time flies...

i love this day. today is the day bo and i celebrate the day we stood barefoot in the sand, looked into each other's eyes, and promised to spend our lives together. i remember everything about that day, how i woke up at 4:30 am because i was too excited to sleep, how the salty beach air smelled, how much i stressed over that dang flower in my hair, how handsome bo looked as he stood in his white linen suit with the ocean crashing behind him and the look in his eyes when he saw me. I my sweet little niece in her pretty white dress playing on the beach and with her daddy through the ceremony & best friend standing beside me, with me ever moment, my family and friends smiling & happy. after the wedding, the perfect day spent on the beach with everyone we love. the tiny ring song the jamaican man made up for us on the fly and we all loved and laughed about {and still do, mainly because of bo's rection..."that rings not tiny, how can you miss it?" ha!} it was the perfect day, the perfect new beginning of a life to be lived together. i will never forget that day and how much i loved every.single.second....happy 5 years baby...a deal's a deal! ;)

so, sorry for the slow blogging lately, as i'm sure most of you know, life just happens and time passes too quickly. i have been super busy with the kids, hollis is now a crawling maniac and has all of the sudden become extremly curious about everything, especially if it involves sister! Ava has been swimming like a little fish. her swim lessons are going amazingly well and she is learning so much! it has been so incredible to watch her progress...and it's only been three weeks! can't wait to see how far she comes by the end of the lessons. we have also had lots of family get togethers, i've been shooting a lot, which has been so fun. the other day i met up with another local photog i stumbled upon online and e-mailed. she was so sweet to take me out and do a little mentoring. i learned a ton and she will never know how much it meant to me for her to take me under her wing one early morning in arlington!

then there's this lovely lady...

who knew 8 years ago when i began my journey into teaching that one of my first mentor teachers would turn out to be one of my dearest friends. i student taught in vickie's 4th grade classroom and loved every second of it. she was quirky, fun, {the kids all loved her}, kind, but stern when she needed to be, and just had an amazing energy about her. she truly is one of the most amazing women i have ever met and i am so blessed to be able to call her a friend. she met up with me early thursday to be our model. the photog kept telling me how hard it is to find people to model for you, especially early morning, etc. when i asked vickie and she immediatly said yes. {and threw in that she isn't photogenic at all....um, excuse me...check out that photo, she is one hot mama, just totally gorgeous!} i have always known i am a lucky girl to have vickie for a friend, but this made it even more clear, she is someone who is always there for me when i need her, whether it be a girls day of shopping and lunch, hanging out at her gorgeous house on the prairie with her sweet family, or modeling for me on a humid summer morning {when i'm sure she'd rather be sleeping!}. yep, she's pretty much awesome...i just hope i am as good of a friend to her as she is to me....

i'll be posting more photos from our session on my photography blog sometime soon...so many gorgeous shots to share! it feels so good to keep learning and growing, and even better when you find fun girls to learn from!

hope you all have an excellent weekend! ours will be full of family birthdays, swimming, water slides, presents, cake, out of control giggles, and just jam packed full of fun...hope i can keep up!

xo,

a