Old Settlers Parade 2016

Every year our little town hosts an Old Settler's Weekend.  It's a fun weekend filled with class reunions, a hometown parade, a BBQ dinner and dance, a town meeting where Class Reunion recaps are given, awards for floats from the morning's parade are given, a list is read of those loved ones who will be dearly missed, flowers are given to those who have been married the longest (64 years for one couple this year), the youngest attendee, the family with the most in attendance (our family had 19 this year and won), and there is always lots of joy and laughter.  Think Norman Rockwell meets Gilmore girls and you have our Old Settler's Weekend.   Many Old Settlers travel from quite a distance to attend.  And every year, the date is carefully marked on the calendar. 

I didn't grow up here but my husband did and our girls did too.  It's always a fun weekend but the parade is always my favorite.  I tried to capture every entry in this year's parade.  Please, feel free to save your image.  They are for you.  Enjoy!

P.S.  If your patience level is like mine (ha!), there are collages of all of the images bellow the individual slides. 

50 Most Beautiful Moms

A few months ago I received an exciting message that I had been chosen as one of 50 photographers across the United States to take part in Beauty Revived 50 Most Beautiful Moms Campaign!! What an honor!  My job was to photograph, "One of the most beautiful moms." My first thought was my very own mom...she is the most beautiful mom that I have ever known both inside and out.  She is the mom I try every day to be.  And before I become a puddle on the floor, they have given me permission to share her magazine feature spread with all of you.  Delight!!!  I love you so much, mom! Happy, happy Mother's Day! What a blessing to call you mine! 

P.S. I ordered a magazine for you and for me.  I cannot wait to see it!

Superhero Session Signup! {3 Mini Sessions in 3 Months}

Superhero Signups are here! Let the games begin. There are only 5 spots. Email {kristi@kikiscornerphotography.com} to grab your Exclusive Superhero Spot! Once I receive your email, I will send you a Paypal link. After you complete your purchase, the spot is yours!

When the 5 spots are filled, they are gone!!! Please, don't wait. Our Easter Sessions sold out so quickly!  And these sessions are going to be so much fun that I'm thinking I just may need a cape too!

Our 2nd Mini Session of 3 in Three Months

 

Be watching this week for more details and to sign up!  Thursday afternoon, April 24th is the Superhero Session Date!

Easter Sessions {A Sneak Peek}

We are doing something we have never done before. Three Exclusive Mini Sessions in three months! Each theme has limited availability and if the first theme is any indicator, I cannot wait for the other two. The 2nd Mini Session signup is coming soon. It's a Superhero theme. So fun!!! These adorable children came dressed in their Easter finest and Bubbles (some called him Ke$ha) the bunny was super excited they were there.

Mr. Casen came ready to party.  His outfit was adorable and his reaction the the bunny was priceless!

Mr Smiley, aka Wyatt, was all smiles and snickers.  I love his new expression!  He wrinkles his tiny nose. So cute!

The gorgeous Miss Olivia and her handsome brother thrilled me by bringing their Nonna and Aunt Julie.  I always look forward to story time with Olivia.  She tells the best stories and when she decides to flash her smile, it thrills my heart and lights up the entire room.  Her baby brother, who has grown so much since his newborn session, had shots the day before and wasn't feeling quite himself.  But from this adorable gummer smile, complete with shiny bottom teeth, you couldn't tell.  Precious doesn't even begin to describe these two!

The was my first time to photograph these beautiful sisters.  All three are beautiful, just like their mom.  Oh, those eyes!!!

And the bunny family!  They were so generous to keep their show bunnies for me for these sessions.  The bunny could not have been sweeter.  He sat in the basket and posed for every image.  My favorite part, besides getting to photograph these two with their bunny, was the costume they brought.  A unicorn!!!  Mr. Bubbles the bunny is really a boy.  Poor guy, we dressed him up with daisies and then the pink unicorn costume.  To say he just may have issues is an understatement.  Needless to say, he totally rocked it!  Ha!

Thank you sweet families for blessing us by coming to the Easter Sessions.  We loved having you!!!

Baylor Bowl Game Part 3 (Last One)

We met our sweet friends and their beautiful girls at the entrance and some random stranger snapped this image for us. We were full of excitement and determination that our Baylor Bears were going to pulverize that Florida team...bless our hearts!

It was so fun to be at an actual BCS Game. So exciting!

The flag was ginormous and the guy who sang the National Anthem.....well, let's just say, liked to add lots of runs to the song. {sigh}

It was cool to see RGIII walk on the field. The crowd went wild when they saw him!

