Kandi, Dylan and Mia at Wickman's Garden Village

I discovered a new photography wonderland yesterday at Wickman's Garden Village here in Springfield. Wickman's is the largest plant nursery/gift shop I have ever seen. They had all kinds of wonderful Christmas decorations, and all of the employees were very helpful whenever I had questions. I had a great time yesterday with Kandi and family at Wickman's, and I have a feeling it will be a very popular place for photos in the spring as well - thanks Kandi for introducing it to me :) I hope you enjoy the photos (it would be hard not too because little Mia was just adorable)! Visit www.wickman.com for more information on Wickman's Garden Village.

An Afternoon with the Stafford Family

The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday when I met with the Stafford Family. We headed down to Nathaniel Greene Park which seems to be a hot spot this time of year. I had a wonderful time taking photos with the Stafford family, and especially enjoyed their son, Alex. We tried out some new props, the "Merry Christmas" signs - hopefully you enjoy the pictures!

The Seaton Family: A 50th Birthday Celebration!

This weekend I was privileged to take photos of the Seaton Family. All of the parents were so wonderful as I attempted to get all of the kids to smile and look at me at the same time - that is truly a hard thing to do! Again, congratulations to Alice on her 50th birthday, and here is a quick look into the Seaton Family!

The Morrison Family

I had a great time with the Morrison family last weekend. My husband and I took a drive up to the Morrison farm and enjoyed the Fall colors on the way. Here is a sneak peak into the Morrison shoot!

The ONeal and Henson Family

I had such a wonderful time working with the ONeal/Henson family! It was another gorgeous day in Springfield as we set out on our adventure to capture some family photos. We walked around Nathanael Greene and Doling Park on Saturday, and we could not have asked for a better Fall day to take pictures. The day was incredible, and lucky for us the fall colors were still hanging on. Here is a sneak people of my shoot with the ONeal/Henson family. I hope you enjoy them, because I had a great time taking them!

Jon and Courtney

I had a wonderful time doing Jon and Courtney's photos in Colorado Springs. The weather was perfect, the lighting was great, and we all had a good time. I hope you enjoy the snapshot here, and if you want to see more you can visit my website.

WEBSITE!

The new website is up: www.crystalwashburnphotography.com . Check it out!

The Morrison Family

I absolutely loved spending time with the Morrison family a couple of weeks ago. They have five beautiful,very photogenic, children, and I enjoyed my time at Phelps Grove Park with them here in Springfield. I am excited for our next shoot in October. I cannot wait to see what images that photoshoot will bring!

Pieces of Ecuador

For those of you who were wondering what happened to my Ecuador trip...it has been extremely busy so I have not had the chance to blog about what what went on in April/May. The trip was amazing. John worked in the hospital and I worked at the orphanage. I had the opportunity to tutor two young girls and one boy in English, and I enjoyed that very much. We also tried to adopt a little boy, David, while we were over there, but were unsuccessful. Even though things did not work out he will always be on our hearts. The culture was fantastic. The food was amazing. The people were great. The trip was wonderful.

The photo of the little girl was taken by John, and I must say, he did a fantastic job.

Arkansas: The Undiscovered Paradise

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think Arkansas would be beautiful. John and I went to a wedding near Harrison, AK this weekend, and I almost could not believe it. The Ozarks are georgous, and the view was breath taking. In addition to the wonderful veiws we came across this old mining town that is a ghost town, and it was pretty cool (too bad we do not have any pictures of that). Everything was beautiful but it did rain the WHOLE time, which is why Arkansas is so green I suppose.

Our tent is hilarious. We have a pup tent - meaning seriously only one person should be in it - but we fit two. It is so funny, I cannot even extend my legs without hitting the edge of the tent - so think about what that means for John. We did camp though, because the wedding was held at a lodge and afterward everyone either camped or stayed in cabin. We had lots of fun.

I have been to Arkansas twice within the last two weeks now, and that is just crazy.

Fun in the Florida Sun

Last week I was actually in Florida visiting my mom and my grandparents. My mom was making the big move across country, and on a whim I decided I would go with her. The trip was rather eventful after the 26' truck broke down around Clinton, Arkansas. What made it even worse was that they had to replace the truck..so all of the stuff in the truck was moved to another 26' truck. It was like a mover's worst nightmare, but it all worked out. We are all laughing about it now, although it was not quite so funny then.

Next week I will be heading down to Colorado Springs to see my dad, and my brother and sister. My brother's birthday is on the 29th and my sister needs some senior photos done so I will be making the drive sometime next week. Hopefully I will be able to see everyone when I come down. For those of you in the Springs who might have a moment to spare while I am down there, I would love to try and catch up.

Springfield, Missouri

We have finally made our way to Missouri. No more traveling...well at least for a while. John is enjoying work here in Springfield, and I am finally starting up my photography business.

Someday I will try to put up pictures of the house. We are still making some minor adjustments to the house, but I will try to put some photos up. My next project on the house will be the kitchen. The entire kitchen needs to be repainted, so that should be fun. I still have not decided whether I am going to be brave enough to replace all of the knobs on the cupboards yet.

Right now I am trying to finish up the curtains for the living room and our room. Hopefully they will turn out as good as the picture I have in my mind, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

I feel like I have so many projects I want to do but never enough time in the day :)

Pastor Ed and Sister Cindee

While we were up at Woodford Hill we did a little photoshoot of Pastor Ed and Sister Cindee. It is actually an amazing testimony since Pastor Ed's life was spared just a couple of weeks ago.
We had a good time with Pastor Ed and his wife, and on Sunday we got to go with them to church. We also took some photos while we were there, and this one little girl was incredibly photogenic. All of the children were absolutely adorable.

