*Attention Blog Readers: Beginning tomorrow, February 9, 2009 The Furse family will begin construction on their brand new bubble house which will be built on 480,000 acres of land with no form of civilization to speak of. Chasity will homeschool the children and slowly, or by the end of the year, become a raging alcoholic or crack addict. There’s a good possibility that we will become Amish. But guess what……WE WILL NOT BE SICK! All of this why? Because, as I type this at 1:34 a.m. on Sunday Monday a.m. Hudson has a fever, sore throat and a headache. Seriously. And for everyone out there that is reading this if your kid is in Hudson’s class you are probably going to get this crap because he is going to school tomorrow unless his fever is 180 degrees, his head is spinning and vomit is coming out of every orphus of his body. You know why? Because he’s missed 9 days of school already and we still have 3.5 months left! Ok, I’ll retract that last part only because I have a fear of my kids vomitting in public. I can not bear the thought of if. I hurled once, in a mall no less and I have been tramatized since. I can’t stand the thought of my kids getting sick at school and having to walk down to the nurses office, tearful with vomit all down their fronts.  I will however, wake him up in a few short hours and re-evaluate the situation. I am praying I was just high on Thin Mints when I took his temp and perhaps I just hallucinated the entire thing.

Tonight I had the depressing encounter of doing the taxes for the business. I was having way more fun watching Coldplay rack up the Grammy’s until Mark started working on our personal taxes and made me feel bad that I hadn’t even begun to dig out an expense receipt or so much as look at an invoice in months. It turned into an organizational nightmare. But a good lesson, none the less, since I am vowing now before God and the www not to let my obvious lack of organizational skillz get me into this giant mess again next year.

And since I don’t have anything exciting to really post tonight/today I am linking you to a hy-ster-ical blog I found tonight via Maile’s blog.  So freakin’ hysterical. And that’s the tame version….there’s another version for those of us who can handle extensive use of the f-bomb.  I’ve gotten out of the habit of reading as many blogs as I use to but you can bet your ass I bookmarked this one and I’m pretty sure I’ll read it every.single.day.for.the.rest.of.my.life.  It’s THAT good.

Adios peeps! Send some vomit-free vibes my way please!!!!!

just a couple weeks ago how I was going to dive back into my blog head first and get rolling in ‘09 with some great new posts and a real effort to pick up the pace around here? and yet…..here we are four weeks into the new year and still….nothing. perhaps i should embrace the fact that never again will my life consists on long, uninterrupted moments to ramble on the way I once did.  Nonetheless, I miss my blog.  And I miss sharing as much as I use to.  I’m hoping to better organize my days to spend less time….errr on Facebook and randomly searching for inspiration and instead creating my own inspiration by acting. What a grand concept.

That being said, there is not much time to post today. Coming off a week in Seattle (spectacular city) exploring, visiting and shooting a sweet newborn session, I was home for no less than 15 minutes before I had to load one child into a car and cart him off to the dr. Parker has croup. He’s back to school today…but Hudson is home with a fever. Seems we never catch a break around here.

On top of trying to spend time with a family I’ve missed dearly, I’m trying to get ahead of the game.  Endless amounts of work that need to be done and my sleep bank is deprived. Yet, my head is above water…even if just barely.

So while this is yet another post with no photos it is a post just the same.  And in an effort to make up for my lack of creativity and fun eye candy the past couple weeks I’m sending you here where my dear, sweet friend and fellow photographer, Maile has written a sweet little ditty today. Check it out. You’ll be happy you did.

I know it’s been forever since I’ve blogged. i didnt’ even look at the last entry I had or when the heck it was….it would be far too depressing. normally this is where i would insert a fun, witty little reason why i haven’t blogged. but i’ve got nothin’. other than life. life with 3 kids and a 16 year old exchange student is enough to keep anyone busy. add in all of the other stuff i seem to manage to say “yes” to and then you’ve just got a deranged thirty something mom running around wondering why we are always out of diapers, food and allergy & asthma medication. half my life is running to walgreens & searching for pacifiers. the later of which we should so be done with by now.

i am hoping and praying to catch up around here. i will honestly say that as much guilt as i feel about not blogging it has been due to nothing more than i’ve actually been living. december, as crazy and hectic as it normally is, was actually a vast improvement from years past. i felt like i was actually able to enjoy it again. yea, there was still a ton-o-stuff that i didn’t get accomplished that i felt i wanted to but for the most part i managed to stick to my guns and stay ahead of the game in both personal and business happenings. i am also thrilled to report that i spent time TAKING PHOTOS OF MY OWN FAMILY! not necessarily the works of art i try to give to my clients but the daily shots of life that i’ve managed to rip all the joy out of because they are technically not perfect or because i should’ve used a different lens or some other lame ass excuse that i’ve managed to drum up on other occassions.

