Spring Break Trip

Spring Break Trip:
  Last week was Caleb's spring break and we decided a while ago that we wanted to go on a trip during his break. We invited another couple that we hang out with often to join us.  It was quite the ordeal to plan the trip. I never realized how hard it is to plan trips. We threw out a lot of random  (some crazy) suggestions for trip ideas. We finally decided to go to New Mexico. I have never been to New Mexico and am always excited to travel somewhere new! We had a lot of fun even though it was A LOT of car time.. Here is an overview of the trip!!

Saturday: Before we headed out on the road, we decided that we had to get some oreo donuts & coffee. They are SOO delicious!! We arrived to Angle Fire, New Mexico around 5ish. The mountains were soo pretty!! ( Even more breath taking when they are covered in snow.) Once we were all checked into our cozy cabin we decided to drive into the BIG town of Angel fire... ( It was actually a very small town.. but cute & VERY quiet). We ate at a cute pizza placed called Angel fired pizza. It was pretty tasty but not super impressed with the wait staff. They could probably tell we were out of townies.

Sunday: A day for exploring... We decided to travel to Taos, New Mexico to explore a little bit. The roads were quite twisty & turny as they were everywhere close to Angel Fire.  It was kind of a gloomy day which could have played a toll on the overall appeal of Taos. The town seemed pretty empty. It was a very interesting town. After going to a couple unique shops, we tired this little restaurant that seemed pretty popular when we first go to town. It was this cute little cafe/ restaurant. Our waiter was very friend and talked Caleb into getting this huge burger.. which he was determined to finish.  Once we were done eating we traveled out to this bridge a little outside Taos. When we first saw that bridge, we weren't impressed at all. It looked like a boring bridge.. However, once we drove over it we saw the Rio Grande gorge.. It was so pretty! We got out to take picturse on the bridge and the wind was CRAZY. I literally cling on to Caleb afraid I was going to blow over. It was definitely the highlight of the trip to Taos.

Monday: As we stepped outside our cabin, we saw that the mountains were covered with fresh snow. After we dropped the boys off at the ski resort, Meriah & I headed to Las Vegas, New Mexico!!! We were smart and stopped off at the tourist information station first to find what we could do in the Las Vegas. Ready for some shopping, we headed down to the historic downtown. The shops weren't quite what we expected but we had fun. We had coffee, explored an old hotel & even got to get the keys to their "haunted room", ate lunch in the hotel's saloon. Before we headed back, we decided to drive out to a castle near by. We were quite disappointed to find out that it's actually being used as a prep school and we couldn't go in.

This is the old Hotel

Tuesday: We got quite a bit of snow on Monday night and most of Tuesday. The boys were SUPER excited for all the fresh snow.. However, it ruined our plans of exploring outside of Angel Fire. We attempted at entertaining ourselves in Angel fire. We started off in a little coffee shop, then got our nails done and ate at a local restaurant. It wasn't too long after lunch we started to run out of things to do. Once the boys were done skiing we headed on the road to Carlsbad, New Mexico. It was quite the drive and we got their around 12am ( 1 am central time).

Wednesday: We explored the Carlsbad Caverns and had a blast. We did a couple self guided tours and one guided tour. We were definitely caved out at the end but we had a blast. The caves were pretty amazing and huge. Once we were done, we headed back onto the road to Dallas, Texas.

Look at me!! I'm a Ranger!!

                                                      Thursday: The whole trip Meriah &I really wanted to do some shopping. However, it was pretty much impossible to find any good shopping at the places we were at in New Mexico. We spent of the day at the mall in Arlington, Texas. After a successful day of shopping and eating cheesecake we headed to a Medieval Times dinner show. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. I LOVED it. You got to wear these cool crowns and cheer for your knight. They served you lots of tasty food. We all really got into the show and even got our knight to throw Meriah & I his victory flower. Sadly, our knight died and let us down in the jousting tournament. It ended up being a pretty fun night.

Friday: We headed HOME!!! It was a great trip but I was very glad to be home.

Moments of Grace

Name change: 


You may have noticed that my blog's name has changed. I have been trying to find the perfect name for my photography. I wasn't really into having it be my name or anything like that. I wanted something with a little more meaning. I wanted something that expressed my faith. You may be wondering how does moments of grace express my faith? Well, when I think of moments of grace, I automatically think of God's grace.  I love taking pictures because I love capturing God's beauty. Grace can mean a couple different things. It can be grace as in beauty and grace as in God's mercy & love. As Caleb and I were trying to fall asleep last night, Caleb said "What about moments of Grace?".. I didn't even have to ask him what he was talking about. I thought about it for a second and then replied "YES! That is perfect." Photography is a  great way of capturing the grace of God's creation. My husband is my biggest supporter and does such an amazing job at helping me achieve my aspirations.  Moments of Grace photography is the perfect name. It represents what I want to capture in my photography. Even if I never become a huge photographer as long I am taking pictures as a way of expressing God's grace & beauty, I will be achieving my goal as a photographer. 


Anyways, I hope you enjoy the name change!! :) I am just SO happy to finally have something. 


