Christopher & Calah

Christopher & Calah are my brother and sister-in-law. They were married about two years ago by a Justice of the Peace, but since that time, they have been trying to convalidate their marriage in the Catholic church. It has taken awhile, but this past week, Calah was finally confirmed and the convalidation took place at Christ the King Church in Dallas.

This was also the first wedding I've shot where I was completely in charge. I was a bit nervous, but it was fun, and I had a great helper in the form of Jodel Phillips. She helped out with the photography at our wedding 3 years ago, and was invaluable to me on Saturday. It was very reassuring just having someone else there!





Mmmm, kolaches....

















Calah's grandmother made Sienna's flower girl dress. Isn't it beautiful?!?

Matthew and Rebecca

Matthew and Rebecca are more friends of ours who are having their first baby this summer. It seems like there are quite a few this year! They were married a little over two years ago and are waiting to welcome little Sophia sometime this month.

Calah's Bridal

My brother and sister in law Christopher and Calah were married at Christ the King Church this past weekend. I will post some wedding photos a little later, but I wanted to put up a few of her bridal photos that we took a couple weeks ago.

Muriel Beale, January 5 1912 - July 31 2007

I know some of you who check the blog knew my grandma, many of you from our wedding in 2004. She passed away early last Tues. morning of cancer and this is the photo my parents chose for the paper. This picture was actually taken at our wedding by Kristin Bednarz and is my favorite of her. Jonathan and I went to Lubbock for the funeral last week and just returned from the Arkansas burial yesterday. For those of you who didn't see her obituary, I thought I would print some of it here.
Born Wilna Muriel Morris on Jan. 5, 1912, in Blue Mountain, Ark., she graduated from high school in Batesville, Miss. in 1930. She married Vernon Gatlin Beale on May 18, 1937, in Memphis, Tenn. He passed away April 8, 1963. An accomplished pianist and organist, she taught piano, organ and voice and served as church pianist/organist for many years in Arkansas and Oklahoma. She retired from civil service in 1977 after 15 years at Tinker AFB in Midwest City, Okla. so she could pursue her passion for gardening. She earned the title "Master Gardener" from the Oklahoma State University Extension Service and spent many happy hours in her garden. She moved to Lubbock in 1997 to be with her son and his family. She resided at Carillon.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents, Walter and Ocie Morris; three brothers, Neale, Jack and Keith; and a sister, Avis. She is survived by her son, Elmus Gatlin and wife Elaine of Lubbock; two grandchildren, Emily Alexander and husband Jonathan of Crandall and Julia Allison Beale of Kuroishi, Japan; her first great-grandchild who is due to arrive in October; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

My grandfather, Gatlin Beale....

Some photos from the burial....

We had a decent little group at the burial. My aunt (my mother's sister), uncle, cousin, and her daughter were there, as well as a couple cousins of my dad's and some old friends of my grandma's. After the service in Booneville, we drove down the road to Blue Mountain where my grandma was born and many of our ancestors are buried to visit the cemetary there.

Dad and his cousin Betty looking for relatives in the cemetary registry

One of our ancestors buried there is my great-great-grandmother whose maiden name was Mae Flower Shipp.


Betty's husband Daryl and my Uncle Mark getting water for everyone. It was pretty humid.

Trying to keep cool....

All of the girls except my sister had decided on polka-dot dresses to wear (all unplanned), so my cousin Jen lent her a polka-dot dress to match. Here's my bump at 8 months.

A group picture of everyone who attended the service at the Blue Mountain Cemetary.

Tino's New Friend

One of the students up at the high school recently got a tiny new puppy named Lizzie and he's been bringing her by every morning while he goes to open gym. Rowdy it still trying to figure out whether or not she should eat Lizzie I think, but Tino is really good with her. Even though he dwarfs her in size, he is really gentle with her and they will play and play together.

Sonogram and Belly Pictures

For those of you who are far away, especially Alli and Amy, here is what I looked like last Fri. This is me at almost 28 weeks.
and here are the sonogram pics from the day before...the baby weighs 2.2 pounds and had it's right hand up by it's mouth throughout the whole sonogram. I think it was sucking it's thumb.

Shelby Catherine

Some of you know Mandi and Joe or may have seen their maternity photos earlier in the blog. Well, they had their baby on June 23rd. They, like us, were waiting to find out the sex until it was born and it turned out to be a beautiful baby girl. These pictures were taken about a week after birth at their apartment. Shelby was very cooperative and very adorable. We even got her to open her eyes for a few shots!!

Here are three generations, Shelby, Mandi, and Mandi's mom Mimi. I have known Mimi since the fourth grade and she is a wonderful person - those of you who know her can attest to that. It is very hard to believe she has the title "Grandma" even though this isn't the first grandchild.

One proud papa...