Vanessa happens to be my “baby” cousin. I remember holding her for the first time at the hospital. My sister and I spent many MANY hours babysitting her and her younger brother. I was 15 – and now she is 17. And graduating. And gorgeous.

SERIOUSLY!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE those shots!

That’s my dad’s Highlander. She is the friendliest cow I’ve ever known! Fitzy loves to pet her and sit on her!

That might be my favorite shot of the night! I love taking pictures at my parents – they have such a FANTASTIC property with SO many options!

Vanessa – I love you. Be yourself. Don’t give in. Don’t give up. You are worth it.

I’ve photographed several families for years – every fall or every summer. I love them. All of them.

Nicole & Dustin are clients that I’ve seen at least once every three months (with a few exceptions) for the last three years. Nicole has become a GREAT friend! I can’t explain how blessed we are to have them in our lives!

When *G* was born in February – Dustin was unable to be there (he was serving our country overseas) and I was SO sad when my horrible cold (or whatever it was) didn’t go away in time to be there. Thankfully – Bridget Reed (who did our birth photography with Fitzgerald) was able to be there! Check out their beautiful birth session.

When Nicole asked me about coming to the airport to photograph Dustin’s homecoming – we discovered it would most likely be while I was on vacation. SERIOUSLY!? Bridget was put back on stand by – just in case. By the way – Bridget – I am SO thankful that you and I have a great relationship when it comes to our clients and our businesses in general. Thank you so much for that!

Surprisingly – I was able to be there!

THAT WAS DADDY’S PLANE! THAT WAS DADDY’S PLANE!

Waiting. Just a few seconds more.

FINALLY!

That picture on top – makes me cry – EVERY TIME!

Thank you daddy. For everything.

LOVE THOSE SHOTS!

Thank you Dustin for your sacrifice. Thank you both for your friendship. Thank you.

If you follow me on INSTAGRAM – I use #farmlife when we visit my parents!

My mom and I thought these might be monarchs – but we were wrong!

Fitzy took a very slow and very safe tractor ride!

Look at that little smile – I just love him SO much!

My mom told Fitzy to hold on to Pa as tight as he could. He listened!

We love spending time on the farm with my parents – Fitzy will be a great farm helper in a few years!

As I sit here and type this blog – a can feel the tiny little movements of a baby inside. Just the little flutters that make you realize there is indeed something in there.

We find out whether this addition is a boy or a girl on July 10th. Either way – this will most likely be our last addition. I love being pregnant and would be thrilled to have at least 4 children. But I have to remember that we have 5 – and for all eternity – we will celebrate with them! I love being a momma – more than anything I’ve ever done. Jared keeps reminding me that kids are WAY out of his comfort zone – although – he is a FANTASTIC daddy to Fitzy. While our hearts are so happy with this little miracle and Fitzgerald – we still hurt from time to time. I don’t have a great history of staying pregnant. And while I don’t want to live my life in fear – I DO want to enjoy what I have been given. It’s a hard decision to make – thankfully – we have time.

But especially with the 99% chance that this will be our last baby – I want to enjoy every precious minute I can.

I took a maternity leave with Fitzy . Kinda. Sorta. Not really.

And while I loved taking your pictures – I did miss that little baby.

So this time – I will be taking 6 months off. Seriously. From November to April – I will not be scheduling any sessions or weddings. When I do return – it will be on a 1 wedding a month limit – with a handful of sessions (most likely current clients) each month. I am still trying to decide what to do about new referrals outside of seniors – since they are mostly always new clients. And this might be the norm from here on out – until my kiddos are all in school.

I’ve known one thing my whole life – I want to be a momma. And God knew. And He heard. And He gave. And He gives. Again.

SO – if you know that you want a session next year once May rolls around – it’s not too early to let me know. I already have one wedding in September and an inquiry for May. And if I’ve taken pictures for you before and you need some done while I am off – email me – and I will recommend some great photographers to you!

Thank you all for your love – your support – your prayers. It means so much.

We decided to wait until Memorial Day weekend to have Fitzy’s party – cus ya know – it would be nice out.

