Happy Memorial Day!

This has been such a fun weekend! This weekend I shot an elopement wedding that was truly so special. I shot their engagements last year and was so excited to get an email about their secret elopement. The wedding was at a bed & breakfast in Mountain Home. It was a perfect location overlooking the lake. The only people there to witness their wedding was me and the officiant - a perfect, intimate ceremony. I can't wait to edit and share the pictures with y'all!

Saturday Buie & I went over to our best friends home in Hillcrest. Alicia & Brian just returned from their honeymoon and we were eager to here about their travels and hang out in their home for the first time since their wedding. Brian cooked burgers and we hung out on their back deck  - a perfect evening with friends.

Sunday evening we moved the party to our house. Buie made AMAZING pulled pork sandwiches. Maybe I'll post the recipe soon. It was super easy to make in the crock pot! Craig, Nicole & the boys came over as well as a few of our close friends. I'm pretty sure one of our favorite things to do is to have people over to our house, enjoying the food that we (mainly Buie) worked hard to prepare and watch everyone having a good time. :)

We even broke out the pool for our nephew and friend's kid for them to splash a little while the adults talked. This was Carson's first trip to the Buie's house and I think he had fun too. I even got a smile out of him at the end of the night.

Today we are literally doing nothing all day. Well, that's not entirely true. The pups got a haircut and a bath and I'm doing a little editing in between eating left over gluten free cake. I hope y'all are enjoying your Memorial Day and remembering the reason we even HAVE this day of remembering. Thank you to all the brave men & women who fight for our country so that we can enjoy freedoms in life.

Pool Time!

 It's starting to get hot here in Arkansas. It's not even June yet but most recent afternoons you can find the mercury hovering somewhere near almost 90 degrees already! While we are still fostering JoJo, it's hard to find things to do to entertain three pups...one of whom is VERY lively! JoJo can't really be satisfied very long with laying still. He's need entertainment. They've been playing outside a lot lately especially while I'm inside getting some editing done. While shopping at Target today, I bought a kiddie pool thinking it would be a great way to entertain these three.

JoJo jumped right in! He LOVED it! Love might even be an understatement. He kept hoping in and out of the pool, lapping up the water, splashing Scooter - it was so fun watching him. :) Scooter was a bit on the fence. He kept drinking the water and every now and then would stick a paw in. I could tell he WANTED to get in but he just wouldn't take the plunge. I even got in and tried to coax him in but it didn't work. And to no surprise Conner wouldn't even go near the pool. He likes to stay dry. Conner's my little prissy dog. :)

Well, MY two dogs might not have loved the pool but JoJo sure had a great afternoon. :) Whoever ends up keeping this little guy either needs to have a pool or a pond for him to swim in. 

I didn't get much video of them playing but here's a quick clip of JoJo I thought was cute. :)

I hope y'all are finding ways to stay cool this summer!

Carson's newborn pics

As a photographer I have the wonderful privilege of capturing some special moments. The most special moments to me are when I'm able to photograph my own family. A few weeks ago, my nephew Carson Thomas was born into this world and I was there to photograph only a few minutes after he made his debut. Those family shots, first bath shots and when everyone gets to hold him for the first time are probably my favorite... but a close second are the posed newborn pics. Here are a couple of my favorites. Check out all of the images over on my photography blog... www.carabethstudio.com 

For the birds

Lately here at our zoo, I've been concentrating on a different type of animal: BIRDS. I've always loved birds. I love watching them. I love nests and eggs and baby birds. Springtime is the best time to get into birds and I noticed that our home is really not "bird friendly." We had one feeder up in the backyard but it was really low to the ground, low enough to where the dogs could jump up and knock it down. So if the dogs could reach it, more than likely the birds were not going to feel comfortable going to the feeder with three canines staring it down looking ready to pounce!

So, I decided to make our front/side porch area a sort of bird haven. Buie and I spent several days redoing a flower bed on the side of our house. I found the perfect bird bath at Pier One to put in the flower bed. This is the same flower bed where we buried our cat George, so it's special to us. I know it sounds cheesy but we like to think of George watching the birds too. :) 

Buie was my DIY project hero and hung my new feeders - one small one on the front porch and a larger one we nailed to a tree in our front yard. I have the perfect view of this one from our two white rocking chairs on our front porch. My new favorite thing to do is to sit outside in the morning and drink my coffee and watch the birds. Yesterday morning I saw several cardinals, a blue jay, a little wren and several robins. Before you know it, I'll be out there with my binoculars and field guide looking up different bird breeds. ha! I'm not sure when I become such an old lady but I'm not complaining. I'm a bird lady and I'm not ashamed to admit it. :)

Wedding Weekend

You know when you are so happy for someone else you can't stop crying, squealing, smiling, etc.? Well, that was me all weekend. We attended the wedding of some of our best friends: Alicia and Brian. I've known Alicia since 2005, my senior year of college and we were instant friends. We quickly decided to be roommates after college once we had both moved to Little Rock. We were roommates for a couple of years in two different places in Little Rock after college and those were some of the best times I can remember. Late night talks on the back porch, so many spontaneous dance parties at Calais apartment, plenty of cooking experiments gone bad and so much fast food it would make us shudder now! Over the years, we have watched each other grow, mature, get "big girl jobs", date plenty of losers. We've both gone through heartache but I found my guy pretty early on. It was so wonderful to watch Alicia find and fall in love with this boy named Brian. :) We all fell in love with Brian and couldn't have asked for a better guy for her.  Their wedding was a wonderful celebration of their love and the reception was so much fun. Plenty of dancing for everyone - enough to wear me out for literally two days. ha! Congratulations to one of my dearest friends - I hope y'all are having a blast on your honeymoon this week!

Wednesday's thoughts

Well, May has already kick started and I feel like I haven't stopped to breath in quite some time. From the birth of Carson, trying desperately to keep with a new business in it's busy season, eat healthy, pay attention to my own family, get enough exercise and lose weight, oh and have some sort of social life...well, there is little to no time left. But isn't that everyone struggle in life? Finding the balance in life. I just feel blessed to wake up everyday and do what I love everyday. I know not everyone in life is that lucky. So if I don't blog as often as I used to, just know I'm busy doing what I love...enjoying life, making memories, loving on dogs & cats, taking pics and soaking up life's little sweet spots. :)

Sweet JoJo is still with us... not sure what this means in the long run but for now 

we are lovin' on him like he is already a part of the Buie's zoo. :)

 Whenever I am gardening this is my view. They just sit by the gate and watch me.

 And I caught them when they were perfectly lined up by height. Small. Medium. Large.

 I love it! I'm pretty sure this is a framer! 

Hazel has been enjoying more days outside this Spring. I always watch her to make sure she stays right around the house and she always does. She loves the sunshine but when she wants a little shade, you can find her in the dog house because heaven forbid my little princess get a sunburn. ;)

Hope y'all are having a great week!
-The Buie's Zoo