A cold fall evening was perfect for pictures

This past Saturday I spent a few hours with some friends I have know for about 10yrs. I was asked to take some family pictures and was really excited to do it! They turned out great! It was really fun and since they were my first family photo shoot I felt comfortable with them! I took so many pictures and I really tried to narrow down a preview for them but I still picked 23 pictures. Their grandchildren are so beautiful and our family has been close with their parents for years too. Shauni is pregnant with baby Ashton and we had great grandma there too! So now onto the pictures!!

 

As you see they were so much fun and the picture frame became quite popular!

My little noodle roo

Have you ever thought to yourself " I have the coolest kid ever!". Of course you have! I think it all the time and I have recently said to others that one reason we are not having another child is because we have an amazing child already and we couldn't get so lucky twice! I have recently been asked to do some photo's for friends of mine and my brother in law's senior photos. So needless to say my October is getting really busy, it is a good busy though. One that has my brain on a constant focus of photos. (my poor family) She is such a good sport that when I go scope out my locations for the different shoots she is my test subject for all of them and is happy to do it. Plus I get to capture some funny moments of her being a regular 6 year old child that I need to make more time for to just play with too. So I thought I would put a few photos of my little lovebug on here to show you how cool she is, if you already didn't know!

 

Every walk must start out with a good ole' walking stick.

 

She informed me this was the new phonogram ( I may have that wrong )

 they were working on at school.

 

She looks so small compared to this big tree.

 

This is her pretending to be an old person on crutches! Too funny.

Oh yes, and the Aflac duck is down her shirt.

 

She told me she wanted to take a nap on the sidewalk after

school.

 

If you can't tell already blue is her favorite color.

 

 

 

And she loves her cowgirl boots :)

 

Walking across the tiny waterfall.

 

My Lovebug!

I was watching Oprah again...

I really like to watch Oprah, I love that she talks about how to better you life and she really taps into being a better you. For some reason is speaks to me every time, and is that such a bad thing? No, I think not. Oprah's latest Life Lesson episode was a really good one. It was about women and how they treat one another. Gossip, Betrayal, lying, and competition. We all have either experienced it or have partaken in it. I know that you can not go a day without hearing some sort of gossip on someone. I have felt betrayal and I have definitely been lied to, who hasn't. And I must admit that I have felt the competition too, however I feel mine is more in a motivation way than anything. It has made me look at what I really want out of life and pushes me to go get it instead of finding something about that person and putting them down. Anyways, I liked this episode mostly because it got me thinking about all my experiences not only with women but with anyone who has entered my life or experience I may have had and what I have learned from them.

Now there are many experiences one can draw on and find what you have learned from them. I would choose becoming a mother, but to be honest I am learning new things all the time, mostly about how to slow down and enjoy her, time has gone to fast already.
 

 

Silly Monkey!

 

 

But some of my easier experience to show as an example are these ones:

 

1. Moving on from a relationship

 

It started out great as they all usually do, we were in love, yada yada, it was a young and insecure love that became and unhealthy relationship. Through the experience of removing myself from him I learned to grow up, gained self confidence, and my expectations changed. I choose to no longer put up with the bullshit that I have previously allowed myself to. What came of it? Well my husband and daughter. Not that our relationship has always been peachy, but through the years we have made it through some tough times including Cancer twice and hopefully no more!! That is experience in and of itself and would take another post to write about.  We made it through those times by telling each other the truth even if it hurt. Pushing one another to be the best of themselves and a lot of silliness and love, unconditional love. I remember making the conscious decision to walk away from that relationship, and it was hard and very painful but I remember feeling some relief and excitement at the thought that I could find myself a little more now, see what I was made of without him. And I did and I like who I have become. I don't look to my husband now for my own happiness he is a great additive to it, but he wants me to find it for myself.

 

2. Friendships

 

I grew up an only child therefore my friends have always been my family. With all of them having at least one sibling I am not sure they have felt the same drive that I used to have. And that was to feel like family to them too. I didn't do it intentionally, for one I am a people person I can get along with just about anyone and I will really try too. It also isn't something that I did consciously either. I never remember hanging out with my friends and thinking " I have to be there everything!" (muaw hahaha). The only way that I knew that I felt this way was when a close friend of mine became close friends with someone else. I started to feel that my friendship was not longer up to par for them and I wondered what I even brought to the table in a friendship. It really surprised me when I started to feel this way because I had never felt it before. So why now? Obviously I needed to learn something. Now however I do not feel this way. I learned that I should not seek the ultimate approval from anyone but myself. I know what I can bring to the table and just because they may be something to me, doesn't always mean that I am the same thing to them. Everyone has different needs from different people. I have many close friends all of whom I love for who they are and different reasons. I may be more vocal about how I feel about them being in my life sometimes but that doesn't me that I am not important to them. So when I express my thanks for them being in my life or telling a friend that I love them and when the say it back it's awesome! But even if they don't, no biggie at least they know that they are important to me. I am not going to stop being who I am and caring for someone else just because they do things differently.

 

So I guess what it's all about is being you. Be considerate of others and definitely understanding too. Live your best life and good things will come your way. Any experience that gets thrown your way look at it and say "what am I supposed to learn from this." And if you don't learn it the first time I'm sure it will be taught again! What you put out is what you will get.

 

Sorry for the long post, you can thank Oprah for that one! Goodnight :)

 

 

It's a big world out there, don't be afraid to take off and fly.





Asshole disease, nuf said..

