Nicaragua- May '09

I just got back from 2 weeks in Nicaragua (Central America), which as most of you know is like my second home! I had a blast spending time with my best friend, Melissa Buzbee, (who is a missionary down there)!















We crammed a lot into the week and a half that we had together. We spent a weekend at the beach outside Chinandega (which provided numerous beautiful photo opportunities!!)



We went to the dump school to pray with the director and to visit the kids. (Yes, the school is really in the middle of the Managua garbage dump!! People actually live there, and this school is like and oasis for the children who would be spending their days digging through the trash if they weren't in school!!)


















We had a slumber party at Casa Havilah (a rescue home for abused girls from the dump that Melissa funds and administrates). We celebrated Naydelin's birthday, and we painted "picture frames" and flowers on the wall in the main living room so that we could mount the girls pictures on the wall. This was a surprise for the girls, and they LOVED it!!














We also saw "X-Men origins- Wolverine," ate lots of flan, and laughed all night!




A small vision team from my Dad's church in Tallahassee, Florida also came down for a few days, and we got lots of planning done for our 5 year mission vision in Los Cedros and Monte Fresco (little villages about 30 minutes outside of Managua). The pictures here are from a feeding program in Monte Fresco.




This was also a fun trip because it was the first time I've been back since getting my Nikon, so it afforded lots of fun photography opportunities. (More bars in more places... hmmm... does that include Nicaragua?? Sure looks like it!)


Enjoy the photos, and if you're interested in getting involved in the on-going ministries down there, let me know!!

Brian and Amber- My first wedding!!

Last weekend, I got to photograph my first wedding ever!! It's was awesome! My friend Emy (who is a photographer up here and my "photography mentor") asked me to be her assistant photographer for this wedding in Putnam County, Ohio.

The weather was perfect- clear sunny sky, temperature in the mid to high 70's, and only a slight breeze from time to time.

Amber was such a wonderful bride to work with. She was very relaxed, posed easily and takes such beautiful candid, as well as posed, pictures that our job was much easier than it could have been.

Putnam county weddings are a little... ummm.... different. They are VERY country! The ceremony was over at 2:30, but the reception didn't start until 6:00 because the wedding party rides in a big school bus together and heads to a bar in between (we also stopped at a winery to get some bridal shots and the wedding party partook there as well).

It all made for an interesting day! And at the end of the reception, the wedding party surprised the bride and groom by wheeling out a wheel barrow with cowboy hats, bandanas, fake moonshine and a "Jest married" sign and had the groom push the bride around in it. It was hilarious! (And made for great photos too!)

It was a perfect first experience for me, and now I can't wait to do another one! Let me know what you think about them!

Georgia is blooming

The flowers were blooming in Georgia when we got there last weekend! They were gorgeous so I just had to stop and get a few pictures while we were house-hunting. Enjoy!

Blayne is 3!!

My buddy Blayne turned three last Friday (zoo day), and Sunday afternoon we had his birthday party. Beth let him pick out the party stuff, and he decided to go with a batman theme. She said it was funny because the party stuff for his three favorite things- Cars, Batman and Star Wars- happened to be right next to each other at the party store, so she thought he'd have a hard time choosing, but nope... batman it was.

We celebrated at the bowling alley after church on Sunday and had a blast! (of course!) There were 2 kids and about 12 adults... haha!

Blayne was HILARIOUS when it was his turn to bowl because he could just barely pick up the ball. He would carry it to the end of the lane and then just drop it and let it roll. (It took like 3 minutes before it actually reached the pins!!) Once or twice we had to roll another ball behind his to bump it because it just didn't have enough "umph" to get all the way there.

He was excited about his cake and the candles but wasn't sure about the whole being sung to thing. He started out smiling, and then rethought that about halfway through and replaced it with a frown, but when we finished, he was back to his old self and

had a good time blowing his candles out.

This was my first "real" attempt at decorating a cake, and I think it came out pretty good! At least Blayne and Beth were happy with it! (And I love this cream cheese frosting recipe I found!! Email me, and I'll gladly share it!)

Presents were great of course! And boy! Did he ever make out well on that front! He got tons of new toys, movies, etc.

It was a great party, and I can hardly believe my buddy is three now!

Outing to the Detroit Zoo

It has been a LONG time since my last post because I have not had any real photo opportunities since then. (Winter in Michigan after the snow melts leaves a pretty bleak background for pictures!) In the meantime, I finally saved enough money for my zoom lens, and today was my first chance to use it outside!

Today was Blayne's 3rd birthday, so Beth, Blayne, Kristin, Collette (Kristin's sister), Anna (Kristin's niece), Titus (Kristin's nephew) and I went to the Detroit zoo to celebrate. We had such a great time! I got some precious pictures of each of the kids and some great ones of the animals too. Like always I had a hard time picking the pictures to post, so I am posting SEVERAL of them. Enjoy!

Blayne had a blast pulling his wagon!

I thought this was a cute one of Titus trying to run off at lunchtime.

This is Anna. Isn't she precious?!!

I LOVE this one of Beth and BLayne!

Titus is checking out the llamas... I mean humpless camels... what?!! They sure look like llamas to me! (Sorry you had to be there.)

Another sweet shot of Anna.

Titus and Blayne both wanted to pull the wagon, and finally decided that they could share. Isn't that cute?!!

Blayne is explaining to me that the donkey (left) says "he-haw."

I must have gotten 30 photos of the peacock while we waited for him to finally spread his tail feathers. GORGEOUS!

You should have seen this peacock follow us. Beth chased it away several times. (I think he wanted Blayne's popcorn!)

In the arctic exhibit, there was a tunnel that lead under the seals' pool.

Titus could not get enough of watching the seals swim over our heads!

The Prairie dog exhibit was neat because you could go down in the the tunnels and stick your head up right next to them! Blayne really enjoyed that!

This might be my favorite one of Anna!

Titus was not about to get too close to the geese- they might bite! (He was right!)

WAR EAGLE, HEY! Shout out to Dad and Emy who are at orientation this weekend in Auburn!

Of course I had to get the tigers too... I mean I did graduate from Auburn!

This is for my Michigan wolverine fans.