T&T... Dynamite.


meet taylor + tylar... aka the cutest couple around these days. i was so happy when tay asked me to take their engagement photos + even happier with how they turned out! it's really not hard to take a good picture of great looking people who just act natural in front of the camera + have fun... and that is exactly how this went.
on top of loving their pictures + thinking they are totally pinterest worthy (i say this because of them + not in a tooting my own horn kind of way)... i just love them both so much. taylor is my older sister, abel's fairy godmother, the best friend you could ask for + an even better auntie... abel is seriously going to be C R U S H E D when he finds out that he can't marry her one day. she is funny + thoughtful + i love her more than words can say. tylar fits in so great with our family + in the strangest way reminds me of my dad sometimes, like when he explains to you how to make his homemade donuts + doesn't just tell you, but really walks you through it step by step + shows you because he wants you to actually know. anyone who has any of my dad's traits is obviously welcome in my book + aside from that, he is just an awesome guy with a big heart who loves my sister right.
i love you two! thanks for allowing me into this special time, i hope you love your pictures forever!

happy monday!


these are all iphone photos, because for whatever reason, whenever i have a great week of using my big camera, i like to follow it up with many weeks of using nothing but my iPhone... so here we are, wishing you a happy little monday, brought to you by my trusty iPhone. i hope you get out in the sunshine today & get some chalk on your pants! 

estes park + the two faces i love most.


those two faces right there... they make my everyday wonderful. i am so stinkin' lucky to have them both to spend my life with. it's hard to think of our little family growing, as excited as i am, i love what we have right now + it's just strange to think that soon that dynamic will change + from what i hear + hope, only be full of more love. i can't wait to meet our girl, i love her so much already + all of the ways i imagine our family to be with her in it, but i just want to make sure that i do everything in this world to make sure that these two faces still feel like my life, i want them to feel just as loved as i hope they know that they are right now. my boys are the best thing that have ever happened to me, they just make this world a better place to be. i love you two!

^^^the face of a child who uses food mostly as a vehicle for sauce, the ratio of actual fries that he ate to the mustard he sucked off of them... sheesh.
^^^and how we strolled the town... i guess abel is just practicing being helpful for when baby arrives.
^^^what "a kid in a candy shop" looks like :) 

celebrate.


last wednesday, i celebrated 26 years of life. chris had the most beautiful display for me to wake up to & some of the people i love the most in this world came over for my favorite meal, breakfast. chris made homemade donuts that i had been dreaming about for a week prior & am still dreaming of today... drool worthy people, like never buy another donut again good. it was the best morning & i just felt so so so loved & happy. afterwards, i was surprised by a day trip to estes park with my little family of three and half (which i will share tomorrow) and finished the day with dinner at my sister's. birthdays are to be celebrated, every day should be really, because every day is a new day of life, a new day for experiences & love & gatherings. i'm so thankful & this was only a reminder of the love & blessings that surround me. 26, here's lookin' atcha!


& later that night...

happy mother's day


i never dreamed of being a mom. it was something i knew that i always wanted to be at some point absolutely, i had a great mother & felt pretty confident that i could & would be one too, but i'd be lying if i said that growing up, "all i ever dreamed of was being a mother." i wanted to be all sorts of things. a spice girl, an actress, a singer, a dancer, a choreographer & most importantly chris's wife (from the day i met him, no really... the day he talked to me i saw a white dress & wedding bells). once we fell in love i dreamed of our life together, our house, our future & i of course picked out our kids names (none that we'd even consider now) ...and i thought how great it'd be when we had babies.

we got married & the number changed from 10 years from now to okay maybe just 2... then we moved to charlotte shortly after & met so many great people with young kids or who were starting their families & for the first time baby fever hit me. i saw how fulfilling & how wonderful having my own family could be, and all of a sudden i wasn't thinking of how great it'd be one day when we had kids, i wanted that one day to be that day. so we prayed about it & hoped that God agreed with our timing.  

abel has changed me forever. 

when you're pregnant for the first time you love your little belly & all the little love bumps that come along with it, but you really don't know the love you are going to experience once that baby is in your arms. becoming a mother turned my world upside down & inside out in the best way... in a way i couldn't have imagined in my best dreams. from the moment abel was born i was no longer the same 24 year old woman i had been, i was now a mother... entrusted by God to care for this perfect creation. abel has changed my heart. he makes me want to be the best version of myself, he makes the world so much brighter & so much scarier all in the same breath. becoming a parent is the most life giving privilege we will ever be offered & with it comes joy unspeakable. it can be so scary at times, because  when you open yourself up to love something THAT much, you are also opening yourself up to potential heartache THAT big. so i pray. over & over, every night, i pray for God to protect Abel & the baby girl in my tum from anything i can't, in all the ways i can't. Being a mother is love in it's purest form & i am blessed and honored. 

being abel's mother, i know that he prefers to separate his cracker sandwiches before eating them & always chooses the side with the most filling on it first, he loves to rough house with his dad & knows that when i ask him if it's time to calm down for a little to go and grab a blanket & curl up on the couch with me for an episode of bubble guppies. he's mr. independent right now, except for when anything remotely scary happens & then he's running for my arms. most of his toys are used only for throwing around & not the purpose they were intended... i fear for his sister's life once she arrives because he's mostly all boy & likes to be destructive  & make as much noise as possible. he's forever a mama's boy, has the sweetest spirit & if i were to guess, physical touch is his love language. he's really trying to jump right now, and it's adorable in every way... i know a week from now when he figures it out, he will be jumping OFF of things & it'll be terror for me as his mom (wide eyed emoji here). he is the best. i could squeeze him too tight on any given day & never get anything done around here in trade for snuggles. his grin, his grubby little hands on my face, his ever growing toddler bod & the sweet smell of a little boy who loves to play in any dirt he can get his hands on... i love you abel, thank you for changing my name & forever changing my life. you're the sunshine in every day. -- your mama

happy mother's day to my own sweet mother who i love so deeply & to all of the other wonderful mothers in the world! xoxo