Woodford Hill

Last weekend we went to Woodford Hill to spend the weekend with Pastor Ed and his wife Cindee. We had a great time relaxing and going to the beach. We visited the most beautiful white sand beach while we were there and found some fantastic shells. The water was a myriad of blues, greens and aquas. I could not believe how beautiful the beach was with the white sand and the cliffs. It is crazy to me that one side of the island has black sand beaches and the other side has white sand.

Unfortunately rumor is, they are trying to sell this beautiful beach to some resort coming in. This will no longer allow public access. Isn't it amazing to think that someone can actually own this peace of land?

Plants underneath the Water

It is amazing to me the clarity of the water here. We have done several hikes, and everywhere we go the water color is amazing. When we went up to the Fresh Water and Boeri Lakes we came across some plants that were growing underneath the water. These plants give the water an ethereal sense of color. The second photo consist of several plants that are like 3 or 4 feet long in a stream leading into Fresh Water Lake.

Conch Shells

I was unsuccessful in trying to con that man who was selling the conch shells into telling me where he actually finds these giant shells. It makes sense though because, he makes a small living off of selling me these gigantic shells. I still have not decided whether to buy one. I am opting on not getting one since I would have to carry the giant thing all the way back with me. They are beautiful shells though. I went shell searching near Portsmouth and discovered a few here and there but none in comparison with his beauties. What is so unique about the conch shell here is that they actually use them for something. Can you guess what?!? They use them to signal to a village that they have caught fish! Yes, whenever they have come in with a catch they blow into them and this signals the fish lovers to come and start the bidding. Who would have thought?

Boeri Lake and Fresh Water Lake

Not many people travel up to these two lakes, however John and I thought they were well worth the hike. The Fresh Water Lake is a man made lake whereas the Boeri is natural. The Fresh Water Lake was not at all spectacular as some of the other areas we have see here, but everything is so untouched here. I think the fact that everything is not developed here adds a different kind of beauty to it. I mean on the way up here we traveled on a one way, winding, twisting road that is not even finished yet. The drive up here was an experience in itself. After traveling up the Fresh Water Lake we hiked another 45 minutes into Boeri Lake, and I must admit the whole hike was worth it just for this lake alone. The hike up to Boeri was fantastic! You start out underneath the jungle canopy and gradually climb wooden steps that were put in place some years ago. The climb is mild going up and down, and up and down. The hike was foggy and misty most of the way but that only served to cool us down because the days are indeed getting hotter here. As you go down the mountains in the jungle we came across several little waterfalls and rivers, and the water was soooo clear. It was incredible! Everything was so peaceful. Once we reached the lake the fog had set in right on top of the lake providing a very interesting affect for photography. We had a great time, and the trip to Boeri was well worth the effort.

Roseau

We decided to get up extremely early last Sunday so that we could go and take pictures of the city before we leave in a few weeks. The city can be a little dangerous so we wanted to travel down to Roseau when there were not many people around. On Sundays everyone goes to church here, and I mean everyone. On Sunday morning once church started the streets were completely empty allowing us to get plenty pictures of the town. The town is run down a bit, but it is so unique to me because each house is painted a different color. The colors are so bright here as well. Basically what happens when you want to paint your house is this: You walk in. You say you need paint. They say well we have these two colors. Then you pick one, and that is what you get. It is actually really pretty. It was very early in the morning but we enjoyed ourselves.

Brush Fires

We have seen two brush fires since we have been here. We could not believe it when we saw the first one last week. This rather large fire was making its way across the mountainside towards peoples houses and the lady we were with said something like, "Oh, don't worry about it. They will wait it out. It will be fine". John and I were like really? By the time the fire truck would have even gotten there it would have been bad. At that moment I thanked the Lord for all the regulations we have in the US making sure there are so many fire stations according to a city's population!

Victoria Falls

We decided that we would make the hike up to Victoria falls. The hike was a difficult one but once we saw the falls it was all worth it. We were told it would take about 25 min to hike into the falls, but it took 3 hours. I have noticed that our version of time and the Dominican version of time are not quite the same. Who knows they might actually be able to do it in 25 min because they have done it so many times before.

Boats

I just love all of the boats here. Old boats, new boats, rusty boats.. I love it! We went down to Portsmouth for church on Sunday and we saw a ton of boats. The pictures turned out pretty well too.

Ti Tou Gorge and Indian River

John and I had such a blast at the Ti Tou Gorge and the Indian River. The Ti Tou Gorge is actually on the hike back from the Boiling Lake and the Indian River is located in Portsmouth. Two completely different locations but they do have sometime in common...parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean II and III were filmed at both of these locations!

The Titou Gorge is a narrow water filled canyon just at the start of the Boiling Lake trail. A lot of people come up just to see the gorge itself, and leave the Boiling Lake hike to the brave. We enjoyed a swim in the gorge after our exhausting hike. I really just wanted to get home but John convinced me that we should go for a quick swim. I am glad we did :) The water was cold and crystal clear. It was just plain beautiful with the sun shining down into the cracks above the gorge.

The Indian River was actually a lot more that I expected. We started at the base and hired a guide to paddle us up river. It was so calm and relaxing. It was really neat to see all of the vegetation growing straight up from the water, and creating all of these reflections on the water. The trees hung just over the water, creating a surreal effect (no wonder why the filmed a movie here).

I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can, but the internet is not working well over here.