Our very own maternity shoot

I photographed a very small wedding on Saturday and since I rented a lens I thought we should take advantage and document this special occasion in life. Thankfully my sista was willing to help and last night we made our way to Poole's Mill Park. I set the camera up and she snapped away-- literally, I've never heard my camera's shutter go so fast. We just needed one good photo and luckily we ended up with a few more than one. Even after Olive fell into the muddy water. Ya just gotta go with the flow of things. 

For a moment I contemplated not sharing because my first reaction was "holy moly, I have gained a lot of weight!". But let's be real. I don't really care. I don't really care because I am growing a human- something I didn't think my body was going to do again. This is literally a miracle and for that- I love every single pound I've gained AND so thankful! 

 Olive is so full of character when she's not throwing tantrums.

 And Miss Madelyn is so full of sass lately. 

 I don't know where they get it from... 

New Year, New House!

I have to say that 2017 has started off on a good foot. We actually got snow last Friday, the day we closed on our new house. We didn't expect much from the storm but low and behold, we got almost two inches of snow that quickly turned into ice. So our move got canceled and we weren't sure what we were going to do. However, Saturday night church was canceled and our bishop suggested to get some people over to help (we love our bishop!). We had such a great turn out, we were able to load and unload twice under two hours. 

I have to mention what our good friend Melysa did for me that day too. She not only helped during the move, but she fed us and came back to help me clean all day! She's a keeper and a true friend. 

We have big hopes and dreams for this year and know with a lot of hard work and hustle, we can make them happen! 

(photo is missing a few very key people)

A New Year + A New Commitment

It's hard to believe it's 2017. I've neglected documenting our life for over two years, which makes me sick to my stomach. In that two+ years I've realized a few things. 1. Life has been hard and writing is therapy for me- who knew?! I could have had a lot less anxiety attacks had I just taken the time to put life into words. 2. Having kids is no picnic and I've been just surviving life instead of living it fully. 2016 showed me life is never guaranteed and the only thing that matters is family. I know without any doubt that is the reason the world was created--family. So... here's to taking a hold of life and making it wonderful and documenting the good, the bad and the ugly on the way. 

Playing around

Sleeping

This girl loves to sleep on her tummy... and look at those cheeks!

What's in a name

I've had this post pending for nearly a year. Since I'm doing my best to catch up I thought this would be a good starting point. Believe it or not we received some grief regarding the name Olive. However, we don't take naming a child lightly and popular names don't appeal to me. Back when Maddie was just 9 months old we took a small trip to Maine during Labor Day weekend to visit the Metcalf Home. It was there that I saw a tombstone for the wife of the man who built the home. Olive Metcalf. It was a powerful experience and I knew if we ever had an opportunity to have another girl- her name would be Olive. Fast forward five months to when we found out we were indeed having another girl (a total shock!) it took me nearly 24 hours to remember this experience in Maine. My mother quickly reminded me that was Grandma Hanks name (my mothers favorite grandma who I just remember as "Grandma Hanks").  Olive's middle name Cora came from my dads grandma- who died when my Daddy Jimmy was just two or three years old. So no, we did not name her after Downtown Abbey's character. We did consider naming her Cora Olive but my experience seeing the tombstone was too powerful to push to the side and we didn't want her initials to me COM. 

Fast forward a few more months after OC was born and I finally had the energy to make her room livable, the painting I had planned to use her in her room (one that my mom has had my entire life and she gave to me when we moved to CT) was painted by Grandma Hanks. The painting has her signature on the back and I never paid much attention to it. Although I can't articulate exactly what my train of thought is- the painting sealed the deal that we had made the right choice. Names are powerful and important. Maddie may not be named after anyone in particular we had just as a spiritual experience naming her as Olive. Her story is here. 

Below are just pictures I had saved in this post from 10 months ago. She has changed so much since....

Olive's First Birthday

I should be ashamed it's taken me over two months to document Olive's birthday... and I am. This girl of ours is perfectly fierce, sweet, squeezable and smart. We are so lucky to have her in our family. We celebrated with our closest friends (minus a few) with a backyard party including sprinklers, baby pools, sand box and ice cream! Although we don't make a huge deal about birthdays we still treasure the opportunity to reflect and celebrate a sacred day.