For the Troops Part 2

Christmas candy, chocolate, protien bars, beef jerkey & trail mix and burned copies of recent movies on DVD's.

Travel sized Bibles with a handwritten note in each and every one of them.

A handwritten letter to each soldier from Wiley's class.

Acts of LOVE

Stockings stuffed and ready for shipping!! Hoping these will bring a smile to the soldiers this Christmas.

Our next shipment will be a little something for Valentine's Day. 

Ahha Moment...

I was going through Photography blogs
trying to soak up as much info as possible
When I came across something that made me cry...
(I cant for the life of me find the blog again boo on me...)
The title was "I AM BEAUTIFUL"
She said that most likely you are the main picture taker in your family
(totally me)
and you always tell people that you don't want your picture taken
because you feel fat/ugly/in your PJs at 2 pm
(SOOOOO me my coined phrase "I am the one behind the camera not in front of it...")
Then she asked when your kids are looking back at photos of their life
WHERE ARE YOU??
and I cried
Why? I'm in MAYBE 50 pictures with babygirl
because I feel fat/ugly/in my pjs
Is she going to be sad that she cant see what I looked like?
She isn't going to think I'm fat, or I'm ugly or even care that I'm in my pj's at 2pm
I am going to be sad that I didn't take pictures of "us girls"
When we are cuddling on the couch... all day... in our Pjs watching Gnomeo and Juilet
I havent gotten a picture of our wild hair in the mornings
(because our hair gets CRAZY when we sleep)
I haven't taken our picture when we are having our daily dance party
I look at babygirl and I see that shes SO BIG
and soon she's not going to want me in the pictures...
I need to fix this...
I am going to change my attitude about ME
I AM BEAUTIFUL
and I need to remember that and step IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA

Be ready friends and family for me to hand my camera over
and ask for a picture with you and I :)

When to have #2?

Mr. N and I have been talking about #2
you see we said all along that we would start trying around Babygirls 2nd birthday...
Well thats next month HA
SO its like NOW
I'm ready... Kinda upset that I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to.
but I don't know if Baby girl is...
She's pretty good at sharing things...
her cousins K1-K6 are around a lot
and she does great with them.
(one major reason is they are amazing with her)
but when she's in a bigger group she tends to go hang out by herself
which is pretty common for an only child right?
But shes not so good at sharing me.
I went to drop off some pictures to a client
and I was playing with their incredibly adorable lil boy
Baby girl was a little unsure and wanted me to pick her up
I told her no and continued playing with him
She was fine but it got me thinking.
What is she going to be like with a baby
Shes a little mommy for sure
whenever she sees or hears a baby she wants to go see
We ask her if she wants a baby but shes just a little to young to understand what we mean.
So I guess friends when do you think is a good time? what are your kids ages?
and in a PERFECT world what would be the age difference of your kiddos?

Oh look how little she was!!!
I think my uterus just started aching LOL

For the troops

I LOVE MY FAMILY.  I'm not just talking about my immediate family but my entire crazy lovable extended family.  We are always there for each other, always supportive, and truthfully my cousins are more like my brothers and sisters.  I really think that when it comes down to it we are each others best friends. 

We have a cousin that was deployed to Afghanistan 5 months ago.  I had been meaning to send her a care package for months.  It's a sorry excuse, but life kept getting in the way or we just didn't have any extra money.  Well, I felt TERRIBLE when she surprised me with a flower delivery when I came down with the flu two months ago.  How sweet is that? She's all the way around the world, in a war zone, and she's sending ME flowers???  That got my butt in gear!  My parents and I put together a box of shampoo, snacks, lotion and Halloween trick or treat bags.  We were able to stuff 5 extra trick or treat bags in there so that she could give it to a few of her friends. 

The trick or treat bags got us thinking.  Wouldn't it be awesome to send her and her fellow troops a care package for Christmas too?  Luckily she is based at an Airfield and has a "desk job" at the Stability Operations Office.  This office serves as a liaison between the military and civilian operations.  I emailed her and asked her how many troops she works with and their names.  I also sent out an email to family here in the states to see if they would also like to contribute to this project.  The response was overwhelming!

A cousin in Colorado sent a check to help with shipping.  An aunt and uncle bought 33 bibles.  My parents went to Costco for snacks.  My brother is making 33 DVD's of Christmas movies. A cousin in Arizona is also sending a check.  Another aunt is going to Costco for stocking stuffers....I could go on and on.  And yes, as you just read we are sending them Christmas stockings!

I bought stockings the other night and wrote their names on it.  We are all getting together for our "Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving" dinner in two weeks (Thanksgiving is split between CA & AZ so it's really 2 days for our family).  After dinner we will stuff the stockings as a family.

Like I said I LOVE MY FAMILY!

If you're interested in sending the troops a care package this Christmas and don't know where to start here are a few links:

https://www.uso.org/Donate_OUCP_Search/?src=W107OUCP04

http://ustroopcarepackage.com/

http://www.give2thetroops.org/

My Sister aka Wonderwoman

I know I have mentioned my sister a few times

She's freakin AMAAAZING

Let me just tell you a bit about her..

She's 5 years older than me
She's my best friend

 She is married to one of the best guys out there

they are hilarious together
they still don't fart in front of each other!

They have 6 kids, 

YES you read that right 6 KIDS!!

Crazy ya... 

Now when you think someone has 6 kids you think

crazy, naughty, obnoxious rugrats...

