new camera lens

I have a decently old canon rebel & have only ever had the stock lens that came with it. I've barely even touched the surface of what my mediocre camera & lens can do, so I've always been ok with it. But, this summer, Staci's wedding photographer recommended a very cheap lens that would be great for portraits and would give me more range on the manual settings. I took her word for it, and for Christmas I got the canon 50mm 1.8, which I guess is sometimes referred to as the "nifty fifty." To be honest, I still am not 100% sure what all the correct photography terms are to describe this lens, but I do know that I have had a lot of fun playing with it! This morning Maggie & I went & played in the backyard and she got to be my model while I tested out the new lens. I'm pretty excited with a few pictures I got of her. 

this may be my favorite picture ive ever taken...

and ross played with the lens a bit last night...