Photos, Photos, Photos

...I thank Sadie, as she is my main model for right now and she gives me some pretty great shots!!


I've always enjoyed taking pictures (if you know me...you know a camera is always close by and I'm ready to snap away any time!) and capturing the moments and memories of my life. Pictures are so very special to me.
I've had this "bug" in me for the past couple months to get a really nice DSLR camera - one that we'll have for a while, be able to capture the quality pictures I want to take, have the speed to capture emotions & quick happenings, and to practice a hobby I'd like to pursue into something more one day!

After a few months of saving and helpful Christmas $ from our parents to go towards our camera, we were able to bring our new fun toy!!
Jack actually surprised me Monday night with it - I had no idea it was coming!! Great guy, great gift, and now...great adventures!!!

I'm not really great with it - there's SO much to learn and practice with. The good thing is - I'm excited and ready to learn and practice!! :)

Here's me documenting my first few shooting adventures. I can't wait to look back on them years from now and see how far I've come!!

Blizzard of 2011

Feb 1st - The night the blizzard began - Sadie is ready to go out - she LOVES snow!

Yep...this looks about right...she loves sticking her whole face in a snow pile and eating it!


Well - first BIG snow storm as an adult and really can see how big of a deal it is. Apparently there was one in 1999 - but I don't seem to remember it - then again, that was a different chapter of my life. This chapter of my life is a little different from when I was 13, and a blizzard like this puts these kind of things on my mind:
-I hope my house doesn't blow over with the wind
-Gotta make sure we shovel so our cars can get out for work
-Need to make a path for little Sadie to be able to go out and potty
-I hope the snow isn't too heavy or wind too strong for our electricity to go out
-I have a free day to do laundry and clean the house!! :)
-As much as I love the continuous news report all morning...I really wanted to see Oprah today...she had on Jennifer Aniston & Adam Sandler! (I hope her 11 o'clock show isn't filled with news reports like this morning!)

But what I have also thought about today is...we are pretty "trapped" in our homes today and while some may be "bored" or upset from not working or having a day without pay, this was really a gift to us from God! We are SO busy, fast-paced and non-stop these days and it is necessary and healthy for us to take a day to STOP and ENJOY!!! Today I am thanking God for dumping this blizzard of snow on us because it really has stopped us in our tracks - gave us time to enjoy the simple things and be with our family! And snow really is a beautiful part of nature - it truly is!! :)

Here are some pics I took to document God's gift to us!! I'm still amazed at how much snow we really did get!! Too fun!!


Down our street (no plows had made it down by 8 am) and our backyard - which had some pretty impressive drifts against our fence!




On the driveway - had to trudge through some deep snow!!


On top of the hill of snow at our corner - pretty cool! Felt like a kid again when I climbed right up to the top!



And so it starts...it only took 2 hours! (Don't worry, I did help him!! - And I'm beyond sore to prove it!!! ....I think this will count as my workout for Feb!)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

This year Grandma turned 86! My mom had the family over for a lovely day celebrating a very special lady!! Grandma had such a great time and so did all of us! Sean's (my cousin) girlfriend Karen's mom made a delish cake for Grandma and some other yummy treats - soo sweet of her to bring those with and celebrate with us!
Grandma really is an inspiration to all of us - as life doesn't always go according to plan - and she's done the absolute best with all cards dealt! :) She is also the only grandparent I have left and so my time with her and seeing her happy means so, so much to me!!

Kailey's Christening Weekend

We flew in Friday night which gave us extra time to spend with Kailey, Maggie & Joe. It's always fun to be all together!!







This past weekend we went out to Boston for Kailey's Baptism. It was so great to spend more time with her - she's changed so much already from when we saw her at Christmas! I enjoyed our bonding time we had together and am sad I don't know the next time I will be able to see her.
Kailey had a beautiful Christening ceremony and wore a lovely dress - which was made out of Maggie's wedding dress. She was just darling!! We are so lucky to have Kailey as our niece!!




Such a beautiful little girl!!

Christmas in a Bathroom

This years winter break was not one I'll look back on with a smile...from Sadie starting break by hurting her back two knees (which took about 3-4 weeks of recovery time), to me getting the flu on Christmas day, to spending 3 days at school working on things, to getting sick New Year's Eve after the ball dropped from "too flavorful of food" too quick on my still recovering flu-stomach.

On a positive note...my mom and I made our 1st homemade gingerbread house, I loved all the gifts Jack & I gave our family this year, Kailey & Maggie & Joe came in for Christmas, and Jack & I shared NYE with our very best of friends!!

Kailey came over for a visit before we all went bowling at Pinstripes for our traditional family bowling!

This is also where Sadie & Kailey met for the first time...they were really checking each other out...not to sure of the other! Cute though!!



Christmas Eve

It's fun to be Kailey's Aunt and I love feeding her!! :)





Sadie's First Christmas - opening her gifts at Grandma's


The day after Christmas...all recovered (for the most part)

Kisses from Uncle Jack are the bestest!!!

All 4 of us!



New Year's Eve - had dinner @ Ruth's Chris & then had our friends over for a night of many cheers!!! :)
Cheers to 2011!!
Sadie's 1st NYE with us!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

This year we wanted to have a nice little family picture with Sadie, as her entrance into our lives made our 2010 so very special!! Our good friends Andrew & Courtney spent time with us and Sadie...who was not as cooperative this day...typical child behavior on picture day I guess, haha...she really does help in preparing us for kids!

We even had the "help" of some children at the grade school by our house in the after school program. They didn't seem to understand that we were trying to take a picture of just us, nor did their supervisors...which added a humorous/test of patience element!

Snow Pup

Sadie thinks she's an Alaskan husky I'm pretty sure...the snow is the only place she wants to be!!! The first day it snowed we feared that Sadie wouldn't want to go out, wouldn't go to the bathroom outside, and that those things would make for a very, very long winter on our part! Instead...it's going to make for a long, long winter because Sadie LOVES being outside in the snow running and eating all of it! Now we have a hard time telling she has to go potty because she normally paces around the door when she's gotta go...well now, she just paces around the door because she wants to go out in the snow. Jack also had to shovel out different path routes in our backyard because just 2 inches of snow means that Sadie is up to her arm pits in snow!!
As frustrating as it can be going out with her...it has given us many laughs and she is quite adorable in the snow, so happy!!

Sadie's 1st Birthday

Our little Sadie turned 1 on December 11th! We also had our 2nd annual holiday party that evening, but Sadie's birthday was celebrated a few hours before with our parents and Spenser (Jack's parents dog, Uncle Spenser to Sadie).
We got Sadie a dog cake from a little dog boutique in the area, as well as a birthday hat and a new toy, which was a birthday candle guy. We sang and she blew out her candle...well, I blew it out and she watched. She enjoyed the cake, and so did Spenser. Sadie's grandparents were very generous by bringing over some gifts for the little birthday girl. Overall, it was such a fun time celebrating Sadie's day she came into the world - she's made our lives so much happier and brings smiles & laughs to us every day. Love you lots Sadie lady!!!