Friday Fun

Hi Friends. Can we get a big amen that it is finally Friday! 

How about a five on Friday with some randomness...

1. Lets just get this one out of the way because it has been on my mind for over a week now and unfortunately will be until next week too. Last week I went to see the dentist for a tooth that was giving me issues and they scheduled for it to be pulled last night. Well after lots of numbing and pulling that darn thing wasn't coming out. So now I am scheduled to see an oral surgeon on Tuesday because it is going to need cut out. I am not looking forward to this at all and quite frankly am very nervous about the whole thing. Here is hoping they don't have to put me out for the procedure as I would like to keep Small Fry okay. Prayers are greatly appreciated!

2. August 26th. 11 years with that hunk of mine. Yep, eleven years ago we met at the County Fair and started dating at the first football game and we haven't been separated since. Life has been absolutely amazing with him by my side and I cannot wait to celebrate tonight. We are going to go to dinner at Roosters and then to see Bad Moms. Happy Anniversary Babe.

Back to School Session - Luke's First Day of Kindergarten

Sunday evening I went out to the farm to do the rest of Aubrey's maternity pictures and I ended up throwing together this adorable Back to School session for Luke. He is starting Kindergarten today and I thought it would be absolutely perfect. 

Gender Reveal Planning

Ever since before I became pregnant I knew I wanted to throw a gender reveal party. I had so many pins pinned on Pinterest and ideas flowing through my head. After we found out we were expecting I just haven't been able to narrow down all those ideas and stick to a plan. I love the idea of having a big box that we open with a bunch of pink or blue balloons exploding out of it or popping one of those big black balloons, and have all kinds of pink and blue decorations every where and a matching food menu to go along with the theme. I just can't figure out what to do for a theme...

Weekend Recap

This morning I hit snooze 3 times too many, laid in bed soaking up every last minute possible. Monday came way too soon! After a busy weekend the last thing I wanted was for Monday to arrive. But alas it is here and I am still trying to figure out where the weekend went. 

Friday after work I busted my butt to get back to town so I could watch the kids sell their market hogs. I knew for sure I would be able to make it to Vincent but Maddy and Molly were of question. The Sale started at 1:00 and I couldn't get to town until 5:00. I ran from the camper to the hog barn and had just missed Maddy (insert out of breath prego from running across the fairgrounds!) Molly sold about 20 minutes later and she did so good. She went right in there with a huge smile on her face and won over the crowd for sure. Unfortunately Vincent sold close to last and most of the buyers had left for the night, so the kids were lucky to be making it to market price. Maddy and Molly are just the sweetest and said that they want to combine all three of their checks and divide them equally among the three of them since Vincent did a majority of the work with the pigs. I ended up grabbing something to eat and going home to get some R&R because we had a big wedding on Saturday to shoot and it was an all day-er.

Oh Hey Friday!

I am linking up with Karli and Amy for some Friday Fun! Here is a little bit of what has went on this week. Lots of visits to the County Fair, shopping and an unexpected trip to the dentist (not so much fun!) I am definitely ready to get back into a routine next week and complete some goals I have set.

1. County Fair. Our County Fair is taking place this week and since we live 10 minutes from the fairgrounds I have taken full advantage of going over every single night. There is a big possibility (fingers and toes crossed) that we will not be living in the same house next year during the Fair and since we will have a 7 month old baby I don't know how convenient it will be to make so many trips to the Fair (don't doubt this Momma though, my love for the Fair is unimaginable so we will take that as a challenge!) Last night my cousin was able to hang out with me and we met up with my parents and some friends to watch the lamb and steer sale. These kids really put their hearts, hard work and lots of money into these projects so it is humbling to see so many local business owners show up to support them during the sale. I also made it a point to finally get an elephant ear that I have been craving all week.

Currently::August

Hello everyone, Happy Thursday!

We have almost made it through the week, almost there!!!

