Merry Christmas Y'all!

Me and my mouse wish y'all a Merry Christmas every year....
Merry Christmas!
Thanks to all of you for all you add to our lives!
Love you all more than you know!
Love, Shawn, Carol, Blair, Raven & Emily...and the dog Dash

Girls Who Wear Boots

Girls who wear boots aren't afraid of much...not cold wet weather, not a little mud, not chill bumps...they are tough!  They are my favorite kind of kids!  The laugh hard, play hard, live well!  The Aiken girls came to visit their grandparents at Capitola for Christmas.  Most people don't even know where Capitola is but what a setting for these sisters and their dad to have pictures!  They make Houston home but their roots reach all the way back to Fisher County.  I grew up with these girls uncle and dad so I was thrilled when I got the chance to work with them.  We had fun tromping around in the muck and the mire which, in a drought is a real treat!
Thanks Kate! Thanks Ally!  Thanks Todd! for the fun on the ranch!

Snow Changes Everything....

We stop hurrying for that hour or two that the schools and our employers have delayed things...
We wake up, look out the window and smile rather than grimace...
We gladly go out into the cold...
We take a picture of things that normally we might just brush passed because for today it looks so different...
We admire white in all its purity and beauty as light touches it differently than it ever has before...
We ponder what this snow flake might look like it only we had a microscope...
We move a little slower, we look a little longer, we realize for a day or two, ever how long it stays with us that we don't have to rush around like we do...

A Hill Thanksgiving

Every year my family gathers in Sweetwater for Thanksgiving at my parents house.  Every year we get our family pictures together.  We always enjoy the process and the fellowship.  This year was no different.  Happy Thanksgiving from the Hill's, Strickland's and McCowen's.

Farm Kids, The Stansel Family

I love watching this sweet family grow.  I have know the Stansell's for at least 15 years and have loved them the whole time.  They are sweet, rough and tumble, good people!  I love watching these kids grow.  They are fearless little people.  Thank you Stansell family for inviting me to Fluvanna.  Love yall!

A Child Named Heaven

While I named one of my own Eden, I had not considered the name Heaven.  But I love it!  It was so cold the morning Heaven and I went to play at the park but she was such a little trooper in her little Pea Coat!  She was a joy!  I love it when kids smile with their entire face, eyes, mouth everything.  What a doll!

Simple Pleasures

 I love my kitchen... I love it dirty... I love it clean!

I love mornings because there's no doubt about everyone's presence at breakfast most mornings.  My dirty kitchen after they leave for their day is proof that they were here.  I love that!