A MOTHER-SON TEAM

First off...MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!What an awesome & beautiful morning it has been thus far. I pray all of you are experiencing joy beyond belief right now. It's now almost 9am and I'm relishing in the moment. I got the honor of being woken up by my 9 year old son at 6am this Christmas morning. No, not to open Christmas gifts. That wasn't the reason for his early morning springing from the bed. He had a special Christmas request. That request was..."Mom, get up. Let's go shoot the sun coming up on the beach."And so we did.

Brennen has taken a real interest in photography lately and I'm all about it. He asked me if he could use "Razzi" to shoot with while I shot images with "Big Papa." At first I was a bit apprehensive. The thought of him with Razzi, in the sand, near the ocean water, made me a nervous wreck. However, he was asking to learn. He was like a sponge, begging to be taught so he could soak it all in. Therefore, I couldn't say no. I have been in his shoes and still am. So...I threw on some clothes, ran a brush thru my hair, put some lip liner and lip gloss on, took one last look at myself in the mirror and prayed to God and the wholly heavens above that no one would see this train wreck (a.k.a. ME) of a mess when I stepped out the door this morning. I was one scary sight. No joke!

Just as we were tip toeing out the front door, I heard a grumble from the master bedroom. Kenidi had been in there sleeping along side Daddy & I up until that moment. She began to wake just as I opened the front door. Brent always jokes that she's like clock work. When she feels me not beside her, or doesn't feel my skin on hers at some point, she wakes up and comes looking for me. I couldn't bare the thought of making Brent get out of bed and sit with her this early in the morning while Brennen and I went out shooting. So...guess who came with us? Yeap. Kenidi Grace and her bag of funyons. The breakfast of champions.

Kenidi sat on the wave runner while Brennen and I snapped shots for an hour or so. I looked at Brennen at one point with that camera around his neck and just felt this sense of motherly pride come over me. Especially beings that he had the camera that has my zebra camera strap on it. Ha ha! Call me crazy but it gave me warm fuzzies inside to see that he and I have found something we can be excited about together. Our little hobby made for a great Christmas morning memory on the beach together. At one point, I was shooting him and he was shooting me - shooting him. At that same time, a bird (yeah, one of our beach B/F/F's) flew right in between our two cameras. It was hysterical. I swear those birds crave attention. Well, they are really craving food - Kenidi's funyons no doubt. However, it made for a really funny - kind of "jacked up by accident" shot. See below...

Again the memories...

Life in "frames." The reason why I'm so passionate about photography. The camera is like my third eye. It's truly like an appendage of me. This mornings time on the beach with my two gifts from God was no different.

Thanks buddy...I couldn't have asked for a better wake up call this morning. I love you. Mommy had so much fun sharing this Christmas sunrise with you while our toes were being sugared in the sand. I can't wait to do it again. Your images that you took this morning really ROCKED. Awesome, awesome job!

I love you, Mommy