Family Portraits 2013

I absolutely love when we get our pictures taken. I know that fifteen and twenty years from now, we will be grateful to have pictures that we had taken in our early years. We haven't had professional pictures taken since our wedding portraits two years ago. Before we left North Carolina, we really wanted to get our photos taken by a photographer that took my good friend Becky's. You can see her session here. You can find information about Ashley Perry Blevins Photography here. She is just fantastic! She has great fun ideas and really takes into account what you want. I sent her a link to a board on pinterest full of poses that I liked, and she really tired her best to recreate them. You can see our session on here blog here. But I am about to post a annoying amount of pictures!

Our session took place in White Lake, North Carolina. We left our location up to Ashley, and we are so glad that we did. They turned out beautifully.Here are just my top favorites!

There you have it! Our family pictures!

Super Bowl!

...and by super bowl I mean that I did not watch it. Confession:...football? not for me. I don't really do the whole football thing. I'm not saying I hate it or anything, I just prefer to spend my Sundays doing something else. I love the food involved in football games, just not so much the game themselves. It's no surprise that I found something to occupy myself last Sunday instead of watching the game. This came in the form of my almost three year old nephew Parker Chunk. It was honestly so much fun. We're trying to get as many days we can in with sister, brother-in-law and Chunk before they get re-stationed in less than a month. Parker loves coming to our house, and the feeling is mutual. It's so nice to have these little moments that make all of us so happy.

 I swear sometimes I can't tell who has more fun, Parker or his Uncle Matt. Parker has gotten really into Nerf guns so it's been extra fun. Well, for everyone but Buddy. Poor guy tends to be the moving target on more than on occasion.

He loves playing on the keyboard. Only when he can sit on Matthew' s lap though. I must say, he was doing a pretty good job!

Yes, Parker is without pants. No judgement on a 2 year old. He discovered Matthew's hat, sperrys, and golf clubs. And yes, he was allowed to play with them all in the house, minus the golf balls. All I could imagine was one going into the television. 

 

 

Then he decided to help me with dinner. I was making a chicken stuffing bake. One day I'll get around to posting the recipe. But for right now, he was just helping mix to ingredients. He took his job very seriously and ended up loving it. 

He loved it so much, that he told me that he wanted to "cook" some more. I was out of tasks that he could help with, so I brought out; a mixing bowl, spoon, measuring cup and plain flour. He seriously played with all of that for a half our straight. All went well until he tried to eat what he was "cooking".

After dinner, everyone was tired so it was time to relax. Matt and Parker "played" a video game. Parker had a remove without batteries and still had a lot of fun watching the game they were playing. But there you have it, my Super Bowl Sunday. It was the best Super Bowl Sunday I've had in years!

New Year, New Me...hopefully

Well it’s 2013 a month into 2013… so it’s time to kick my butt into gear and accomplish some things. As cliché as it is, I’m going to get some new years resolutions going. Well, more like new years goals to me. I like to stick with some easy ones at first but decided to put a little more effort this year.

Goal One: No Soda

I figured this was a simple goal to accomplish since I never was a big soda drinker. But, when we go out or travel I always find myself going for the soda. We don’t buy it for the house, so it’s not that I’m an “addict”. But, when I travel I find myself always reaching for soda vs. water. So, my goal is to hit a six-month of no soda and then re evaluate my goal for a year.

Goal Two: Improve Health

I know a big new years resolution is to lose weight. I don’t want to lose weight, but I want to get healthy. I love biking at the gym, so my goal is to be able to bike 30 miles a week by Easter, and then readjust my goal. I’d also love to be able to feel comfortable in a swimsuit. I’m not referring to having a rocking abs or anything, but just comfortable. I’d love not to have constant bloating from an unhealthy diet. So, I’m going to be working on a healthy eating habits, sleeping habits, working out and even doing more yoga.

Goal Three: Scheduling

I find myself going out my day in a smoother manner when I have a schedule to keep. I’m going to make a strict daily schedule to keep for a few weeks until I get into the swing of things. When I’m left up to my own devices, I find myself doing things like reading two books a day, all day, because I don’t have anything “important” going on that day. So, that’s another thing I want to work on.

Goal Four: Relationships

I want to work on the relationships in my life… not only my marriage, but also my relationships with my friends and family as well. I want to work on having strong relationships to the people who really matter, rather than only put in the minimum effort to have a lot of random people in my life.

Goat Five: The Big Man

I really need to start having more one on one time with God. I say my prayers, but I would love to do a daily devotional and really work on my relationship rather than religion.

Goal Six: Be Studious

I am a junior in college and I’d be lying if I said I was trying my hardest up until now. I did enough to have a decent GPA, but upon looking into graduate programs I realized that I needed to get my butt into gear. Let’s just say I may be even worse at posting to my blow now that my first classes after winter break start Monday.

Goal Seven: Organized
My house is a disaster zone. After Matthew got home, I realized that I really needed to be more organized. I am really putting that near the top of my list because an organized life is a happy life!

Goal Eight: Literature

I read a lot of “junk food” when it comes to books. My goal is to really put a dint in my books to read list. I want to finish 20 books off of THIS list this year. I love to read so I am really excited to tackle this goal!

Goal Nine: Blogging
I always have the greatest intentions of blogging more, even if it's not about a particular even or project. But, with the big move to Louisiana slowly approaching I am trying to make more of an effort. Most people who read my blog are friends and family so it's a way to keep everyone updated. Plus, it's almost therapeutic. So, pending my school schedule I will try to blog more.

Basically, I just want to start trying harder and being better. Until now I think I’ve been doing “just enough” in all aspects of my life. I want to start going above and beyond. So there you have it, my goals. Let’s hope I can really accomplish some things and kick butt!