‘08 closed out with some fabulous sessions and ‘09 is looking amazing. i have so many amazing weddings i’m shooting this year and some serious fun family & newborn sessions. can’t wait.

so, i hope this is the first post of many, many updates in ‘09.

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s 12:08a.m. and it’s officially Thanksgiving Day.  And the first thing I wanted to do was blog about what I am thankful for this year. I think it’s ESPECIALLY important right now considering how the past 2 months has gone around here with the plethora of illness that continues to plague our family. You would think we were rolling in filth the way we fall.

We nearly made it an entire 7 days before tragedy struck again. On Saturday afternoon we were preparing for our family portraits. Jana was heading over with her family so we could do a lil’ session swapping. All was well and i was in the happiest place in the world because i finally got a new flat iron and we were bonding when people started shouting “CALL 911!”

Long story short Larissa fell and dislocated her knee. OUCH! so we had the fire department, the sheriff (apprently he was out and about and thought he’d pop in too) and the EMS here. Three emergency vehicles and a gaggle of kids milling around the front yard. It took them nearly 45 minutes to stabalize her enough to transport her.  So she was carried out, her new Abercrombie jeans cut to smitherines and 5ml of morphine coursing through her veins.  (the morphine cancelled out the death of the jeans).  The ER doc. set her knee back and we were home w/in an hour. She is doing well but she will have to have surgery once she returns to Switzerland next summer. Let’s all pray that she doesn’t have to suffer that tragedy again….and at least if she does let’s hope she’s wearing a cheap track suit.

So fastforward to today and Parker has bronchitis. Not much to say about that. He sounds awful but he is his happy, menacing little self. He is a budding artist and likes to show off his mad coloring skillz on the walls. …..alot.

So that’s the update and now here’s my little list of things that i am eternally grateful for…..

friends & family (DUH! that’s a given)

k-now onto the rest.

1. a new flat iron
2. that mark brought out my christmas decorations from the attic without me asking…ever. not once.
3. brooklyn’s beautiful hair. it’s taken forever to grow it out. she is loving her hair and i love watching her love herself.
4. parker’s new vocabulary: mama, dada, ball, woof woof, mooooo, orange, nana, bye, go, i sit, wa wa.
5. health insurance-i can not phathom our medical bills w/out it.
6. the premiere of Lost (january 21) woot!
7. my new “family” in switzerland and their generous hearts.
8. the beginning of advent.
9. hudson’s endless questions….even if they are slightly overwhelming at times…at least he’s still talking to me.
10. brooklyn asking me if she could use my camera today and then walking around the house snapping photos of EVERYTHING including every Christmas book we brought downstairs for the coffee table.
11. Michelle’s pumpkin trifle….um, and Michelle too! (she’s already included in “friends” listed above!…geesh!)
12. my mom’s new job and that she is able to have real holidays off like Thanksgiving and she is spending it with my brother & sister.
14. that my sister in law isn’t a giant freak who thinks she can have natural child birth. she will be administering her own epidural sometime in the next 4 weeks ….which is still 4 weeks prior to her due date.
15. stores that release their black friday ads early so i can plan my strategy. woot!
16. pumpkin spice lattes
17. that we have finally stopped using our AC all day on a daily basis….now it’s just an occassional artic blast to cool us off mid day.
18. my new car….i know that’s so ridiculous but seriously, you have no idea.
19. zyrtec. parker slept in his own bed THE ENTIRE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!!!!!!! course, he hasn’t done it again since and i don’t actually KNOW if zyrtec is the reason he did it the first time but why chance it and leave it off this amazing list?
20. that larissa can still use her abercrombie jeans as a sovenier.

i could ramble but really…is that like me?

gobble! gobble!

