This past weekend my family and I took a driving trip to Iowa to visit my little brother and his family for their Homecoming celebration in their home town. My kiddos had only been to one high school football game a couple of years ago and didn't really have a clue what to expect. My brother was so excited we were in town to celebrate Homecoming with him. My baby brother actually told me he was so happy I came back because we had not watched football together in over 20 years!

The kiddos were so excited to have their faces painted and my son even let his cousin's pals  spray paint his hair. His cousin's friends were very impressed with the fact that my son is homeschooled. I even over heard "I give you mad props dude". So that made me happy my son didn't have to be embarrassed or explain what homeschooling was all about!

The evening game was great and cold. Very, very cold. We literally froze our bums off!

I had another purpose in traveling to Iowa for the weekend. My sister-in-law is pregnant and my brother asked me to take some maternity shots of his wife and himself. I was more than happy to oblige. We had so much fun and I have to say I really wish I would have had the courage to have my tummy photographed while pregnant.

My sister-in-law was such an easy pregnant mommy to photograph. I was able to capture some great family moments as well of their growing family. My brother's house sits on eight acres and we spent the afternoon wandering about looking for some great locations for the perfect spots. The only sad part of the day is the sun was hiding behind the clouds. But, I still was able to get some great shots.

All the outdoor shots are SOOC, with slight editing . . . and all in manual! I was so proud of myself for shooting in manual. Inside I was having some difficulty shooting in manual with the lack of lighting and the black backdrop, but I pushed myself anyway.