So that’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to lately. Oh and I have been shooting like a mad woman as well! I have so many sessions to blog it’s unreal. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to get caught up. I have sessions from like April I think that haven’t been blogged….not to mention every wedding I’ve shot this year. Fingers crossed that I can become a more consistent blogger again! Here’s just a little peek at some of the sessions I’ve done over the past several months that haven’t made it on the blog yet.

We did a guided tour around Forks to visit all the spots that inspired the story. The original high school had recently been torn down and the new high school was being finished. It was sad to not get to see the original school but the original sign still stood so all of us tourists could still get our pictures, haha. My brother in law is a police officer so we had to get a photo of Leah and the Forks police cruiser.

We stayed at a B&B in Forks called the Miller Tree Inn. It is the house that inspired the Cullen’s house in the book. They have a lot of fun with the Twilight stuff, too! Below is a sign by the front door (as this is one of the stops on the Twilight tour). They change it daily to say something else about where the Cullen Clan are that day. It is a fabulous B&B…we had a large area w/ two rooms, private bath, & private entry to ourselves. The breakfast was to die for, too!

This little house was the inspiration for Bella’s house in the book series.

The truck that Bella drives in the Twilight movie is not the truck that is described in the books. But of course, in Forks, they have the true Bella truck!

The hospital in Forks is TINY! This is Dr. Cullen’s parking spot at the hospital. Haha!

I thought this was actually kind of cool. This is Jacob Black’s house (the inspiration for it, anyway). It’s a vacation rental. I’d like to go back to Forks to stay here sometime. It’s not far from the beaches and would be a great place to go camping. There was a group of Jersey Shore looking guys staying here when we stopped to take pictures on our tour. Lol! You can’t go to Jacob Black’s house without seeing one of his motorcycles. Oh, and the woman who owns this house is really B. Black (I don’t remember what her first name is).

Here is Rialto Beach in LaPush (Quileute Reservation). We made it right around sunset…it was amazingly beautiful! The photo below is looking toward James Island. This is the only spot where we were allowed to take pictures of James Island. The next morning we went to 2nd Beach but weren’t allowed to take pictures on that beach (rules/laws of the Reservation). I wish we could have though b/c we were far closer to James Island and the view was gorgeous.

My favorite photo of my sisters and I. Thanks for taking this, Mom!

We got tattoos while in Seattle (well everyone but my Mom of course, haha). My sisters got matching owl tattoos (I didn’t get an owl b/c I already have tattoos on my arms and felt this one would clash, lol!). They have since named their owls and take pictures of them together everywhere…when they go to concerts, movies, etc. They’re nerds, lol!

On the drive down the coast after leaving Forks we had to stop at this beach. This is Ruby beach. It was cold and foggy but just a beautiful quiet beach. There wasn’t another soul around. I live for peaceful moments like this.

We also stopped off at a small little camping site in the Olympic Forest to take pictures with the huge red woods.

Our last major stop on our trip was Las Vegas! I didn’t take many photos here because I was too busy playing the slots. Haha! Here’s a picture of my Mom & sisters playing though.

And finally, on our way home from Vegas we stopped at the Hoover Dam.

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

I know! It’s ok to be jealous, haha. The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC is one of my favorite places on earth. It’s like another world…another time. It’s so peaceful. I had a wonderful time with my fam (I’ll blog photos from the trip very soon). However, when we were on our way home and back to reality we received a phone call that my Grandmother was in the ICU here in Amarillo. Here’s the brief rundown. She had a stroke, they took her off her blood thinner, she began to have clotting in her legs, she had one surgery to remove the clotting in her left leg, another to make incisions in that leg to relieve the swelling in her calf muscle, one surgery to put in a pace maker due to her low heart rate, and finally a surgery to amputate her left leg. Our house is currently full of family members staying with us because most of my family is in the Dallas area. We’ve been spending our time up at the hospital taking shifts during visiting hours. I started back to work yesterday…trying to return the (literally) hundreds of emails that stacked up while I was out of town, sending out print orders, and getting new sessions online for my ever so patient clients. So blogging just hasn’t been close enough to the top of my list to even begin to get done. I do have several new sessions as well as a mountain of weddings to blog though. Soon. Very soon. Be patient with me luvs…

My sweet Yeshua, where am I supposed to be and what am I supposed to be doing? Where/how can I serve you better, Lord? What will make you say, “Well done good and faithful servant”?

Now, you may be wondering why in the world I would be avoiding asking this question. Seems like something I should be asking on a daily basis, right? The reason is simple…I knew what His answer would be. I knew deep in my soul that He wanted me to be doing something different. That I was not living my life to glorify my awesome God…that I have not been using the gifts He has given me for His glory. After much soul searching, many mornings spent on my face before the Lord, and a few stupid inner power struggles (haha) I have made some difficult (yet freeing) decisions. The hardest of course relates to my business. Lezlie Andrew Photography has been my passion for some time now. We have had a love/hate relationship over the years but overall it has been an immense blessing. I will not be revealing any changes until after the first of the year but I will tell you that the landscape of Lezlie Andrew Photography is changing. The coming changes are exciting though! 2011 is going to be a wonderful year!!

While you wait on the news over the next few weeks I will try to blog some lovely photographs everyday to keep you satisfied. Here are a couple of favorites, a sneak peek if you will, from Brooke & Ethan’s engagement session.

Aaand just a bit of extra goodness for all you photographers: You must check out this HUGE giveaway & sale on the Soulographer blogsite!

Colossians 3: 23 & 24

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Jeremy, I love you with every fiber of my being! I have loved you for 12 years now (since I was 16 years old!) and my love for you has grown into something I never could have imagined was achievable. I love you because you are my best friend (literally the best friend I have ever had), because it is just so incredibly easy to be with you, because you share your hopes and dreams with me, because you make me laugh, because you love me so intensely that I truly believe no man has ever loved a woman the way you love me, because of the way you love our daughter and the way you look at her, because for as long as I’ve known you (since I was 15) you have played music barefoot (whether it be a freezing outdoor show, a dirty bar with questionable floors, or at church), because you make all the girls swoon (including me of course!), because you fold the laundry, because you work harder than anyone I have ever known, because you have pushed me to pursue my dreams and passions, because you love the Lord with even more intensity than you love me, because when I listen in on you praying with our daughter it brings tears to my eyes (even just thinking about it now)…

The list could go on for days. Happy Birthday, Jeremy! Even though 30 is not your favorite number right now, know that I adore growing older with you. You bring me so much joy and I am so very grateful for you! Love you!!!

(this is a picture I snapped at Ella’s ballet recital earlier this month)

Click on the photo to head over to the Kelly Moore Bag website then click HERE to see it’s other many uses!

Philippians 1:2-7

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the  gospel.”

I travel to Dallas at least once every month…to visit my family and take care of my clientele in the area. Every time I travel to Dallas I end up working like a mad woman the entire time I am there. My Mom always asks me something along these lines, “You’re not going to be working while you’re here are you?”. (Love you Mom!) It’s just inevitable. If I don’t edit while I’m there then I fall ridiculously behind. Well this was a special weekend…so I decided to spend it with my family sans editing. So if you’re currently waiting on pictures, you’ll have to forgive me for the delay. We were there to celebrate my Mom & Dad’s 30th wedding anniversary as well as my Grandparent’s 57th wedding anniversary. We went to the Reata in Ft.Worth and had the most wonderful time! I love my family so very much and feel so blessed that we are all so close! Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad and Grandmommy & Granddad!! You are a true testament to what God can do in marriage and you have set the bar for your children and grandchildren. I pray we can live up to the example you have set for us!

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life – to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories.

– George Eliot