sandy prints on my heart.

We are back home now after a wonderful time at the beach. It was simply splendid. We did everything that we wanted too, spent alot of time on the beach and just spending time with each other. Logan absolutely LOVED the beach (and when I say LOVED- it doesn't really even come close to his passion for it!) Our first day there we went out on the beach and he ran straight to the water in his good clothes- his shirt and jeans were soaked and of course sand covered. Every morning I would wake up to a lil' blue eyed boy saying, "Momma- owsideeee!" and I knew he was ready to go to his own private sand box and big water. Riding the golf cart ranked right up there on his list of everyday must do! While we were there we took Lo to build-a-car, it's like build-a-bear, but you actually build a car. He picked out the body and then designed and built it from there. He had a blast and of course, so did we. The beach holds a million smiles and laughs from our lil' man. It was such a wonderful time, it makes my heart smile just thinking about it and I have hopes of going back very soon if only for a little short getaway! Here are a "couple" pics out of the thousand that I took- I hope they show the love, happiness and excitement that was felt during our time there.

(My Precious Family)

(My Sand covered Baby)

(Giving Da-eeee BOOM!)

(Playing in the Sand with his beach toys and BIG TRUCK)

(LOVE this little storyboard of him dancing on the beach)

(Playing...and PLAYING some more)

(My Beach Bum!)

(Can't go to the beach and NOT visit Hard Rock @ Broadway for lunch)

(Riding the T-Rex @ Broadway....AWESOME time for Lo)

(After feeding the fishies and ducks...quack, quack!)

happy, happy, joy, JOY.

We are having a blast at the beach. Logan is in love with the hugest sand box ever and the big water. If he could he would spend every waking minute out on the beach. I love seeing him so happy and enjoying it so much, it makes me so happy. We went yesterday evening and let Lo build-a-car. It's kinda like build-a-bear, except for you build a car. It was so cool and has to be his second most favorite thing about the beach. I have a million pictures already and will share some of them soon- he is keeping us busy so I don't have a whole lot of time to blog, etc... but I wanted to share this one that is absolutely captivating. It captures his joy and happiness. Enjoy!

sonshine in my blue babies eyes makes me happy.

I am, well I guess I should say-we are...beach bound! Tomorrow we leave to head to RC where we will load up Saturday morning and head out. Sounds like a lot of driving to me, but definatley worth it. I have a photography session tomorrow evening which I am excited about as well- I love keeping my practice up, meeting new people and simply capturing. I am overly excited (about the beach) and can hardly stand it as the minutes count down. I guess what I am mostly thrilled about is the fact that my kid is going to LOVE the huge sand box and the of course the big water. I have been asking him for the past couple days if he is ready to go to the beach, in which he answers with an excited shrill- which in turn makes me laugh and of course being a sappy Momma-warms my heart. My head is going over and over all the portraits that I want to take, that's just the way my brain works, y'all. We got a house with everything- seriously, it's big and nice- comes with a golf cart (which lil' man will LOVE) and the Internet, which isnt a bad thing. When we moved we decided that we would just use the Internet at work- which has been really nice because being completely honest we were a bit consumed with it at home. It has been so nice not to have a distraction and just spend great quality time together. It feels really really good. If you would have asked me just a little while ago if I thought that I could go without the Internet at home- I probably would have answered no, but I have proven myself wrong and it has been one of the best things we have done. We have it at work- and that is plenty. That way when we go home, we play outside, read books, enjoy each others company- and then when Logan goes down at night B and I have good quality time watching t.v., talking and simply enjoying each other without having to look over a screen or not be focused 100% on each other. Enough with that gibberish.

