Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Randoms

I thought I'd share just a few random things to round out the week. :-) 
Happy Friday Everyone!

1.) I had the privilege of shooting a few photos for my friend Holly and her sweet family this past weekend. I have to admit, I was a little nervous as I hadn't ever taken pictures for anyone other than family and I am by NO means, anywhere near close to being a professional. I practice a lot and read as often as possible and have only taken one beginner class, so I'm really just starting the learning process. However, I was really pleased with how the photos turned out and I'm glad they were happy with them as well. Here are some of my favorite shots.






2.) I got my hair cut and colored last night. I went a little blonder this time around. I love a little change every once in a while.

3.) I've been reading this blog for some time now and following along as they journey through an international adoption. Their story is so wonderful and they are actually in China right now adopting their beautiful daughter. Ashley's posts are so beautiful and her pictures are amazing! Reading her posts this week, as they adopt their daughter, have been both moving and humbling. I highly suggest heading over to her blog.

4.) I'm looking forward to the upcoming Labor Day weekend! We don't have any definite plans yet, but I'm sure we'll be spending some time with family and we're having food and fellowship after church on Sunday, which is always a good time. ☺

So thats all my randoms for today. I hope you all have a great long weekend!

the long road
and
 then, she {snapped}

Thursday, August 30, 2012

A Day at The Pool

This past Saturday, my Sister-In-Law and Brother-In-Law, gave their son Ethan a birthday party at White Birch Water Park. We had been there earlier this year for a different nephew's birthday party, but I forgot to bring my camera that day. :-(

We had so much fun last time, that I made an extra effort to bring my camera this time around and I'm so glad I did. We had a great time! It was overcast all day and even rained a couple of times, but that didn't stop the kids from enjoying the water. :-)

Here are a few pictures from the party!

The birthday boy with his cake.

Guests at the party.

Ethan opening his presents.

Jackson at the party.

Jackson playing with a pool noodle. ☺

Three of my beautiful nieces eating lunch.

My niece Sophia in the pool.

My niece Bella in the pool.

At this water park, they have a big bouncy bubble, that you can bounce off of into the water. The kids (and some adults) loved this.

My niece Alexis bouncing off of the bubble.

My nephew Brandon, helping his little sister slide down the bubble. My husband Jake was down at the bottom to catch her. After only a few times, she was getting up there and sliding off all by herself.

There is a huge swimming pool with a diving board at this water park. Everyone had fun jumping/diving off.

My niece Alexis jumping off the diving board.

My nephew Brandon.

My niece Kyleigh.

My nephew Larry.

My husband Jake, LOL.

And even my Mother-In-Law jumped off once, with a little persuasion by my husband, LOL. She looks terrified. I'm so glad I had my camera for this.

They have a fun little kid swimming area at this water park that Jackson had so much fun in.


He loved watching the big bucket dump on the play area.



He just can't wait to be big like the other kids. ☺ Mommy can wait though.

And one last photo of Jackson and I to round out the day. He always loves stopping to pose for a picture with mommy. Can't you tell? ☺

We had a super fun time. Happy 7th Birthday Ethan. We had so much fun at your party.


I'm also linking up with Embrace the Camera today! Click on the picture below to find out what Embrace the Camera is all about!

I'm also linking up here today:

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Jackson's 44 Week Pictures!

At 44 weeks Jackson is running all over the place and into everything he can get his little hands on!!

He's so much fun!!

He now has 7 teeth! He just got one of the teeth next to his 2 front teeth in this past week.

 He just learned to clap his hands and usually says yay when he claps. ☺ Its so cute.

He also just started shaking his head back and forth and up and down. It was funny because last night I asked him if he was hungry and he shook his head yes! I know this was a total coincidence, but I was pretty proud nonetheless. 

He's still eating well and sleeping okay. I will be so happy when he finally sleeps through the night on a regular basis!

He has really started watching t.v. lately. He pays special attention to certain shows (Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Chuggington) but he will watch almost anything. He even has certain commercials that he likes. For example, if the J.C. Penney commercial with the little girl on the monkey bars comes on, he stops whatever he is doing and just stares at the t.v. After the commercial is over, he goes right back to doing whatever he was doing. Hilarious!!

He is growing like a weed and is just such a blessing. 

♥ Mommy loves you Jackson! ♥

Show and Tell: Wedding!


I'm linking up today with From Mrs. to Mama, to talk about our wedding.

1. Are you married? If so when did you get married, and tell us about your special day.

Yes, I'm married. (You can read our story here.) I got married to my wonderful husband Jake on July 14th, 2007. We started dating in 2001 and got engaged in 2006. We were married at the church we attend in a lovely ceremony, surrounded by our closest friends and family. It was a wonderful day!

 2. Show us some wedding pictures.

Click on the collage to view larger.

