More Portfolio Pics...

Well, earlier this weekend I met the Crows at the Shelby park and we took a couple pics of their family. The kids were sooo cute, and I hope I didn't bore them too much! :)

Let me know what you think!

Happy Anniversary

When Ryan and I first talked about getting married I was still in training in Maryland and Ryan was already stationed in Texas. We knew we wanted to be stationed together and the only real way to have a chance at that was to get married. We already knew we wanted to get married after I graduated from training, but if we did that, I would have already had my orders and we would be separated for sure. This was when we decided that we would get married while I was still in training. Our thinking and the thinking of our superiors was that this would help us to be stationed together. So, on my summer vacation home in late August, Ryan met me in NC and we met with my Pastor, and we were married in his home with Pastor's wife and Samuel Collins as the witnesses. We only had a day or two afterwards to spend time with my family and his family talking about wedding plans and getting to know each other's family. I know some of you may wonder why we didn't have a ceremony that included both of our families or why we kept it a secret, but we knew that not everyone would be able to come and we wanted the wedding day in November to be as special as possible. We absolutely LOVED our November wedding and it really was a truly special day for all concerned. Although it did not work out the way we planned, we wouldn't have changed it for anything. And, even though we were legally married on August 25th, we still chose to wait and I was legitimately able to wear white at the November wedding. :)

This may not be the best forum to announce this, but this is something we've wanted to let all our family and friends know for quite some time. I hope that no one feels offended that they were "out of the loop", but we honestly just wanted our November wedding to be as special as possible!

With that said, I also wanted to share a little video I made for my Ryan for our August 25th anniversary. I wanted to do something that would make him laugh but also realize how much I adore him. I realize that it is a man's voice on the video, but I still think you can appreciate it for what it is. :)

Our Little Pumpkin...

Okay, I know it is not October 31st yet, but I am afraid Eli will be too big for this come that date, so we tried on his costume tonight, and I just couldn't resist getting a few pictures. Hope y'all enjoy!

Just Chillin...

STOP TRYING TO KISS ME MOMMY!

Yeah, that's my Mom...

What's in a name?

Well, you remember my post about how I was starting to walk to try to lose the pregnancy pounds? Well, upon the advice of others and what I had been thinking myself, I decided to join WeightWatchers and give it a try. I know quite a few people who have lost a lot of weight on this program, and I am determined to be one of them. I went to my first meeting on the 6th of September and last night was my 3rd meeting and weigh in. If you don't understand the concept of WeightWatchers and their meetings, the basic idea is you weigh in once a week and then there is kind of a motivational speaker who encourages you to keep at it. Then they have plans where you track what you eat by points or a new plan where you eat from a varied list of healthy foods. I chose the Points or the Flex plan because I need the accountability of only having a certain number of points. I've been doing pretty good and the first week I lost 3.6 and the second 1.6, so I've lost 5.2 lbs so far and the scale will only go down from here! My goal right now is to lose 30 lbs by Christmas, so we'll see if that happens. Some say WeightWatchers is just a gimmick, which I tend to agree with because all it really is is choosing to eat proper portion sizes of low calorie, healthy foods. Don't get me wrong, you can choose to have fattening things, but they cost you so many points that you would rather have more healthy, lower point items. I really like it though because it does the work of calorie counting for me, so I can just add up the points, and not worry about calories and fat grams!

Well, at the meetings they make you wear a nametag and it feels kind of like an AA meeting on steroids. :) Not that I've ever been to an AA meeting, but I've seen them in movies. :) The leader for these meetings runs around and is just way too excited about everything, so it's loads of fun seeing what she's gonna say. Anyways after last night's meeting I needed to run to Walmart to get some groceries cause we were out of a lot of the staples that I cook with. Well, after shopping for 20-30 minutes, I was walking to my car and people watching as I went. I don't know if you've ever seen the show, "What not to Wear" on TLC, but they find the most horrendously fashion challenged people and help them get a new fashionable wardrobe. Well, as I was people watching I kept thinking, "Oh wow, they are an excellent candidate for that show." After thinking this about 3-4 people, I looked down at what I was wearing to see if other people would think I needed the show as well. And low and behold guess what I was still wearing... my stupid WeightWatchers nametag! So, not only did I walk around Walmart for 20-30 minutes with a nametag, but with a nametag that screamed WEIGHTWATCHERS!!!! I thought I was gonna die, but decided I would get over it! :) Here is a rendition of the nametag we wear at the meetings... :) I guess it's good for me to get over my pride!

