memories.

let me tell you something. 

i just want to be completely honest about these photos. 

they are REAL LIFE. 

there was no "okay look over there, now look at the baby, play pattycake, etc..." just a couple of photogenic people, playing together on the porch, & i just kept clicking that button. it just so happened to be fall, & my mom just so happens to have the cutest porch ever. orange & rust, flowers & pumpkins... it's my life's goal to be as creative & adorable as her. & she was this way LONG before pinterest. i LOVE these shots. they deserve a frame, & not just a 4x6... my mom is beautiful, & my daddy looks so good, his eyes truly sparkle. abel is well, abel.

i just feel the life & the love behind these photos. joy. it's moments like these, captured on film that make you forget for a little while that life is messy... that cancer exists, & too close to home. these are the moments that we cling to, the moments that we choose to focus on, the moments we cherish with every bit of our souls.

family is everything to me. 

i will never regret a moment of time spent with family. i will never apologize for loving them too much, standing by them, supporting them, spending too much time with them.

we invest each day with as many memories as we can make. cram them full of love & conversations, meals & patio sitting, stories & laughter, i love yous, hugs & pictures... because there will be a day when memories are all we have. so i'm doing my best to bottle them up & store them away like gold coins, so that on days that are hardest, i'll have more than enough memories to last me the rest of my life.

^^^thank you UPS guy for this great shot!