A Late Afternoon A Few Weeks Ago.

I adore this set of images. They're from a Friday night a few weeks ago. We ate Mexican and then ran around this abandoned subdivision for a few minutes. It was so much fun... until Max started running down the (abandoned) street. I freaked. Andrew laughed. I chased after him. Andrew took photos of me running after Max. I won't be sharing those, but know my face looked like the second shot above. Pretty sure I was giving Max the stink eye in that one as he ran towards the woods. Homeboy's deepest desire is to be a wild animal... or a muppet.

You can see more here.

The past month, I've been doing some serious reflection on what I'm going to do with photography. I have no desire to quit photography, but I've realized lately that the heart of my images are very personal, client work included. I am not a perfectionist in terms of rules. I mean, I have my business bases covered, but I don't always follow photography rules like the rule of thirds or shooting in RAW (I love me some JPEG), perfect white balance or five hundred other things. I don't care for severely posed photographs, photographing large groups, or freaking out over every last detail. I love imperfection in photographs. I love images that have soul. I love photographs that make you feel something, even if you don't know the subject in the frame. I love sharing photographs of my family and, really, I just love photographs. I've joined a couple photography forums lately that have been really eye-opening and, honestly, I don't think I'm like many other photographers. I want to make a profit, but I want people to have images they can cherish forever. I want my images to have heart and I don't want to get so involved with over thinking everything (or overly busy) that the heart fades out of them. So, anyway, there's been a lot of shop talk going in at our house lately and I'm really excited about the directions things are going.

P.S. Just like with Max, I have grown a ton the past few weeks. I can't wear the dress pictured above anymore and, yesterday, I woke up with pregnancy face. The smallish belly was fun while it lasted, but I will look like this in a six more weeks and probably have this six weeks after that. Ah! Things are going to start moving really quick around here... and soon!

Dog Days of Summer.

It's hot outside, so we've been spending a lot of time inside.

We get kinda stir-crazy some days, especially days when I can't brave opening the car door or stomach putting Max in a steaming car seat, but I don't think the little man has minded much.

Max and Henry and Parenthood, Too. So Basically Our Family.

Lately, my toes have been wiggling with excitement that I'm about to be the mom to children- the plural version, not the singular version. I'm going to have two little boys who, for the rest of my life, will be mine. Regardless of what happens, I will be their mom and they will be my sons. It is so exciting!

Little Huckleberry is already so loved by our small family. We have 15,000 different nicknames for him already- ranging from basic ones like Huck to stretchy ones like Indiana Jones- and Andrew and I like to stay up late talking about what we think he'll look like or what his personality will be or how on earth we are going to parent two separate individuals for the rest of our lives. I love this stage because everything feels somewhat comfortable but also refreshingly new. Part of me is a little sad that my one-on-one time with Max is limited but I love saying "Max and Henry" together and I love planning what we'll do next summer with two little ones and I love thinking about how, in sixteen years, Maxwell will be driving Henry to school every morning, bickering about what music they should listen to. In some ways, I want Henry to be a little carbon copy of Max, but in just as many ways, I want him to be the exact opposite of Max. I am so excited for them to grow up together. I'm so excited to find out what all is in store for our family since, right now, Andrew and I have absolutely no idea how many children we'll be able to have or where we'll end up living or anything else. All we know is now and I just really, really love that. That the world is so open to us and that we can mold our lives however we want.

Maybe Henry and Max will be our only children. Maybe we'll be able to squeeze in a Forrest and a Penelope and an Olive, too. Maybe we'll live in Alaska or maybe we'll never leave the South. Maybe we'll end up back in Utah. Maybe I'll always work. Maybe I'll quit working next year. Maybe Andrew will be the next David McCullough and write bestselling history books during his off season as a professor. Maybe we'll rent homes for the next ten years. Maybe we'll be a one-car family for the next fifteen years and maybe I'll agree to letting Andrew buy a motorcycle once his scooter dies. There are so many "maybes" right now and I love that they are the good kind, not the worrisome kind.

I am so happy that we decided to start our family young. I'm so glad we married each other at the age we did, young as we were. I feel like having kids relatively young but not extremely young (read: twenty-three) let us experience life before parenthood but also gave us a huge array of possibilities for our future. And I am so, so happy that we will have our two boys tagging along with us for the next long while. We are going to have so much fun!

Chick Fil A.

One of my favorite faces Max makes is his sniffing face.

He makes this face every time we ask him "What does a hedgehog say?" and also makes it every time he sees flowers, complete with finger pointing and saying "fow-er". It kills me. I mean, I know I'm totally biased, but he is just the most beautiful little person I have ever seen. I love to joke about how he's rotten and crazy and bossy and loud and mischievous (because he totally is), but there really are no words to describe just how wonderful he is. He is my own personal slice of heaven- Andrew's too- and it has been amazing to see him grow up so much lately. I'm totally Mommy Bragging, but he can sing half of the ABC song, knows hard body parts like "shoulder" and "jaw", counts softly (and out of order!) to himself while he's playing, can list off everyone living in my parents' house without hesitation, doesn't eat Play-Doh, asks to brush his teeth, and can undress himself in half a second flat.

He's also really good at stealing chocolate milkshakes.

Which can only mean one thing: He is a boy after my own heart.

Twenty Eightish of My Favorite Photos From Our Third Year of Marriage.

It has been a year. A year that looked like this:

Twenty Eight:

Twenty Seven:

Twenty Six:

Twenty Five:

Twenty Four:

Twenty Three:

Twenty Two:

Twenty One and a Half:

Twenty One:

Twenty:

Nineteen Point Seven:

Nineteen:

Eighteen:

Seventeen:

Sixteen:

Fifteen:

Fourteen:

Thirteen:

Twelve:

Eleven:

Ten:

Nine:

Eight and a Half:

Eight:

Seven and Three Quarters:

Seven:

Six:

Five:

Four:

Three:

Two:

Two Take Two:

One and a Half:

One:

During our third year of marriage, we settled into a new state, turned a hobby into a business, began grad school, battled unemployment for fifty weeks, saw the ocean, didn't have any money to fund a Christmas (even a tree!), welcomed a new sister-in-law into our family, wound up in a Kansas City hospital for twenty-four hours when our baby couldn't breathe, were shocked to find out about a surprise (but super wanted!) pregnancy, finished Andrew's first year of grad school, traveled to Europe, entered into real world employment, kissed sunburned cheeks, struggled to fold all of our laundry in a timely manner, started new traditions- including eating Sunday dinner sitting on the floor and buying books on Valentine's Day, argued about petty things, kept our little bear up way past his bedtime, stayed up too late talking in our bed past three in the morning, ate a lot of Chick-fil-a, had a hard time keeping things together but somehow kept things together anyway, and realized that, even though it can't pay for your child's doctor's appointments, love really is the most important thing, just like we assumed all along.

It was a good year but also a ridiculously hard one and I am ready for the next. Hello, Year Four!

See photos from Year One here.

Annnd Year Two here.