Smorgasbord Orgasbord Orgasbord {red river portrait and lifestyle photographer}

So if you people are as great as I truly believe you to be, you know from the title that this post will be about The Fair. Because you will remember this scene from this sweet childhood favorite of mine.

Thanks for being great. ;)

So, let it be known that no trip is complete with out M&A (if you poke around on my blog for any amount of time you're sure to hit a jackpot full of pictures and musings about them). They are just too eh-DAR-able. ;) And they successfully got us more than hyped to enjoy the night after going on and on while we were driving, about how much fun we were gonna have. We hopped out of the car humming Adele, basking in the setting sun, smelling the sweet smell of rusty contraptions, livestock, and sugary treats; thoroughly prepared to have a wonderful time. :D

Maggie was the brave one...she knew she was going to ride everything in sight.

Anna believed herself to be brave. Her courage was soon to be put to the test.

We were happily joined by their beeeeautiful friends: 4 year old Addison

 And 6 year old Avery :) {btw, these girls have amazzzzing eyes...wow...}

 Maggie gravitated quickly to her favorite ride first. No matter what they invent...the classic slide will be a forever crowd pleaser. :D

(To lay some ground work to straighten all this out...that's my Uncle Donald holding her {my mom's oldest brother.} It's Maggie and Anna's Paw-Paw because it's their Daddy's Daddy. SO, to set the record straight: Maggie and Anna are my oldest cousin's {on my mom's side} little girls. Thought you'd like to know. ;) Alrighty then...moving on...)

 Anna wasn't quite ready, she was still...ya know...warming up to the idea of being that high off the ground.

Uncle Donald: Look Anna, there's Maggie.

Anna: Oh. *Gulp*

 Uncle Donald: That looks fun, doesn't it?

Anna: Yeah!

Uncle Donald: You wanna do that next? Or just stay here with Paw-Paw?

 Anna: I wanna stay wif you, Paw-Paw.

 Next ride choice...the Go Gator {tiny} roller coaster.

 Anna was especially nervous.

 Maggie: I got this. This ain't even scary. Anna'll be fine.

Anna {to herself, through gritted teeth and rising panic}: *I can do this, I can do this, I can do this...

 Anna: No I can't!

Maggie had the prospect of riding alone for a full minute or so...

Then Anna was back!

Let's just say, she battled a mood swing or two before she finally convinced herself she was okay. 

Usually the ride starting suddenly makes your decision for you.

 Big sisters are such blessings...can I get an amen or aye?

 I was subconsciously eyeing this ride half the night...

 The cars were much more suited to Anna's anxiety level :D Personally I think this is an endangerment to society. Think about how many countless children that will be prepared to drive cars with two steering wheels! This can't be good...Our roads are going to be a dangerous place in a decade or so, just wait...

 Maggie and Anna's friends; Cousins Kate and Reece thought it a pleasant ride as well. But, really, isn't driving a firetruck always a thrilling experience?

 The perfect ride for a gaggle of girls to enjoy themselves in. :D The girls on the far left and right are Alexis (Reece's big sis) and Abby (Kate's big sis)

 My subconscious was finally satisfied. ;)

 That's my Aunt Dana in the middle...yep, that means I'm the one laughing hysterically with Snoopy on my shirt. ;) Generally having a blast. :D 

Anna was slightly worried but she felt better with her Grandmama (my Aunt Freda) so close to her.

Maggie was all smiles as usual. :)

 The last time I was crazy enough to ride this I was 4' 11", 9 years old, and my friend Jessica's flipflops flew off and slammed me in the face. I'm sure I had a black eye for weeks...

  You simply cannot leave a fair without getting a sugar rush, right? That's somewhere in a long-lost rule book, isn't it? It should be.

 Just between me and you...one of the girls got much stickier and colorful than the other...but I can't quite remember which one it was.

 Uncle Donald couldn't bare the fact that there was no pictures of me. So he took one. And I, having the great privilege of The Self-Conscious Photographer who has such a hard time letting go of the camera and all the implied rights and getting in front of it, enjoyed myself by super-over-editing this...I had to have some control, ya know. ;)

When we left we were all sufficiently filled with high fructose corn syrup no doubt, our heads were spinning after all that circular movement, and our eyes were swimming with neon color. "Umor has it" we had a lot of fun. I'd say so too. ;)

~Through Christ's Love ♥

Rachel Leigh - Vintage Bridal {mt. vernon tx, bridal portrait photographer}

Hey all you people. :)

 Let me guess...you're here to see more of the amazingly gorgemous, Rachel Leigh??

 Well, there's good news and there's gooder news.

The good news is: I can deliver...BOY, can I deliver!!

The gooder news is: Even though she's not getting married right away, she played the part of a darling vintage bride and wore her grandmother's lovely wedding dress!!

It was spectacular.

Note: Because I am SOOOO in love with nearly all of the pictures I took of her, this post is FULL of collages. I was trying to sqeeeeze in all of the beautifulness as tightly as possible. And even so...this still is not the last blog post about Rachel! :D :D

"Let's start from the very beginning...a very good place to start. :)"

We began the vintage bridal shots at the breath-taking home of a friend of Rachel's mom, who lives in Pittsburg.

And theeeeennn....

Yes sirs and ma'ams....we went to the side of the road.

Arguably, one of THE best places to take pictures...period, exclamation point.

We captured the clouds' good side, cherished the Sun's shy rays, stepped over tall grasses, obviously got stung by a bee and didn't even notice it because I was so enthralled {this applies to me ;)}, watched lady bugs, praised God for Texas wildflowers, and pretty much enjoyed every leetle second of it. :)

Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...AHHH! :D :D

Those shoes are the shoes her Mamie wore in 1961....let me repeat nineteen-sixty-one...they were not the most comfortable things for Rachel to actually put on her feet but they sure were adorable to hold! :D

And the belt....beautiful. The leather has gotten kinda stiff but...hey if it works, roll with it. :) P.S. Thank you Lord for coloring the Greene's hydrangeas the exact same color as this belt...it was such a kind thing to do. :) :)

Sooo...I know this is kinda a hop towards 70s, but that is exactly what it made me think of when I first looked at it! Something about her facial expression, the road, the clouds...something...I just had to edit it and see how it turned out...I personally am kinda in love with it. :D

One of my dearest favs :) :) :)

 Queen Anne's Lace is so fantastic!!

♥O how I love Him!♥

And, btw, as to the cute blue suitcase...Lillian (Rachel's Mamie) received that as a gift when she and Donald (Rachel's Papa) got married...its supposed to match the belt. :D

SO! On that happy note, I will wrap up this post...and once again, leave you hungry for more. :) But you won't have to wait until Monday...cross my heart and wish to cry. ;) They'll be here tomorrow morning for you to enjoy. :D

~Through Christ's Love ♥

{Happy Memorial Day!}