he's good.

see this good looking piece of man? he shot his first wedding with me this weekend. in my opinion, it was awesome. not only the wedding but having him with me. maybe i'll have him along more often.

and when i was going through pictures i did notice he only got in my shot once... can you spot him?

this made me laugh out loud. like, seriously.

my breath.

my college gf posted this on her blog.




it caught my eye because i felt exactly opposite. i fell crazy in love with seth from day one. insane, stupid, oblivious to the world, right off the bat, love. i even told seth i loved him about three months before he returned the sentiment (i felt like jumping off a cliff).

still, when he proposed my gut reaction was to say "no." seth is fully aware of this now and occasionally hangs it over my head as a joke. saz was the exact opposite of the guys i was dating... reserved in his feelings, mature, responsible, 6.5 years my senior (but still completely fun). my reservation came from the unknown but if i had known myself well enough to know what to ask for he would have been it.

i have the good fortune to say that i have married a good man. he seeks Godly things. he works with me, not against me, when it comes to the house. he desires well behaved children but loves them furiously (and is kind of putty in juno's hands). he works hard and is honest. he cleans my car. he's drop dead gorgeous and gets better with age. he is fiercely loyal. he honestly loves his family. he constantly asks me what he can improve in our relationship. he puts away the dishes before i get up in the morning. he makes me strong coffee everyday. he still looks at me in a way that makes me blush. he lets me order the sushi when we go out to dinner.

yes. i married a good man indeed.

juno is alright.

in an effort to give juno a little lovin' in the photo department i went and bought a new camera. well, that's not the real reason but it is incentive to get off my super lazy keister and start documenting her days every now and again. she's cute - super cute. and seth is off the hook for gift giving for the next five years, at least.

all in all she's doing just great. she creepy crawls (not on all fours...more like scooting with one arm), she jabbers a ton (finn anyone?), and she's relatively happy most of the time. this is a blessing since finn is testing my patience and sanity at every turn. that is another post for another day though.

six months a little late.

how far am i behind on my personal photos? about three months to be exact. seriously.

when juno was 6 months old my girlfriend, and talented photog, ashley asked to swap photos. instead of family shots i went with juno and momma. why? because she has seriously been on the raw end of the photo deal since i have found less time to photograph her than finn at her age and i am pretty much never in our casual shots. so - here we are. luckily she really hasn't changed that much...maybe a little more hair and few more pounds.

a huge THANKS to ashley. i will cherish these.

year's end.

i have always wanted a kiss under the mistletoe and i've never gotten one. true story.

granted, we completely posed this photo and even retook it since the first one looked a little akward but all in all, i got my wish. and may i just say - this guy is one tall drink of water.

different. similar. same.

almost everyone that i know (who also knew finn from birth until now) constantly tells me that my daughter is finn's copy. call it a mother's denial or attempt to establish a clear distinction but i casually mention i think they make look similar but not as much as one would say. so after hearing it again today i thought i would browse through some old files and find photos of both kids with similar expressions at about the same age.

judge for yourself. finn is a few weeks older in this photo but i'm still not sure where i'm laying my cards just yet.

these two.

have my whole heart for my whole life.

back back to cali cali

actually, you can't go back somewhere you've never been but the whole time i was on the plane i just kept singing the biggy song to myself. because apparently i'm super gangsta.

saz and i headed out to santa monica for my cousin's wedding... sans children. yep - you heard right. 5 days no kids. driving away was the hardest part for me. once we landed and i talked to the in-laws i calmed down and enjoyed the time i get to spend with the hubs. here is a quick overview of our time together:

the view from our hotel.

walking along the ocean... where's waldo?

santa monica pier:

the family bed.

let's get things straight: we don't let our kids sleep in bed with us. i have tried on occasion but seth is the strong one in this area. but every single morning we follow the same routine:

saz goes downstairs to make coffee. he brings up finn's milk and two diapers and before he leaves for work he brings both kids to me so i can nurse juno in bed while curious george plays. we all rest, we lay together, cuddle, and take our sweet time waking up. on occasion i even get 5 more minutes of sleep. when finn gets riled up we head downstairs to begin the official day.

the same routine applies for nap time. i admit it, i take naps every.single.day. with my children. instead of seth i fill the roll of diaper/milk retriever. more than relaxing we play a sort of hide and seek, pillow cover head game, etc. these are my favorite times of the day and i'm glad i get to spend it in my own bed. (i do think finn likes it since we allow him to have paci and panda in our bed.)

note: i am not above giving finn fruit snacks in bed so he'd take out the paci in order to get an image without a huge, blue thing on his face. yep, i bribe.

storytellers.

finn's interest in anything physically related to sports is non existent. but give that kid a guitar, piano, music, paint and watch him go.

i walked in to the bedroom and my loving hubs let me know this was finn's version of vh1 storytellers. (note: finn playing and talking for seth, juno, dog, and panda.)

because...

saz is the mortar to my brick... and i don't even care how many people make fun of us for our playful facebook banter.

me and mine. summer 2011.

for the last few years i have been lucky (and i stress the lucky part) to trade with tiffany wyse-fisher for family photographs. i'm going to call and spade a spade and just say she's on another level, like another planet level... so i'm not sure how i did get so lucky.

anyway - she's moving to n. ireland for two years (read more about it here) and i am selfishly sad. and it is selfish! she's going to spread awesome and have adventure and i just want her here so she can take more pics of my family and keep the central illinois cool factor up. ok, i'm over myself. i'm glad there are people on this planet like her. creative, fun, loved, faithful, intelligent, and paired with a husband just as fab as she is.

here is a snipet because i'm keeping most of them under my belt for a while.

i am a huge proponent of updated husband and wife shots. for every 700 i have of my kids i have one that i like of seth and me. so whenever tiff rolls around i make sure saz and i take a little time for ourselves. my idea this time was sexy shots on the bed...oooooh!

How about his sexy face? i'm telling ya, i hit the jack.pot.

rock on, tiff. you outdid yourself again and i am madly in love with these photos. thank you.

junebug in july.

she's getting so big that i cannot believe it. but i can believe it because it happened to finn.

my hubs.

you know what? i'm feeling a little mushy today.

i'm clearing out my hardrive, backing up, and fixing up. i came across this photo of saz from november of 2009. he's not posing by any means - he was sitting there while i set up the self timer and i clicked away. i see him like this in my head sometimes. shaggy hair (which he hasn't had since roughly this photo), beard (which he has had for years now), chucks, and a t-shirt.



he's my bestie. he keeps me grounded. he makes me laugh. he makes me want to be better. and he's smokin' hot. i got it and i'm not letting go.