Most of us should have heard the news that Robin Roberts from GMA has a blood disorder that has come about as a result of treatment for cancer. Most of those who have been through treatment or have been closely related to it know that there are secondarey complications that can occur later down the road. This is one of those cases. It never ceases to amaze me how much pain I feel in my heart for those who are diagnosed with the big C or a family member supporting. Watching her try to speak the words to all of their viewers only brought about my own fear and reality. It can come back,you have no control especially when it is my husbands body. We have grown so comfortable being back to normal. I just dont want to go back. As we get closer to the next scan on my friends bday, July 2nd, I get more nervous. It is a gut feeling inside and I am scared. Hearing the words bone marrow transplant strikes something deep in my core. Its a fear I cant explain and I wish her and all those fighting this asshole of a disease the best wishes I could. Stay strong because those who go through this are the most beautiful and strong human beings. I am privaleged to be married to a survivor. He is my hero. I love you babe!!

A couple accomplishments

This week we have been some what busy. Monday started off with swim lessons for Malie at the Swimtastic school then we had lunch with my momma for her birthday that was last week. Tuesday Malie and I went to the zoo for a few hours and wed. I did some things around the house and then went to Stephanie's house to spend a little time with them. I believe it was Monday though that Malie had a huge accomplishment and it was being able to ride her bike without training wheels! It didn't take her too long to get the point where she goes pretty fast and can make a turn on her own.

Then this morning the hubby came home at 7:30am and said "okay get up I have a surprise for you guys we are gonna go somewhere" so we got our butts up and found out we were going golfing with him that morning. Well, he was golfing, malie was a helper and I was a spectator and the photographer for the event. Malie was in heaven. She has been wanting to go for a long time now, needless to say it made her day!

After golfing I went to go get my hair done, since I have been really bored with it and so I decided to chop it like Malie's and color it. And I LOVE it. Usually I hate my hair short but I really like it so far.

this one shows the blonde a little more.

I think I will put a few pictures in here from last weekend when we went to the races with Stephanie and Charleigh and Malie was supper excited because she got to ride in a race car! I liked it more than I thought I would and I really like the feeling you get in your chest when they go by, it is kinda like being at a concert and you feel the bass in your chest.

We also had Josh's dad's 50th surprise birthday day party! He was surprised! Have a good weekend everyone!!

Can't wait for summer

Time is winding down for the school year and work for me. I only have about 6 days of work left and the same for Malie. And then I will have a 1st Grader!!! Time has just been flying by because we have been having fun! The past couple weeks we have gotten to hangout with some of our friends who have started to become apart of our family.We usually hangout almost every weekend when we can. They are a couple just like us with one child the same age and two dogs.  We took our kids to go see a Stormchasers game at Werner Park which was fun for everyone.  This past weekend Malie went to my mom's for the weekend so we could go to River Riot. It was fun and the music was good, and the beer too. The next day Josh and I went to dinner and movie. We saw the Avengers and I have to say I never followed the comic books but the movie was great! It was a nice low key weekend and I was very happy to have my little roo back on Mother's day. We met my mom to get Malie that morning then we went to eat at Wheatfields and stopped at HyVee to get some things to grill out with Sheena, Chris and Tyler. The food was really good and the kids had a blast playing in the yard together. Oh and the dogs slept well that night too! All in all I am ready for summer, to be able to sleep in a bit and just go do whatever it is Malie and I want to do for the day. We have a few trips planned this summer to go see family and hopefully (fingers crossed) go to Texas to see our Ashley and Dylan and their kiddos. Okay so there is an update on what has been going on in our household. More to come at some point! Here's some pictures of our latest outings. Hope you enjoy :)

Getting those baby bump urges!

So I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, and as usual I'm not sure what to talk about so maybe a blog isn't the best thing for me, but oh well! Things have been going really great around here. Josh finally made regular at the post office after almost 5 years as a flex and it is nice! The school year is almost done and I can't believe it has gone by so fast! Malie will be a 1st grader soon and I LOVE my job working with the kids that I work with, they are rock stars! We have been going to the gym with josh this past week and it is great to feel better about getting healthy again. I hope to keep it up. But to get to the reason for this post, which I know I have talked about it before on here. I know quite a few people who are prego or who recently had a baby. My best friend Stephanie recently had her beautiful daughter Charleigh and I was really happy when she asked me to take some pictures for them. It was my first photo session and I know I could have done better and I would like to try some more. Malie has also been asking me for months now to have another baby, she wants a brother or sister so bad. I know she would be a great sister and part of me wants her to be. I want to take those cute pictures that say Big Sister and my body has been telling me that it wants to be prego again, especially every time I hear of someone pregnant or see someone. I wonder to myself why couldn't we do it. We are in the best position we have ever been, but the hubby does not want anymore, and the other part of me is happy with the way life is. But is that too selfish? We only get one life and it goes by so fast! I just don't know. So that is where I am stuck in a battle with my body...

Well here are few pictures that I have recently taken and I hope to get out and take some more soon. We are currently on spring break and I spent the first part of it switching Malie's room into the office and vice versa and she got a big girl bed too! It has rained the past few days and now that it has stopped I am sick :( But I took some DayQuil (gaged throughout the whole thing) so hopefully I will feel better soon and get some energy to do something.

 Bubba and Charleigh's feet.

 Hank, Charleigh, and Stephanie:)

 My little roo.

 A day we went to have lunch with my dad at his work then we stopped at the park to play.

 Chloe digging for moles...naughty puppy!

My big baby wrestling with daddy.