New Change: Busy, but HAPPY!

Lately I feel like I just have not had enough time in a day. I'm sure most people feel like this. On a good note, I haven't been stressing out about my long to-do list!

Here's a few things I've been up to lately:

Coming up with art projects for the kids I work with

Three Weddings & a Kids Photo Session (editing, editing, editing)

Traveling

For two of my weddings I had to travel out of town. It also worked out for me to go to my niece's 2nd Birthday party. Chris was able to make it to Rocky Mount for her party too!!!

Personal craft projects

I made these for Emma's Birthday! It was such a fun project to work on. I also made two more owl's for Sara's (one of my bride's) flower girls. I was really happy to find out that one of the girls sleeps with her owl every night!

I have a few other projects going on at the house. I'll look forward to EVENTUALLY sharing those!

Keeping our house clean (on going of course!)

Clearing Clutter (again, on going!!)

Planning Parties

Preparing for something big in my future ( not referring to babies....more to be revealed later!)

I know someone who would love to see me post a few pictures of how her baby shower is going, but that's not going to happen!

This list could continue on, but I don't even have time to post anything else! Back to work! Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Church and spending the rest of the day with my husband!!!! NO WORK!!!

Friend Post: Amanda & Cody

I have known Amanda for her whole life (despite the fact that I can't remember much about her as a baby)!!! Her sister is one of my best friends that I have known since I was 5 years old. We all went to the same daycare, we lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, and eventually went to the same Church. Even though Amy & I did not always want Amanda around during our "tween" years we still loved her. Well, by the way she was treated at the time that wasn't always too obvious! We definitely both love her now though!!!I had a very close relationship with her even when I didn't keep up with Amy quite as much. The older we got the closer we became. We don't spend as much time together these days, but I know I can always rely and trust on Amanda. I consider her a very good friend (and sister too!). For her sake I only posted a few images from the early 2000's instead of the one I really wanted to post from the N'Sncyc concert from the 90's!!!!

Here's a couple more pictures from the early 2000's...

I was very excited when I found out the news about Amanda being Engaged. I had already met Cody a few times and thought he was a great guy! He was also very creative in his method of proposal, so I'll give him lots of credit for that. I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to take Amanda & Cody's Engagement pictures. I had such a fun time at their session! It's hard to even imagine that Amanda was a "tomboy" at one point of her life. Those days are LONG gone! She is such a beautiful girl (woman) now! I can't wait until their wedding day in February!!!

Friend Post: Brian, Audrey, & Asher

Brian lucked out, because I can't find any pre-scanned pictures of him from our youth group days! I've known Brian since I was a teenager. I started going to South Rocky Mount Church of God with my close friend Amy around this time. I was heavily involved with the youth group. This is where I got to know Brian. I was pretty close to his whole family. His sister Karen was best friends with Amanda (Amy's sister). I always thought it was cool that they both had best friends that were named Karen! I was very close to Kristi. I miss that relationship a lot! Brian and I kept in touch while we were in college. I remember in one email he wrote about how we (as in us and the rest of our close group) just had that type of relationship that would always be close. Those weren't the exact words, but it was something like that. Those type of friendships are long lasting and you don't have to talk all the time to feel like you're close. There's so many good things to say about Brian. All the girls thought a lot of Brian and just knew that one day he'd make a good husband to somebody.

That one day came along, when I lived in Colorado, a few years ago! He married Audrey. Audrey is someone with a very sweet and soft voice, but she has this very fun and silly side too! I am so grateful that I have been able to get to know her better. We have also formed a friendship and I just love being around her. It's good to have those friends that you can talk to and you know they understand some of what you've been through. She is a very special person in my life.

I wanted to share a little bit about their life story. There are so many more in between details to be shared, but this is an extremely short version of what they've been dealing with recently. A little over a year ago they had their first son, Zachary. They took him home from the hospital and days later he passed away.  A few months ago baby number two came along. His name is Asher. I offered them a free photo session before he was born. That day I intended on spending a couple of hours at their house, but I believe it may have turned into 4 or more! I had such a fun time hanging out with them and taking pictures of Asher and their family. I am so glad I can share this with them! I loved meeting Asher and I can't wait for my next visit!