Southwest OK Baby Photographer | Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Love this little guy! He is officially the first kid to get into his cake and not shed a tear! He didn't make too much of a mess, but he did love the icing! His birthday is a pretty big deal since he was born a premie and has been through quite a bit during his first year of life! But, he is a fighter and sure has come a long way! I can't believe I took his newborn pictures nearly a year ago! It's been neat to see him grow and over come a lot of obstacles and hurdles that go along with being a premie. 

I just got a few templates for these blog boards and wanted to try one out! I thought sweet Caleb's one year cake photos would be the perfect ones to use!

Happy birthday, buddy! 

Susan Wetlesen Photography
Susan Wetlesen Photography-Facebook

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.

Southwest OK Wedding Photographer | Mr. and Mrs. Vrooman

On Friday I had the privilege of photographing Andrew and Ashley's marriage at the Palmer Courthouse. This was a new and exciting experience as it was my first wedding. Thankfully the couple was calm as that helped my nerves :) I loved being there to share in their special day and being able to capture details that they can cherish forever. Once they decided on which type of vows to say and we headed into the courtroom, it all happened so fast! It was definitely a (fun) learning experience and a great place to start for my first wedding! So glad I now have this under my belt and will now know what to expect for next time :)


So young and in love, here are some of my favorites from their special day!

Congrats you two, may you have a long and happy life together filled with many wonderful memories and may God bless your marriage!

~Susan

Susan Wetlesen Photography
Susan Wetlesen Photography-Facebook

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.

5 minute beach waves

Too many times I find myself throwing my hair up in a ponytail because I don't have enough time to do anything to it in the morning. Well, here's a super simple and quick way to do your hair before you run out the door for the day! 3 easy steps:

Twist:

Separate your hair into two sections. Take one section and twist it outward. You could separate your hair into 4 sections for more curl....



Spray:

Spray the twisted part of your hair.



Heat:

Run your flat iron over the twist a few times to make sure you get all of your hair.



Repeat with other side, then run your hands through your hair and you are ready to go!





No more ponytail hair when you have places to go and people to see and only 5 minutes to spare!

~Susan

Garlic and Herb Turkey Wrap

Looking for a low calorie idea for lunch? I love making wraps, especially with the whole wheat low carb tortillas I have found. They are only 80 calories a piece and sugar free; where as some breads for sandwiches can be 100+ calories per slice, especially the "wheat" ones, you think you are making a good decision in choosing the wheat bread, but normally they have a ton of sugar in them, so keep that in mind when buying sandwich bread. My favorite sandwich bread is Sara Lee's 45 Calories and Delightful multigrain bread. Only 45 calories a slice and 2 grams of sugar!

Anyway, here's what I made today:

Garlic and Herb Turkey Wrap: 215 calories

1 La Banderita whole wheat low carb tortilla: 80 cals
1 wedge Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese: 35 cals
1 serving (6 slices) Oscar Meyer mesquite deli turkey: 50 cals
1/8 cup Atheno's crumbled feta cheese: 45 cals
1 romaine lettuce leaf: 5 cals

Drink with a big glass of water and pair with baby carrots and hummus, pineapple and cottage cheese or a small apple and greek yogurt.

baby carrots (about 8): 35 cals
2 TBPS Sabra spinach and artichoke hummus: 70 cals

OR

2 slices canned Dole pineapple: 60 cals
1/2 cup Breakstone low fat 2% cottage cheese: 90 cals

OR

1 small apple: 55 cals
6 oz The Greek Gods nonfat plain greek yogurt: 60cals
2 tsp Sue Bee honey: 40cals

mix honey into greek yogurt for added sweetness and flavor

All these options paired with the wrap are under 375 calories!
They also make great snacks throughout the day!

Hope you enjoy some of my low calorie, healthy and still yummy ideas!

~Susan

Italian Chicken Noodle Soup

The other day I promised the kids after school they could play in the huge pile of leaves (that took forever to rake up and will probably be destroyed in about 8 seconds). But, first they had to get homework done, so, while math problems were being solved and match the animal to the words were being done, I raided the pantry knowing that I wanted to come in from the chilly 40 degree weather to a warm bowl of soup. Also, the kids have been sick the last few days, so I figured a twist on the good ole chicken noodle soup would be perfect.

