Why I am glad my husband doesn't do social media

 it's not what you think.

I am not hiding some big secret or doing anything on social media that would jeopardize our relationship and if he was just to sign on to his accounts he wouldn't discover I was living a double life.

lol

I am not a good liar so a double life would be the last thing I could pull off.

no, I am glad that my husband doesn't get on any social network because 

I need him in person.

I like that he loves me for me

not my stories or pictures or who I am friends with or what I "like" on facebook.

don't get me wrong I love that others like me for those things and want to follow all of our life milestones.

it really helps me when doing photography sessions, it takes the edge and nervousness away when someone already knows about me.

I can be very shy.

but when it comes to my husband

I never felt anything but myself around him.

 I am glad I don't have to tip toe around his feelings or beliefs

I don't have to put smiley faces or lol's after a comment just in case he disagrees.

I don't deliberately hurt his feelings or anything but he understands when I need to 

vent to him and completely fall apart. I know he will be my rock and support me no matter what.

These last couple of months haven't been too hard compared to things we have been through in the past

 but

 things are not going exactly as we planned either.

But

He has showed me that my dreams matter and he is working hard to help make them come true.

This year will mark our 10 years of being together and I often think about the people we were back then. I was crazy in love with him and just couldn't get enough of that boy.

Then I look at the man he is today 

he's everything I wanted him to be and knew he could be.

I still can't get enough but in a more deeper, prouder, stronger way.

I feel more confident in myself because of him

I have 4 beautiful blessings because of him

I know what love is because of him

what respect is

what it feels like to be cherished and wanted

he makes me laugh and inspires me

This life of ours is amazing and even when there are set backs I know he's going to fight for us 

 

He's my best friend

For valentine's day I always make him a gift.

 Valentine's day is not really a huge day for us. we typically spend it at home with the girls and maybe watch a movie when they go to bed.

but this year I made a board game:

the game of love

it's all about our relationship.

complete with our goofy picture markers

the object of the game is to be the first to go around the whole board.

pretty simple

we will roll dice to see how many spaces to move

some spaces have instructions like lose a turn or roll again 

all the spaces have meanings to us though.

 

Then there are spaces called

 kiss card

where you have to draw a card and answer the question on the back

these are just fun conversation starters really

here's an example:

 

I am so excited to play this game on Valentine's day!

and another reason I am glad my husband doesn't do social media 

this post wont spoil the surprise since he wont see it :P

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Birth photography and Alayna's story

this was a day I was beyond excited for!

I had my phone in my hand from the second I woke up until the second I got the text that it was time to head to the hospital! oh boy I was all smiles and just jumping up and down!!

I drove as carefully but fast as I could on the perfectly warm sunny June day. 

Andrea and Ricky were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their sweet baby girl. 

after a heartbreaking loss this little one was such a blessing and so loved already!

the only problem was Ricky wouldn't be able to be present at the birth due to his job training for the Army.

My job was extremely important to capture all the moments.

 The pressure was on but I loved every second of it!

Huge thank you's to the Holland Family

and baby Alayna!

Personalize your own free digital slideshow

After giving birth to my daughter I took some time off and reflected on where I wanted my photography to go. I am so excited to really focus on what I want to photograph. 

Birth is by far my favorite

 I am now offering fresh 48 session for $150! 

these sessions will be at the location of the birth within the first 48 hours of baby's birthday! I will capture all the little details and first hugs, bath, feeding, snuggles and meetings your little one will have! I know from personal experience that the hospital companies charge way more than this and you don't get as many images. so this value is huge!

 please message me if you are interested and of course expecting :)

so excited to get to live my dream and capture all those little moments of your miracle!

Kahleigh

Last year I was really bad about sharing my photography sessions.

I had gotten so behind and it was hard to really find time to get all caught up.

so this year I am starting fresh but hopefully still be posting the ones that I missed.

My first session of 2015 was a certain couple that I have had the privilege of photographing every big moment of their lives!
prom

engagement

wedding

pregnancy

and now this sweet little face!

and she was born to have her picture taken this little 2 month old has such a huge personality already! lots of cute faces...

