Thankful

Thanksgiving seems like the perfect time to start this blog. This year I have so many things to be thankful for.

Married to a wonderful man for the past 5 years.

Have 2 beautiful baby boys that make me happier than I could ever imagine.  

2 crazy lovable dogs that make our family complete. 

Friends and extended family that make us so happy and fill our lives with joy and laughter.  A house over our head, food in our tummies and clothes on our backs. And if all that wasn't enough, over the past year I have been lucky enough to be able to stay home with my boys and start a career in photography.  

These two loves are really intertwined.  When I had Harper, my love for photography grew by leaps and bounds.  I didn't want to miss a second of this sweet baby's life.  The faster he grew the more pictures I wanted.  The more I took of him, the more I wanted of Buddy and Marley.  Then the more photos I wanted of everything.  At the time we had a DSLR, but I really wasn't sure how to use it.  I remember when we bought it telling Chris "we really don't need such a nice camera.  My little camera is fine".  Sorry Honey!! For Christmas that year, I got a photography class as a gift.  I think the gift that has changed my life the most.  

At first I was so nervous about the class.  In my head it was another thing I was going to try but not really be good at or understand so I would give up.  I'm not the biggest risk taker.  New things scare me and I don't like to fail.  So trying something I figured I'd fail at really wasn't in my game plan.  But I was tired of my pictures only sometimes turning out like I thought they should in my head, so I went.  And I fell in love with photography, but in a different way.  Some thing I have always loved, but never thought I would be good enough.  I started to be proud of the pictures I was taking and excited that things were turning out how I saw them in my head.  I wanted to take pictures of everything and anything.  I wanted to try different angles and settings on the camera.  Different lighting and different subjects.  

Then when I had B, C bought me a really nice DSLR.  This encouraged my new hobby even that much more.  That Spring I was asked by a best friend to take her newborn son's photos and her sister's newborn son's photos.  I was extremely flattered and honored to be trusted with such a huge job!

What an amazing feeling to be able to capture these images for a friend.  From there things have started to snowball and I couldn't be happier.  With the support of my friends and family I have been encouraged and praised.  I have been trusted to capture friend's memories and you all have no idea how much that means!  I feel like I have learned more and grown so much over the past year.  I'd like to start this blog to be able to share my journey.  I feel as though I have come a long way in the last few months, but know I have a long way to go.  I am so thankful to be given the chance to reach for my dreams.