Another Week........

Well, it's Sunday night. I made it through another week. lol. Last Friday, my good friend Amanda and I took our kids out for a much needed play date. Her daughter is about 1 1/2 months older than Jaylin, and they get along great! We took them to a fenced in play area, and let them play, and then took a few photos. They are absoluetely adorable together, and have a lot of fun together. They go to different schools, so it's hard for them to get together too often. I took some old books that Drew had, and just started taking photos. Of course, the kids are only 7 years old, so we have to really hound them about taking pictures. lol. But they did really good, and they had a lot of fun. Here 2 of the photos they took :

Jaylin and Katie

Aren't they adorable!??! Katie's Mom and I have known eachother since kindergarten, so when the kids get together, we get to catch up and have "Mommy Time". :) It's always a lot of fun watching these 2 play, and getting to spend some time with such a great friend of mine. :)

Then, on Sunday, we went to my Mamma's house. We try to go every weekend, but between the weather changing from minute to minute, a horrible stomach bug that took over our house 2 weeks ago, Drew getting randomly called into work, and being completely exhausted from the week of non-stop torture my kids dish out for me, it's kinda hard. lol. But anyways, on the way up there last Sunday, we decided to try to find the old home place that my Mamma's parents lived in. And we found it! Everything was still pretty much intact, minus a few windows that had been busted by idiots that thought there was something of value inside the house. And I started to remember bits and pieces from the times I had been there. The old outhouse was still standing, the old well was still there, everything. It was gorgeous with the sea of wheat in the fields in front of the house! We will definantly be going back to take a few more pictures. ;) Here is the house as it looks today.........

Ma & Pa Stamps' House

Basically, the rest of last week was uneventful after Sunday..... UNTIL yesterday!! :) Yesterday was my son's last basketball game. :( I am going to miss seeing him every weekend on the court, scoring points, and just having fun. Upwards Basketball is one of the greatest things ever for kids! There is no scoring, (although, we do try to keep up with the points ourselves... lol) And after every game, and every practice, the kids meet up with their team and coaches where the coaches talk to each child about how well they did, and the kids get stars that we sew onto their shirt, based on the best defense, best offense, most Christ-like, good sportsmanship, and so on. Each kid is awarded a star, and praised on how well they did. It is a truly amazing program! Here is a memory from the last game :)

That's Jaylin with the ball, #11

And then, after the game, since my Sister and my Mom were in town, I decided to kidnap my Sister, and go out to take some pictures. She is truly a wonderful person to photograph. She knows how to pose, her expressions are always perfect, and of course, since she's my sister, I get a chance to aggrevate her a little, and we get to spend some "Sister time" together. I had a blast! The weather was great, the location was great, everything. And I took Drew with us, so we could get some pictures of she and I together. We had a great weekend, and hopefully there are many more wonderful photo sessions to come. :)

Olivia and I

Finally.......

Ok, so it's Sunday night, and I finally have time to sit down and do some random thought blogging. :) I started to do this a few days ago, but then  I decided my blog needed a new look.... so I spent 3 solid days looking through blog templates, before I found this one. Hope you all enjoy it. :) I thought it pretty much looked like me.... with a camera in hand. :)

First off....  it has been 2 weeks since my Step-Dad's funeral. It's so hard to believe that he is actually gone. And I think it hit me more yesterday, because Jay had a basketball game, and my Mom was the only one that got to come. Very strange. I kept having to try to make jokes with my Mom and Drew just to keep my mind off of Steve not being able to be there, and focus on the game. But things are slowly starting to get back to normal.... minus the man that made everything fun. I think it has hit me harder than I thought it ever would. I seem to be late for everything, I want to sleep more... and trying to get my photography off the ground seems to have been thrown on the back burner. I don't know. I just seem to have lost the drive to get out and meet people, or finish my website, or really anything like that. I don't know what it is. There are still so many things I need to do with it all, but I just don't have that motivation right now. All I seem to be doing is thinking about what needs to get done, but not actually ever getting around to it. I still need to finish the website, make and order business cards, search for props, get a larger lens for my camera, look around at laptops.... **sigh** the list just goes on and on. But enough about all that before I start crying.

On a brighter note, everyone in the house is finally over the horrible flu that took over our household. Thank Goodness!! That is the worst flu I think I have ever had. It took Haley about 8 days to completely get over. And she ended up giving it to me, and it put me out for about 4 days. Poor Drew was having to take care of both of us. Luckily, Jay only had it for 1 day, so I was thankful he got over it so quickly. And Drew never got it. :p And my dog decided that since Mommy was sick, she was going to lay with me on the couch 24/7 and be lazy, since I basically never moved the entire 4 days. lol. Silly Layla. :)

And yesterday... (I actually did go out and look around town for cool props.... but only for a little bit, then I got tired.. lol) I found this cool stuff at one of our local "junk" stores. I thought they were cool, and different. Hopefully soon, Drew and I can get out again and do some "prop bargain hunting" :) Here's what I found:

I loved the rustic metal look of the chest, and I thought the xylophone and the old children's book would be cute for kids' pictures. :) All in all, it was a good find for only 30 minutes of looking through a junk store. ;)

And thanks go to my Mom, for the other prop she brought me. I love it!!