I know... All I do is post pics... :)

You would too if you had such a cute baby! :) When I was down in Georgia, Gramma Leigh-Leigh and I picked this outfit up at Babies-R-Us because of Ryan's love for Soccer. I think he is just too cute in it, so I thought I would post. :)

One of his favorite times is chillin' in his bouncerSo happy...Our Handsome BoyHe spun the "Monkeys" and it kind of scared him!

Stroller Time

Took Eli on a little stroller ride today, and I thought he looked so big, so I thought I'd post. :) Hope you enjoy

Always smiling!

So handsome

Mommy and Me time
Everything is just so funny!
No idea what he was looking at! This is what Eli thought of the picture taking!

Naked Baby pics!

Okay, I guess he really isn't naked, but whatever... :) Hope you enjoy, he was quite a character this morning! :)

Belly laughs!

Such a happy babyYo! What's your problem?What you lookin' at Snoopy?I guess you're not so bad!I know, I should be a baby model!Hey you over there...Do my muscles look big?My Mom is crazy... my Mom is crazy...NO MORE PICTURES!

Update on Eli...

I don't know how I managed to forget to post this, but Eli has been a little sick lately and actually had a fever a little over a week ago. I gave him some Children's Tylenol and his fever went away and he slowly seemed to "feel" better. Unfortunately he had some lingering congestion issues, so I called the pediatrician about it and he said he thought Eli might have had an ear infection, so he gave us some Amoxicillin for him and told us to use saline drops to try to get all his congestion cleared up. He's been doing much better since then although he is still on the amoxicillin and saline drops. He was also weighed and at 12 weeks he weighed 16 lbs 1 oz. He is about 13.5 weeks now (Just over 3 months), and we don't go back to the doctor till he is 4 months and then he'll get another round of shots. :(

Hopefully I'll send out his updates a little quicker next time! :)

Do you Support Our Country?

I took a few photos of Eli today in honor of 9/11. Ryan and I want to raise him to honor and respect our country and our leadership, so I thought these photos were appropriate. :) No matter where we stand politically, I think on this day we should all come together to honor the memory of those fallen on 9/11 and our troops who have fallen in Iraq.

So, here is Eli's part to "Support our Troops"! ;)

Sad days...

Well, yesterday we all had to say goodbye to one of my closest friends in the world. Sam had his going away party for his 6 man unit yesterday afternoon at Fort Bragg just outside of Fayetteville, NC.

It was about a 3.5 hour drive each way, but there was no way I was going to not be there for him and Heather. I have already said goodbye to my Ryan so many times before, so I honestly was not looking forward to this at all, but knew that I needed to go.

This is going to be a definite trial for Sam and Heather, so I know they will appreciate your prayers during this time. I love you guys!

Me trying to take a picture without looking through the viewfinder really doesn't work!They wouldn't look at the camera at the same time!Silly people :)Heather with the adorable Matthew and Mikayla

Heather and Michael looking thrilled to be here. :)

Heather and the shy one...

I said something obnoxious to make Heather laugh and it obviously worked. :)

The Adorable couple

Would You Hire Me?

I don't know if you noticed, but they didn't touch at all in the photos because they are waiting till they are married to touch, so I had to try to get creative to fool the eye a little and make it look like they were showing affection. :) They may be young, but they are really in love, and I think the photos demonstrate that. I tried to have a variety of shots that range from halfway serious to just fun, so let me know what you think. These are a couple of my fav edited shots. (I have over 100 to give them, but I figured I'd just post a few!) ;) When we get settled in Texas once Ryan gets back, I'm thinking of doing this on the side, so wondering if I have what it takes, would you hire me? ;) (I'm not seriously trying to drum up business right now, but just trying to get a general idea of what people think!) ;)

Front Yard Pics...

Well, just cause I thought Eli looked really cute tonight, I lugged him and some pillows and sheets out to the front yard to get a few pics for Daddy. :) Again, it is REALLY hard to get him to smile and take the picture at the same time!

Hope you Enjoy!

Our Happy Boy...Looks just a little chubby here... ;)Ummm... Mom, can you help me out here?You wanna see my foot?Yeah, I am that cute...I can move my hand real fast!I'm not scared, are you scared...

Yeah, I look like I'm sitting up...

What's up?

Can you make bubbles?

How you doin'?