Right.

It was freezing. Like – see your breath freezing!

Thankfully my family is awesome and we made it work – wrapped in blankets and sweatshirts!

Samm and I spent most of the day Friday making cupcakes and cake pops. It was really pretty easy – and tons of fun!

The roosters are my favorite!

My dear friend Aszur – from Aszur Photography – took all the party photos for us!

This was the second to last present for Fitzy to open. The last present was ours. A BIG BROTHER shirt – to announce our surprise. I’ve been planning this moment in my head for a month! In my mind it was sunny and we were outside on the lawn – not bundled up in the pavilion.

I made a mental check – my mom was right there – RIGHT THERE – holding Fitzy. I saw Brenda and Brian. I went to get my dad and my Aunt Lori – who was on her way to the warm house. She trudged back to the pavilion and dad came in. It was time.

I turned my back to get the little shirt.

And in that moment – my mom left. She leaned to my sister and said – this is his last present. I HAVE to go to the bathroom. Can you watch him? I was so focused on that little shirt and the excitement of what was about to come – I didn’t even see her leave!

I handed the shirt to Fitzy and said – ask Aunt Sammy to read it for you. Samm looked at the shirt and then at me – then at the shirt and then at me. She said – ARE YOU SERIOUS? I said – we are 13 weeks. And the screaming started! Later – my mom tells me she heard the screaming and just thought Fitzy must have gotten an awesome present! WHAT!

Brenda came running over to hug me and ask the important questions. Is everything okay? You’ve had an ultrasound? Yes. And we heard a heartbeat. Samm hit me. I think we shocked EVERYONE! You can watch their reactions here!

I read the text that we got from Dave Fitzgerald – and I’ve already included in my blog twice – but here it is again.

You will get pregnant again. And even though you will default in your minds that you will probably miscarry – oh no. You will have a healthy child – possibly twins! It will be huge and massive BUT you must keep it to yourselves and announce at the END of the first trimester. This is a promise from God. God is NOT done with you. He’s just starting. You need to tuck this word on your hearts and cover it. It will be a massive testimony and will restore relationships, friendships, and family ties in ways you never thought possible. It’s going to be mammoth. It will be full circle. Both of your families will be remarkably astounded at what God will do through you in this next pregnancy. BUT you MUST NOT announce it until the end of the 1st trimester. Not even to close friends or family. YOU MUST WAIT!

I honestly feel stronger about this than the word I gave you for Fitzy! You can’t even tell me when you first find out – I will already know. You can’t tell ANYONE! BELIEVE IT! RECEIVE IT! ACT! God is good and will be massively glorified through it. Save these messages for confirmation and documentation. Not for me – but so that we can honor Christ Jesus & God’s ridiculous faithfulness. He is good. He is really REALLY good!

THEN – my mom came back out. Thankfully Aszur captured her reaction!

Samm is saying – DO YOU GET IT! Mom was pretty shocked. Very shocked actually. I’m pretty sure she still doesn’t believe me.

It was perfect. Really. Not at all how it happened in my head – but perfect nonetheless.

I am SO happy that secret is out! I am so happy that the people we love were there to share it with us!

Thank you to EVERYONE that came to Fitzy’s party! Thank you for the gifts and the love and the prayers and the hugs.

I am so blessed to be a part of this CRAZY family!

Recently I had to purge my life of FACEBOOK for a month. There are SO many reasons – FACEBOOK being a giant time waster – ignoring my child – ignoring my house – ignoring Jared – caring too much what people thought (which is something I’ve never dealt with) – and jealousy.

Jealousy was a BIG one. I really really really want to be happy in the house we live in. It’s slowly coming along. But I was getting VERY jealous of our friends that have the houses they loved – finding houses the loved. Cus in my mind the grass is ALWAYS greener – and usually on FACEBOOK you only see the grass is greener parts of life. It was bringing me down – not at the fault of any of our friends – totally mine.