               Joee 


"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 
                                  - 2 Corinthians 12:9 

52 Weeks of Awesomeness: Week 12

Week 12: Household Item

 This one was really tough for me. I tried a couple different things but wasn't able to come up with anything creative. I took a picture of my straightener because this is the thing I use daily. It's one of my favorite household items. Sorry for the lack of creativity... maybe next week will be better.. ! :)

Caleb's Senior Pictures

Happy Monday!

Hope you all had a wonderful week!! We got back from our spring break trip on Friday.  The weekend was pretty mellow. Caleb needed me to take some pictures of him for his senior picture announcements. The weather has been so amazing, I was so happy to enjoy the day taking pictures of him. Here are a couple of my favorite... He always looks so good in pictures. Lucky him. 

That smile gets me every time...:) 

52 Weeks of Awesomeness: Week 11

Happy Friday!!

I have spent most of my evening packing but I figured I better post my weekly picture since I wont be able to next week. This week's challenge was suppose to be my favorite color. I took many pictures of pink objects but I  just wasn't satisfied. I have SO many pink things.. If you know me very well, you know that I LOVE pink. I have noticed that going to a school that LOVES purple, my pink obsession has slowly declined. My family and friends weren't surprised when I had pink as a wedding color. I wish I could have thought of something more creative than this picture but I was running out of time. I can't wait to come back and share the pictures I've taken over my trip!! Stay tuned!!

 Joee

52 Weeks of Awesomeness: Week 10

Last week's weekly picture challenge was suppose to be something that makes my life easier. Once again, it took me a while to think about what I wanted to do. I mean there are SO many things that make my life easier! I mean cars, phone, internet, chocolate.. etc.. I wanted something more meaningful though. That's when I realize that my husband, Caleb, makes my life MUCH easier. He does SO many things for me, such as, helping me get ready for work in the morning ( preparing my breakfast, scrapping my car,etc). Caleb is amazing at helping me handle days where I am emotionally and mentally drained. . There are many times when I have an emotional breakdown and Caleb comes to the rescue. He always knows how to make me laugh or be my shoulder to cry on.. He is the BEST.. enough said. He makes my life so much easier and I am so thankful God placed him in my life.

I took this picture on my photo shoot of my brother & his wife.We were waiting for them to change and I was testing my lighting. I thought he looked quite handsome.. ( as usual). He has since had his hair cut and looks even more handsome!! :) I have to beat the ladies off with a stick when we go out in public. haha. 

( Don't worry, not every week will be a picture relating to how amazing Caleb is.. haha) 

Joee 

Daniel & Shanelle's 1 year Anniversary Pictures

Happy Sunday!!
 This has been a very busy weekend for me!! I was able to see a lot of my family. My brother and his wife will have been married for 1 year next Monday ( March 19). They let me take some one year anniversary pictures of them!! It was a great time. They are such a wonderful couple!! It was probably one of the best shoots I've done.. My brother is quite a goof when taking pictures.. but that made it even more fun!! :) I am soo happy for them and I look forward to taking their 50 year anniversary  pictures.. hehe. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.. Hope you enjoy them!

This is SOO cute.. 

My Fav!!! 

(Dan was in the "chair sit" position.. lol ) 

I took this sitting on Caleb's shoulders.. 

Now... tell me you didn't oooh & aww!! hehe
 Joee

52 Weeks of Awesomeness: Week 9

Hey there!
 This post is a little late but I decided to go ahead and post it anyway. Last's weeks picture of the week
 was suppose to be of an object that said something about yourself.. I always struggle with what to because I want to think something super creative that challenges myself.. which can be difficult! I thought about a variety of different objects but kept coming back to my bible and wedding ring. I finally decided that those two object said the most about me!

I picked these two objects because they symbolize the two most important things to me; my husband's and my heavenly Father's love for me. My faith is very much a part of who I am. God has brought me through many difficult times in my life. He always perseveres and never gives me more than I can handle. I would be so lost without him. He provided me with my lovely and patient husband. My Husband is my biggest supporter. He's always pushing me to be best Godly women I can be. It's such a blessing to have such an amazing man that treats me like a princess. When I was in high school, I'd always write the qualities I wanted in my future husband in my journal. One of those qualities was  "treats me like a princess." I started to believe that is was unrealistic expectation.. that it only happens in romantic movies. However, Caleb proved me wrong. I'm not saying our marriage is perfect ( far from!) or fairy tale like you see in Disney movies but it's a marriage that is founded in God's love. I hope that girls don't give up on the dream of finding their "Prince Charming"... because you really can!! That doesn't mean that they will never make you mad or disappoint you because they will. Marriage is about a commitment to love your spouse in good times and bad.. in the days where they drive you nuts and the days where they make you laugh still you cry. I am sure there will be many rough days but there will also be many MORE good days!! :)  ( Sorry for my little rant.. )

 Anywho.. I hope you enjoy my picture from last week. Hopefully, I wont take as long to post this week's photo. Keep checking back for updates!! ( I may be taking some anniversary pictures this weekend.. depending on the weather!! )

Joee