♥♥ Happy first Birthday Miss Kinsley! ♥♥

sUmMeR is hErE!! This weekend we had the honor to celebrate our neice Kinsley's first birthday! She is an absolute sweetheart and her little dimples make me smile every time I look at her. Presten was completing loving having his brother and sister-in-law stay at our house. Riley (their 3 year old) and Vada are so similar it is scary :) Those little Bean's run life on one extreme or the other.

I think this screams trouble!

look at that face! ;O


I am not sure who had more fun with the cake- Kinsley or the rest of us watching and laughing as she managed to get cake on every part of her little body?! :p





Riley and Vada helped get ready for the party by sprinkling all the cupcakes!


Look at those Bean brows! Riley was not digging the camera lady! :P

We ended this HOT and STEAMY Sunday with a trip to the beach, filled with a whole lot of family waterfights!!! What a FANTASTIC Summer Weekend!!

♥♥ How do you look at this and not SMILE?! ♥♥

From Jul 15, 2011

sun kissed

From Jul 15, 2011

From Jul 15, 2011

From Jul 15, 2011

loving every bit of this picture!

From Jul 15, 2011

a bumpy ride into my 30's

January 30th...the last time I blogged....really, REALLY?! Quite honestly, that's depressing. However, I have been missing the blog world lately. I set up this site as a way to journal and post pictures about our kids and life seems to have gotten in the way. EVERY.TIME.I.TRY.TO.MAKE.IT.A.HABIT.I.FAIL. I think about it all the time, I just don't sit down and do it.

I turned 30 this year and I think that the months leading up to it I started to become a little anxious and it's pretty much been all down hill from there. So far, I don't like being 30. I have put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to figure out-what it is that I want to out of my 30's. In my 20's, I graduated college, married the man of my dreams, had two beautiful babies, bought a house, got a dog and started my career. Now what?! Yes, I want to enjoy every minute of my life and watch my babies grow up, but I have a deeper desire to find greater purpose and greater meaning. I think about this all the time, so much so that some days in consumes my life. When I talk to people about this I think that sometimes people think I am crazy- relax, enjoy life, you're so blessed. Yes, I would agree with all of that, but this is really important to me.

A couple of months ago I finally broke down and bought an SLR Nikon camera. I have been dreaming of a camera like this, and it's AWESOME! It quite honestly has been a huge outlet for me. It allows me to funnel my energy toward something that simply makes me really happy. Last week I took Vada out on little photo shot and the pictures are adorable. The kids are getting a little tired of the camera, but always willing if there is a treat involved. ;O. There is still so much that I have to learn and I am excited for the challenge. I am taking a couple of classes next month and really plan on increasing my skills. So with that I am going to start using this blog to post some of the pictures that I take. I am hoping that it serves several purposes- it will allow for me to post regular pictures of the kids and it will also be an a way for me look back on the progress that I have made as I attempt to really understand the Art of Photography. I hope that you come along for the ride!!