Oh – and babies. While I truly love and feel called to pray for my mommas in wanting and being connected to them through FACEBOOK – I was getting really jealous of friends that were having blessings (and angry with the ones that complained about it) – so I needed to remove myself.

I’ve since rejoined the world of FACEBOOK – but I use the “remove from news feed” button. A lot. I understand that it’s not the BEST way to get over my issues – but it’s a start. A start to focus on the blessings that are in my life. Right. Now.

2012 SUCKED – basically like every other year it seems. But it really sucked. Such is my life – is what I tell Jared. He hates it. But sadly – it’s the truth. People have asked me why I stand by my faith in God when everything just seems to be craptastic. Why do I keep giving when it seems that all I get is more crap.

If this is the fate I have following God and giving – I’d hate to see what lies ahead without.

This year my goal is to count my blessings – not my sorrows – cus there will always be sorrows – but I really want to focus on the blessings. If that means that I have to take a FACEBOOK break – so be it. If that means that I have to write our blessings down – one by one – and put them in a jar – it will happen.

When I was little – we had a box counting down the days to Christmas. Every day after school – we would run up to the house and open the little box. CANDY! That’s all we would do. Eat the candy and replace the box at the top of the tower – waiting for tomorrow!

At MOPS this year – we made little advent calendars – with boxes. I wanted to do more than just count down the days with candy – which Fitzy doesn’t really get much of anyway. My friend Ericka shared her #25daysofgiving list with me and I added some of our own!

I want to keep Christmas sweet and simple. I want it to be about giving – NOT getting. I want Fitzy to learn this at a very young age. I can’t wait till he is old enough to suggest his own acts of kindess! I can’t wait to hear what comes from his sweet little heart.

I’ll give you a rundown of what we did for #25daysofgiving –

1. CHRISTMAS CARDS TO SOLDIERS – one of my clients is a soldier. He just so happened to be gone this Christmas – so we sent him a little love – in a card!

2. FOOD TO LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER – we dropped off a laundry basket and some treats for the animals!

3. DONATE ITEMS TO PREGNANCY CENTERS – this is the one I didn’t get to do. I contacted someone but still haven’t heard back from her. So I took the items I was going to donate to the GOODWILL instead.

4. ANGEL TREE – we picked a little girl from the angel tree at wal*mart and shopped for her!

5. DONATE CRAYONS AND COLORING BOOKS TO HOSPITAL – this was fun! Fitzy took the coloring books and crayons into the office and gave them to the secretaries!

6. DONATE ITEMS TO GOODWILL – I’ve been trying to purge our house and lives of all things we don’t need. It’s coming along. I took a few boxes down to the GOODWILL store in town!

7. DONATE ITEMS TO HOMELESS SHELTER – We have SO many blankets and pillows that have lost some of their oomph. I collected them and gave them to the homeless shelter in town.

8. HOT CHOCOLATE TO BELL RINGERS – this one fell on a not so chilly night – but the bell ringer was very appreciative!

9. CHRISTMAS CARDS TO STRANGERS WITH $ IN THEM – this was AWESOME! We put $10 in 5 different Christmas cards. One of my favorites. We gave the first card to a couple who tracked us down and told us they didn’t need it. I told them to pay it forward – it was in their hands now. The second was to an older man who let us cross the aisle in front of him. I think – we can’t remember – the third card was given to a younger girl with two little babies standing in line. The fourth to a woman and her little boy. The fifth to a college girl standing in line. She opened the card and screamed! Jared thought I put more than the $10 in! It was beautiful and humbling to do this for strangers!

10. HOT CHOCOLATE TO CROSSING GUARDS – unfortunately – crossing guards are out when Fitzy is napping – so this one is still on my TO DO list someday while I’m out running errands and can catch one!

11. COOKIES AND COFFEE TO POST OFFICE – I took some chocolate covered cherries to the USPS office to thank them for all they do every day. They were a little perplexed!

12. COOKIES AND COFFEE TO MAIL DELIVERY – we left a box of chocolate covered cherries and ribbon candy for our mail lady – we got a nice card the next day!