Since it was the Tostito Bowl, each chair had a Tostito package taped to it. Inside we found two new kinds of Tostito's Chips and salsa. It was pretty cool to see fans watching the game while enjoying chips and salsa. It felt kind of like home....except without that little yellow line thing on the screen that tells you how many more yards they needed to make a first down. I missed that line. Ha!

Before the game, my man and I had tickets to the Tailgate Party....along with at least 30,000 of our closest friends. Oiy! There were people everywhere.

The best part of the Tailgate Party? The Queso Blanco....it was free! Well, maybe not free since we bought tickets to the Tailgate Party.

In the end, our Baylor Bears just couldn't get it together but we had an absolute blast! We loved reconnecting with friends from our Baylor days, loved wearing Green and Gold and being surrounded by others wearing our colors too (we live in the heart of Texas Tech colors), and loved getting away for a few days just the two of us....and the awesome sunny weather!!!

Baylor Bowl Game Part 2

We met our friends from our Baylor days for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! Yum! We hadn't seen them in years but it felt like it was just yesterday. We LOVED getting caught up on their lives and hearing about their beautiful girls. We treasured every second! The next day was New Year's Eve. It was fun to wake up to seeing lots of Green and Gold everywhere. This was a special spa day treat from my sweetheart who decided to join me. Yay!!! I didn't really consider us "Spa" people but oh what a wonderful day!!!

We donned the robes that they gave us to wear and then waited in the "Whisper" room. It was dark and quiet...until we arrived. We tried to whisper but it was hard to whisper as we were both in robes, funny spa shoes, and sipping cucumber water. Imagine our giggles when we learned that at that time, we were the only people in the room. Ha! After that, we just waited out by the pool....no whispering required!

And I much preferred my water with lemon slices and lots of ice. The facial was incredible (Mr. Incredible would not agree with that last statement) and the hot stone massage was too, but the best part? Spending time by the pool with my handsome man!

We even had a little poolside lunch in our robes. It's the thing to do apparently!

After lunch I was tortured in the body rub chamber....never again for this modest chica! And then we headed back to our room for a little nap and the Baylor Pep Rally!

It was so much fun!!! After the fun of the Pep Rally and visiting with dear friends, it was time to get ready for dinner. My man arranged for a special New Year's Eve dinner! That may or may not have come with Champagne! (Which was a first for me!)

I loved celebrating the New Year with the love of my life! We were missing our girls, but thankful to have time to getaway just the two of us.

Ten on Tuesday!

 

I know! Ten on Tuesday, it's been forever! So I'm going to try it...wish me luck! Ha!

1. Basketball Season is in full gear around here! In Tuesday night's game, Hannah had 12 points, a few slams, and several rebounds. Yay!!!

2. Rachel and Carly (the Corgi) are having a blast being back at college. Carly has adjusted well to being a college girl...wasn't she just a newborn puppy last week. Time flies. Ha!

3.  I am loving this new beauty sponge!  In the winter, my skin gets so dry and flakey.  Add water to the sponge and it not only makes putting on my  makeup so much easier, but my skin looks less dry.  YAY!!!  I purchased mine from Amazon but you can also get it here: 

4.  I bought a new candle for Christmas and it is so neat!  Normally, I use my Scentsy, but this candle is fabulous.  The crackling sound and the cool shape of the flame is very relaxing!  It is called a Glass Ribbonwick Candle by Woodwick Candles and you can find them by clicking here. 

5.  Speaking of candles, we have loved our fireplace.  We have had cold weather this year, not nearly as cold as you northerners, but cold nonetheless for our part of Texas.  And even though the high here was 60 Monday night, Hannah and I still lit a fire in the fireplace while we watched a little Dance Moms.

6.  Dance Moms, do you watch?  I'm really not sure why we like to watch this show, but we really do.

7.   The snowman above, is how Hannah wrapped gifts for her sister this year.  Pretty cute and totally creative!

8.  I love snowmen....just not looking like a snowman.  Ha!

9.  I hardly remember what coffee was like before my Keurig!  Can anyone relate?!  I was never really good at making coffee the old fashioned way (Just ask my Uncle Tony) so I am so thankful for a perfect cup of coffee every morning made by my Keurig.  My favorite flavors these days are Pumpkin Spice, Starbucks House Blend, and I like the Kalua.  My family thinks the last one is funny since I'm not really a "drinker."  And while there isn't any alcohol in this coffee, I like to pretend there is.   Ha!  I teach high school, remember?!