Our Reception

3. How about the engagement? Tell us your story.

Jake proposed down at the Gateway Arch grounds on his 21st birthday, which also happened to be Thanksgiving that year. He got me down there by saying he wanted to check out one of the casinos, since he was turning 21 that day. LOL. I was pretty stubborn about it because I thought he should just wait, with it being Thanksgiving and all. It was so cute, once we were down there, we were walking towards the river front when he stopped to tie his shoe. I turned around to look at him and he was down on one knee with my beautiful ring. :-) I was so proud to show it off that day to our family at our Thanksgiving dinners.

Jake and I, the day he proposed.

4. Show us your wedding rings or an engagement photo! 

I didn't have a digital picture of our rings, but I did have a picture of our rings from our wedding scrapbook that I made. ☺

5. Tell us why you think marriage doesn't work out for so many? What can we do to make things last?

I would say that when a marriage doesn't work out, it is probably because they haven't made God the center of their marriage. They haven't put Him first and foremost in their lives or their relationship. I also believe communication is a huge factor in making a marriage work. If you're not communicating your wants and needs, how do you expect them to be met? On the same token, we need to communicate the love we have for our spouse. Even though you may know your spouse loves you, its so important to hear that affirmation as often as possible and see it in their actions. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

B is for...

...Binkie and Blankie,

and for Ball.

Its for Bath time,

and for Batman jammies.

Its for Beautiful Blue eyes,

and also for Bottle.

Its for Bedtime,

and B is for Boy!! My sweet sweet boy!

Being this sweet boy's mommy is such a blessing.

My Mother-In-Law sent me this in an e-mail, and I thought it was so sweet.

10 Rules of Being the Mother of Sons

1.       Be a cheerleader for his life.
There is no doubt that you are the loudest person in the stands at his t-ball games. There is no doubt that he will tell you to “stop, mom” when you sing along to his garage band’s lyrics. There is no doubt that he will get red-faced when you show his prom date his pictures from boy scouts. There is no doubt that he is not telling his prom date about your blog where you’ve been bragging about his life from his first time on the potty to the citizenship award he won in ninth grade. He will tell you to stop. He will say he’s embarrassed. But he will know that there is at least one person that is always rooting for him.

2.       Make sure he has examples of good men who are powerful because of their brains, their determination, and their integrity.
The examples of men with big muscles and a uniform (like Batman and LaMarr Woodley) will surround your son from birth. But make sure he also knows about men who kick a$s because of their brains (Albert Einstein), and their pen (Mark Twain), and their words (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), and their determination (Team Hoyt), and their ideas (The Wright Brothers), and their integrity (Officer Frank Shankwitz), and fearlessness (Neil Armstrong), and their ability to keep their mouths closed when everyone else is screaming (Jackie Robinson).

3.       Teach him that there are times when you need to be gentle
like with babies, and flowers, and animals, and other people’s feelings.

4.       Teach him how to do laundry
..and load the dishwasher, and iron a shirt. He may not always choose to do it. He may not ever have to do it. But someday his wife will thank you.

5.       Teach him to have manners
because it’s nice, and it will make the world a better place.

6.       Let him ruin his clothes.
Resolve to be cool about dirty and ruined clothes. You’ll be fighting a losing battle if you get upset every time he ruins another piece of clothing. Don’t waste your energy being angry about something inevitable. Boys tend to learn by destroying, jumping, spilling, falling, and making impossible messes. Dirty, ruined clothes are just par for the course.

7.       Let him lose.
Losing sucks. Everybody isn’t always a winner. Even if you want to say, “You’re a winner because you tried,” don’t. He doesn’t feel like a winner, he feels sad and crappy and disappointed. And that’s a good thing, because sometimes life also sucks, no matter how hard (as moms) we try to make it not suck for our kids. This practice will do him good later when he loses again (and again, and again, and again, and again…..) Instead make sure he understands that – sometimes you win – sometimes you lose. But that doesn’t mean you ever give up.

8.       Always carry band-aids and wipes on you.
Especially the wipes

9.       Give him opportunities to help others.
There is a big difference in giving someone the opportunity to help and forcing someone to help. Giving the opportunity lights a flame in the heart and once the help is done the flame shines brighter and asks for more opportunities. Be an example of helping others in your own actions and the way your family helps each other and helps others together.

10.   Be home base.
You are home to him. When he learns to walk, he will wobble a few feet away from you and then come back, then wobble away a little farther and then come back. When he tries something new, he will look for your proud smile. When he learns to read, he will repeat the same book to you twenty times in a row, because you’re the only one who will listen that many times. When he plays his sport, he will search for your face in the stands. When he is sick, he will call you. When he really messes up, he will call you. When he is grown and strong and tough and big and he feels like crying, he will come to you; because a man can cry in front of his mother without feeling self-conscious. Even when he grows up and has a new woman in his life and gets a new home, you are still his mother; home base, the ever constant, like the sun. Know that in your heart and everything else will fall into place.

and
 then, she {snapped}