Nicole & Ben : Engaged!

Tonight Nicole, Ben, and I went downtown to get some engagement pics of the two of them and it was a blast! They are kind of a Birthday present for me.....well, not really.....but, they're getting married on my Birthday (9-8-07) and though I don't get the privilege of shooting their wedding, it was a such a blessing to get them just for this evening! These two are so sweet and obviously perfect for one another. I don't even feel the need to mention how beautiful they are because you'll see that below. :)
Nicole and Ben - thanks so much for letting me share this great time with you! Congratulations!

Babies are cute

Stan cracks up because I basically love ANYTHING as a baby: baby corn, baby turtles, baby janes, you get the picture. Anyway, I especially LOVE baby animals. Stan's Grampie sent us this picture of baby eagles. Awwwwwww!

Ben: 5 months old

Last night Stan and I went over to Jeff & Victoria's house for dinner and it was so great to spend some time with them and precious little Ben. Some of you know that Jeff is Stan's cousin and little Ben is the newest addition to our growing family! Well, I am doing a "First Year" portrait progression of Ben, where we document his growth over his first year. You can look back at some of the old blog archives to see how much sweet Ben has grown. He is such a beautiful, alert, fun, and cuddly baby - we are so happy when we're around him! Anyway, we took just a few pictures of him last night, but we'll be doing our more official next session in a month at the 6 month mark and I'll be sure to share those, too. Here's a few from last night:

Look at this beautiful baby


Daddy Jeff trying to comfort Ben


Then his cries turn to laughter


Dad figures out what Ben wanted


Just giggling


Victoria is an AMAZING mom!

The calm before the storm

Well, I don't have much to say (blog) today, except this picture from Clark and Natalie's session that is now my new favorite picture. Things are about to get crazy - in an incredibly fun and exciting way. I have 6 weddings, 2 rehearsal dinners, several portrait sessions, and lots of other fun things in the next 6 weeks! I am so excited because my favorite thing in the world to do is shoot, and I'll get to do lots of that! :) Of course, you know I'll be sure to blog it all along the way. All the fun officially starts tomorrow, so get ready to see lots of pictures - yay! Thanks so much for making my blog a small part of your world . . . I hope to keep it fun and entertaining for ya. :)

Yep, this is me. (sigh)

I found this great picture on Becker's blog (he's one of my favorite photographers).
I actually do have this conversation with some of my family members! :)

"It's not easy being green."

- Kermit the Frog

I've been trying to help out the environment by doing just a few things differently. One of those things is trying not to use plastic bags at the grocery store and bringing canvas bags from home. Well, the problem is that I keep forgetting to bring my canvas bags to the store with me, so I always end up taking my groceries out to the car in no bags. Usually this is no big deal because I don't have much stuff.

The other day I went to HEB and I forgot my canvas bags again. Unfortunately, this time I also bought a ton of groceries. Instead of carting them out to our car and then loading them in my trunk, I decided that I could just carry them all the way from the register to our car. Well, I delicately balanced all the groceries in my arms and started walking out to my car. Every 3 or 4 steps, a couple of groceries would tumble to the ground and I would have to awkwardly bend over and pick them up, only to lose a few more groceries.

I saw a young man who obviously worked for HEB and just as I thought he was going to offer to help me, he said:

"are you......like.........trying to help the environment?"

me: "yes."

him: "oh."

WALKS RIGHT BY ME!!!!

Moral of the story: I need to go load my canvas bags into my trunk right now while I'm thinking about it! Bye!

Natalie and Clark Trashed the Dress!

Hey guys!

I am SO excited to share these pictures with you that I kind of have butterflies in my stomach. :) Today Clark, Natalie and I went to UT campus to shoot a fabulous Trash the Dress session. These guys were amazing - climbing trees, laying all over the ground, jumping, lifting, and of course, playing in a fountain! I truly loved every moment of it - it was such a thrilling experience!

Trashing the Dress sessions are so fun! And, the cool thing is, Natalie simply dropped her dress off at the dry cleaner's after all was said and done, and when she gets it back it will be good as new! She can then preserve it, donate it, whatever she wants, but she and clark will have some amazing pictures they would have never had if they weren't willing to get a little crazy. :)

If you are interested in a Trash the Dress session of your own, let me know!

Coffee Table Flushmount Albums

Okay, so I know that I've done a lot of album posts lately, but I just can't help it - I LOVE ALBUMS! :) I've finally rounded out the albums I'm offering by adding this kickin' coffee table flushmount album to the list. If you're a client of mine, you should have received an email yesterday with pricing information on all the albums. If not, or if you want more information, please email me (stacy@stacycross.com).

These albums come in a million shapes and sizes and are really cool! The pages are slightly thinner than the Heirloom Flushmount Album that I offer and are able to bend, but still are quite durable. They are also less expensive than the other albums, too. In terms of what type of album is better, both are awesome! It just depends on what you're going for. If you would like to see them, let me know and you can swing by! I will be bringing all these albums with me to consultations from now on. Here's some pictures of the new albums:

My Wedding Dress

This past weekend I was in Houston visiting my parents for Father's Day. It was slow and relaxing, which everyone needs from time to time. :) One thing I did was get my dress all packed up and ready to donate/preserve/trash (I keep changing my mind about what I am going to do with it). I decided that I should take some detail shots of my dress in case I never see it again. I thought I would share a few of them! What should I do with my dress??