college. I've always been the kid completely content with a book and even today, if I have a book, I'm not bored. Also tied to this-- I've read several horse magazines consistently every month since age 8. Thanks Mom!

3.  I have a very real fear of becoming a cat lady someday. I have always had cats with great personalities, and right now I've got two that are like people. I talk to them like they are human all the time, just like my other cats in the past. They're like my 2 roommates. I didn't even notice this was out of the ordinary until friends pointed it out! For now, it's all ok, but I do fear becoming that single elderly lady with a lot of cats and no other friends.

4. Frizzy hair is my mortal enemy. I've finally made peace with my long, very curly hair, but I've spent more than a decade battling the dreaded FRIZZ. Curly girls know it's the downside to what many people think are beautiful curls. Through trial and lots of error, I think I finally have it figured out, but nothing makes my day worse than ending up with frizz before i have to go out the door. That's when it all goes into a bun. Take that!

5. I would love to visit Israel again and stay for a while. I don't have a scanner, or I'd post my favorite pic from Israel. Just picture me on a camel on the Mount of Olives. This is also a pic of Jerusalem. Visiting Israel in 2004 was life-changing for me, and it sparked a passion to travel internationally. My grandma and I spent 15 days touring this amazing country and I really want to go back. I know things are dangerous there right now, but I do hope to visit again.

6.  I took piano lessons for 12 years and have a piano in my apartment. Katie and I both took piano lessons at one time from Mrs. MacReynolds. I tried a lot of things as a young girl: ballet, gymnastics, etc. I finally narrowed down the classes I most enjoyed to horsebackriding and pianos. After graduating high school, I quit taking piano and (obviously ;-)) kept up riding. I played piano off and on for fun throughout college and after moving to Fort Worth, my grandma gave me the piano from her house. Yay! I don't know many people my age who have an upright piano in their 2nd floor apartment--aside from actual musicians and piano teachers. I'm so blessed to have it. I don't play enough and I don't play all that well, but I enjoy playing for myself and I know enough theory to learn songs I think are pretty. 

7. I have never broken a bone. Knock on wood, but I've never worn a cast or walked using crutches. I'm past the age where it was a badge of honor, so hopefully I can keep up my record.

8. I'm distantly related to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Referring back to #2, I read the entire Little House series literally at least 12 times growing up. When my Papa Wilder told me as a child that Almanzo Wilder was in our family tree, I was so excited. My hero was in my family! I wanted to BE Laura Ingalls. I had the high top boots and all I wanted was a gingham pinafore and a bonnet. I did my hair in braids and I watched the TV show religiously. Hey, it was educational!

9. I was homeschooled all the way from kindergarten to high school graduation. A lot of you probably know this, and if you didn't well, my bonnet photo probably gave that one away. :-) My mom started Drills, Skills & More when I was really young and we traveled to homeschooling bookfairs selling her products all over the country every summer during that time. Because I was homeschooled, I was able to ride my horse with my trainer and compete more. I really think this helped me get on the Equestrian team at A&M. I had tons of friends, was really active in my church youth group, went to two proms and graduated with a group. I didn't have any academic or social adjustment issues in college and had a great time... eventually getting a good job right out of school. :-) There, I think I answered all the FAQ. :-) It's definitely not for everyone and at times I did wish I had gone to school, but once I got to A&M I didn't mind at all. A fellow homeschooler Stephanie was actually my first roommate at A&M and she did well too! 

10. I was a lifeguard and swim instructor for two years and I can't swim freestyle to save my life. It wasn't my idea to become a lifeguard. I'd intended to work the snack bar at the tennis club. But they needed lifeguards, so I signed up to get certified. I barely. Barely passed the swimming part. I can swim like a frog awesome, and breaststroke--I'm on it. Freestyle is the death of me. But I passed everything else with flying colors. Then my future boss required all of us lifeguards to get swim instructor certified. MORE swimming laps and that class was much harder! I eventually passed that too, but I really can't get the hang of freestyle. Or butterfly(as the michael phelps photo shows) for that matter. Sigh. Maybe it'll be like running and I'll eventually figure it out. :-)

This was really hard but fun! I tag Jashley, Alisha, Faith and Megan. I'm interested to see what y'all have to say!

