Kelsey (our first kid)

So if you know Mike and I, you probably kind of know how our relationship started. This year we will be married 8 years, but about a year and a half before that he and I went on our first date. Nothing too fancy, just dinner and a movie but I knew that night at dinner I was going to marry him. So from that point on our relationship moved super fast. REALLY fast! But it just always felt normal and always felt like we had already been together for years. So we moved in together after 6 weeks of dating and he asked me to marry him 6 months after our first date. See I told you, REALLY fast.
Things were going well our first few weeks of living together. I was still getting things unpacked and Mike called me from work. He sounded like something was wrong and said in a very scared voice, "We need to talk." My heart sank. Thoughts started twirling in my head, "oh gosh he doesn't want to live together now, he's changed his mind, where will I live?" I waited for him to say those dreadful words and when he spoke he said, "Would you mind if we got a dog?"
Oh what a relief, my heart started pounding again, the lump cleared in my throat and the blood began to rush back to it's normal areas in my body that it should be.
So long story short, Mike came home with Kelsey, a beagle. She wasn't named Kelsey at first, I don't even remember what it was but we knew she wasn't anything but a Kelsey. She was 6 months old, she was a rescue and had been abused. When we got her she was so sweet and gentle and has never stopped being so sweet and so loving to everyone that walks in the door. She has been there for every house move, every new pet we have brought in, the new babies we brought home from the hospital, our good days and bad days and all those in between.
And although she isn't as young as she used to me, she might limp around and her hair is turning white, she is still as loving as the first day we brought her home! Her 10th birthday is this Friday. If you think about it, wish her a Happy Birthday, I know it seems silly but 10 years is a huge milestone for a dog and we are just so blessed to have her :)

The "Bunch"

So last weekend after my parents anniversary party my sister, brother in law and their kids stuck around for a few days so we could all hang out. They live in Texas so we don't get to see them all that much- yee ha!

On Monday we took all the kids to the zoo-9 kids total and we were actually missing one. We all tried really hard to keep an eye on everyone and make sure we kept counting all the kids. Mine were mostly in the stroller so that was a little easier. Some of my favorites shots of the day.

Crazy Silly Hunter-

The 4 girl cousins-Reagan, Kaitlyn, Cassity and Cadyn

The pink ladies- so cute

Here's the whole bunch (well besides missing little Trenten :( )

Cadyn, Pierce, Kaitlyn, Reagan

Cassity, Colton, Hunter, Garrett, and Carson

Of course they had to give their silly faces!

Tootsie and Bruno

My good friend Amy just got these 2 little adorable dogs and brought them in to work today. Meet Tootsie and Bruno. They are Yorkies and are about 8 weeks old. So tiny. The both weigh about 2 pounds. Bruno the boy is a lot more mellow and Tootsie the girl is really feisty. She chews a lot and attacks everyone and thinks he is a German Shepherd.

We had so much fun with them here at work. They even left us some nice prizes on the floor to clean up.

I'm hoping Amy will bring them to work more often because if I see them during the day I'll have my fix and won't need to want one. :)

A hard day working on files...

Just getting up from the nap



Oh nap time again

So sweet

Are you kidding me?

Mike and I have never had scorpions. In fact I've always felt very blessed. Even our old house in Ahwatukee, never had one. And we've been in this house for almost 2 years and surprise surprise we have some now. Last Saturday night we found 2 in the garage. That freaked us out but we thought it was a fluke until we found this guy on our porch last night. The camera doesn't do him justice but I swear he was about 5 or 6 inches long. Totally freaked us out.

In fact Kelsey, our dog was curled up on the stairs looking scared to death when we were trying to kill it. I think Mike used the entire spray can to kill it, that is what all the white stuff is.

I know other people in Arizona have had scorpions and probably have them all the time but Mike and I have lived together for about 6 years and have never had one. And of course we get the monster of them all. Ugh- they are so freaky. So I just had to share the pictures with you. eeeekkkk!!

Hunter's Safari Party

For Hunter's birthday party we had a Safari theme, hence "Hunter". The theme has been with him since he was born, that is how is room is decorated. So we had everyone dress up in their camouflage. We had a safari hunt for the kids and they had to look for all the safari animals in the backyard. Each kid had their own little binoculars, it was so cute.
We had a big bouncy delivered with the safari theme and it actually had a water slide attached to it. You have to do things like that when it's so hot out. So the kids brought their swim suits as well and got wet.
Hunter's cake was fabulous! I ordered it from Sugarlips Cakery and she did an awesome job. The detail in the cake was amazing and it was really good. So any brides out there looking for a wedding cake, look her up, she is awesome. Tell her I sent you. :)
Hunter opened his gifts and we let him go to town with his cake, boy what a mess.
We really had a good time and we are so blessed with our friends and family that share our special moments with us.
I wish I had taken more photos but it went by so fast and I took as many as I could. You can check the slideshow out here. Password is Hunter.

Check out what our backyard looked like- a wonderland for kids!

Hunter taking a shower from the water slide

Check out this cake!!!!!!
Hunter making his big wish!

Look at this face....:)

One of Hunter's gifts. A dumbtruck, seat, whatever.

The safari hunt

Baby Trenten and Baby Hunter. Watch out ladies.

Little Miss Lucy

I actually had never done a photo shoot of a dog before. My good friend Tracy has been asking me to take some pictures of her and her black lab Lucy for a long time. Unfortunately she found out Lucy had cancer and didn't have much longer. So we went a head and decided now would be as good as any. Well Lucy took a turn for the worse very quickly. Tracy found out she had cancer on Thursday and the following Tuesday Lucy could hardly walk and Tracy knew it was time.
At first Tracy had cancelled my shoot and I called her and reassured her she would want these photos to remember Lucy. Lucy has been Tracy's "baby" for 9 years and I know it was hard for her to let her go. But she knew she had to do what was right for Lucy. And send her to a place that Lucy could be healthy and happy again. So on Tuesday morning early at 8:00 am, I went over to Tracy's house to take pictures of the two of them.
This actually was my first meeting with Lucy, and boy did she have a lot of personality. I could see why Tracy loved her so much. She posed well for me, played with her little pig and tennis ball. And I think she really enjoyed having all the attention- a normal model.
Tracy took her to be put down a couple of hours after our photo shoot but I am so happy we were able to take pictures of them. And one of Tracy's last memories of her is something she can remember always.
So thank you Tracy for allowing me to photograph the two of you and thank you Lucy for being you-may you rest in peace.