A boy is....

I found this quote before Nathan turned one.  I loved it.  It couldn't be a more perfect summation of what 'boy' is.

"A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket." - Alan Marshall Beck

I actually added it to the first picture of Nathan that I was proud of and used it for Nathan's blog header for a while.  It was actually that shot that inspired me to enter the world of Photoshop.  Well, that shot, Pioneer Woman's blog, and my friend Becky, the photoshop master, truthfully.  Here it is.

Nathan has been asking why I don't have a 'big picture' (aka canvas) of him, like I just got of Cora and one for a friend's little girl.  So I decided I'd incorporate this quote that says "Nathan" to me in his new canvas for his room makeover.  But in true Carey fashion, I can't make up my  mind which image to use.

This was at the beach, Topsail Island NC, in early June.

This was during a hike to a waterfall in early July.

Hard to believe the 18 month old dude in the first picture has morphed into this amazing four and a half year old!

the Coon Dog Day 5K Race

Shawn and his sister, Monica, grew up in Saluda, NC.  Monica is now an Administrative Assistant for the City Clerk of Saluda and works in City Hall.  One of her responsibilities is coordination of the town's annual festival, Coon Dog Day.  The festival includes a certified 5K run, the Coon Dog Day 5K, and this year was the first year that the city itself executed the race.  Monica asked if I'd like to help out by designing a tshirt for the race and I hopped all over it.  I love to do things like that, and I do love how the tshirt design turned out.

Shawn is an avid runner and has collected a ton of race tshirts (most of which are too cheesy to actually wear).  We worked together to design something we felt would be a shirt that the runners would be proud to wear.  Here is the front of the race shirt:

images used in design courtesy artists vlastas, lantapix, & bill heller / shutterstock.com

Monica also asked if I would photograph the race for her.  Since Shawn is a runner and was running the race anyway, of course I agreed!  I had a fantastic time shooting Saturday morning.  I wish I'd stayed longer and shot some more!  But there's always next year.  It was also great to get some super shots of Shawn running.  He placed 14th overall, 1st place in his age bracket, with a time of 21.36!  He told me last night that his Garmin watch says he's run 215 miles since January!  Yikesola!

You can see all of the images I shot that morning on the Coon Dog Day 5K official facebook page.  The images are available for purchase as digital files for $15 (includes a full resolution image with print release as well as a web sized image).  If you would like an image, please use the below 'add to cart' paypal button. Please designate in the paypal notes which facebook image number you wish to purchase.  A download link will be sent to you shortly!

Coon Dog Day 5K race photo

Here are my artistic favorites from the race day.

Here is Shawn making the pre-race announcement.

Overall race winner on the left, with a time of 18.34!

(there's Shawn on the right!)

This kid was SERIOUS!  Inspiring!