Merry Merry Christmas! Hope you had an incredible day enjoying the hummm of excitement, family, yummy food, & celebration! Today was well spent for us. Really enjoying every moment of the day! I enjoyed having Christmas on a Sunday, honestly! Going to church this Christmas morning was so meaningful! Such a great day! I really felt the theme of today & just my reflection throughout the day was that we have such a wonderful life, & I am so beyond thankful!
It’s here! Day 25! I did it. Sort of feel like Julia & Julia! Oh goodness! Makes me think Julia was even more amazing cooking & blogging all of those recipes! OMG! Well, I really have to wrap this year’s FAVES up with my Favorite Thing #25 being my FAMILY! I absolutely love Ben, Conner, Kira, Madison, & we have a dog, Chloe!! As we were worshipping today in church I looked over at my family & tears were flowing! My heart was full, & beyond anything they are my favorite!
The amazing Lyn Rosten captured my family this year along with her super creative husband, Jesse Rosten ! They are an incredible team & we had such a blast! They were beyond super astoundingly creative! Our Christmas Cards turned out awesome thanks to them!!! Thank you both so much for capturing us so perfectly!! Loved your perspective! Thank you! Thank you!
Us!!! I love us! Happy 2011!!!
CONNER: November 7th came along & we had a teenager!! He’s passed up many family members in height, mostly his Aunties, & is wearing the same shoe size as Ben! Eating us pretty much out of house & home (just kidding)! I often wonder if he’s gonna get sick, but he just keeps on eating!! Thirteen & enjoying seventh grade! He is passionate about youth group, creativity/art, friends, air soft guns, MWII, & basketball. Conner started playing in the AAU Basketball league this year & has been in and out of AAU camps & leagues! He’s looking forward to playing on the 7th & 8th grade basketball team after break!! He continues to draw & create amazing art. He works really hard at keeping his grades up & does awesome in school. He has officially become a hunter! He studied & passed his Hunter’s Safety Test & got his hunting license. For his thirteenth birthday his Pa & Nannie gave him a 22 (in picture)! He couldn’t have been more excited! He also went on his first hunting trip & shot a bear!!! We’re excited to cook it up!!! Conner is an awesome big brother! The girls adore him. Madison wrestles him at any chance she can & Kira is riding the wings of his basketball skills & enjoys shooting hoops with him after school. Excited for the adventure of a Junior Higher!! Conner is growing up into an amazing young man! We are so proud of him!
Kira: Kira is almost eleven & is the fun easy-going one of the bunch! Miss social, she knows pretty much everyone that we pass by & even more than that knows their favorite this or that! So loving! She’s in 5th grade & has transitioned well into being a 5th grader! Super smart, always up for the challenge of getting straight A’s. She signed herself up for the 5th & 6th grade basket ball team! It was awesome to watch her become more & more athletic! We were amazed. By the end of the season she was bringing some feistiness! & the competitive side was alive! So exciting she even made a few baskets!! Totally loves music, loves fun, sweet treats, decaf peppermint mocha, Just Dance III, friends & sleepovers, friends & sleepovers, did I mention friends & sleepovers? She’s our joy! So proud of her & absolutely love seeing her personality shining through more & more!
MADISON: Our nine year old!!! AHH Madison! Our baby!! She’s at a really fun age & we are really enjoying her personality & sass! She enjoys moshie monsters, dressing fancy, high heels, painting her nails, imagining, hummming & singing, designing outfits & fashion, La La Loopsie, her best friend Raya, keeping up with Conner & Kira, daddy & mommy dates, & is loving, absolutely loving third grade! Everyday after school she has a story to tell us! She’s really found a love for school & thinks her teacher is the BEST! Never a dull moment in Madison’s world, or in our’s, I should say! Always making us smile! Love our Madi girl!
BEN & HEATHER: Almost 29-& whatever! I wish!!! LOL! Ben & I are doing amazing! Growing more & more in love every day!!! Love how far we have come! On the 28th we will be celebrating FIFTEEN years of wonderful MARRIED bliss! Fifteen years! Can you believe it?? Ben is loving being a Revival Group Pastor at Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry! As well, enjoyed shooting 27 weddings this year with ME! I couldn’t be more thankful to have him by my side! Absolutely love working together with him. We are finding a pretty good rhythm working together. So thankful to have family & friends who have helped us out with the kids while we shoot weddings! I feel so blessed!!!!
Ben has been making himself bow ties & yes, I absolutely love them & love that he can make his own! Oh he’s so cute when he wears a bow tie!!!
He enjoys coffee, coffee with friends, river trail walks, painting, creating fashion, movies, watching 24 with me, growing his garden & talking to his plants while he waters, & loves that his son now has a hunting license & they get to hunt together! Mary’s Pizza Shack dates with the kids, good music, most of all he so adores his children & me! I am so thankful for him & how amazing he is as a daddy & husband! Thank you for always being a strength, for leaning into “us”, & for being who you are! I love you Ben!
& me.. Yah, trying to work it! Seriously need some practice, but it was super fun posing it up for Lyn! I’m doing great! I really am. It’s been a really busy last couple of months! I still feel like I need to catch my breath, but it’s been amazing & I am so thankful! My family & hubby have really been my strength through this busy season & I cannot even express my gratitude! AHH! I’m continuing to grow as a person. Oh to develop character. I would’ve thought I would have figured it out by now, but oh so much to grow! This year has felt like a lot of accomplishments! I’ve lost just around 46 pounds, business is growing & flourishing! I now have an incredible intern, who is helping me out tremendously, as well, love that I can give to her & teach her! It’s so rewarding & I am loving it!! Oh, we got a new car! A miracle of a situation, but we did & I just thank Jesus everyday for it! We took a vacation to Santa Cruz & enjoyed VERVE coffee every day! AHH! Yes, it’s one of my favorites. If you follow me on Facebook you will know, I love goooood coffee! & starbucks all the time! It is my absolute ahhh moment! I love coffee in the mornings with Ben, love river trail walks with the family, rollerblading, sushi is a favorite, my iphone -yah, I think I love it too much, love time with friends, & coffee with friends, especially! It just never gets old! Love our church, & being involved there! It is so life giving! Loving being a Revival Group Pastor’s wife! Love it! Love becoming who I was created to be & love finding out more about myself each day! I am so thankful to be walking in the fullness of who I’m called to be!!!
It really is such a wonderful life! I am so thankful! Keepin’ on believing!!!!!!
Happy TWENTY-FIVE days of blogging! Thank you so much to each of you who follow my blog posts & continue to leave comments! They mean so so much! Truly! Thank you to all of my Brides & Grooms, Couples, & Family, Children, Babies, & Bellies, Events & Schools, Seniors you are the BEST! Thank you for your business & for the honor of having us capture you! Oh how beautiful each of you are!!! Thank you! Thank you!!!!
Happy 2011!!!! May 2012 be beyond our expectations!!!