I know every parent thinks they have the smartest most beautiful child EVER- well, guess what...I do! L is smartest lil' fella. I recently bought him some flash cards to start learning his alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors. I don't want to overwhelm him- but I am anxious to start them all. I think the best and most productive way for him to learn them is to start with one maybe two things at a time, do them slow- over and over until he learns them and then move on from there. I am really excited about teaching him and watching him learn and of course get smarter and smarter. I hope that we have most of it, if not all mastered by the one/six of the eleventh month. I love being a Mom, I love being a wife, teacher, photographer. I love being amazed by the simplest of things. I am a really excited person- and life is so promising and bright...just like my baby.

Here comes the future.

I have to start this blog by saying, "Congratulations!" Yesterday my brother graduated from college. He actually completed his college career last summer and received his degree- however, they only do the actual ceremony once a year and he had to take a summer class, putting the "walk" almost a year away. It was a very exciting time for everyone and we are SO very proud of him. To be nineteen years old, at the time- have graduated from high school and be a college graduate as well- and all of that with highest honors is well...beyond terrific and not just because I am GOING to be biased. Tyler, is of course, a Tennessee resident and owner of his own business at twenty years old- how many twenty year olds can say that- I know I can't. Above all- he lives a life of honor and is a man of integrity. The future is in the here and now and held by all of his tomorrows- what a gift- How exciting! “Life is now your college. May you graduate well, and earn some honors!”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go."

kiss of time.

Time is...kisses that keep getting sweeter with age.

faith: let me be more like you.

“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”

So I say all the time that "I hope" that I am hopelessly hopeful, that I always have hope. Hope is fairly easy to keep, to have. Faith on the other hand, doesn't come as easy. The difference between the two is that one means you know its gonna come to pass and the other... have you ever heard the saying, "hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst?!?" That's kinda like a definition of hope- you only KINDA believe. When we hope it covers up the fact that we are preparing for the worst, expecting the worst to come from a certain situation.

I was talking the other day to my Dad and I said something about having hope- and he said, "have faith...Faith is knowing that it's gonna happen- hope, well, it's just hope." I really thought about it, about that statement. I spend a lot of time hoping for something, anything, a particular outcome and lose faith, the belief that it CAN actually happen. I have said it before that I am an optimistic pessimist, an oxymoron I know, but it's true it just how I am. I love life, everything about it. I enjoy everyday to the fullest, long to make the most out of every minute and not let petty things get in the way of what is simply wonderful- but...there are some things that I am just pessimistic about- things that I have a harder time actually believing in and those things are the things that "I hope." In all my thinking I have come to the decision that I am going to have faith and am going to replace all the "I hopes" with "I have faith." Having faith is more of a challenge for me- and it's not a secret that I love a challenge. However, this might prove to be harder to conquer than most because of that part of me that creates war, indifference. We are urged...instructed to have faith the size of a mustard seed, and then told that with that faith we can move mountains-just being honest, in my mind that seems impossible, have you seen the size of a mustard seed?!? In not having faith or in doubting faith, in my heart it feels as if I don't believe in the promises of God and- in terms we can all understand....that's just wrong. I believe, I do believe- but there are moments in time when I doubt and the clouds roll in making it harder to see the whole picture, that which has been promised-that which I know true. I remember the absolute pureness of being a child and now that I have one I am reminded of the faith that we have as a child, the belief in the impossible- that which the world has deemed. No one and nothing can make us loose sight, we are steady and strong in the facts of what we believe. Not because we have hard evidence or proof that it is true or can be done. Plain and simple...we believe in the impossible, the unknown, the things that can't be felt or seen. We have faith, because we believe in ourselves. There are amazing people who have that faith- the knowing and I so long to have that within me, to be that type of person. But it's hard, it's hard for me to really really believe, yet, in that same thought I have faith that I can be different and that the faith that I have in somethings will grow and cover all things. There is that characteristic inside of me and some might call it stubborn-ness, the want to prove all others wrong and at one time I would have answered them with nothing more that I just have hope...now I say I have Faith, in that statement I stand firm, I believe. I still hope, but now I hope with faith- knowing that...that which I hoped for WILL come to pass.

i made a wish and you came true.