Winter Wonderland . . .

The First Limited Editions sessions will be on January 28-30, 2008. The theme will be Winter Wonderland! Bring your kiddos in their winter attire, hats, gloves, scarves and bright sweaters for this snowy setup. Limited Editions sessions have NO SESSION fee but there will be a $10 scheduling fee that will apply to your package. For more information and a complete brochure, please contact me at prairieimages@hughes.net or 873-5258! Evening sessions will be available on Monday and Wednesday!

Nolan turned ONE!

Nolan helped me finish out 2007 with his 1 year portraits! He liked the ball(fishing bobber) and liked to Rock the horse! Happy Birthday Nolan!

Happy Holidays!

Prairie Images Photography would like to thank everyone for their patronage this past year. Prairie Images continues to grow and your support makes it all possible. It is my pleasure to create the memories and milestones that portraits reflect and I look forward to providing many more years to your portrait investment! Best wishes to all of you for a Healthy and Happy 2008!

Hoops and the Hardcourt. . .

MHS wrapped up the 2007 portion of the season with a trip to Bucklin to take on the Red Aces. It was a tight battle for a big part of the game, but the 2nd half saw the Buffaloes spread the gap and finish out the evening with a 62-47 victory and a 5-0 record heading into the 2008 half of the season!

Girls action wasn't as favorable, but the Lady Buffs showed alot of determination and didn't give up as they made two surges in the 3rd and 4th quarters to come back within 10.

Santa came to town . . .

Santa came to the Christmas Village on Saturday. Prairie Images was there to capture the moment!

Quenter. . .

Quenter returned yesterday for his 5 year birthday pictures! Last year he came and was a bit timid and it took him a bit to warm up . . .but this year he came decked out in his cowboy gear and ready to take some pictures! We got great smiles from the get go . . . Don't forget to send Santa your list Quenter!

Is it Spring yet?

Oh the weather outside is frightful . . . and is not so delightful . . . we have too many places to go . . . okay so that isn't how the song goes . . . but it is how I feel. I am NOT a winter weather person . . . give me 70 degrees and sunshine please. . . that's all I want for Christmas. . . okay so maybe not 70 degrees. .. but if it has to be winter could it at least be a warm snow. . . UGH!

On the bright side we do need the moisture. .. but then again I am kind of a dependent person ... and I need POWER!

So I guess I'd better just brace myself for several more months of this cold stuff. . . because whether I like it or not I'm afraid it is here to stay!

On a fun photography note. . . Levi came last month for his 6 month pics. . . I saw this hat box and immediately thought of him as a little snowman . . . isn't he a cutie!

Hoops. . .

Last week took the Varsity Buffaloes to Jetmore for the preseason tournament! Tuesday started the tournament with the Lacrosse Leopards. The varsity girls hung tight and grabbed their first win of the season. Thursday night they took on the Macksville Mustangs and saw a 12 point lead diminish as the Mustangs came fighting back to take the win. On Friday the hometown Jetmore Longhorns took the court and both teams battled it to the end with the Longhorns pulling off the win.

The Varsity boys saw the same teams and Tuesday night, tension and animosity were in the air as the Buffaloes had a point to prove against the Leopards and some revenge to offer as well. Thursday night saw the 1A #5 ranked Mustangs up against the 2A #8 ranked Buffaloes. It was a battle to the end but the Buffaloes proved to be more than the Mustangs could handle and came out on top with a 2 point win. Saturday against the hometown Longhorns looked to be a close game as well, but the Buffaloes found their game and won easily. This gave the Buffaloes the Jetmore Preseason Tournament Championship!

The WINNER is .. .

Prairie Images would like to thank all the Class of 2008 Seniors who came for their Senior Portraits! It was a great season and I enjoyed creating a session that was unique to each individual! As promised . . . the drawing for the $200 gift card was today!

The Lucky Winner is . . . Nikki Holsted!

Nikki will get a $200 gift card to Maurices. Congrats Nikki and Thanks again to all of the Class of 2008 Seniors! Good Luck with the rest of your senior year!

