Wishing I could afford a more snazzy camera!

Needless to say, I've been snapping more photos as of late.  In the little bit of free time that I have, I've been researching photography to learn some different techniques by way of composition, lighting and angles.  One evening while looking up some information about parenting, I ran into a blog of a lady with 5 kids who is an at home mom/ex-photographer/daughter of parenting guru's.  I love the crispness of her photos.  See her stuff here. 

I always wondered why my pictures seeming don't come out with the same look and feel.  Is it the lens? The lighting? My camera setup? Maybe a little bit of all of these?  Ultimately, I've come to find that it probably has more to do with my camera and they type and size of sensor that it has along with a pretty snazzy lens.  Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to spend anywhere near 3 grand for a camera, so I'll just deal with what I have for now.  Nevertheless, I still have a lot to learn and I'm having fun.  Especially since my kids aren't shying away from the camera.  My 11 month old now says 'Cheese!' whenever I bring the camera out.  Yep! After Mama, Cheese is his second word.  Who would have known?

So here are a few more photos that I took of Misses Handful Jones in our backyard a few days ago: