Love Hard Live Grateful: photography

Monday, March 28, 2016

We had such a wonderful weekend celebrating Easter!

On Good Friday, I was able to attempt go to mass thanks to some of my girlfriends for coming with me. However, it was one of those afternoons where all the stars aligned in favor of my toddlers. They pushed me to the limit and we departed early. Ever felt like you were sinking in restless babies and everyone was looking at you? Yes. That's how I felt. At least I tried, right?

evil toddler kid2 - you think we're going to church on a friday?

Afterwards some of our friends came over for pizza and Friday night hanging. The weather was pretty so we sat outside and let the kids run around. It had been a while since we've all been able to hang out together so it was such a welcomed get together!

On Saturday morning, I had a newborn session with a sweet family that I met for maternity pictures a few weeks ago. Little baby Whit was born last Saturday and was only 1 week new when I saw him on Saturday! Here are some of my favorites from our shoot!

After I got home, my sister, Dia came over. We all dyed Easter eggs with the kids. Ty is the perfect age this year. Elena wanted to come sit close and watch him in action. I never knew how serious the business of egg dying was for Justin. He pulled out all the stops with glitter, paint, and glue.

We had an awesome time... until Ty spilled a whole cup of purple dye all over the kitchen floor. #lifewithatoddler
Ty and Elena ended the night writing the Easter bunny a note and leaving out their carrots for him!

Easter Sunday was busy from the moment we woke until getting home from the in-laws. The Easter bunny left a trail of eggs for the kids to lead them to their Easter baskets.

Ty thought he had to open each egg, so it took a while before they got to the baskets. Sidenote: there was nothing in those eggs. HAHA.

Elena loved checking out her Easter basket this year. She was only a few weeks old last year, so it was kind of like her first Easter!

I made our Belgium waffle bar and crock pot hash brown casserole with bacon. It was all delicious. The kids loved the waffle bar and the fact that there were sprinkles.

Trying to get a picture with these two is near impossible. But I thought they looked so cute!

After brunch, we went to church and then headed to Justin's parents for the rest of the day. We had such a good time. The kids love being over there and seeing their cousin, Mason. His mom made a huge Italian feast... meatballs and spaghetti, chicken parm, garlic bread.. and I made deviled eggs out of all those dyed eggs.

After lunch we had our Easter egg hunt. The rainy weather didn't stop us. My sister, Jennifer and I hid the eggs in the front yard for the kids and they had a blast getting them all into their baskets!

We didn't get home until late last night and all four of us were exhausted. It was such a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends. Thank you GOD!

Thursday, March 24, 2016

My family had a huge milestone a few weekends ago. My sister, Markie's high school sweetheart popped the question! It was a very exciting day for me because Grey, her new fiance, asked me to come a capture their special moment for him. We met a few days beforehand so he could show me exactly where to hide and where he would ask her to be his wife. Here are some pictures from their engagement:

Justin was so excited for me to hide in the woods that he begged me to wear his complete camo outfit. We settled on me taking his jacket to camouflage me.

After all the tears of joy were wiped away (from all of us) we took some time to take some more pictures of them. It was supposed to rain, but God kept the sun out for the afternoon as we found spots to snap some shots.

When we were finished at the park, we went to my parents house where Grey organized a surprise engagement party with his family and ours. Markie was shocked!