I have commented more than once that I use to rock the blog. i was so amazingly great at writing and posting back in ‘05 when i first started to blog. and really….what the heck was i blogging about??? i had nothing amazing going on? i wasn’t out meeting amazing couples, families & kids. i was sitting my a&% at home pondering the fate of the world and the destiny of my toddler children….and somehow I managed to convince myself that was the most amazing content to ever be blogged. i sometimes find myself rather amusing.

even as recently as 2 years ago i was so good at staying on top of my blog…again…pondering the burning questions of the world. however…now that i HAVE to blog….eh, not so much.

so most people realize we have been under attack for nearly three months. we’ve all been sick in some capacity since the 2nd day of school….minus two good weeks (not consecutive i might add). we are about to roll out the 3rd week and i feel like Britney Spears coming home from rehab. there should be some sort of celebration for this. i am staying positive that we are going to heading into winter in fact and fully prepared to call in assistance for an exorcism if necessary.

so while trying to force feed my kids kaopectate and zyrtec i have managed to spend time with some amazing seniors, families and shoot some seriously great weddings. (see the post on Michelle & Jon’s right before this). I have sooooooo much blogging to catch up on. So many sessions to post. Fun senior sessions and some great mini holiday sessions. i prooooommiiiiiissssssseeeeee i will get there. i’ve tried to at least keep my facebook profile updated with new sessions but i’ve even fallen behind on a few there.

i’ve also just given up on the idea that the new website will be launched anytime before the end of the year. there is just no possible way to pluck any more hours of the mother time tree that grows abundantly in the back yard. however, i AM happy to say i am totally on track to be off the entire month of December. With the exception of one shoot that i have to do (family is only in town for the holidays) i won’t be shooting or editing ANYTHING. Therefore, i have time to spend with my family and on the strong possibility that i will pretty much hate all things christmas by december 5th, my only work priority is to finish both the new wedding and the new senior site as well as revamp the portrait site.

i’m absolutely looking forward to thanksgiving break. larissa, brooklyn, hudson and i will be heading to austin on monday to the capital and to just hang out in one of the greatest cities in america. tuesday we are painting pottery at a local art studio. hudson is going to work with daddy on wednesday…he’s been asking for 2 months. and the girls …um, and p-diddy parker man will stay home to get things ready for our thanksgiving dinner. larissa will get to experience all the pleasure of thanksgiving this year as well as the full out madness that is black friday. friday night we’ll go the the annual holiday river parade on the riverwalk and saturday is six flags. we should be able to sleep on sunday….the entire day.

alright…so that’s a quicky update. i promise to post sessions and fun family pics soon!

happy hump day….um, i mean thursday!

even though i have nothing prepared to write about or any of my CF cards near by to unload and even post a photo.  i know, i’m lame like that, i’ve got no problems admitting that to anyone.

so i figured before my head actually exploded from acute sinus distress i should post an update of all of the happenings and going-ons around here.

after a nice summer spent with the family I am already feeling the grips of fall and winter as the senior sessions roll in and families prep for the “oh, crap it’s november and we need a family portrait for our holiday card”  Let me just tell everyone…NOW is the time to book! Do not wait until November…or even late October. I refuse to repeat last year and say, “i’m not working in December” yet continue to live in the depth of editing darkness and the hell that comes with the holidays anyway……oh, and Happy Birthday Jesus! Yes, I would actually like to say, “I’m not going to work in December” and then actually NOT work, brillant concept…and actually celebrate the birth of Jesus….as well as the countless other family birthdays we have in December…mine is the 2nd if anyone wants to send wine, chapstick (i’m an addict) starbucks or swiss chocolate (hee hee…that is for Larissa’s family in Switzerland). Brooklyn’s is the 21st and she’s also fond of wine, chapstick, starbucks and swiss chocolate (ok, those are for me…just stick a webkinz in the package and I’ll be sure she gets that).

i digress….how did i get on the DON’T WAIT TO BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY SESSION soapbox?

The last week has been crazy busy. I’m beginning to realize and accept and embrace the fact that never again will i be able to pee alone or shower without a screaming child in the room. Nor will i ever make it a full 2 weeks without filling up with gas or going to walgreens for refills on medication or for milk or bread AGAIN.

