Weekend Trip

This past weekend I was ecstatic about my trip to Chicago. My sister, Mom, aunt and a few of her friends took a bus to Chicago for a little shopping and Dirty Dancing on Broadway. I have been obsessed with the movie since high school so when I found out that it was in the theater I couldn't wait to see it. We left Saturday morning and got downtown with plenty of time to shop and then shop some more. We got some lunch and shopped even more. Later we headed to the theater district and found a martini bar next to the show. We had a few to many martini's before we all had to sit and watch a play. I fought to stay awake a few times...not that the show wasn't awesome but there are some slow parts and they just couldn't keep me awake. But it was awesome!! On the way home on Sunday we stopped at Michigan City and got to do some christmas shopping. Overall, the weekend was awesome and could handle doing that a little more often! There are pictures on my sister's blog linked the Hughes Family.
Tim and the kids had a great weekend also. I always love to hear the stories of what he comes up with to do with them when I am gone. He is such an amazing daddy and just as amazing husband. We are so lucky.

So this week we are spending the time packing for Tim's big Ohio hunting trip. He has been planning this for almost a year and I know he is just ecstatic that is right around the corner. We are going to really miss him but he is so deserving of this when he works 40 long hours a week to take care of us. So hopefully I will be able to post a huge buck in the future.

Tim got a deer!

Last night Tim shot a deer out by Borculo! Yeah more meat in the freezer! I was actually waiting for Tim to say HI after his hunt because we were out in the area. He called and said that he shot one and call your sister. So I called Nora to have her come out with the kids so they could see it also. We were able to drive right in the field where it layed and they were able to be a part of everything. It was so much fun and brought back many memories of us as kids hanging out late at night tracking and helping with the deer! I am so happy to be able to share this with my family the way my mom and dad use to do with us!


They tried to track the deer first and we ended up not seeing enough with the kids flashlights so we just drove up to the deer instead. It was much easier.
Emily was not quite sure of the deer and she was cold and tired so she sat in Tim's truck and waited patiently.
Well, Tim has offically been much more sucessful at hunting than I have been. I hope to be able get something with my bow soon! Until then I will let Tim continue to provide for the family. He does a pretty good job at it.

Emily is 18 months..well 18 1/2 months actually

My baby girl is such a little ham. We can't get enough of her and her BIG personality. Her and I got to go shoot some pictures of her on Friday. She is such a goof ball so we laughed a ton. Didn't get any perfect pictures but that is us. I got pictures that captured who Emmi is. I can't believe how big my baby has gotten, and big she thinks she is. If this is a sign of what life is going to be like with her I am going to laugh my butt off, have tears in my eyes from her sweetness, and I will have many gray hairs from her attitude!





Today was another good day for our craft shows. We were at Grandville High School today. We only have 3 more shows but I am looking forward to them.
Tomorrow, Tim leaves to go hunting for a few days. He has been spending all of his time in the woods lately trying to help me shoot a deer with my bow for the first time so I think he is deserving.
I have some new engagement pictures that I shot last night. They are posted on my photography blog. Check them out if you would like.

The Famous Fall Trip to Crane's Orchards

The kids and I headed out to Crane's Orchard with my dad and step mom. I had been wanting to go as a family but just didn't have a chance. Tim had a meeting with the Senator for the county so I decided not to sit at home all night. We got to the orchards to be the only ones there. We had such a great time. The kids thought it was pretty cool to go pick there own apples. They only had a few kinds left so we didn't have much to pick from.
I always feel like going to the orchards kicks off fall. Fall is already here but it seems like it is something that is part of this time of year. All the pictures I see of everyone else I know going, shows me I am not the only one that feels this way. I just love this time of year!
I wish I like the apples I go to pick every year. I just do it for the kids and they seem to love it.
Now it is time to make the pies!!! I love those.

The kids are playing with Daddy

Emily and Mason were playing with daddy on the couch. Mason was running circles for the most part and Emily was sporting her cowboy hat.


So Daddy was playing this game with the kids. They would sit on his lap and then he would flip them over and land on their feet. Every time they would get done Emily would ask daddy "one more time" then give him a kiss and flip and hope to land on there feet or their head. It was a really safe game!







This weekend was so nice and we had such a nice time. Friday the kids spent the night at "chicken Grandma and Papa's" (My mom has chickens so that is what the kids call them). Tim and I got out to go hunting up north. We didn't see anything Friday and saw two Saturday but neither came close enough to shoot. It is so nice to spend some time with Tim. We enjoy hunting together so much and laugh so much when we should be sitting there quite...maybe that is why we don't see much.
Saturday we picked up the kids and had snack and movie night. We made a bunch of snacks for dinner and layed out the bedding on the floor and watch Bugs life. The kids thought that it was so awesome to have snacks for dinner. I love to just relax and let go of some of the structure and normalcy for the kids every once in a while.
Sunday we went out to shoot a ton of family pictures. I took pictures of our kids, Nora's kids and family, and Micki's kids oh and our family. I will post those soon.

Little update

So, I realized that it has been a month since I have posted anything. I wish I could say I have just been lazy but it isn't the case. I have been extremely busy! Our weekly hustle and bustle, and our craft shows are started, of course my photography, and now is hunting season.
Mason is doing great in school! I am shocked at how much of a change I am seeing this quickly. He has started communicating so much better. He is learning his shapes, and starting to really learn how to draw and write the letter A. If he could only learn his colors. Nora and I laugh a lot about how the boys are just so unfocused when they want. If you ask Mason what color something is he knows it but he will tell me the wrong color. It was a joke but I wondered if he was color blind because for a while he would never get it right. I know he knows his colors and maybe some day he will stop being such a goofball and tell me a stop sign is red not purple.
Emily is growing day in and day out. She wants to and trys to talk so much. I am starting to put together her mumbles and realize the words she is trying to say. Her newest word today was french fries "fafas" It is awesome to see her growing up and change. I can't believe my baby is 18 months old.
My photography business is doing great! For my first year I feel that I am busier then I would have ever expected. I keep learning something new every shoot I do and every time I spend time on the computer working on pictures. I hope that next year goes as well if not better than this year. (hopefully better:) )
And Deer season is finally here. Tim has been driving me crazy about wanting to just go out and hunt. He shot a doe on Friday out on the north side of Holland. It was so cute. He called at 7:30pm and told me shot a doe and that he wanted Mason to come out and help track the deer. So I packed the kids up and headed out to the woods to meet him. It brought tears to my eyes to see Mason and his Daddy walking down the gravel road with flashlights in hand out to find the deer that daddy "wacked" Unfortunately, they could not find it that night and had to wait to morning but it still made Mason that much more excited to hunt and be a part of it. I look forward to the memories to come of him and Emily and their hopefully growing love for the outdoors like their parents. I also got out to hunt but I only saw one deer about 100 yards out. So hopefully I can see a few more and have a shot this weekend.

Well, that is what we have been up to and hopefully we will have some updated pictures soon.