Shannon Gurney Photoblog

Lindsey Lou Hoo

I can call her that because I happen to know her really well.  You guessed it, another student of mine from years gone by.  It's sad that I'm getting so old...

This gal is just about the cutest thing I've seen lately and she's also a pretty good babysitter (if anyone is looking)...Not to mention, her daddy just happens to be a really great insurance guy. 

All that being said, Lindsey called me up a while back to schedule her senior pictures and I thought, "All right, this ones gonna be FUN!"  I knew I would be able to tease her endlessly and she'd totally be okay with it and I also knew she'd be willing to try just about anything.  I was right!  In fact, there were so many great shots to choose from I had major trouble picking these out for the blog. 

Seriously, Dege, get ready!  It's a good thing you're having them ALL printed!

Here are some of my favorites!




I think she looks like a Greek goddess in that one...something about the dress and the fountain.









I told you one of those nutball faces would make it onto the blog!  That's what you get for being such a mess!

and here's a few with the rest of the crew!

Zerburt Anyone?

So, in case you can't tell, I got a Flip video camera for my birthday!  YIPPEE! 

Josh is probably going to string me up by my toenails for posting this, but I figured you all would get a kick out of it.  Plus, it's worth being strung up because it's super funny and totally lets you see just how crazy my house is 90% of the time.

Enjoy!

FREE 11x14 Print - TIME'S UP!!!!!!!!!

TIME'S UP EVERYONE! 

The winner will be announced tomorrow morning at 8am central time!  Thanks to you all for a great contest!  See you in the morning!

So, I've decided to take part in the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival this year.  I wanted to be able to give away something that everyone could use.  My photo clients are always wanting large format prints for their homes, but complain cause they are so expensive.  No complaining necessary today.

I've decided to offer one today for FREE! 

Here's how to enter:

Leave me a comment sometime between now and Thursday, July 31st at midnight.  The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator.

If chosen, simply email me your favorite full-resolution photograph, let me know if you'd like for me to touch it up in Photoshop - I can even convert it to black/white.  I will order your print and ship it to you for FREE.  If you are a recent client of mine, just email me the file number.  That's it, folks!

What you WIN:

An 11x14 print, mounted on matboard, and sprayed with a protective coating - ready for framing...PLUS any touch-ups necessary for a great photo. 

Good luck and have a great week!

Micah...and his family

Read all the way through to see my best shot for today!

This little guy arrived on the scene less than two weeks ago and is already making quite an impression.  I wanted to bring him home with me.  He was so relaxed and didn't make a peep during our entire two hour session.  He wasn't really fond of the light shining in his eyes, though, and kept scrunching up his tiny brow at us.


His big sister was adorable, too.  She's so sweet with him.  I bet she can't wait until he's a little bit older so she can play with him more.






This next one is definitely my best shot for today.  Go over to Tracey's blog to check out other favorites for this week.

I have to say, once I found out what Micah's daddy did for a living, I was a little star struck.  It turns out he's one of the OU football coaches.  As you all know, I went to Oklahoma State...huge rivalry...and definitely no love lost between the two teams.

I kept teasing them about pulling out the red blankets and how I was an OSU fan.  That's when he enlightened me to his profession.  Nice.  He's lucky he produces such good-looking kids.

Kale, Addison, and Harry

It's HOT in Oklahoma right now, but that didn't stop this crew from having a little fun.  It helped, of course, that we met up at an old train depot.  From the second they piled out of the car, Harry was on the run toward the trains.  He was in choo-choo heaven.

The other two were pretty excited, too, but, they weren't hollering choo-choo quite as loudly as little Harry.  That being said, we basically chased Harry from one end of the depot to the other and had the bigger kids jump in at the appropriate times.  Within minutes, they were red-faced and sweaty.  Luckily, you can't see that too much in the photos...with the exception of Harry.  The red-faced, sweaty look seems to work on him though, especially since he borrowed his grandfather's fireman equipment for a few shots.  I saved those shots for last so you can see them all at once...cuteness overload!

Here are a handful of my favorites from last night...


Does she know how to work a pose or what?

Meet Spike - before and after

Remember how I told you the boys were getting haircuts this week.  Well, they did.  Ty's was just a trim, as usual.  But, Wes...another story.

So, here's a before shot

long and shaggy, right?

Here's the after

What do you think?  Too much - a little over the top?  Or totally cool, amazingly adorable?

Now, all he needs is a black rocker T-shirt!

Keepin' Cool

I'm still trying to catch you guys up on my wacky week of running to and fro with the kids in tow.  Therefore, I couldn't possibly leave out the day we spent at the spa public pool with a few of our buddies (these are the same buddies that spent yesterday with us at the dinosaur museum). 