But seriously, these are the best most WELL behaved kids you will EVER meet
I would GLADLY take all 6 any day

Their names all start with a K

We often refer to them as K1..K2..K3 and so on

I adore each and every one of these kids 

So Keep in mind that she has 6 kids...

She ALSO has 2 businesses!

She does nails out of her house. 

She does all different kinds of pretty nails.

 they are bomb

 Yes those are my hands :)
So if you live in AZ you need to call her!

The other business (and the reason for this post) 

is she makes BEAUTIFUL Custom Jewelry

She so perfectly named it "Six designs" (get six kids lol) 

 

 This one is mine :) I LOOOVE it! I wear it everyday :) 

They are super affordable and she ships every where....
Perfect for Christmas gifts!

So go check out her Facebook page here

You wont regret it I promise!!

(PS she didn't pay me to write this.. I wanted to share her amazing work)

Let the Craziness Begin!!!

Now that Halloween is over....

the holidays are HERE!! YAAAAY

Usually my AMAZING older sister takes on the Holidays

She always had the bigger house

and she knows how to do these things...

Well this year, they had to move to a small condo while they look for a house to buy...

Which leaves me having the only house big enough to fit everyone...

So this year I am hosting the following.... 

Thanksgiving

Our Cousins Annual Christmas party 

babygirls 2nd birthday party

AND 

Christmas x2

(once on Christmas Day for Mr. N's family and the following weekend for mine)

I'm a little worried that I will either completely lose my hair

or sleep up until January 1st (unlike most people when I get stressed I sleep LOL) 

and through all of this I have photo shoots almost EVERY weekend!

Even thought it should be COMPLETELY insane

I am sooo excited! 

I love having people over

I have an amazing family! 

And Babygirl is at that age where shes going to have fun! 

LOVE this time of year!!!!

Are you hosting any of the Holidays?? Any tips for a newbie :) 

(Christmas Last year... babygirl was so little!!)

Halloweeeeeen

Why can't witches have babies??

Because they have halloweenies.. hehe

When I was little I used to make my mom dress me up in a batgirl costume 

(not on halloween.. just random days)

and NOBODY knew it was me.. 

I was Batgirl....

So I couldn't resist making babygirl Batgirl too :) 

 Last year we didn't carve pumpkins because we were in California. 

So this was Babygirl's FIRST pumpkin carving!! yay

I love those two :) 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
And
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHONA!!!!

The Little Green Monster..

So recently I have been kinda down.
I know its related to my Hypothyroidism
I'm off the medication right now,
and getting tested to get back on it...
Which means I have gained weight despite my best efforts..
(8 lbs to be exact)
and its really taking its toll on me.
I don't have energy to run but I started running again last night
my skin is so dry its painful (and I put lotion on multiple times a day!)
I'm an emotional wreck lol
just to name a few things..
so because I'm feeling bad all around
I (assuming most people do this) start comparing my life to others.
To the single girls that doesnt work but somehow gets everything she wants
To the other families that buys a new car whenever they get bored of the current one
Or the families that go out to eat EVERY NIGHT...
The mommies that seem like they are doing better than me raising their babes..
(and of course I'm reading all this on Facebook LOL)
The couples that look like life is PERFECT 
Then it kinda hit me last night...
Everyone only puts the good on Facebook (heck I do too!)
and I know that, that girl that gets everything is also really lonely
and the families that buys the cars and eat out everynight, both parents work
leaving someone else to raise their child...
the mommies that seem like they are doing better... they have their off days too..
and the couples... we all know that perfect couples don't exist.
So why do I compare?
I have an AMAZING relationship with Mr. N... we really don't ever fight. We have our issues yes but we talk instead of blowing up at each other (more Mr. N's doing than mine lmao)
Mr. N has an awesome job that lets me stay at home with baby girl.
I do a lot with baby girl too. I think I am doing the best job I can possibly do
We laugh, we play, we snuggle, we learn new things. I try my hardest to be the best momma possible.
We might not have the extra cash to go out to eat every night, or to buy the newest car 
I have a pretty AMAZING life... So go away green monster... I'm not going to COMPARE my life to anyone else's anymore. "Comparison is the thief of Joy" - Anonymous.. I need to remember that..

New Path

I was working from home for an awesome internet marketing company.
I know they wanted me to come in full time
meaning I would have to leave baby girl in day care.
I can do it.....
so they let me go.
I knew that it was coming.
I'm not mad at them at all. I totally understand.
I'm sad because now I feel like I'm not bringing any income
but with Mr. N's new job I don't need to work.
It was just helping out pay off our debt.
So now its back to a tight budget and no eating out.

However, I am very very excited as well.
I am going to start "Mommy School" with baby girl
I can't wait! She's almost 2 (dec 10 to be exact)

I can't wait to actually decorate my house
we have been in the house for 2 months and not much has been done

I'm excited to do crafts.
Morning and night have been dedicated to work and the days have been to baby girl
I can't wait to start crafting again!!

I'm excited to focus on my Photography.
I have clients almost every weekend and a ton of awesome opportunities coming up.

Good things are coming our way... I can feel it :)

I heart Faces Photo Challenge!!

Our FIRST I heart Faces photo entry! I'm So excited!!


This is my cutie patotie nephew! he was trying SOOOOOOOOOOOO hard to catch the water shooting up from the ground. I love him :)


This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – http://iheartfaces.com