Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Saturday, May 12, 2012

For Moms

This is a special Mother's Day for my family, since it's the first one my sister gets to celebrate as a mother. I couldn't be happier for her. 

What could be better than being a mom to the sweetest baby in the world and having this beautiful face light up every time you walk into the room?



 Maybe being this beautiful baby's Aunt Allie..... who gets a good amount of smiles and kisses, too. 


And who gets her very own Mother's Day card for the first time. 


I've loved this child so much from the first second I heard her heartbeat and even more since the first time she wrapped her hand around my finger that sometimes I feel like I am her mom. Hopefully, that's exactly what I'll be to her- a second mom. 


Just like my aunt always has been to me. 


She's the perfect example of a woman who does it all. She is an amazing wife, mother, sister, aunt, daughter, and Christian. Somehow, she balances that with a demanding job and still manages to find time to take pictures and scrapbook for her family. I've always credited any creativity and talent in photography that I might have to her, and hopefully I've picked up a few (or many) other similarities to her along the way. 



My own mother is the definition of sacrifice. She's always, always, done anything and everything she possibly could for us. I don't want to even begin to count the miles she's driven back and forth to see us, clean for us, bring food to us, or anything else.  Most of those things we didn't even have to ask for. She just did it. Thank goodness I found a husband who treats me as good as he does because you could say I'm accustomed to being taken care of. Very well. And now she's just as giving and caring to Anniston as she was to us. 


My Granny has always given us the love, support, crocheted goodies and sweet treats that a Granny should. She is one of the most positive people I know- she is always so genuinely happy. There is something to be said about always being able to see the silver lining- and in my Granny's case, she can sometimes find it in the funniest way possible. She's probably the coolest Granny there is, because she emails us and talks to us on Facebook, all from her iPad. Most importantly, she raised one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, probably the man with the best heart ever- my Dad. 



Words cannot even begin to express the love, admiration, respect and gratitude I have for my Grandmom. This woman has set the bar so high for women in our family- I hope we can live up to it. The amount of love that she had- and still has for my Granddad is inspiring. The passion and dedication she has for caring, cooking, and being there for us is so endearing. The energy that she has at almost 85 is unheard of, and is a result of daily exercise and healthy eating habits for years and years. The hard work and savings she has built to be able to give to us and others as much as she does is unbelievable. Her southern charm, sweet laugh, unexpected jokes and insistence on being grammatically correct..... well that's just Grandmom. I look up to her so much.


I hope you all know how much you mean to me. 
(  And if you didn't, this sappy post should give you a pretty good idea. :)  )

Happy Mother's Day

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Happy Easter, Anniston!

Kelly and I had been planning our "Easter Photo Shoot" for Anniston for a while... I'm so glad the weather was nice, and most of the pictures turned out pretty well. They are such good practice for me, but the results have shown me that I still have so much to learn. 
I think Kelly is happy to have Anniston's first Easter documented in photos, and Anniston looks adorable, as always. She makes my job as her personal photographer look easy. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Is Giving Really Better Than Receiving?

I had so much fun giving gifts this year, I didn't even realize what a good Christmas I had when it came to what I received.

Brandon's parents and Grandmother got us one of my favorite things of all time, money. :)

Grandmother also got me and Brandon a Keurig, and gave me the coins that my Granddaddy had collected for me. From the Nanneys, I got the most pretty, purple and pink iPad case! Mom and Dad got me an iPod nano to improve my audiobook/running listening experience, and my favorite Kate Spade iPhone cover that I've been wanting.



From Brandon, I picked out a camera bag insert that perfectly fits the camera bag I asked for from Kelly and Brandon. Both will also fit my iPad, and will be perfect so that I can always have my camera and all of my gear with me.



Brandon also got me the full version of the photo editing software I've been using, and some RAM for my computer so that I can get all of that editing done faster!

I will say that on Christmas day, giving was better than receiving. But after Christmas, I've certainly been enjoying presents!

An Apple Kind Of Christmas

We had a really great Christmas this year. Nothing could be better than having Anniston, my wonderful family, and Brandon to celebrate with.

For the first time, Brandon and I were actually able to give what we wanted! It was so much fun giving presents this year.

 Kelly and I had always said after I graduated, we would buy Mom and Dad something special for Christmas to show them how much we appreciated their help in getting us through pharmacy school. I'm pretty sure they were completely shocked that we gave them an iPad....




Christmas Eve Brunch

 Brandon and I are usually with his family on Christmas Eve, but we visited them the weekend before Christmas this year. Since we had nothing planned for Christmas Eve, we decided to host Christmas Brunch at our house for my family.  Almost everyone got to come, including Nancy, John, Jake and Grandmom! Will had to work though. :(

Most of my family hadn't seen my house in a while, if at all, and it was the first time I hosted a "dinner(-like) party" with my new, beautiful buffet, table and chairs.


Drool. This is why I love Pottery Barn and West Elm outlet. Without them, I would have no furniture. Moving on...

I made Christmas fruit kabobs....



 and cinnamon mini waffles....

plus egg frittatas. Mom brought some breakfast casseroles and mini muffins. Kelly made these adorable "Santa Hat" brownies!


Everyone seemed to enjoy the delicious food, but we enjoyed each other's company even more! I put my Apple TV screen saver to play all of the best pictures of Anniston and the family that I've taken with my new fancy camera while it played Christmas music from my iTunes library, and it was the hit of the party!







That afternoon, Brandon and I went to see "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", the American version. I really expected to hate it, since I like the Swedish version so much. But.. I loved it! I can't wait to see it again- Lisbeth is so feisty!


Sunday, November 20, 2011

A Rowdy Thanksgiving

Kids make the holidays so much more fun. I've always looked forward to seeing the little ones at holiday get-togethers, since I'm not around kids that often. They are so entertaining!

Of course, this beautiful baby girl brings joy everywhere she goes!



Granny knitted Anniston a sweater and a hat. Rumor has it she almost gave up knitting after tackling that pattern!



David reminds me so much of Jake when he was little. He came up to me and said, "My momma has a camera like that!" Then he proceeded to pose, and insisted on seeing the picture to approve it before moving on to wrestling Eli.


 Meredith laughed at this wrestling match, saying "Eli may not be able to beat his 3 year old nephew, but he can defeat anyone at Modern Warfare!" I have to say- David is a pretty tough little 3 year old.



Mason and David were sneaky about posing for this one while their mom wasn't looking. ;)



Ella is going to be a personal shopper when she grows up! This girl is only 7 and already has some mad style.









 It's been LONG time since we've taken a good picture together. We don't get many tries. :)



A very thankful mom.


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