Meet Taylor and McKenna....

I don't even know where to start on this one. You see, I met Taylor and McKenna years ago when they were just little peeps and in my head, I think that I thought that they'd always stay that size. So, when we set up a time to do pictures with them and these two teenagers stepped out of the car, I had to realign my whole way of thinking. Their cousin Ryan came along with them and I'm convinced that she has got to be one of THE sweetest kids in the entire world. You never looked her way that she didn't have a smile on her face and was offering to help in any way that she could. You cannot meet this child and not love her right off the bat!

When I caught a glimpse of Taylor, I was sure that there was some mistake. I was expecting her shy smile and quiet personality but what I got was this beautiful girl with a confident smile and a contagious laugh. She is a bit more quiet than McKenna but she managed to throw a few zingers my way on more than one occasion! She's smart, funny and just an all around nice person.

THEN, there was McKenna.....I could feel trouble brewing from the moment that I saw the grin on her face. There was no mistaking the mischief behind that smile! The last time that I saw her, I'm pretty sure that she was working on growing in some teeth and she'd already developed a personality as big as her grin. Time had only enhanced that part of her but the scrappy little girl that I remembered was now this beautiful teenager.

These girls were all for getting down to business but there were times when we had NO choice other than to take a dance break. I mean, when you've got to dance, you've GOT to dance! It didn't matter if it was in the middle of the street or at the saw sharpening shop, when the groove hit them, there was no controlling it!

Once they got that out of their system, it was back to the business at hand. The smiles started flashing and we were back on track.

They were scared that they'd appear to be too responsible if they kept up this behavior so the frolicking soon commenced. Now, I can understand the need for this as I am quite the seasoned frolicker myself so we just stood back and watched them go.....run Forest, run!

I offered to frolic with them but McKenna assured me that she thought that I was somewhere around the age of dirt so it would probably be best if I sat tight with my Geritol and walking cane. Taylor never chimed in with McKenna to offer an opinion but I've got to tell you that there was a visible look of relief on her face when she realized that I was going to hang back. It hurt a little but I moved on.

All of that frolicking can wreak havoc on a girl so in Taylor's down time, we managed to snap a few pictures of her. She was a sweetheart....climbed fences, was nice to her sister and even said that she wanted to look JUST like me when she grows up. Ok, I made that last part up but the rest of it is true.

It was almost impossible to get a smile from McKenna. She is such a serious, solemn child so we were THRILLED to get shots of her that showed a different side of her personality.

The abuse that I suffered at the hands of these two isn't something that I can talk about without fighting back the tears so I'm going to skip it. I'll just summarize it by saying that, in time, the wounds will heal.

In all seriousness (which I normally avoid like the plague), I have to say that a day with these teenagers was probably one of the most fun days that I'd had in a long, long time. Teenagers in general get a bad rap sometimes but these girls are smart, funny, beautiful, caring, loving and some of the sweetest spirits that you'll ever have the pleasure to meet. I only hope that you enjoy these pictures even half as much as we enjoyed taking them and having time with these peeps.

Thank you Taylor, McKenna, Ryan and Jenny! We had an awesome day with y'all!