Hoop Action . . .

The weather outside was very cold but that didn't stop the fans from coming to Stampede Stadium as the Buffaloes hosted Cimarron in their season opener! The girls tipped off first against the 4th ranked bluejays! They showed lots of determination and kept the game close, but the Lady Jays finally started to find their momentum and pulled ahead for the win. Keep your heads up Lady Buffaloes . . . this is only game one and you have alot more opportunities ahead of you.

Varsity Boys action followed and the Buffloes seemed to pick up where they left off last year . . . with lots of experience returning, the Buffalo Men totally dominated the Bluejays taking a 48-6 lead to the lockerroom at halftime. Second half action saw lots of rotation of players with everyone getting time on the floor. The Buffaloes win the opener easily with a final score of 74-25.

Next week both varsity teams travel to Jetmore for the Early Season Tournament. Games are Tuesday against LaCrosse and Thursday against Macksville. Girls will play at 3:30 with the boys to follow. Friday the Buffaloes will take on the Longhorns with tip off at 6:30 and 8:00. Come show your support. We'll see you there!

Let's Get Ready to Rumble . . .

Okay . .. does that make you think Hoops and Slam Dunks .. . well I hope so because on Friday, November 30, basketball season opens across the state of Kansas. . . a new season awaits so come out on Friday and support our Buffalo Basketball teams!

The Seasons . ..

We all experience seasons throughout the year with the outdoor elements. . . some of us like Spring, some Summer, and my favorite time is the Fall? Does anyone actually LIKE winter?? Some people may even associate seasons with the respective sports. .. I think Basketball would be about the only GOOD part of the Winter season!

As a photographer I also experience different types of "Seasons." Not sure if this is a normal pattern for all photographers but tends to be how mine has gone over these past few years. Winter tends to be the "slow" season . . . the time when everyone has spent all their money on Christmas and no one wants to think about portraits. But it does tend to be the time for those Birthday maybe Valentine's Day portraits. This is also a great time for photographers to start brainstorming ideas and marketing for the new year.

As Spring arrives, things start to get busier again as everyone starts focusing on Spring Portraits with Easter and Mother's Day coming to mind. Those do make nice gifts you know . . . hint hint! Summer months start off with a bang with one of my favorite seasons . .. SENIOR SEASON! This usually keeps photographers busy for several months, but many Seniors (as well as thier mom's ) like to take advantage of this time having no school and less busier schedules to get those once in a lifetime Senior Portraits done. Just writing about it makes me get excited for June to get here :-)

And lastly, Fall brings us to finishing up the Senior Portraits and moving right into Family and Holiday portraits for cards and gift giving. Portraits are a great investment to document our precious memories.

Of course there are many other categories of photography that fit into these various "photographer seasons". .. babies, sports, hobbies, etc. But for me this is how my road seems to be traveled with my photography work. What Photography season do you enjoy most? Have you booked a portrait session lately? Why not give it a try?

I mentioned in an earlier blog that lots of exciting changes were coming to Praire Images Photography this year. .. be sure to keep reading to find out what they are. . .

Attention Blog Readers. . .

Just a heads up for my faithful blog readers. . . starting in January be sure to watch the blog closely as I will be starting something fun . . . I will be offering specials that will only be found by reading the blog . . . so check back soon so you don't miss out . . .

Seniors . . . only 6 more days until the drawing . .. if you haven't gotten me your gift card choice it will delay you getting your card if your name is chosen . . . so be sure to have something in mind if I call you and you're the lucky winner. . .

Also don't forget that Tots & Tykes days will be starting in January . . . I'm still brainstorming a cute theme. . . but don't forget if you make a suggestion and it's chosen you'll receive 8 additional free wallets with any Tots & Tykes day package. So send those suggestions to me today: prairieimages@hughes.net

Lastly . . . watch for details on my new website unveiling . .. I bit the bullet and got an official domain name so I'm excited to start working on that when things slow down . . .

Hope everyone stays healthy and "sane" as all the Holiday Festivities start happening. . .

Until next time . ..

Black Friday!

