Sorry to take such a long hiatus from the blog, but once Thanksgiving hit, I warned you I wouldn’t be around much!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a good start to the new year.   And fair warning… this post is a little wordy, but it may have to last you a while again, so it’s worth the read :)

We didn’t have to travel much this year, so it was nice to be around some on the weekends.  Had a great Christmas filled with joy and togetherness.  Henley turned five earlier in December, and got a new horse for her birthday- “Rosetta.”  You will have to check out the slide show of pics from her big day here.  Then after Christmas, Lane turned 16 and got a new car- Tony and Lane’s mom surprised him and I hid out in the bushes being Lane’s personal paparazzi until the big reveal- he should get used to that considering he wants to be Mr. President one day, you know.  Pics of his big moment can be seen here.  Last weekend, Carson had the first of several stock shows this season.  He had a great show, sold his goat in the sale, and ended up with Reserve Grand Champion Breeding Female with one of his little Red Angus heifers, “Mulberry.”  He won his first buckle and was all smiles for a few days.  Read the whole story here about his weekend and the wonderful friends a family who came to support our young showman!

On a personal note, not many fancy New Year’s resolutions here…  I am going to make a better attempt to journal more and spend more time in the Word.  I want to spend more quality time with my kids, and document more with my family.  I am going to try to take better care of myself- drink more water, take better care of my skin (sunscreen!), and of course exercise more.  I want to have more date nights with my husband.  Tony is such a wonderful supporter of anything I want to do, and I fall more and more in love with him every day.  And of course, make more time to ride, my first passion in life.  Basically, just get my priorities right.

As for this business, I feel truly blessed by the friendships and contacts I have made.  I have really enjoyed the people side of my work- portraits (especially the HS seniors!), commercial, etc., but I’m really ready this year to get focused back on the equine and livestock side of things.  I have always felt like I have a good balance between the two, which keeps me creatively fresh and not too burned out.  But I’m ready to tilt the balance back to my horses and get more into the cattle side of things.  Since we have “re-branded” our marketing this past year to include our registered Red Angus herd as well as the Quarter Horses, I feel especially drawn back.  You can visit the newly redesigned “blog site” for Cross B Cattle Company that Colleen of Equine Essentials has worked so hard on.  I’m going to try to connect more with people on our website through the blog like we do as photographers- updating with current fun pics and information to keep you coming back for more  

I have had the opportunity to work with a wonderful marketing company, Green Tent Design and Marketing, to create a new logo for me.  Within the next few weeks, I’ll reveal the grand “re-branding” of Cross B Photography, so stay tuned!  In the meantime, we’re hitting the stock shows, I’m getting back to the barn on a regular basis, and shooting a few sessions in-between!

Henley introducing her new horse “Rosetta” to her pony “Chaps” on her birthday…..

Lane turned 16 and got a new car…

Carson and one of his show heifers “Mulberry” that will keep us busy over the next few months hauling to stock shows…..