Life with FOUR kids is pretty crazy. I will say however, that this is the best start of the school year thus far in our short career with “big” school. We’ve gotten into quite a nice routine and i’ve only found myself on a couple occassions having to threaten selling the children to the gypsies and hopping the next flight to cancun.

parker is adjusting well to “big boy school” too! he’s up at the church dayschool four days a week now and suzy q-t-pie is still with us on Mondays. Today was the first day that he reached for his aMAYzing teachers w/out any tears and even managed only a slight wimper when i said goodbye.  he has already added a new word to his vocabulary….”CHEESE” and today “OK” so now we are moving along in his speech. He now says “dada” and then will turn and point to me and say “dada” yea, mark thinks that’s hysterical. he says “mama” but not very often. he also says “uh, oh”  “shoes”  “this” and “agua”.  we’re working on supercalifragilisticexbealidocious…..it should be right around the corner.

brooklyn and hudson are settling in beautifully as well. we are going on our 3rd week of school and NOT ONE TIME have I had to throw objects at them to get them out of bed and we’ve only had one encounter of “go! go! go! Here comes the bus!”  my little laundry room organization / paper manager/ back back area has worked nicely. things are for the most part running smoothly. they both have incredible teachers again this year. i’ll be volunteering as a guest reader in their rooms once or twice a month so they’re totally stoked about that which totally stokes me.

larissa is doing so well. i am so proud of her. the sheer amount of courage she has to have to be here and try to cope with this “american” way of life is just astounding to me. she has totally embraced the kids and mark and i and is connecting well. we’re having alot of fun with her and she is opening up and really starting to blend right in with our family. i even had a friend tell me today that when she saw us all together at church that she thought larissa even looked like mark and i.  mark’s been helping her with her homework and i’ve continued taking her to school each day. we went grocery shopping on sunday and she was so fun to watch. she thought the 3 liter bottles of pop were incredible and she had her camera and was taking pictures like a mad woman. i thought it was so cute. she finds it interesting that we have “drive in” everything here…referring to fast food and drive thru starbucks. she really thought it was crazy when i told her you could drive through and get your alcohol, prescriptions and dry cleaning. it’s cool to watch her experience things and take it all in. she’s been really great about everything and the kids love her. she is singing in the choir and she had her first performance last night. mark and i felt awful because both of us had events for work that we could not get out of. she said it was just a small performance for the choir booster club so i felt a little better but still wished we could’ve been there.  at any rate, she is adjusting nicely and we are so excited at what the year holds for us.

AND the biggest news from the past week is that i became an auntie again. On Friday my amazing, incredible beautiful sister gave birth to her 2nd child, a little boy, Graysen Dean. I am beyond happy for her, Ronnie & Fayth and I am DYING to get up to Michigan and see her (so any of you photogs who have weddings up there where you might need someone to 2nd shoot for you….let me know!!! Please!!!!) Here are a few photos of Graysen that Melissa sent me (clearly she needs me to come up and take some professional photos of this child…nonetheless, isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?) congrats M, Ronnie & Fayth-ie-roonie…I love you all soooo much!

ok, i’m off to sleep and forget about how crappy i feel and how much  i hate south texas cedar and the hell of allergies.

…..on a side note: say some prayers for us as we brace ourselves for Hurrican Ike…….

I want to try to get this all down but am limited on time.

The past 24 hours has been a whirlwind. I’ve got two sick kids now. Hudson=strep. Parker=ear infection. Hudsons perfect attendance dream went right down the toilet after just the 2nd day of school. He came home w/ strep and had to miss school today.

Parker was up all night and after virtually no sleep and a loooong day he was diagnosed w/ yet another ear infection.

BUT the most exciting part of the last 24 hours is that Larissa, our new “daughter” and exchange student from Prattlen, Switzerland arrived today!  With so little sleep last night I woke up with a giant headache and a million things to get done in just 2 hours…because that’s how I roll people. Procrastination.

I popped some Tylonal and after Suzy got her to stay w/ Parker and little strep dude I bolted out the door to pick up a couple final gifts for Larissa before her arrival. I swung by Acadamy to make sure she had a Longhorns tshirt waiting for her. Next stop was James Avery. I wanted to get her something really true to Texas and I loved the idea of starting her a charm bracelet knowing we could add charms to it over the course of the year and when she leaves here next summer she will hopefully have a bracelet full of charms that signify some really outstanding memories here. I picked this Deep in the Heart of Texas charm as her very first.

I rushed home to grab Hudson before we needed to head out to the airport to pick her up. On a whim I decided I should check the status of her flight. Yea, good thing I had that whim….um, her plane was delayed 3 hours. I was so bummed. It had already seemed like I had to wait an eternity for this DAY to get here. 3 hours was going to kill me.

However, it did give me a little time to actually EAT and get a bit of work done while I waited.