New Year's Resolutions

I can't believe how quickly 2008 just flew by. This blog hasn't been around the entire year, but it's slowly turning into what I'd like it to be. :-) Photos and all. If you've got any suggestions for how I can make it better, share away!

While now is a time for reflection, it's also the perfect opportunity to set the good ol' New Year's resolutions. I did pretty good with most my resolutions this past year. I worked out fairly regularly, at least once a week or more. I ran a 5K race in November, which wasn't a goal January 1st, but I did buy a pair of running shoes on New Year's day to start the process of running a mile. I rode my horse at least once a week, excluding the time I was in Europe and the first several weeks he'd foundered. I improved a LOT in photography. I still have a long, long ways to go, but I'm slowly able to turn out photos like I imagine in my head. I hit all of my personal work goals for the past year. I didn't get any better with thank-you cards, but I sent out 70 Christmas cards and have gone digital with all of my addresses- thank you iPhone and Mac Book Pro. :-)

I most definitely have things I need to work on! Here they are.

Resolutions 2009

1. Commit to reading a daily devotional. 

This post on Stuff Christian's Like makes me laugh, but it's true. :-) I am excited to have found my old favorite Daily Bread where I can order it online HERE. Free! I used to get them at Wayside and I can't find them up here, so now I can start going through them again. Along with that, I want to spend more time in prayer.

2. Live "greener." 

Don't laugh, but I watched Wall-E not too long ago and it really made me want to start recycling. It's the least I can do! My apartment complex is starting a recycling program in January, and they claim they'll be trying to be greener. Yay! I bought some cloth grocery bags from H-E-B in San Antonio to carry my groceries here--while representing my fave grocery store. :-) That's a start... I'm sure I'll do more as I do more research. 

3. Improve work performance. 

These are goals I've set that I hope to achieve this year and you'd probably think they were boring. :-)

4. Work out at least 4 times a week.

Cardio activity is  set in  my life after this past year. I'm pretty regular about doing cardio on machines or running, but I could go more. I average 2-3 workouts a week. But here's the kicker: I have got to start lifting weights again! My whole mindset changed from college. In college I hated cardio with a passion but I loved lifting weights. Now, cardio takes less thought and I don't have to wait for the weights/machines. I have to figure out how I can get in at least 4 days of weights *and* cardio. It'd be better if I did more cardio, but this is a start.

5.  Run a 5K and a 10K.

I enjoyed the last race so much that I really want to do more, and push myself to double the distance to 6+ miles this year.

6. Be better with written correspondence.

I am still the worst at thank-you letters and cards of any kind. These days I'm good about purchasing the cards, but they sit on my desk... defeating the whole purpose. sigh. I have no excuse. I've got stamps and I've got the addresses.

7. Keep better track of my finances.

Last year I gave myself a really severe budget so I could save enough  money to go to Europe. And I was miserable and worrying all the time. I'm going to go back to being really careful again, because the money situation is not getting any better this year, but I would still like to save as much as possible. I'm lazy, so I decided to use the free Mint.com to track my input and spending. I signed up yesterday and it's amazing-- SO much less work than my failed attempt at Quickbooks several years ago. There's also an app for my iPhone. Score!

8. Ride Willy at least once a week.

This was a resolution last year, and I plan to keep it. I rode him yesterday at a lope for the first time in 5 months and it was glorious. He's finally better! YAY! He was sooo good. 

9. Blog once a week or more.

I've been all right at this, but I really want to post more. I keep thinking it needs to be some long entry, and I know that's  not true! What do y'all think?

I think that about covers it for now! I have more goals, but this is a good start. :-) What are your new year's resolutions?

Welch family portraits

I was able to take photos of my beautiful, longtime friend Juliet with her husband Adam and their two beautiful babies Tyler and Isabella over Thanksgiving. It was such a pleasure, and the fall scenery was beautiful at Landa Park in New Braunfels. I just want to share a few of my favorite photos from our shoot. It was hard to pick! What do you think?

This one is my favorite!