Now, I'm not normally a person who likes to go to a public anything, especially a PUBLIC POOL.  But, since I knew my buddies were going and I'd have relief from hauling Wes around on my right hip all day long, I figured what could it possibly hurt.  I was right - it turned out to be not so bad.  It wasn't even very crowded and we got there early enough that we even had the kiddy pool area to ourselves for a good hour.  Yay for that!

The boys had an awesome time, especially Wes, and I got to sit on my butt in the foot-deep water staying cool.  I plan to go back again next week.  Yes, I know I have access to a perfectly good in-ground pool at my mom's house, but last time I checked I couldn't sit on my butt in foot-deep water relaxing being really lazy while Wes climbs all over me.

[By the way, my sister called me last night to ask me why I kept crossing out my bloopers on my blog.  She said it was totally confusing her and driving her mad and could I please stop this instant!  I tried to explain why we do that when we're blogging and how it was supposed to be somewhat of a joke...she stopped me in mid-discussion and said WHATEVER, just please STOP!  So, after this post, I guess I'll try to keep my strikethroughs to a limited amount.  There.  I said it.  Are you happy now, Carly?]

Back to our day at the spa pool. HA! 

Here are a few shots taken with my point and shoot.  The poor thing has been through the ringer.  I really need an updated version, but I'm way too neurotic to take my 30D to the pool.

Ignore the blue box in the last shot.  I wasn't about to post a shot of my buddy in her swimsuit on my blog.  There are some things not worth losing your life over!

Boys, Dinosaurs, and a birthday...

Daddy is officially back home. 

The boys and I have had a super busy week taking field trips to lots of interesting and crazy places.  I'm completely worn out, but have had a great time entertaining my boys.  I couldn't do it every week; there's just NO way.  I had to come home each day and take a nap right along with them.  Seriously!

This week we've been out to eat pizza, to the dinosaur park, on lots of Target trips (which happens to be fun for us), to a public pool/water park, to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, and lots of other places. 

You've gotten a taste of a few of them along with us, since I've been entertaining you with fun photos of our outings.  Today you get to see a few shots from our trip to the dinosaur museum with a few of our buddies yesterday...

photo disclaimer:  pictures were taken without a flash (because I absolutely refuse to use one!) with a very high ISO which causes them to be a bit grainy...


This huge skeleton was totally rockin' because it had big handles you could pull to actually move the dinosaur.  The boys loved it!

digging for fossils...notice Wes is right there in the middle of it all...

All of the exhibits were hands-on which made the boys really happy.  They were investigating everything.

They even got to help feed some salamanders...COOL!

Oh, the excitement of it all!

the discovery room

A great time was had by all. 

We plan to go back again sometime soon.  I feel like the boys rushed us right through and I missed so much.  After the museum trip, we went to lunch at Louie's and had yummy fried green beans (my new favorite food - SO healthy!)...

Tomorrow...another trip to Target and lots of recuperating from this week.  Thanks goodness Daddy's back home - he can take over for a while so I can actually get some proofing done...

Oh, by the way, we were also celebrating my birthday yesterday - which I was hoping would just get skipped.  Did any of you feel really strange turning "35"?

Smokin' Hot

Which version do you like better?

Splish Splash

So, another day with Daddy gone...

I had to take Wes to the doc this morning for his 15 month 17 month check-up and FOUR shots.  YUCK!  Why do they have to cram them all into those appointments?  Poor, little guy - I hate taking him!  I feel like such a meanie holding him down while they jab those long needles into his chubby legs.  I think Ty was more traumatized than Wes, though.  He literally worried about it for 30 minutes prior to the appointment and when the doc finally came in, he said, "Dr. D, I'm not getting any shots today.  It's Wes' turn."

We had a pretty good chuckle over it.  AND then, we tortured my baby.

I had to make up for the torture and keep the fun meter up high (since Daddy's out of town), which meant grabbing lunch at McDonald's, and heading to the splash park.  We'd never been there before, but I'd been checking it out for weeks as we drove by.

Ty was very timid at first and wouldn't go in by himself (there were lots of other kids playing and he's very shy).  It takes him a while to warm up to new situations.  All it took was me putting Wes down to head that way...Ty was right behind him.


Of course, Wes found the only muddy spot in the entire area, which is why he had a brown hiney in a few shots...








Tonight, we're staying home, eating left-over pizza, going to bed early (they are), and just plain chillin'.  I'll probably try to get some proofing done and maybe watch another movie...

Tomorrow, the boys have haircuts...thank goodness!  We might do a little swimming or maybe go to the dinosaur museum.  We'll check in with ya'll tomorrow!