BIG News!

It's official!

In the next few months I will be working hard on getting everything lined up, for the opening of my 

Photography Studio.

I will be partnering with another local photographer, Carrie Pendleton, and we will be sharing a studio space. I could not be more excited to see my passion turn into a tangible reality.

(this is not the space below, snagged a studio pic for fun)

Near the end of August the space will be ready for us to go in, revamp, and prepare. I am over the moon.

Quick update

Kids are doing great.

Patrick is still high from turning six. He quit tae-kwon-do, and wants me to find him a break dancing class, lol, we will see if I can pull that off in Clovis, I doubt it. We are gearing up for school to begin soon, and he's super excited about starting first grade. We are still dairy free and he is doing great, but I am taking him off of gluten as well, I think it will help him.

Norah is doing great, going to be two in August, can't believe it. She is talking so much, and so well, it's really astonishing. Norah and her big brother play well together most of the time now, and I am so glad they have one another. Norah spends most days naked still, loves to be in the nude, and honestly in the heat, if I could get away with it I might try it as well. She is and has been pretty much fully potty trained since 18 months, stays dry all night, it's really awesome.

The kids love their daddy and have made time to play more recently and it's awesome. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them all in love with one another.

Jerry's job is going well.

I'm a little crazy with so much going on, but doing my best to cope. So anyway, everyone is good!

Happy Birthday Annie

PRIDE

A little bit off the beaten path here, not so much about family tonight. 

Many do not agree, and I am not here to convince, defend or even really share my view on the matter, but I will say that I am glad on a day like this, that we have our constitution in place to protect things like freedom of speech, religion, and that we have the right to chose our partners, jobs, parenting choices etc. 

 Today they held the first ever in Clovis, Pride Parade, and I was there with my camera.

It was really great, small, but great. The community here has an extreme phobia of gay, lesbian, bi, transgender individuals, and they truly believe it is an abomination, and they may catch it.

In any event I was proud to witness it, I was proud to be there, I enjoyed the music, and yelling, smiles, honking, and the smell of pride in the air.

Of course, some of the anti gay's were there as well with their signs condemning them, the Potters House church held a rally on a street corner with their microphone attempting to drown out the parade with the gospel. The parade began late, it was a shame to see the Clovis Police Dpt. show disrespect for the event. Although all of the proper channels had been gone through, and a permit was in place, the police escort to begin the parade did not show up on time, nor did they put up the required street barricades to keep traffic from driving through.  I imagine they thought that if they didn't show, the parade would not happen.The parade was scheduled to begin at 12:30 pm and at 5 minutes till 1pm, they decided to begin anyway. The police did not show up until another 10 minutes. I am proud of all of those who attended and participated, it took some gut's, especially in this town. I hope this will not be the last parade here. Here are some photos from today.

The kids last week......

My Norah, with a semi pout going on here.

We went to some friends last week for pictures and dinner, and Patrick was loving the little truck they had. He drove laps around the back yard, think maybe I should get him one of these. Grandma Cissy gave us money once upon a time for one of these, but I believe we had to use the money for an electric bill or something. He is a very good driver, scared me a little, lol. 

This is Norah's new "Cheese!" face, lol, love it.

Norah was jealous of Patrick riding the truck, she wanted to ride, and he did drive her around for a bit, but when he wasn't..... she was driving the fisher price car.

Patrick's Sixth

Food, family, and fun :)

SIX

My scruffy, dirty, un-bathed child at Six.

He had a hair cut this week, you may not be able to tell, because he refused to comb it today.

He is also wearing a t-shirt that he has worn off and on for a week, because he loves it.

I asked him what he wanted to do today, and  he simply said "Nothing", as if he needed a break from nothing, lol. He seems more wise beyond his years sometimes. We ate a big breakfast, and spent the rest of the day hiding out in the cool air conditioning, playing his new Wii game, and playing in the floor. It was a very relaxed, very cool day of nothing. I think he really enjoyed it. And to top it all off, this afternoon we had a visitor. The door bell rang, I peeked outside, and made Patrick answer the door. There was a sweet woman standing out in the hot wind, holding a rather large bouquet of balloons, from Aunt Annie. The woman told Patrick, "Your aunt Annie is sorry she couldn't be here and I know she loves you very much. Happy birthday Patrick". You should have seen the grin on his face, he seemed shocked, and surprised, and incredibly special. Lol. It made his day, thank you Annie, that was so very sweet, and it made him feel so loved and special. 

Lol. So here he is, in all the freshness and newness of Six.

A little rugged, but thrilled none the less.

Patrick

Remembering the day, my first born arrived. 

It seems like yesterday.

It's hard to think several years has now gone by, in what seems to be a blink of an eye. 

I don't like it.

This photo, was taken at the hospital where Patrick was delivered via "emergency" c-section, moments after he was "born".  I miss the "tiny" he once was.

Taking a walk back through time.....

One

Patrick started walking on his first birthday. This was a Poo party, lol.

Two

He insisted on a "Toy Story" party this year.

Three

He couldn't make up his mind on one character for his party, so we did all of them and had a Superhero party with all of them, he liked that.

Four

By year four we found out he was allergic to dairy, so we started making out own cakes. This was our dairy free, gluten free, Pirate cake we had for his pirate party.

Five

By five he was a huge Star Wars fan, so of course for his birthday I made him a dairy free, gluten free, Star Wars cake. (Yeah, it was pretty cool)

This year we are doing things a little different. Every year it seems that his birthday had fallen on a weekend, or close to it, but this year it's on Thursday. "Ah man, daddy has to work all day."
 So we are going to have our shindig on Saturday evening. We plan on firing up the new grill, and having family over in celebration. I will be making a cake. Of what you may ask? It's a surprise!

As far as today, Once the child awakes from his slumber, we will begin our "Birthday....Day". Can't wait, he was is excited. My baby boy turns SIX today. Amazing. 

Happy Birthday Son.

P.S.

While on my hunt to find all of the previous birthday photos, I found this one, one of my all time favorites of Patrick. Oh how I would love to hold that tiny Patrick again. Lol. Love it, love him.

I'm a Looser

Loosing weight makes me happy!

I have had two children, whom I love more than anything.

I would not trade them for anything in this world or outside of it.

But.........

Having children has definitely reeked some havoc on my body.

Things have moved, stretched, and frankly diapered in some cases.

With Norah getting older, and nursing less, (yes she is still nursing)

my body is finally starting to let go of some of the "Momma Bear" weight I put on.

With Patrick, I gained a whopping 60 pounds. I went from a size 7ish, to an 18 after he was born. I was devastated to look at my new body in the mirror. I went from complaining about love handles to stretch marks and rolls of skin I never had before, lol. My brain never got the memo that I gained so much because still to this day, I still dream thin, lol. It was impossible for me to loos weight after Patrick, my body seemed to want to store every ounce of fat. Once he quit nursing, I started loosing, and I was thrilled, but then......Pregnant again! Lol, I only gained 25 pounds with Norah, but that was on top of the 10 I gained from my miscarriage.

Anyway. With all of my diet changes, and recent increase in exercise, along with Norah's drop in nursing, my body is once again, slowly, but surly, dropping some weight.  

I am excited. I have never become used to my bigger body, and now I start to recognize myself in the mirror a little more.

Loosing is awesome. I like being a looser!

(lol)

After Norah was born I was back up to a size 16, in the past months I have dropped a little here, and a little there. Last week I went shopping for some clothing for Jared's wedding, and fit into a size 7/8! Maybe those pant's run big, but still, smaller than a 16. Someone give me a WooooooHooooo!

Megan & Kyle Kempf and Jared & Triston Rolan

Playing catch up today with multiple posts!

My cousin got married.
May 28th, also my birthday.

We missed it, and I so wish we could have been there. We would have been, but it did not work out. I am so happy for her. I hope she and Kyle are happy, he seems like a really good guy.

I can't wait to see all of the pictures. But here is one of my little cousin Megan, who I spent many summers with playing, and fighting, and taking swimming lessons, and vacation bible school with. Hard to believe we are all grown up now. Congrats cousin. I love you.

And as long as I am going to blog about one wedding, I might as well blog about two, lol.

My mothers, husbands, Son...got married over the weekend.

Jared is my stepbrother, and a funny guy. I love hanging out with my two stepbrothers, when they are around because they are so funny, and spend all of their time picking on each other, cracking jokes, and they always make me feel like one of the guys, lol.

Anyway, Saturday, Jared married a girl named Triston, who I have met several times and is so sweet and kind. I really like her. I shot the wedding for them, and took over 900 photos that I managed to slim down to exactly 331 photos, lol, for now. Soon I will be editing non stop. I thought I would share one of theirs as well.

It's almost here!

Art

I watched this beautiful video on YouTube last week, and was inspired.

So off to Hobby Lobby we went as a family.

We bought every color of paint, some canvas, a tarp, brushes, sponges, pom poms, glitter and anything else we thought we might be able to incorporate into our art, and set up.

The kids had a blast!

We moved our kitchen island, and table, and laid down the plastic over the entire kitchen floor, put on aprons, and went at it.

So I thought I would share some photos of the kids painting.

V is for Vasectomy

Yes, you read that correctly. 

We have two, beautiful, smart, wonderful children.

We are grateful, thankful and feel so blessed. We have, what we have always wanted.

A healthy, happy family......of four.

After Norah was born, the topic of a Vasectomy came up, a legitimate topic between two people who have begun procreating and didn't know where to go next. Now that we could get pregnant again, what are we going to do for birth control? We talked about it, and then we dropped it and it went away for a while. Then we talked about it again, never really making a decision, never really putting it to bed either.

The bottom line? A question and an answer.

Do we want more children?

Jerry-No!

Michelle-Maybe, but not now. 

So not even close to now, that it might as well be No.

We have talked, and talked, and talked some more about the possibility of a Vasectomy for Jerry. Neither one of us wanted to rush into anything, we both wanted to agree on it whether for, or against, and we both had to come to terms on whether or not this was for sure something we wanted to do. We have looked into other alternatives as well, but we both kept coming back to the "V" word. It's scary, because it's pretty much permanent.....forever.....can't change your mind.......ever.

We have done the research, watched videos, read blogs, to ease any questions and fears Jerry and I may have. I have realized this is a scary topic for many men, but a Vasectomy compared to pregnancy and childbirth seems very small to me. This is something Jerry and I have discussed in depth. How wonderful would it be if we could be close as a man and wife and not have the fear of another pregnancy. If we are truly done, what can it hurt? Nothing! God love him, he understands my fear in an unplanned pregnancy, and I understand his for a loss of financial security.

So with all of that said. Jerry gets the Super Dad and Husband award, for making our family of four permanent. He gets a high five for pushing through his fear and having courage. He gets a big thumbs up for for listening to his wife's fears and doing something about it. And I think it is a perfect way to celebrate Fathers day, lol, by committing to not having more than we can love, and support.

I know some may not agree with our decision, but it is one we have made together, and we are happy with it. I could not be more happy, or proud of my husband right now.

So on Friday, we will be in Lubbock, and Jerry will be getting a Vasectomy!