{Yee Haw!}

There's nothing much bigger in San Antonio than the yearly Rodeo.

People take it very seriously, schools go on field trips, and the little ones that don't go, usually celebrate another way. My daughters school had a farmer bring animals for the kids to play with. I was able to catch a really sweet moment of her holding a baby chick. I love this picture, I love how delicately she's holding the baby and how much love she's showing it.

{SNOW!} really it's just sleet...

Today we woke up to frozen sleet on the ground. However my daughter is convinced anything that is white and is stuck to the ground is snow. :-) She dressed herself and begged me to take her outside. When we got outside she realized the {snow} looked like little balls, which for some reason excited her even more (It reminded me of Dippin Dots ice cream). She grabbed a hand full and started throwing it up in the air. Well I wasn't going to take my expensive camera outside so all I had was my iPhone. I got a few shots of her and think this one actually came out pretty good. Here is one of her throwing {snow} at me.

{Woodland fun}

My parents are blessed to live near a beautiful park that has a nature trail that goes through the woods. It's a really good thing I don't live near there or I would spend hours and hours a week there! It's funny because I have a nature trail near me too, but it just doesn't have the magic of the beautiful trees in Alabama, down in the south.

My daughter also loves spending time with nature, so I took some shots of her playing around, hope you enjoy them.

It was such an enjoyable session. I took about 200 photos, don't worry I'm not gong to post them all here. :-) I will post a few more in the upcoming entries just to show them off though.

Thanks for looking!

{Christmas photography}

I'm sure everyone took at least 1,000 pictures this Christmas right? :-) I know I did! My parents Christmas tree proved the perfect time to practice a great photography tip from Click It Up A Notch.com.

Check out the the blog post from Courtney {here} at her blog. It's called How to Create Beams of Christmas Lights. I loved the effect it gave and did it several times with different settings to see which I liked best. My family all voted on this one:

© Through His Grace Photography

It takes some practice to get everything just right but the effect is gorgeous. The thing that I love the most about this effect is that the "perfect shot" is just up to your opinion. I loved this one as well:

© Through His Grace Photography

This one is super bright but it makes me wonder how bright the star must have shone that was announcing Jesus' birth. It must have been a sight to behold. 

The next one is also a favorite of mine, it is just a regular photo of their Christmas tree. So pretty and amazing.

 © Through His Grace Photography

Christmas is always a wondrous time of year for me, it makes me appreciate that my Savior was born to die for me. What a beautiful gift to the world God gave us.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and don't forget to check out the blog post above on how to achieve this effect. 

{Thanksgiving 2013}

I haven't been able to photograph much lately. Life has been hectic and being a single mom and full time student has caught up with me in the energy depletion department. LOL. I know skipping your time to photograph is a big no no, so I need to start doing it again. But I did download a new app for my iPhone called Camera+. It's supposed to take really great pictures and compared to the built in camera app I think it does a great job.

This Thanksgiving we decided to just head out to our local Cracker Barrel since two family members had the sneezeys anyway.

I was able to capture my daughter having a good time on one of the rocking chairs out front. I love her sweet smile.

I hope everyone captured lots of great memories with family this year and don't forget to take pictures for Christmas as well!

The next one was also taken with Camera+, as we were rushing out the door to get to her preschool. This day was her school's Thanksgiving lunch for students and parents. It was a great little lunch and everyone raved about her outfit. :-)

(The above outfit is by Giggle Moon and the outfit below is Mustard Pie, both available from Mylittlejules.com, one of my affiliations.)

{Amazing experience}

This is not a picture that should be looked at for composition, lighting, etc. This picture is just for the rememberance of the experience, even with my camera shooting high speed I still couldn't capture the awesomeness of this dog.

I had the honor of attending a demonstration from our city's K-9 unit in the police department. We learned a lot about the dogs, their handlers, and their job responsibilities.

Thanks for sharing SAPD!

And no the dog is not sick, too thin, etc. His diet is scientifically based, Americans feed our animals way too much. He is in absolutely perfect condition. The K-9 unit uses an Army veterinarian.

The second shot was taken during the "bite" demonstration. This officer is a tall man, and built. When the K-9 attacked he nearly knocked him over each time. This K-9 weighs about 75 lbs. Pure muscle.

{Ballet shoes}

This picture was taken in August of 2012 when my daughter was first starting ballet. This is her putting on her ballet shoes to see how they fit. I love the foot in the background with no shoe, just her chubby little toes. She had just slipped on her shoe and was making sure it was all the way on when I caught this picture. She's been in ballet for over a year now and loves it!