Okay . . . I don't consider myself a non-social person . . . but I have decided that me and crowds. .. well they just don't mix! I'm already NOT a morning person so you won't see me standing in line at 4:00 A.M. waiting for a store to open . . . but after today you may not see me in a store again on Black Friday! We didn't get to our first store until around 9:00 A.M. It wasn't as crazy busy as I thought it would be. . .but just enough to give me that claustrophic feeling . .. so we got our stuff. . . and got in line . . . well to try and speed things up the nice helpers at the store came and scanned our items in our cart and then gave us this nifty card to give to our cashier so we could pay without her having to scan everything . .. well all would be fine and dandy with this little process if the prices were right to begin with . .. and of course if anyone is going to have a jinx to the process. . . it would be me. So you guessed it . . . something wasn't scanning at the "Doorbuster" price and s they had to make an adjustment to my transaction. .. so much for speeding up the process!

We then make it to Walmart. .. well I really just don't like that place to begin with . .. and I quickly realized why I try to avoid it so badly . . . I went in there for ONE item basically . .. so I buzz over to the toy aisle . . . and hunt around amidst the hundreds of other toy shoppers. . . and cannot find the advertised item . .. There happens to be an employee in that aisle so I ask her where the item is . . . she said . .. oh that item isn't available . .. we never got it . . . can you sense my frustration yet. . . so at this point I move on to my "Mom's List" of doorbuster specials . .. I find them and we head to the check out. . . as we are leaving we see this white stuff floating in the air . . . I think they call it Snow . . . Geez that's all we need. . . and talk about killing what little motivation I had left to stay and do any shopping . ..

We did stay and trekked to Target next hoping to find the item that Walmart didn't get. . . well we thought we hit the jackpot . ..only to discover that it wasn't the item we thought it was. .. so we left there empty handed and headed to the JCPenney's. . . one step inside that store and I realized very quickly that I wouldn't be there long . .. we headed to the shoes only to be told that the sizes we needed were not available . .. so we left there empty handed as well and headed to the next store. ..

By this time the snow is trying to let up and we can smell the aroma of freshly baked bread in the air as we are passing by Subway . . . we take a break for lunch and decide what to do next. By the time we are done the snow had quit so we headed to Sears. . . Not much to be found there either and we left with a small purchase as the snow had started back up again . ..

Our last stop found us shopping from my "mom's list" again . . . by the point all I want to do is come home and my shopping mood had completely disintegrated. . . So I head into the store with my "list" and "pictures" only to be told that one of the items was not on sale until TOMORROW! So I get the other item and head to the checkout . .. And as I try to pay . .. the credit card machine phone lines are down causing yet another delay in the checkout process. . . Finally . .. things went through and I was on my way out the door and ready to make the trip home!

Yes . .. I have decided. .. that Black Friday and me just do not fit. . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Prairie Images Photography

would like to give thanks to all

of you for your patronage through

this past year and wish everyone a

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Dog's need Portraits too . ..

Okay . . . I'm not sure "Pet Portraiture" is my forte' but I finally accomplished the mission . . and made my mom happy in the process. . . and I got my first experience with pets. . . it might be my last! haha Enjoy!

4 Games. . . 5 Days. . .

The MJH Buffaloes have been busy since the season started. . . Thursday took them to Minneola to take on the Wildcats.. . . the girls gave us a thriller and earned an OT Win with the Boy adding another W to their record. Today we traveled to Ingalls to go up against the hometown Bulldogs and the Deerfield Spartans. The girls managed to find a win against Ingalls but just couldn't overpower the size of the Lady Spartans. The Boys once again had two easy victories. Tuesday brings the Spearville Royal Lancers to Meade for our 5th game in 7 days! Come out and support our Jr. High Buffaloes!

Santa Claus is coming . . .

To the Christmas Village on December 15th, 2007. Watch for more Details on Portrait Packages and pricing!

MJH Hits the Hardwood!

