My baby is 4! Eeek! She never ceases to amaze me with her smarts, kindness and genuine love. She also  makes me laugh because she says the funniest things. Here’s some of her recent quotes and some pictures I took quick last Sunday morning after I realized I never did take her official 4 year pictures.

That truck looks like daddy’s except his is way cooler.

There’s a lot of bad storms from the west but not that many.

Yeah, we’re coffee drinkers.

When are we gonna get horsies? I want a pony.

Can I go feed the chickens naked.

Mommy, I miss the chickens. They can’t sleep by themselves.

You need more Luke Bryan songs.

Daddy has lots of money. When are we going to build a house?

I’m carrying the scraps because I’m a chicken feeder.

I’ve got big barney feet.

I’m a doctor just like Auntie Gracie is a doctor.

I rub their (baby doll) back because I’m their big sister.

I’m like 4 ft tall.

I have HOT pee!

Wow! I have been really off the radar lately.  I don’t apologize for it either. I needed a break. Life has been full lately and that is a good thing. We’ve made some big decisions as a family. This is one of our biggest decisions. We had interest before our house was even on the market. 14 days later we had a full-price ratified contract.  I’m still finding it hard to detach myself from the house we’ve called a home for 11 years. I cry at the thought of saying good bye forever. I know I will always have the memories but that does not ease my sadness. I am excited for our new adventure a mere 20 miles away in Virginia and the memories we will make in our new home.

Since writing this post, we have sold our home and moved to Virginia. I’m one week away from finishing my master’s and ready to get back into the swing of things. We have big dreams for our family and are working our little butts off to make them come true. We are spending our weekends exploring the 190 acres we currently live on, playing in the creek and pond, cleaning out the chicken coop and enjoying the beautiful life we are living.

I’ll be back to blogging some beautiful sessions soon. For now, here are some recent photos from our big move, vacation and new property.

Bye bye house. We love you so much and the memories we created.  11 years of love and hard work.

One last dance around her empty room. I cried…

Virginia is for lovers.

Our temporary living situation is a DREAM! A dream I tell ya. Pinch me.

We took a little vacation to our favorite spot Great Guana Cay, Abaco, Bahamas.

Current Pic 2014. see below for one in 2011 same spot.

Daddy’s girl

Golf carts are the only form of transportation on the island.

Babies look so good on him.

He would kill me if he saw this, but since he doesn’t read my blog I’m putting it up. This was totally not set up. And it’s with my iphone. Totally GQ.

love this image…sunrise, jammies, dock and her sweet innocence.

yes thank you Seagull for making this picture. love it.

just doing our daily WOD on the dock.

 Much love friends. I’m back.

In real life, not this reality tv wonderland, we all have ups and downs and we all handle them differently. For me, I have mini-meltdowns which usually include a wee bit of crying. Okay, so maybe it’s more than a wee bit of crying.  But in the end I feel better when I get it off of my mind. A big hug from J and snuggles with my little family get me through. Then, it’s back to reality and learning to work through the daily struggles of balancing work, being a mommy, being a wife, making dinner, working out, remembering it’s purple day at school, editing photos, paying bills, studying for the CPA exam and remembering that I need to sleep at some point! That is just a little taste. Now, that is enough whining because whining will get me nowhere. I will make the list and move methodically through it knowing it will ALL get done in due time. Stressing and whining about it now will get me nowhere other than back to my corner crying. So, here’s to letting the little things go and embracing this crazy, hectic, love-filled life.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Kettle Falls, WA to visit my BFF, Lauren, back in August.

 Yep, it’s my blog. And I can put naked butt pictures up because it’s MY blog. So there.

This pictures is looking back at the ridge I took the previous picture from. Yep, Lauren used to live up there on top of that hill.

And some iPhone photos….

this is in Spokane…

the beautiful view at Lake Ellen

It’s a little late but oh well. October 4th marked Jason and I’s 5th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary, J!

And here some more of us from 2012. A big thank you to Jennifer from Tiptoe Studios for these. I love these photos so much.

Meet my sister, Carina and her family. They live in Perth, Australia.

My sister, Carina, lives in Perth, Australia. I would move there if I wasn’t such a chicken to leave my friends and family. It is a beautiful place live. J and I say we’d move there a lot. But the truth is we have some family who would be very upset if we moved their only Grandchild to the other side of the World!

Anyway, my sister was visiting the states for some time in July and asked that I take a few pictures. This was the FIRST time I have taken pictures of them.

You see the first picture above? Yes, that started it all. Then, this happened.

And this. RJ true personality.

I was a little nervous…okay, fine. A LOT nervous because well you see Luke is quite the artist with his camera. He has held his OWN exhibitions and won numerous awards for his photography.

Good thing he likes the artsy stuff. Sun flare coming at ya.

Don’t’ the kids look thrilled?!

My favorite. The Grandpa monster was doing disgusting things above my head and poor RJ was hiding.

Apparently, there’s  another monster! Watch out!

As requested.

So who’s having more fun?

It was hot and sticky.  But we had to get a couple of just Carina and Luke. Who knows what evil thing Carina did to evoke this laugh from Luke but it’s awesome.

See this image below? Now, scroll down.

As soon as I saw this photo while editing, I instantly thought about the one below from about 15 years ago. They look the same. Mind the weird scanned color.

 Love and miss you tremendously!  See you in 2015 if not sooner!

Family is everything. My big sister lives in Perth, Australia. We only see other in person every 2 or 3 years! So of course we make family photos happen.

Cousins.

Slightly related? Yeah. I’d say so.