10.  I made it to 10!!!  I can't promise you will see 10 things on Tuesday every week, but I'm giving myself a gold star for today.  You get a gold star too if you made it to the end.  Yay!!!  Have a blessed day!

My Gold Toms

My girls love to wear Toms shoes! And their love of Toms and the great mantra the company shares with the rest of the world made me love Toms too! I have four pair now. My favorite pair is my sparkly red ones. This Kansas-born-and-raised-girl (until the middle of my 8th grade year) simply had to have them! They remind me of Dorothy shoes and since the high school where I teach and where Hannah plays basketball is red and grey, they were simply meant to be! And I may or may not occasionally, when my high school students are being a bit rude or rowdy, click my heels together and think to myself, "There's no place like home!" :-)

The red sparkly ones are my favorite, but I also have a pair that I thought I liked when I first bought them but then realized they just needed something. With the blessed growth of my photography business and my responsibilities at home and at school, I don't have a lot of time to get my craft on.

But, with the upcoming Baylor game, I had my inspiration and a little extra time (extra meaning, I was finishing these babies up at 3:30 in the morning, right before we caught our 9:30 flight.

This is what I started with:

I carefully stuffed each shoe with newspaper and taped off the parts that I didn't want to paint with blue painters tape:

This is what I used to glitter-fy my Toms:

I poured the Mod Podge into a plastic bowl (which makes clean up easier) and added lots of gold glitter. Can you have too much glitter?!

And then I started painting the glitter and glue mixture all over my shoes. I would suggest starting with a thin coat, letting it dry for about 30 minutes, and then adding another coat.

It doesn't look awesome at this point, but it will. Be patient! (I hear you giggling Mom! I'm not a fan of the "P" word.)

To speed things up a bit, I decided to paint the glitter/glue mixture on and then microwave each shoe for 30 seconds. I don't recommend this step. It doesn't smell lovely and it makes the glue run.

Finally, after three coats, I decided to peel off the tape to reveal the design.  Looking good.  At around midnight, I decided it would be super awesome to tape off the gold and add green glitter to the plain part of the shoes.  Green and Gold, Sic 'em Baylor Bears!

Decisions at midnight when you are flying to Arizona in 9 and a half hours wasn't the best choice.  It looked ugly (now I'm singing that silly song in my head, U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you ugly, hey, hey, you ugly)  Please, excuse me if I don't have the correct words to that song, as my family, I tend to make up my own all of the time.

This is totally off topic, but do you remember that song called, "Sad Eyes?"  If you are a child of the 70's or late 60's you do.  I would sing, "Satellite, turn the other way..."  I was convinced those were the words!  Just yesterday, our family was talking about the movie Pitch Perfect and that song, "No Diggity....or something like that" came on.  I thought it was, "No Dignity!"  At least I'm consistent!

Anyway, back to the shoes, after the ugly green glitter part dried and I carefully put them on my feet to see what they looked like, I decided to cover them up with more gold!

And this is where I should have a final picture, but I don't. The all gold shoes were pretty cool...a bit ghetto, but cool. I finished the shoes with a clear coat of spray sealer, quickly put them outside to dry for the next 4 hours, and finally went to bed.

Four hours later, the shoes were frozen solid! I packed them anyway in individual zip lock bags and off we went. When we arrived at our hotel in Arizona, our suitcase had a lovely varnish kind of smell. My shoes? Somehow they dried perfectly, they didn't crack, and I proudly wore them to the Baylor Pep Rally the night before the Fiesta Bowl. Whew!!!

And then Baylor lost the bowl game, end of story! Maybe they needed a little gold glitter on their shoes!

Spring Semester-And She's Off....Again!

I have spent three mornings and three nights without my Rachel and I miss her like crazy! We loved every second of her time home for Christmas break but as always, it is never long enough!

With her Corgi and all of her wonderful gifts she carefully packed everything up and headed back to college for her spring semester! This is her senior year in college!! Senior year! Yes, she is graduating early, but it seems like we blinked and she is nearly finished. This will be her last "regular" semester, as she will be student teaching in the fall.

God has big things in store for her precious life....I just normally like my front row seat!

Welcome!

Welcome 2014 and welcome to the home of my new blog!!!!  I am so excited that you followed me here!  I have been working so hard to design my new blog and there is so much to get caught up on!   Our new year found us in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Fiesta Bowl to watch our Baylor Bears.  There is much more to tell and of course more pictures too.  But, I love this quick Iphone picture of Mr. Incredible (my man of 23 years) and I together.