The Junior High basketball season opened yesterday with a sweep of the Pawnee Heights Tigers! Both Boys and Girls A/B Teams won all of their games. This come after Pawnee Heights has already had 3 games and the Jr. Buffaloes are just beginning! Great Job everyone! Next game is at Minneola tomorrow( 11/15) starting at 4:00. See you there!

Coming Soon!

Open Dates Remaining . . .

Hello everyone! The calendar is filling quickly and the holiday rush is beginning! I still have a few open dates available so if you are needing a portrait session don't wait! Call now to schedule your appointment! Here are the remaining dates at the current time. These are subject to change as calls come in! Orders placed by December 1st will guarantee arrival by the holidays! Orders placed by December 13th will be processed and sent as soon as they are received and SHOULD arrive in time. . . however due to the shipping process it cannot be guaranteed!

Open Dates

Monday, December 3rd 10:00 or 2:00

Tuesday, December 11th 10:00 or 2:00

Wednesday, December 12th 10:00 or 2:00

Who Will Win??

The Senior drawing is coming up soon . . . Who will the lucky winner be! The Gift Card will be for $200 to your choice of merchants. So 2008 Seniors . . . If I don't have your gift card choice try to get it to me as soon as possible so I can get the gift card purchased right away and in time for any holiday shopping! :-) Good Luck to you all and a HUGE Thank You for all of the 2008 Seniors that came to Prairie Images Photography for your Senior Portraits!

Family Photo Day!

Prairie Images Photography is teaming up with Meade Elementary PTO to provide you with a Family Portrait Day! It will be held on Saturday, December 1st from 9:30-11:30 and 1:00-3:00. A limited number of appointments will be available so call early to schedule your appointment!

Regional Football Action . . .

It was a sunny but cool and breezy Fall day yesterday as the St. Francis Indians came to town for Regional football action! Perfect Football Weather! It was a repeat round from last year's season . . . just a new year! The Buffaloes took possession first but couldn't get to the endzone forcing a punt. St. Francis came back strong and quickly put 8 points on the scoreboard. They would continue to score two more before halftime leaving the Buffaloes with a challenge to overcome after halftime. The Indians pretty much took us out of our running game so we had to resort to the passing side of things. The Buffaloes finally managed to find Brian Deighton near the endzone and he managed to cross the goal line to put 7 points on our side of the scoreboard. St. Francis answered with 7 more of their own. The Buffaloes only managed 7 more points in the game and when the final seconds ticked off the clock it was St. Francis Indians 36 and the Meade Buffaloes 14 giving the Band of Brothers the Regional runner up plaque. Hold your heads proud Buffaloes. It was a great season and one you should be proud of.

Sterling . . .

Sterling had two opportunities for his Senior Portraits at Prairie Images! Sterling is known for his "fro" and we didnt' want the memories of it to go so we did a session with the "fro" and then after his cross country season ended we finished up with his cut look! Is it really the same kid? I've included a few of my favorites from both sessions! Thanks for coming Sterling!

Tommy . . .

Tommy managed to squeeze in his Senior Portrait session between football practice, football games and school in general! It was a bit cool and breezy but we found some great places and got some great shots! Thanks for coming Tommy and good luck with the rest of the football season.

Bi-District Champions!

Bi-District Playoff action took the Buffaloes to Lark territory for first round playoff action! Both teams looked to be evenly matched and traded scores back and forth and with the final seconds ticking off it appeared the Buffaloes would be the Bi-District Champions! However, the Larks weren't quite ready for the season to be over and after taking possession on a lost Buffalo 4th down, they launched a pass that would tie the score 19-19 at the end of regulation. In the first overtime neither team would score. Sublette took possession first in the double overtime and launched their own hopes of the Round One Championship with a field goal which put them up 22-19. But the Buffaloes still had 4 downs of their own and on 3rd down Taylor Headrick found the endzone to end the game with a final score of 25-22. Way to Go Buffaloes. Round Two action takes place Saturday, November 3rd against St. Francis!

Courtney!!

Courtney came Friday on her day out of school . . . What a great session! She was all nervous . . . but I have no idea why because she was a natural. . . Thanks for coming Courtney! Enjoy your portraits! You did Great!!!