I haven't done one of these currently posts in quite a while and I feel like they are a fun way to really document what is going on at the time. For one I cannot believe we are halfway through August. Kids are heading back to school, some have already gone back and I feel like they were just getting out for summer break. I am not going to lie, I am pretty excited for some not so sweltering hot temps. Yesterday I left work and there was a nice little breeze and my car said that it was 74 degrees out. It truly was perfect! When we got to the fair it was a completely different story. The sun had come back out, there was no breeze and I was sweating like crazy...not fun. We ended up just grabbing a bite to eat and heading home after making a pit stop at the new Rural King in town. Anyhow, here is what has been going on around as of lately.

HBD to the first man to have my heart...My Daddy!

Today is my Dad's birthday. 

I will leave out how old, your welcome Dad. 

Growing up I was always (and still am) a Daddy's Girl. 

My Dad (both my parents really) has done so much for us that has allowed us to not need for anything. He worked many, many hours of overtime, worked weekends at the canoe livery, shoveled horse stalls a couple winters. He did this for us. 

Today I hope you get to relax and don't have to step foot at the County Fair.

Growing up we were big in 4H and his birthday always falls on fair week. Even though he loved participating in the fair, it really was just for us. Let's just say that going to the fair for his birthday now that his children are grown adults is just not on his list of fun things to do. 

Happy Birthday Dad, I love you! I cannot wait to see you be a Grandpa to Small Fry. You have been an amazing Dad, I can only imagine how great of a Grandpa you will be!

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was slightly busier than what I prefer, however, this weekend was just the kickoff to a very, very busy next few weekends. I literally have a wedding every Saturday from here until November with an exception of one or two weekends. Two of those weddings we are attending together as they are family members. The others are all weddings that I am second shooting with Megan for. Pray for me to be able to hang in there for those brutally long days.

Showering Baby Briggs

This weekend I threw my best friend a baby shower to welcome their little girl into the Briggs Family. Hopefully in a month I am going to get to finally hold this little lady in my arms. Saturday started out a little rainy and we were a little nervous with how it was going to turn out because we were having it poolside and I really wanted to be able to have the whole thing out. I met Joni at 8:00 a.m. and we headed to the Farmer's Market and around town for a couple other errands. 

We hosted the party at my Aunt and Uncle's and it made the world of a difference being able to take over their kitchen for all of the food prep instead of having to haul everything there after it had been prepared. After whipping all the food up we were able to get outside and finish decorating. The sun came out and the black clouds went away and we were thanking God!!

Test Results: Big Fat Plus Sign!!!

Friday June 17, 2016. The day we received the most exciting news ever. The day went a little something like this.

I slept through the latest possible snooze on the alarm that I possibly could, which had been going on for weeks. Rushed to get ready and ran out the door for work. Worked through my morning which was way busier than usual. I ended up grabbing lunch for some people at work and decided that I wanted to grab some chinese food for myself. I ended up ordering General Sos. About an hour after eating I realized my ankles were extremely swollen. I didn't think too much about it because I had also drank a Pepsi for the first time in weeks and thought maybe it was just a weird reaction to it and I was wearing new shoes. NBD.

Small Fry Coming February 2017!

I have been quite absent over here lately but I kept sitting down to write a post and all I could think about for the last few weeks is how much I wanted to announce our little secret. Well the time has definitely come. After a year and a half of trying we are thrilled to announce that we will be adding a bundle of joy to our family in February. We are over the moon excited and cannot wait to meet this little Mr. or Miss. This is just the beginning of the biggest adventure we have ever taken and we are so blessed that God has answered our prayers. Make sure you come back because I will most definitely be documenting every step (maybe not every step) of this pregnancy over here and there will be bump dates, gender reveal celebrations, and baby showers. 

Saturday Morning Rambling

Good morning. I'm just laying here in bed on this Saturday morning soaking up puppy cuddles from Tyson and kind of sort of dreading going out in the snow I have a yoga class that starts in one hour, we were hit with a snowstorm overnight and this warm bed seems so much better than venturing out. Anthony left this morning at 5:30 for his mail route and probably won't be home until after 6 or 7 tonight. I will be spending my morning hanging out with Jesie and getting my workout on, then back home to finish editing sessions and we have a benefit to go to tonight for an old coworker whose husband is in need of a new heart and is currently waiting to be put on a transplant list. It's moments like this that I am grateful for my health and in a way I guess that is what is driving me to get out of bed for the day. What is everyone else getting into on this wonderful Saturday morning? I hope everyone has a fun, relaxing and safe weekend. Don't forget to go outside and get active. 

