Teen Spirit

I had a 'Sweet Sixteen' photo shoot earlier this week.

As you can see, my model was a knock out; natural beauty, and extremely photogenic.

It was such a fun shoot to do also.

It always amazes me how people will pose however and wherever I tell them to. They have so much trust in me, and my eye. I love that! And I definitely do my best to capture my subjects in the most flattering, beautiful and artistic way possible.

These are just a few of the photos I took. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. And even better, so is she! :)

The more photo shoots I do, the more I honestly LOVE it! I feel like it was what I was born to do. My camera feels like an extension of myself; like it's been there all along. Every time I'm snapping my camera, I feel like I am LIVING. And not just living, but living my DREAM. It just makes me feel happy and whole, sprinkled with rainbows and unicorns. Ok, just kidding about that. :)

And I am so, so grateful for all of the people who are supporting me, and the people who are putting their faith in me. I'm determined to make this dream a reality!

Life Lately

I've gotta say I'm loving it. Big changes since last Summer!
For one, I am no longer working two jobs, and 55 hours a week, on top of college classes, on top of every other Mommy/Wifey duty! I'm also taking weekends off this Summer! Yay! I took three weekends off last summer, and two of them were for my kids' Birthdays!
This Summer I am a stay at home Mommy, and I am LOVING IT! I love being with my kids, as crazy as they may drive me at times. I like feeding them every meal, playing with them, teaching them things... just being with them. When we have Lex and it's three kids, I still love it. Maybe because the family seems bigger, and I've always loved and envied the chaos of a big family. We all know my biggest fear is time, and I feel like I am getting quality time in with them, and it makes me feel really good! I also love (and this sounds crazy, because I really only semi-love it) working on their manners. I love asking them to pick up their clothes, toys, put their dishes away, throw wrappers away, say "please", say "thank you", say "may I?" At times it gets old repeating myself, but I swear every time I see them doing these things, especially when I don't have to ask, it makes me so proud of them! I love the fact that at meals, and I'm talking every single meal, we say our prayer twice because Chase wants to say and Lexi wants to say it. That makes me proud! But I am human, and I won't pretend there aren't days I want to pull my hair out, because there are. lol. But the good out weighs the bad.
I also absolutely love being so on top of things at home! Before it was like trying to get a chore done a day, just to stay afloat, before heading off to work or class. Now I am able to deep clean my house every single day. Clothes aren't piling up, dishes aren't piling up, floors are getting swept and carpets vacumed every single day. When my house is messy I turn into the Hulk. I'm not kidding, I am a straight up B word. I don't mean to be, but when I see things out of place, especially on the floor, I just think HOW HARD IS IT?? So my stress level is at such a good place right now. Not that there aren't other stressers in life, but I am completely letting myself enjoy this. It's like in the game Sims, when the people are in a room they don't like, their happiness level goes down. THAT'S ME! lol. The best part about it is I am seriously enjoying cleaning the place. It helps A LOT that this place is so much nicer than our last.
We have also been doing a lot of fun, family stuff lately. There is of course the camping, which we love, and are trying to do at least every other weekend. But we also go see a movie together, about once a week, which the kids LOVE! And we go swimming a lot, and play outside a lot. It's just been a really good Summer so far.
I'm looking into putting Chase into tee-ball and hopefully Soccer as well, now that he is FINALLY four!!! I think they will both be so good for him, in so many ways! A million ways.
I'm in a really good mood, in case you can't tell. Probably because we are going to run errands, which I love doing! Puts me in a great mood!
Gotta run, and hope all my friends are having a wonderful Summer as well, in spite of this horrible weather! :)

Oh Baby!

Finally my blogger is working again! Hooray!

It's been giving me all kinds of trouble, but today I decided to investigate and found out it was cookie related. So finally, I can post blogs again.

We are having such a crazy, busy Summer! That's a good thing! We are planning a quiet weekend at home this week, with maybe a trip to the park or pool, and that is it! After that, it's back to camping!

Currently, about 5 of my friends are pregnant. I am excited about this for many reasons. Mostly because I love babies and think they're the best thing this world has to offer. But I have other reasons too. Pregnant friends means Maternity photo shots for me, as well as new born photo shoots. It also means baby showers, which I LOVE! I am hosting baby showers for two of my pregnant friends, and I can't wait. It's no secret party planning is pretty much my favorite thing to do. And showers are the best. They're like kiddie parties, with all the fun and silliness, but with grown ups who listen, stand in line, and use inside voices.

I actually talked to both of these friends today, and decided to host the showers today. So it's all still very fresh. Trying to decide which games to play, what foods to serve, what kind of cake I'm going to make, yadda yadda.

Good news g'alore!

Our Maiden Voyage

We took our first family camping trip via our new camper, and we had so much fun!
The kids were beside themselves, in perma good moods for basically the whole trip. We've gone three times already and are already planning our next camping adventure!

So yay, for us, we now found our favorite together-time activity! No TVs, computers, cell phone reception, haha. Just our family, entertaining eachother.

Let the memories begin! :)

Chase Turned Four