5 years ago today, I was a brand new bride, glowing, and standing beside my new husband with a grin on my face…our wedding was beautiful, simple and sweet, and on a beautiful sunny winter day with snowflakes softly falling to the ground, picturesque I would definitely say.  Planning that beautiful wedding wasn’t my very favorite thing in the world to do (I wasn’t one of those girls who had dreamed of her wedding day since she was 5) I just wanted to be married, and to start a life with this wonderful guy I had met 4 years prior to our wedding date.  But the actual day turned out to be so wonderful, and I look back on it very fondly.

My 5 years of marriage to Chris have definitely been an adventure, between moving 5 times (including a BIG one where we lived in the Adirondack mountains of NY for 2 years) and two lovely children, we have kept busy and blessed.  Chris has had a passion to be in ministry since the day we met, and I consider it a privilege and my ministry to come along side of him in support of that desire to serve.  We long to live our lives for Christ and his will for us, and we try our best at that each and every day.  We long to be good parents, bringing up our children in the word and with lot’s of love.  We have similar hopes and dreams for our family, and we long to see them come one day.

I am so thankful for my husband, and I can see why God had us meet all those years ago.  Chris knows all my quirks and even though they drive him nuts sometimes, he loves me anyhow, and I am thankful for that.  I know that I have that love and support from him whenever I need him, and I am so blessed with his love and loyalty.  He has never held a grudge and has always been the first to come give me a hug or hold my hand (even if I am not ready for it!)  He takes care of our family and is so hard working for us and the Lord.  He has been spending time the last 6 months or so learning guitar and I am so proud of him for it, he is really getting the hang of it, and I am so glad he went for it and tried!  He’s a go getter that’s for sure, and he has always kept our lives full of surprises and opportunity.  I look back to when I first met him almost 10 years ago and I see how far God has taken us already, I am so thankful and blessed, and I look forward to what is to come.  I know that he will be there with me, holding my hand as we keep on going through this life God has given us.

I woke up to these flowers on my kitchen table this morning, and was thrilled it’s the little things that really get me.  Thanks hun for a wonderful first five years of marriage, I love you.

We go together like peanut butter and jelly…

So…today I had a little fun with Mia’s hair…she is almost 10 months old and already WALKING, yes that’s right….both my kids have been “early” walkers, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not!  We used to joke that once Ben started walking at 10 months old, we never saw him again but alas we did, and we DO see him, just in faster paced intervals.  Somedays it feels like Mia’s “babyhood” is flying away so fast…and then other days I cuddle her in my lap watching her have her bottle and I know she’s still my little baby.

From the day she was born Mia had a full head of hair, then a lot of it got rubbed off from sleeping…and then it grew back and has kept on growing ever since.  I decided to try out some pigtails a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t quite long enough in the back and sufficed to say it wasn’t her best hair day.  So I tried again today, and you gotta understand that after having a boy first I have been literally WAITing to get my hands on a little girls hair!!  So I was quite pleased when I saw this….

Pigtails!!!  To me this is a monumental moment in a little girls life….FIRST pigtails!!   So yes I had to document it….Here she is (above) handing me back the brush, with a cheeky little expression to boot

Our little sweetie, we just love her so much…she has brought SO much joy into our lives….the first thing Ben asks for when he wakes up (other then wanting to watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse) is for his Mia!  He just can’t get enough of her either, and he is a VERY good big brother (rough at times, not really realized that Mia can’t wrestle yet, she can hold her own though!) But if anyone is getting too close to her that Ben doesn’t really know he’ll stand up and say “That’s my baby sister!” it’s like he is staking his claim on her.  Very sweet to see them together….here is one last photo of the two of them……

All I can say is how thankful I am each and every day for God’s blessings…..

The last few months have been very COLD *brrr* and I do like winter for a time, especially around Christmas.  I like sweaters and scarves and hot cocoa….but when it gets to the beginning of February, and you know there is still a good few more months left until the weather is going to warm up, it definitely makes you miss the summer time.  OH glorious summer time, the days of bare feet in the grass, walks to the park, popcicles and LOT’S of time spent outdoors.  My son Ben loves when he can spend the day digging in the sandbox, running through the sprinkler, and going to the park, and I am sure Mia is going to love this summer even more then last, especially since I am sure she will be walking by the time the sun decides to show itself.

Which brings me to the photos I am sharing with you today….which were captured last August in the lovely sunny summertime!  I posted some of these “Trash the Dress” shots back in August, but not all of them….so I decided what better time to show the rest of them, then in the middle of winter, to help bring a little bit of sunshine.  My sister and her two friends offered to be my “models” for this fun trash the ‘prom’ dress photo session…we went to several locations and had a great time!  We hopped over fences, drove around searching for the perfect hay bails, and got a little bit wet wading in the water.  I had fun looking back on them, have a look yourself….

Look at those lashes, and YES they are real Ronnie is an aspiring model!

The three girls together, just for fun shot…

My sister is in the photo above, I love that one….it turned out to be my fave…

And finally some of the beautiful Char….

Thanks for being my models ladies, we are already talking about doing it AGAIN this summer, new lens…new equipment, new ideas  Trash the dress photo sessions can be done with a prom dress, your wedding dress, or any dress that you just love and want some special photos of yourself in.  The possibilities are endless with TTD and would make a great gift for you or your friend, sister or mother!  In the words of my sister “I still feel like a princess” on talking to her a couple days after the shoot.  TTD sessions are 100$ and include an 1.5 hrs of shooting in up to 3 locations, a photo CD with the edited photos from your shoot and for a limited time if you book in the next week a FREE 8×10 print of  your favorite photo from the shoot.  Think *summer* and Contact me at shelleysomers@gmail.com  I am booking for for spring/summer 2010!!!