Summer's End

With school beginning, Autumn is in the air. We've had a really enjoyable Summer and have tried to do a number of fun things and travel (where possible) as much as we can. I've been horrible about taking pictures! And the crazy part is most of the time I have my camera with me - I just forget that I have it and to take pics! Josh is better than me about taking pics, and he gets them on his computer in a more organized fashion than I do, so it's easier to blog with pics when I can get on his computer to do it. Of course, if you know Josh, he's nearly always on his computer...so while he's enjoying his Sunday nap with Natalia, I am blogging and hoping to finish and upload pics before she wakes up!

Josh and I were able to get away for a weekend in June. We decided that we'd like to visit his dad and step mom and siblings in Emery. We chose to go to visit Moab for the weekend and head over to Emery on Sunday and go to Church with them. It was a wonderful weekend! A bit hot, but not overly uncomfortable! It was so nice to get out!!! Here we are in Arches National Park.

We absolutely love Huntsville, Utah! It's our dream place to raise our kids or at least retire to...but our favorite part of Huntsville is spending time with Grandma Wilcox! She is an absolute angel and our lives are so blessed and enriched just being in her home and presence! How we love her! We spent the 24th of July weekend with Grandma and went to the Ogden parade in the morning and finished out our day at Aunt Melanie and Uncle Roy's house for a barbecue potluck and swimming. What a great day!
My favorite part of this picture is that Natalia is already half Hali's size at 3 1/2 months! :0)

Greatest journey of my life!

Me & My Girls

Being a mother is SO many things! It's an absolutely wonderful, body and mind exhausting, challenging, but richly rewarding experience! I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters! As Hali puts it, "Natalia was born from your tummy, and I was born from your heart!" I deeply love them both equally. But given that for Hali I am a part-time mom and Natalia a full-time mom my attention is very split as is my energy. I work hard to be organized enough that, if I am able to, I get my major projects done on Mondays and Tuesdays when I don't have Hali so I am available to do "Mommy" things with her like play dates, swimming, picnics, the splash park, etc. or just be available to allow her the freedom to play with friends during the day and not be in Day Care - which is what she prefers. When Josh and I married it was important to both of us that I be a stay-at-home-mom. I began to scale back my studio and rescheduled the bulk of my students for Mondays and Tuesdays so that I could provide the experience of a stay-at-home-mom for her. I have NO regrets! Especially now that I am a full-time Mom, I enjoy the ability and peace of mind that comes from being able to be the one raising my daughter. Unfortunately in our society, women who stay at home and raise their children and don't work outside their home are looked down upon or thought of as lazy women who do nothing all day. They could not be more wrong and I would challenge anyone who thinks that to try it for a week. Being a mom isn't like working a job from 9-5 with breaks and freedom when you return home, it's a full-time, round the clock, 24/7, on-call, middle of the night, even if you're so tired your head might fall off, even when you don't feel good position. And when that kind of exhaustion creeps in and things feel discouraging and the thought of taking on a heavier work schedule (because I do still have students) begins to tempt me so that I'd have some extra money to be able to afford some luxuries given up by a tighter income and I begin to get discouraged at the 2 a.m. feeding, my beautiful baby looks me in the eyes and with all the love she possesses, she smiles at me and it melts away any doubt or bad feelings and all the sacrifice is more than worth it!


I am several weeks behind on this blog - the greatest part being that I have focused all my extra time getting Natalia's nursery put together, getting the yard in order, cleaning the house, etc. I will do my best to catch things up over the next several weeks! For Father's Day I did a photo shoot with my gorgeous girls by my amazing friend, Brooke Young, as a surprise for Josh. He said it was the best present ever! I most definitely (with all the bias I possess) agree! The pics on here are from that photo shoot. Natalia had just developed the ability to smile on cue! I treasure the look in her eyes as she smiles at me! I'm telling you - being a mom is the best job in the WHOLE universe!!!