I found a new park yesterday

How are you today?

I have done a little bit of scrapping (need to do some more today) and can share those projects as soon as they hit the Jillibean blog. For today, though, I'll share with you some new Hailey pictures.

I told a friend a while back that I would be willing to take some pictures of her family so that I could get more practice with my camera and with shooting pics of groups. She recently took me up on the offer and I wanted to find just the right spot. There aren't a lot of scenic places here around Lubbock so we had to search high and low to find something that would be a suitable place for her and for us to have some pictures taken as well.

We drove all over town and I wasn't really satisfied until I found this place:

I wanted to find a place where there were some fall-colored trees. One park that we found was pretty but everything just looked like it was dying. I wanted some red and gold and other fall colors, which is really hard to find around here but look what we found at this park: Ta da! 

It's not like back East but it'll do for us. 

I was driving there, not exactly sure where I was going when I spotted a park with a bridge and immediately turned to check it out. Turns out I was at the right place and I was so excited. There are TWO bridges, both perfect scenery for taking some pictures. There are some really great trees for kids to climb in as well and HUGE boulders for kids to climb on. There is normally a fountain as well but it's been shut down for the season.

This was a fun bridge- we just had to watch out for a spot at one end where there was a big HOLE. 

Yes, that will be something to warn our friends about today while we're there. We don't want any kids to fall through into the water below! 

This is the metal bridge that you see as you are arriving at the park but look at this little beauty:

The light shining onto the bridge in the late afternoon is so pretty.

yep, I loved it ♥♥♥

Hailey did, too. ♥

I 'd heard of a place outside of our little town where there was a happy face painted on the outside of a big barn/shed. Someone ran into it a while back and they had to tear it down but have recently rebuilt-  Hailey can't wait to take her sisters back there to have some pictures taken. It was dark by the time we got there so this isn't the best exposure but you get the idea.

If any of you locals want to know where these places are, just ask ☺

And here's a shot of the gorgeous sunset last night that I took after we stopped at the smiley face- no color adjusting, just a little sharpening. 

I am excited to go and take some pictures today. 

Do YOU have a favorite place to take pictures of your family? Any tips for taking great family shots?

I hope you have a great day!