Here's what I came up with; I wanted to go all out and make some kind of cheesy bread for the kids, but the leaves were calling us to hurry up and come out to play!

Italian Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup roughly chopped carrots

1/2 cup onions, diced

2 TBSP EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

2 TBSP minced garlic

3 cans chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano 

1 can great northern beans; rinsed, drained

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

2 cups cooked egg noodles

1 cup shredded cooked chicken (I like rotisserie chicken)

Cook pasta according to package; drain.

Sauté carrots, minced garlic and olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes. 

Add onion and sauté until onions are cooked through.

Add cans of chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and beans and stir until combined.

Add salt, cumin, garlic powder, oregano and basil.

Cook until a boil and then reduce heat to med low.

Stir in cooked noodles and cooked chicken and simmer over med-low heat for 10-15 min or until carrots are tender.

I love soup for the fall! This one is easy and filling! 

Happy Wednesday! 

~Susan

Cheesecake Strawberry Bites

I saw this idea on pinterest, and thought it looked super simple and delicious, and I couldn't have been more right! Pretty sure they were gone in about 10.2 seconds! Too bad raspberries wouldn't hold up to this :/

1 lb strawberries, washed, dried, tops cut off and centers cut out.
8 oz cream cheese-softened (could use low/nonfat)
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
graham cracker crumbs


Wash strawberries and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut off tops and hollow out center and cut off the tip from the bottom to make them stand up. Mix in the mixer cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until creamy. I wanted to try some chocolate ones but was out of cocoa powder, so, I added a few tsp of hot chocolate mix after I had filled half of them with plain cream cheese :)
Pipe cream cheese mixture into each strawberry and top with graham cracker crumbs, refrigerate if you are saving for later, but really, who does that?!

Seriously couldn't be more simple, and helps fulfill that cheesecake craving without all the calories :)

Enjoy!

~Susan

Southwest OK Newborn Photographer | We Are Family

Yesterday we decided to do something totally different; "Let's go try and take family pictures of ourselves!" I raided our closets and tried to pick out a coordinating wardrobe, which was actually pretty fun! Little did I know it was going to be THAT difficult to get everyone looking at the camera, let alone smiling! Of course every time someone would move it would throw the camera off focus. So, after setting up the self timer and having it snap a ton of pictures in a row...I think we got a few worthy of posting photos....

This is our Spiderman web slinger pose :)

Don't smile- let's do a "model" pose! haha!

My Love

I love how we got the light from the sunset!

Finally everyone smiling!

Our pride and joy!

It was fun, but exhausting trying to get 3 kids to cooperate, especially the stubborn 2 year old...wonder where he gets that from?!? :)

~Susan

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.

Southwest OK Child Photographer | Brotherly Love

I have been trying to line up some time to do a photo shoot of my friend's boys for a few weeks now, but things have gotten crazy and then she went on vacation and, well, you know how the story goes! Anyway, she recently got home and we were finally able to get together and capture some some sweet memories of her boys cuddling and loving on each other. The weather has been awful here for a while now, so we just stayed indoors and kept the boys comfortable at home :)

Here are some of my favorites from today, both boys were so cooperative! You can definitely tell big brother LOVES little brother!

These boys are so cute and come from such a sweet family! 

Hopefully this weather will clear up soon so I can do a few more sessions outside with the gorgeous leaves before the snow comes! 

~Susan

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.

Southwest OK Family Photographer | The Smith Family

I had the pleasure of capturing this sweet family and their love for each other on this special occasion of their little (handsome) man turning one! Poor Sawyer was not into the whole cake smash idea and wasn't sure what to think of it! The sun was super bright that day and there were a lot of people we had to dodge to keep out of the background, but we were able to get some lovely family shots! Here are some of my favorites!

Thank you for allowing me to capture this special milestone in your lives!

~Susan

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.