I decided since it was practically the end of the school day anyway I would go ahead and get Brooklyn out of school to go along. She was already about to string Hudson up in the middle of the neighborhood and stone him since he was “lucky” enough to get strep throat which consequentially allowed him to be home from school and available to tag along to the airport to pick Larissa up. Brooklyn was thrilled and surprised when we showed up to get her.

Like big giant dorks we totally made a sign for Larissa. the kids fought over who was going to carry it into the airport and hold it the entire drive to the airport. I was about ready to chuck them  the sign out the window before we even got there.

So we made it to the airport. I called Mark to remind him to bring his little point and shoot w/him and the video camera since he was meeting us there and I did NOT even want to lug my giant camera w/ me.  We were about 15 minutes early…again…a freakin’ lifetime when you’ve already waitied forever. More fighting over the sign.

Finally, her flight arrived and we went to wait near the bottom of the escalators entering the baggage claim area.  More waiting…….anothe lifetime…..

Brooklyn started screaming “there she is! there she is! I seeeeeeeee her!” At which point everyone in the airport also saw her…I’m sure she felt not at all self concious.

She was just as beautiful in person as in her photos. She looked so releived when she saw us and realized she’d finally made it.  Her two day travel journey/nightmare was over. She had arrived in Washington DC yesterday and had to stay overnight there….only to get up and head back early this a.m……only to be delayed 3 hours. Welcome to the U.S.

We all drove home.  We chatted a bit but mostly just let her take in the scenary around her. I kept imagining how she must feel and my heart would ache because I knew she was probably so nervous and scared and just didn’t know what the heck to think. I can’t even imagine. At this point I realized we didn’t get a single photo of her arrival. We did get video so I hope to figure out how to post that here soon to share.

At home we unloaded her 3 pieces of luggage, which although seemed to weigh alot, really didn’t when you think she’ll be here for 11 months. We took her upstairs to show her her room. She seemed very happy….totally a releif to me since I have been consumed with preparing it for her for the past week. This is where I should insert a nice lovely photo of how her room looked. You’ll have to wait for that one…and maybea while.

She wanted to shower and unpack so we left her to settle in a bit. i thought brooklyn would climb the walls before she came out of her room again.

We had a nice afternoon. She let us look through her photo album and we talked and tried to get to know each other the best we could w/ 3 screaming kids flocking around. She brought everyone gifts which was so incredibly sweet of her. The kids were so excited.  I finally realized I needed to get my camera out and get a few shots. And I will totally say that normally I wouldn’t even post these here. I have them up on Facebook which seemed to be good enough….but based on this post by Maile yesterday (thanks girl) I knew I wanted this suckers up here.

So w/out more random babbling leading up to the crap-o-la but significant photos……here ya go peeps.

As I sit here on a thursday night i wonder how we got to thursday? the last week and a half has been a blur.

On August 9th some of our best friends returned home from a two week vacation to Greece. We dreaded their return home. Yea, you read that right. We hated to see them come home because we knew it meant in only 10 days they’d be leaving again….and this time for good. They were being relocated to Dallas. And although Dallas is only 5 short hours away, when you see people every single day and spend nearly every single weekend together……dallas might as well be Greece.

In an effort to spend as much time as possible together over the next 10 days we’ve pretty much threw out any sort of “rules” we might usually adhere to in regards to the kids and the amount of time they spent together and what they spent that time doing.  For example, I’m pretty sure all of the kids went close to 4 days without bathing. There simply was not enough time in the day to spend in the shower.  There were several days I’m sure the boys were in their pj’s until dinner.  Running in and out between houses was tolerated and video games and super hero kung foo kicks were encouraged. The girls managed to keep the drama to a minimun too…..nearly unheard of around here. We had more sleepovers in the last 10 days than we did the entire summer. We built “forts” in the living room and a couple in the theater room….yea, even I got in on that action…I am like a serious fort builder now….errr, well according to mark i have no skillz at all but i managed to construct one that made it the entire night so i’m going pro.