Just Another Monday...

Well, Monday has seemed to show up again. The weather here is cold... and sometimes depressing. The weather man seems to never be accurate these days. So here I sit, day after day... being a wife, a mommy, and a photographer. I love my children more than anything in this world. But there are times when a Mom just needs to sit down at the computer and edit photos, as well as play the occasional FaceBook game, and do a little blogging. :)

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous for photos! The temperature outside was a little chilly, but the sun was out all day long! My husband, Myself, and my friend B decided to go out of town, and take some new photos of some waterfalls, as well as ourselves enjoying the scenery. I cannot express how beautiful it was in words. There was still snow on the ground, we had the sun popping through the trees. There was still ice on the rocks and in the water. Gorgeous!! Here is one of the photos I took yesterday....

And yes.... we even walked to the bottom of the falls! It was amazing to see how much these Falls had changed since we went there in the Fall.

So after our long outing, we came back home, and I decided to work a little on my website, as well as upload my new photos from the day. I have to say... I was excited to see them on the computer (as I have a nice big computer screen, and can see more of the details on here than I can on my camera screen). As I am just a new photographer, I have only been able to take photos of people in my family, and friends as well. And B is amazing at posing for photos! She has been a good friend of mine for about 2 years now. She has stood by my side through all of the good times, and the not so good. She is truely an amazing friend, and I am so glad that she is in my life :) Here is a photo I captured of her yesterday....

I love this photo of her!! (Thank you again for going with us B!!)

As you can see, we had a lot of fun yesterday. Can't wait to do it again. :)

Dear Steve,

Yesterday, we heard the aweful new of your passing. I must say, it will never ever be the same without you.
I am extremely glad that we all got to sit with you those last few days in the hospital, talk about the old days with the kids, and I got to hear Nana tell funny stories about you and Laura. I knew that you weren't feeling too well on Wednesday, but we were all praying that you would make it through everything, like you always do. I am so sorry that this was one fight that you couldn't win. We made sure to bring Jaylin with us yesterday to see you one last time, of course, I am sure you knew we were all there. Poor Jay has been trying to stay so strong, but I know he will fall apart when Sunday gets here. You meant the world to him, and I am so glad that Mom brought you into our family!

I told you once before, but I will tell you once again. You made Mom the happiest she has ever been! And I mean that! I have seen her smile, and laugh, and love more than I ever have in my whole life. She loves you so much! We all do. I always told Drew how you coming into our lives was truly a blessing. Our family has been brought back together because of you, and I want to thank you for that.

And I will make sure to let Nana know, that even though you can't be here with us, she, Nanu, and Laura will ALWAYS be our family. I will never let them slip away from us.

Also, I am sorry that Kevin can't be here right now. But I know you would want him to stay where he is, and not make a fuss about you. I talked to him yesterday, and Mom did too, and he loves you very much. He said he would be here if he could, but with him still being in Naval bootcamp, he can't leave. But we will all be with him when he gets home, and I know you will watch over him while he is away.

For me, I just want you to know how much we are going to miss you. It is truly amazing that Mom found such a wonderful man. And I have such great respect for you for making the move out here to Tennessee, away from your family, to be with the love of your life. And I know we aren't the best family when it comes to hugs, and kisses, and all that, but I had to just hug Mom yesterday, and all I could say was "It's not fair Mom! It's just not fair!" And it isn't. You did nothing but love everyone around you, and put a smile on everyone's faces that you met. But I guess they needed you where your at now, more than they needed you here. You made a difference in so many peoples lives, even though you were only here for a short time.

Please keep a close watch on the kids from up there. You have a better view than I do. Make sure you keep them guided in the right direction. I told Jaylin you will always be with him, and it was ok to be sad, and it was ok to be mad. And I think he is starting to accept things. I know that you will always be watching his basketball games, and everything he does as he grows up. When he gets older, and gets married, I will make sure to save you a seat at the wedding. As for Haley, she is going to be completely lost when she starts seeing her Nana come through the door, and your not right there with her. But when she is old enough to understand, we will let her know how much you loved her. I promise you that. Please send her sweet dreams, and keep watch over her too. 

I will leave you now, but I will not say goodbye. This is not a goodbye, and I refuse to let it be that. This is "until we see you again". I know that you are in good hands, and we will make it through this. We miss you greatly, and we will see you later. 

We love you!!! 

Christmas 2010