13. COOKIES TO GARBAGE MEN – we wrapped a box of chocolate covered cherries and ribbon candy in a bow with a Christmas card – hoping they would know it wasn’t garbage!

14. PAY FOR SOMEONES MEAL – we went to Papa V’s for dinner and three men held the door for us. I said to Jared – let’s pick them. I grabbed their waitress and gave her $40 telling her that we were going to pay for their meal and anything that was left was her tip. We ran into the owners of the restaurant (we go to church with them) and Fitzy ended up hanging out at their table quite a bit. We saw another friend there and chatted – keeping us at the restaurant while our guys were still at their table. The waitress came out and thanked them for coming and told them that their bill was taken care of. WHAT! But who? She leaned in and said – the table next to you. They turned around – shocked. We told them that it was #25daysofgiving for Christmas. They told us they were in town picking up one of their son’s from college – from North Carolina. It meant so much to them! When we left the restaurant – our bill had been taken care of too!

15. QUARTERS AT LAUNDROMAT – I left $10 in quarters in the machines at the laundromat in town – I got quite the array of looks!

16. QUARTERS AT GUMBALL MACHINES – we don’t have gumball machines at wal*mart anymore – so I left $10 in quarters at the vending machines with the little stuffed animals. When I came back out of wal*mart – Jared told me that an older man had taken all the quarters and played the machines. ALL OF THEM. I said – maybe THAT is what he needed today!

17. FOOD PANTRY – we donated some cupboard items to the food pantry in town!

18. COUPONS AT GAS PUMPS – we had some coupons for free things at SHEETZ – so we taped them to the gas pumps!

19. COOKIES FOR NEIGHBORS – Jared’s aunt and uncle are our down-the-road neighbors – so I left them a container of Christmas goodies!

20. GOODIES TO POLICE OFFICERS – I ended up dropping off a box of chocolate covered cherries at the State Police office.

21. VOLUNTEER AT NURSING HOME – my friend Missy brought her little guys along with me for this one! I had made some pictures for Fitzy to hand out – the residents really liked that! We walked around and let the little guys say hello and work their magic!

22. LEAVE A TIP THAT EQUALS THE BILL – our waitress that night was pretty cranky – but we left her a $30 tip anyway! Maybe she really needed it!

23. COOKIES TO LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT – thankfully someone was there when I knocked on the door!

24. LEAVE QUARTERS AT CAR WASH – we decided to skip this one – the car wash didn’t seem to give-to-the-needy – so we left $10 in quarters at the laundromat again!

25. $ AT GAS PUMPS – I took sticky notes and attached them to $5 bills we taped to the gas pumps at SHEETZ. On them I wrote – if you need it – take it – if you don’t – leave it – bless – be blessed.

We are going to do something very similar to this every December – and July – #25daysofChristmasinJuly – wanna join?

We got a GIANT snowstorm Christmas night and the next day! Thankfully we were snowed in all nice and warm with gramma and grandpa – even though they are only right next door!

Jared’s cousin Alyssa is in Florida and had a special request for a bulb in the snow!

I love how they turned out!

Fitzy was READY to go OUT – even though momma tried to get some pictures first!

He wasn’t too sure what to do with the snow – or how to move!

Thankfully gramma LOVES the snow!

So thankful for our little miracle!

We spent the week with my parents for Thanksgiving and since my parents are visiting my brother for Christmas – we opened our gifts then!

He LOVES his ornament from Samm!

He loves this puzzle too! We put it together at least 10 times a day!

He is such a little chef! We call him Remy!

I got these ornaments for my brother-in-law – Xavier. When he was little his parents told him that the mice were helpers for Santa. He would stare at them for hours – willing them to come to life. It’s one of his fondest memories! He was so excited to see them again!

I made this Simba for my nephew Judah – I LOVE IT!

I made this nesting doll for my niece Rowyn!

And a rooster for Fitzy!

This owl for my friend Stephanie and her new baby boy was the inspiration for all the little sewing projects!

I am so thankful for our amazing families! I’ll post later about our Christmas with Jared’s parents!