We have a total of 4 families we regularly spend time with in the neighborhood. Between the four of us…there are 10 children. So 10 children pretty much ran wild on the street between 4 houses for 10 days, grabbing a handful of chips or an occssional pop tart along the way.  yea, i’m pretty sure child protective services would’ve had a hay day with us.

the adults have had some good fun too. double doses of BBQ fun, lots of laughs, lots of drinks. the girls managed to sneak in a girls night at the melting pot on sunday. the husbands decided we needed to get out more since we were gone for almost 6 hours for dinner.  we were the very last group to leave the restaurant at almost midnight. 

we spent the last four days in denial as we would see the big giant moving truck pull up each day. we just went about the day as if it wasn’t there…..until today…when we could deny it no longer.

today was the day. they rolled out around 3:30 and the tears flowed freely. it was hard, maybe harder than i even expected and i’m not sure that it really has fully set in yet. but tomorrow when we wake up and the house has 4 fewer little feet running in and out of it and this weekend there are 2 more open chairs around the patio fire where the adults usually sit………well, maybe then.

here’s to future roadtrips to dallas and friends that can never be replaced.

here are some favorite shots from the last year.

smooches to kristina, tasos, sofia & christos!

here’s a shot of the four of us on new year’s eve…..pardon mark’s inability to focus…i think it’s probably a good indication that this shot was probably taken WELL after midnight.

Kristina & Tasos…notice the difference in photographic quality cuz mama had the camera!

the kids after our christmas party. little p-diddy isn’t pictured…he must’ve missed out on all the fun.

hudson’s bday party

kids’ at the ranch

the big kids at the ranch.

just a typical saturday afternoon.

the boys w/ Michael Finley.

the kids in mama’s fort.

one last BBQ night

drams queens best friends

we survived. 3500 miles round trip from texas to michigan and back again. 10 days. oklahoma, missouri, illinois, indiana and back again. lots of fun was had. several colorful four letter words were mumbled under my breath. a couple…ok several drinks were shared with my favorite rockstar soul sisters and even more fun catching up with my family. my daddy. my grammy. my sweet lil’ niece…my brothers, sister, mom, in laws, and my sweet new baby nephew. i can’t wait to post all the fun photos!

trying to catch up on work, get kids to drs. and dentist appts. and all the fun stuff that comes along with returning from vacation.  sweet goodness.

stay tuned for photos!

…..on a side note….i’m in mourning. my lil’est dude got his curls cut off today. i’m bitter. i specifically said, “leave the curls….lose the mullet” apparently that can’t be done. they nearly  had to pull me off the cold floor as they swept away the last shred of his baby-hood. say a little prayer.

we’re out. vacation. family. friends. small town carnivals. big ol’ lakes. sand. nieces. nephews. laughing. crying. maid-rite. meijers. hugs. home cooking. eating out. piers. waves. sun. cool lake breezes. alex’s pizza.

we’re on our way out to visit friends & family in missouri. we’re stoked about seeing our family and we get to meet our new nephew, tristin whose only 3 months old and so stinkin’ cute. we get to eat maid rite. (notice that i prioritized and didn’t mention the food first) we’re lucky because mark’s family and my family live in the same town so we get to make our rounds and see everyone. and my aunt, uncle and my cousin’s family are coming in from georgia. brenda’s driving in from springfield and amy’s coming home from lake of the ozarks and we all get to hang. i can’t wait. i haven’ seen the girls since novemeber at carrie’s wedding so i can’t wait. amy’s husband russ is coming home and he & mark get along fabulously since they can talk politics and not hate each other by the end of the night. plus i get to see my little brady man. brady just turned two so i get to catch a glimpse of what my life will look like next year at this time w/ p-diddy parker man. who by the way is sick. poor dude. let’s hope he stays out of crank-ville while we spend 15 hours in the car tomorrow.

mark is smoking crack because he totally thinks we can make this trip in one day. did i mention 15 hours? last time we made this trip parker was only 3 months old and all he required was a boob and an occassional burp and diaper change. these days he’s got me wondering if 11am is too early for vodka. and that’s in our wide open spacious home with all of his toys and lots of places to crawl in and out of. imagine the joy of being restricted to a car seat for 15 hours. i can’t imagine how he wouldn’t like that.

regardless, i’m still excited. after 4 days in missouri we’re heading to grand haven, michigan to see my dad, sister and brother and all my nieces & nephews there. i’ll get to go home to oakley to see my grandma and aunts and uncles too. the kids are super excited about this part of the trip too….they not only get to play with their cousins but we get to spend some serious time on the beach at lake michigan.

i’ll be working a bit while i’m on vacation….i plan to do newborn shots of tristin while i’m home as well as my sister’s belly pics. she’s about 7 months pregnant now and i already told to prep herself for some rolling on the beach fun. she was appalled at the idea but she’ll be fine. i can totally take her so i doubt she’s going to put up a fight. i kicked her a&@ when we were kids so I have no doubt i can still take her down.

happy 4th everyone! enjoy!