As I said in my last post, this year has been FULL.
It had a rather surprising start – Matthew brought me to a house, only to inform me that he had boughten it! Quite conveniently, it is just up the road from the in-laws and it has room for our cows. We drove past it countless times and never dreamed that it would ever be our “house of dreams” as Anne Shirley would say.
Only a few room’s needed painting, but we were still very thankful to have lots of help in that respect – I was especially thankful that Matthews family is taller than me. That made the entire painting process go much faster!
Below is my favorite room in our house. As a 3 season closed-in porch, it will soon be a 3 season office for me. I’m excited to have a space to focus more on photography and to work on expanding even more!
Coffee dates with college friends were numerous before the wedding. I would be moving shortly, and coffee shops make the best place for wedding planning.
That being said, one does not simply wedding plan every day… So I made sure to go on my fair share of adventures.
My dear friend Alyssa came to visit for a weekend which allowed me a good reason to go on more adventures. We went to the State Capitol, Zombie Burger, the park where M and I got engaged, as well as any other places we could fit in here and there.
That was only a month before our wedding, and it was a much needed break from planning.
I went over to Wisconsin a week before our wedding and surprised my brother at his graduation. It was SO worth the drive and I couldn’t be prouder of this dude. He is an amazing nurse and got recognized for his excellence at his pinning ceremony.
While there, he brought me to his favorite park. It was so nice to get to walk around and catch up on what life had looked like the last few months.
Then before we knew it, May 12 had arrived.
It was a very windy and chilly day for May, but we didn’t let it dampen a thing! Our wedding coordinator was a rockstar and moved our entire outdoor reception inside and even managed to make it look pretty!
During pictures, all the girls wore plaid shirts to help ward off the cold. We played with puppies, ate tacos and ice cream and cookies, and enjoyed it to the max! I’m currently working on putting together a series about HOW to wedding plan, so you’ll hear a LOT more about our wedding then.
My Bestie photographed our wedding and she NAILED it. View more of her work here.
We headed off to Montego Bay, Jamaica the next day. It’s been a bucket list item of mine to see a warm ocean, and I was shocked that the ocean often feels warmer then being outside the water!
“Hand in my hand and you promise to never let go.”
My in-laws were blessed with 2 litters of puppies this year, and boy did we enjoy them!
This little guy was the last one for about a week, and he loved all the extra attention. He had fun visiting our house and “helped” me weed my garden . He also LOVED giving our kittens heart attacks multiple times a day.
We have the perfect view from our house on the hill. It’s beautiful!
Y’all, I love him so much!! He hates pictures, but I can usually convince him to take ONE at holidays. Or when the light is perfect.
I work at a coffee shop part time to get me out of the house a few hours a week. The mornings aren’t always fun, but there is NOTHING like watching the sun come up.
Anyone else think that Summer storms are one of the BEST things ever? I love them so much! <3
Our little tribe grew twice this year when we gained two and a half cats Their names are Forte, Staccato, and Rubato. Forte *pictured above* is quite loud and likes attention. Staccato is a small little girl, slightly timid and jumpy, but one of the sweetest cats you’ll ever meet. Rubato is our “half” cat. He belongs to the neighbors, but splits his time between our house and theirs.
We still took adventures this summer, even thought they are now closer to home. This place is called “Preparation Canyon” and is a nice little day-hike.
This year was my first FULL harvest to experience. It held a great deal of learning and asking questions. I am pretty sure M got sick of me asking similar questions over and over again, but he was beyond patient and never acted like it was a bother. <3
Wedding season meant that I spent every spare moment editing. Thankfully, editing is something I have always LOVED.
Don’t worry though, I did make time to bake a pie or two. 🙂
I took a trip up to Minnesota to visit my sisters and Mom for a bit. There really is nothing like spending time with family. Getting to know my nieces and nephews better and watch them grow is such a treasure!
As I promised, here is the newest member of our family. Her name is Ziva. She is our sweet and silly Rottweiler, Husky, Mastiff, and Heeler pup. She has discovered her love for cows, and herding them around the pasture is one of her favorite things to do. She surprises us sometimes with how smart she is. She always accompanies M or I when we feed the cows and she knows her job is to “get cows” and bring them over to the feeding area.
This little dude is Jonny. He is the most curious of our herd and is always sticking his nose into everything.
Christmas is here in full force and we are thoroughly enjoying having our own home and farm. I was blessed this year with more weddings than I have ever photographed before and I’m thankful to have successfully made it through wedding season. Since then, I’ve worked on catching up blogging, cleaning my house, finishing re-branding, and spending time with my little family.
Thanks for sticking with me this far! There is still one more end-of-year blog post coming, so stay tuned!