Busy Holiday Season

I love love love the holiday season. But this year I have just been so crazy busy I haven't really been able to enjoy it like years past. Between being busy all day at work, photography really picked up there for a while & I'm still playing catch up on that end, anthony working all the time, life is seriously flying by. I am kind of ready for it to slow down any time now. 

Tonight I finally finished busting out the rest of our Christmas decorations. As soon as I get all the boxes put away in the next few days and the house thoroughly cleaned I will be sharing our home during the holidays with you. I also have a lot more to share that has been going on around our neck of the woods. If you follow me on Instagram you already have had a little insight but life has been good. 

Saying Goodbye

Last week we received awful news that one of my Dad's good work friends that's family turned family friends of ours passed away of a heart attack. Bob was only 55. This was extremely unexpected and a lot of people in shock and grieving the loss of an amazing man. On Saturday we all said our last good bye and I witnessed one of the most touching, heartfelt testimonies of strength and devotion to God in such a hard time display, by Bob's children and wife. I left there knowing that with God's Grace and unending love of family and friends that the Dotson family is going to be clothed in comfort know that Bob is in Heaven now. The faith that I witness on Saturday made me realize the type of person I need to continue to strive to be on a daily basis. 

I was raised with a very strong faith based upbringing. Somewhere along the way I lost my way and became temped by Satan into questioning my faith and I wandered into a very dark and scary time in my life. When we got engaged I found myself turning back to our Church but not anywhere nearly as strong of a pull that I have been feeling in the last few days. Lately I had been exploring my religion and yearning to learn more and be a good Christian person, but after this weekend I realized that God is the one that we NEED in our lives more and more as we experience changes in our home and work environments, our marriage and in the challenge of establishing our own family. This blog of mine might be taking on a few changes in the next few weeks, months and hopefully years. I am hoping to share my faith driven lifestyle with all of you a little more and hopefully one day I am able to look back and see where God has lead me on this journey of life. With God as my guide, I know it will be one beautiful adventure.

Book Review :: Down the Rabbit Hole

While we were on our mini vaca I wandered into a Barnes and Noble one evening and stayed in there for almost two hours reading the backs of books trying to find my next read. I don't normally have this much time to spend in a bookstore because my hubby isn't a fan of shopping and I always feel rushed. This particular evening he was night fishing and I decided to go spend some time by myself. Towards the end of my browsing I came across the autobiography section and saw this book by Holly Madison. The bright pink book cover is what really caught my eye and seeing Holly on the cover gave me flash backs of my teenager days when I would sneakily watch The Girls Next Door on E! when my parents were not around. I never thought it wasn't wholesome television but it was right up there with the MTV channel in our Catholic home and Mom wouldn't have allowed it. 

Reading Holly's story I realized that I was too young to be watching The Girls Next Door because I never even noticed that over half the stuff was even going on. Holly's story definitely gave me a whole new view of Hugh Heffner and his lifestyle. I always figured he was a pervy old man but he also had some other major issues that unfortunately played with a lot of those girls minds. I didn't realize how hard it was for Holly and some of the other girls to recover their public image from the riskay, party girl life style to a more role model and successful career. 

If you were a young girls in the mid 90s who watched the Girls Next Door I would definitely recommend you picking this up because it will give you a whole new outlook on Playboy and I can promise you will not be able to put this one down. I finished it in 4 days, partly because we were on vacation and I had some time to totally do nothing but bury my nose in some pages and soak up some sunshine with my toes in the sand.

When was the last time you got to spend countless hours in a bookstore? 

I know I wish I could do it more often!

My next review should be the other book laying up there, All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank. Has anyone else read it? I am having a hard time really getting into it so I can finish it. I have no plans for this Saturday morning so I am hoping to put a bigger dent in it.