Lisa Hensley Photography

This family always makes me smile! I have been photographing them for quite a while now and have watched these girls grow up into beautiful teenagers, well at least 2 of them anyways, the youngest still has a few years yet.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling very ill, stomach flu to be exact.  By the time 12:00 came around I was really not feeling well enough to dance  around in the desert with my camera.  So a phone call was made to mom to see if tomorrow would work out okay for her, however mom quite firmly told me that she had just spent $175 on hairstyling and her oldest daughter had just spent hours grooming the horses.  Sooooooo, I translated that into a Big Fat NO on the rescheduling.  ”How about if I am not feeling well by 3:00 I will give you and call?”  ”That sounds like a deal!” mom said… with a tone! Come on Beck you know there was a tone!!!  So I drugged myself with Tums, Pepto Bismal and some Ibuprofen and just decided whether I felt better or not I had better start packing up the car!

As I pulled into her driveway I found Brooke putting the finishing touches on her horses, one last pass down the mane and a few squirts of Armor All to the hooves for a spit and polish shine. (Disclaimer…it probably wasn’t Armor All that she squirted on their hooves, but that is what I squirt on my tires to make them shiny and since I don’t own a horse I didn’t have a proper name to actually call the spit n shine liquid.)  If you don’t know me, let me share a little secret with you…I love to make up stuff to suit my needs, it just makes me feel smarter if you know what I mean!  Don’t be a judger just roll with it or I might make up a song and start belting out a mash that I just came up with on the spot.  See don’t you just think I am a little cooler now that you know that little tid bit???

Now look you made me ramble on, getting back to my story.  The girls walked their horses down to the end of the street into some State Land that was graced with some majestic Saguaros and mountain ranges.  I just fell in love with the spot the second I stepped out of my car.  Ahhhh, and then the sound of bickering as only 3 girls could sing…”Stop it, your to close to me!” “Get away from me, your going to make my horse kick you!”, “Girls knock that crap off, Lisa drove all the way out here to take our pictures and we need to be nice!” Whatever Mom!”  Now this kind of language might frighten some people but I grew up with 2 sisters and I had 6 girls of my own.  So I didn’t even hear it…it just made me smile to think I am not alone in the world when it comes to sisters being mean to each other.

As they each settled into their own comfortableness (I just made up that word, I don’t think it really exists!) the bickering sorta stopped, and I fell in love with these girls all over again.  They each care for their horses so much, it shows in there eyes, it shows in the way they hold their faces in their hands.  But in addition to the girls love for the horses, the horses loved the girls right back!  I am a firm believer that the love of an animal can change a person, it can soften their heart and make them be better people in general.

Well enough of my story lets get to some photos…thank you P family for letting me share in another Christmas memory for you.  I am glad I wasn’t sick and I am really glad we didn’t postpone it till the next day, as that was my dreaded dog bite attack.

Speaking of  my Dog Bite attack I have to send all of my love out to Ali Hohn, as she reached out to me and helped me edit like 20 photos from this shoot (the ones posted today were my edits ) so I could get Christmas Cards ordered in time for this family.  It made me cry, it made me happy it made me realize how many wonderful woman I have been blessed with in my life.  SO many people stepped in and showed me their love over the past 3 weeks and I will forever be humbled by it!  Our talents are our gifts, share them freely with your loved ones, friends and family alike!  I decided a long time ago that a ROUGH PATCH is just easier to deal with, with a smile on your face.  Bad luck is around every corner and most likely it is always my corner, but with that said I am just going to be happy that I have any luck at all.

Happy Holidays to all and a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2010