5

2004- I got back on Sunday afternoon from a weeks vacation in Las Vegas with my friends. I slept like 10 hours I was so tired when my friend Heather called she INSISTED I get up and get ready to go out with her, later I found out she was secretly hoping for a set up. Well, she got it. We met at a bar in Oakdale,WI on a Sunday night in March. Cheesy story. But the moment I walked into that bar Jason and I never stopped talking. Then we played shuffleboard and I of course lost so the bet was we go on a date and loser pays (me), the rest is history as they say.

 After a long term relationship in my early twenties I stopped dating for a while, I just dove into this world of freedom and living with my friends, we went to Germany, Sweden and Paris, Las Vegas, among a million road trips, I wasn't looking for a boyfriend at all. During a deep discussion, I'll never forget something my dear friend Joe said to me "I don't know what your looking for but I hope you find it someday" I think everyone thought I had given up on relationships or something but I didn't I was just finding myself....and then he showed up.

 9 years together,5 years married. Seems like 3-ish. I don't have to repeat the old cliche that time flies but it's too true. We are still in the process of building a wonderful life together. We disagree very little and compromise a lot. We are both the oldest of 5 and both Type A personality so it's unusual we get along so well. But it works for us. He's my home.


This year we decided to go away for a weekend. My first weekend away from my baby and probably only the second weekend away from my 2 3/4 year old. I wanted to do something special for our 5 year anniversary (memorable) and that's how we got to one of my now favorite places Stillwater, MN.

I love this place, small, artsy. I think there's a festival like every weekend, we were lucky enough to come the weekend of the art and music festival which was awesome. We shopped these art vendors and listened to local music (very us). We came home with a christmas gift for Jason's mom and some cool pottery for our kitchen.

This was my favorite shop

We drank too much wine at all these fun wine bars, ate in a cave some delicious pasta. Laughed entirely too loud at this restaurant/bar that we renamed "Sprockets" because we were certain everyone should have on black turtlenecks and greased hair.

I did bring my camera along because thats what I do but the best part was I had so much fun I didn't even really care to take it out or take the time to get good photos. I think sometimes vacations turn into a full photoshoot and you missed the whole purpose of being together, so glad I didn't miss this weekend.

Our first ever Bed and Breakfast stay, it was really cool.

Now for what brought us to Stillwater, Miss Emily Steffen She is amazing, inspiring and totally silly photographer (just love her and her work) who posted mini-sessions just in time for me to puzzle together this little weekend. It was meant to be and these photos are a treasure to me. They are us, 5 years in this crazy married/parental life we're living. I am so glad we did this, I am so glad to have these on the walls in our home and we can look back and think that was us. I hope to do this again at 10, 15 and 20 years, god willing. The following photos are all credited to the very talented Emily.

On the way home to our babies we both agreed, we needed more weekend away to ourselves to remember who we were before we became Teag and Cooper's mom and dad. We were two kids in love. It's hard to remember that during the day to day hustle and bustle. One of our New Years goals was to have more date nights and go away for a weekend every 6 months. If you have any getaway spots-let me know!

New Year

Skipping ahead for a post, I have more to catch up on but I just wanted to post about the new year and show some updated pics of the boys.

 Our years blessings come in the form of two beautiful healthy children. These kids have brought our family so much life, learning and love. Not a moment goes by where we aren't amazed at their wit, charm and random comments that make our life so entertaining. They are our greatest life choice. We are so excited for the new year and all their new firsts and adventures.

 We aren't big on going out for New Years or resolutions. But we are big on lists and that's how things get done at our house. I write them, Jason completes them, ha ha just kidding. But I do make lots of lists and for 2013 I made one of 13 things to do in 2013, not a resolution or empty promise, not specific things but list to keep me responsible to achieve these.

1. When in doubt choose the kids
2. Make better meals-fresher foods
3. Take better care of our home that gets neglected so much
4. Back off online shopping- we do not need more stuff
5. Simplify. Keep cleaning/organizing and removing stuff that isn't necessity.
6. Waste less- money, time, energy
7. More travel- the boys got luggage for Christmas ;)
8. More outdoors- camping, parks, bike rides, mini-golfing, baseball games, etc
9. More date-nights for me and the hubby
10.Actually do Pinterest crafts/recipes
11.Don't sweat the small stuff- I learned from the CT shooting to stop complaining.
12.Go to a photography workshop and expand my learning
13.Start actually saving in our  savings account.

We're starting this list tonight, we turned down a few new years offers and chose to stay home and make a fancy dinner together shrimp scampi- a pinterest recipe. Cheers to a Happy Fresh New Year for you as well, may it be your best year yet.



My baby will soon be 1- happy/sad about it. Makes me want maybe 1 more.

I don't think a parent could be more proud of a child than I am of Teag. He's an excellent big brother, he is fully potty trained and mom's little helper, plus he sings! ha ha

Peek A Boo...his favorite

This little boy melts my heart, he is absolutely beautiful

Barn dance

So, I'm really behind with my personal blog like MONTHS. But that's a good thing because I have a lot to share but I was at least living life in the moment. I am learning to pull away from the computer especially since I have no editing to do. I am absorbing all my time with my family that is possible before the new wedding season begins. I actually LOVE winter for this very reason, I love snuggle movie nights and being snowed in and not leaving the house for an entire weekend. My boys are growing I need to be bored in my life for awhile. So, I haven't been super worried about my personal or business blog for that matter. Its nice to update on occasion but the break feels good. Now that the holidays are over I feel calmer, I'm trying to play catch up now in a lot of areas of life. My blogs, my house, my friends, my books and my movies. So here goes, time to get the blog caught up.

Starting with one of my favorite weekends of the year. The last weekend in September. First of all its my very favorite time of year, its also cranfest and so many people (family) come down to walk the packed streets of what I think is a a piece of real life etsy. The girls always get a free day to shop (7am-5pm) and eat deep fried foods.

This year Kathy (mother in law) also did her first ever barn dance. Kathy wanted to thank her friends and family for help and support the last couple years. She put on a fun dance with live music and lots of good eats. I brought the camera along to get a few shots.

I take these photos of memories for us, our family and hope to make albums to pass on one day. Right now they are just computer files but I hope they becoming old photos in a book someone finds. So the purpose is not photography related, its not about my camera, skills, definitely not about exposure, or focus (because most of these are lacking) or editing none of that. These are probably most understood by people who were there. I didn't try to so any post processing with the exception of some black and white photos. And I can't seem to remove the stupid watermark yet. So that's it. That's your disclaimer- this isn't about good photos but about good times.


Big grandma & Little grandma- in that order!
my maniac brother in law..the video monitor police

how T fell asleep

The barn dance was so fun, hopefully an annual cranfest weekend addition, I know my kids loved the music and running around freely. I loved visiting with everyone and relaxing.

I'll be updating more posts soon if your interested in following