Meet Kahleigh

love her!

Africa week! I am just a little excited about this week :)

I started this blog back in 2011 to share all my stories and what I learned from my mission trip to Uganda, Africa.

 There is seriously not a day that goes by that I don't think about the kids and families we met there. The amazing staff of dedicated teachers and nurses, nuns and priest that strive everyday to make a better future for the kids of Uganda.

It was the most amazing experience and I still have to pinch myself to believe I made my dream come true of going there.

here is a blog post of all the links of all my stories 

My new dream is to go back and visit but bring my husband and kids with me!

obviosuly I will have to wait a few years but I am so beyond excited for when that day comes.

For Home school Preschool we learned about Africa this week!

We started out by finding it on the map. 

I have a tattoo on my wrist of Africa and so she was very familiar with what shape it looked like.

Then we drew it out on a paper and glued magazine clippings of what we could find in Africa.

 Then we studied about tribes and all the different makeup and jewelry certain tribes wear.

We watched this slideshow 

then worked on shapes and made our own tribal mask using shapes we learned and water color paint.

 for the last 3 years we have been sponsoring a little boy named Joel.

He attends the St. Jerome Cove center boarding school (the one I stayed at during my trip)

He is a great student, top 10 in his class. He lives at the boarding school but when the school year is over he travels back to his home to help his Grandma in her garden. It is just him and his Grandma and the garden is what supports them. 

I admit there have been many times that we probably should have stopped sending the money because times were hard for us and the $35 dollars could have helped us, but then again it's only $35 and our hard times are nothing compared to Joel and his Grandma. That $35 would have made a small dent in a medical bill or paid for a little extra groceries. But to Joel and his Grandma that $35 is life changing! It's giving Joel the chance to grow and learn and live! at Cove he not only gets the education, he gets health care, strong role models, chances to learn trades and skills, gets to attend church and build a stronger relationship with God and Jesus, he is safe, he has the opportunity to fulfill his dreams and become anything he wants. $35 is well worth it!!!

We get about 3 letters from Joel a year, the government there is very suspicious of mail and most of our letters never make it to him and they are very slow at getting mail to us. but only God knew we were having Africa week this week and he made it possible that the letter Joel wrote to us back in October would be put in our mailbox on the day I was teaching Belle about Joel!! it gave me goosebumps! so here she is writing him a letter back

 Then we had a fun safari day and we learned about the animals and jungles of Africa. 

I used this as a guide and we built an Africa obstacle course through our hallway.

 We read Beatice's Goat

She learned about the letter Oo and then we reviewed the whole alphabet up to Oo.

We talked more about Rhyming and left and right.

I loved Africa Week 

and Miss Belle now has the same dream that I do 

So look out Africa the Taylor's will be coming your way someday!

and just because I love sharing this video and reliving all the memories 

and if you woudl like more info about Cove here is the website!

http://www.covealliance.org/

3 months

it's such a funny thing

 to only know someone for 3 months and yet you can't imagine your life without them.

 Daddy is calling her Winnie

 I still can't get over her beautiful big blue eyes

 She has a giant smile but for some reason refuses to show it off in pictures. I keep trying and I will win, Winnie!

 She is by far the easiest of the Taylor girl's as a newborn. still sleeping so well and very laid back.

 

 

 she is wanting to suck on her thumb but will take her binky

she drools a lot.

she plays with her car seat toys but hates being in her car seat

she is not a fan of wet or dirty diapers

or being hot

she sleeps swaddled up but then once morning hits her belly starts aching and if we flip her on her belly she will sleep for another 2-3 hours.

her sisters yell and sing as loud as they can but the noise never seems to bother her.

she just watches them

taking in all there is to learn around her.

 She's got the Taylor girl 3 month hair loss going on and has the signature Taylor eye lashes that go on for miles! 

she's stunning

even when she's not smiling

3 months old!

We love you Hazel nut Winnie bear!