I know, I know, more blogfriends?!

Sometime when the boys were newborns, I realized I was going to need to read some twin blogs for help and advice. By clicking through blogrolls on random twin blogs, I found Lesley from Barr Babies about four years ago. I loved the pictures Lesley took of her crazies and quickly learned she is also a book fanatic, loves junk tv, and has a sweet tooth. Sound familiar??

For the last four years, I have gotten to know this fantastic woman and she was in Vegas when I was in Vegas so we met up. The SUPER IRONIC part of the meetup is we met in a dark bar so we had to use the built-in camera flash and the pictures look crappy.

BUT I always say - don't wait for the perfect photo. Take the snapshots that matter to you also. Even though this picture is not what the two of us would like it to be, it's still awesome that we got to document our first meeting (and there WILL be more):




I have talked to Lesley on the phone before and seen a bazillion pictures so I would say this was the easiest blogfriend meetup I've ever had. We just picked up where the email/phone conversations left off. I do have to give credit to Lesley for being my biggest photography cheerleader (other than Jon). She is a professional photographer and she has always encouraged my love of photography, given me advice and tips, and always believed I could take it to the next level. She is a big reason my photography has grown so much and I can't thank her enough without sounding like an insane person.

She's the one who taught me to go with the flow with kiddos and let them drive the process, so you get great shots even if it's not the ones you planned:




She's the one who encouraged me to upgrade my equipment and learn to shoot wide open (this was shot at 1.2, notice how the mulch in the foreground and the entire background is purposefully out of focus?):




She's the one who taught me to act like a loon to get the shot and that shot is often found in the moments in between the cheesy smiles and the lack of cooperation:




I am so proud to call Lesley my friend as she inspires me every day to be a better mom, to eat more chocolate, and to keep on searching for that elusive perfect shot.