I’m all caught up with my client sessions and so ready to hang with my boys this summer.  On Friday we’re taking off for our family vacation with stops in Oklahoma City (family reunion), Houston (Jason’s grandparents), Destin, Florida (two days at the beach) and then to our final destination of Orlando, Florida.  Jason’s brother lives there so we’re finally going to visit him and his family.  And, it doesn’t hurt that they live in a the family vacation capital of the world! 

You know, flights were actually very reasonable to Orlando but Jason and I had such fond memories of road trips with our families when we were young, that we wanted to provide that for our boys as well.  I remember traveling from Kansas to Charleston, South Carolina every summer to visit my granny, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I’m sure I complained about it then–riding in the backseat of a four seater car, my brother bugging me to death, with only the view out the window and my tape player to entertain me.  That road trip every summer was just a staple of my youth, and I’m so glad I had that.  Here’s some pictures I dug up from trips to Granny’s house:

My brother, Scott, and I outside of Granny’s house…

Me, my mom, and Scott at Granny’s…

And this one is horribly embarrassing–I mean look at that outfit and that hair!  I had to include it though because it was titled, “vacation time” by my dad.  I guess we were excited to get on the road! 

Now, I line up the dining room table with all the things we’re going to take:  movies for the mini-van DVD player, two Nintendo DS game players w/plenty of games to share, portable CD players with headphones, an extra DVD player, books on CD, MP3 players, and snacks and drinks galore.

As much as I adore technology, it makes me a little sad to see all of these things we buy to “entertain” our children.  Don’t get me wrong…I’ll be forcing them to play the silly road games I played with my parents, and at times, we’ll have everything off just to enjoy the view–and the silence.  I just hope that one day Jake and Cody will look back fondly to this memory Jason and I are trying so hard to create for them.  I want so much for my kids to enjoy the simple things in life and appreciate what is most important in all our lives–God, family and friendships. 

Before we head out for the next fews weeks, I’ll share some fun videos I took last week at the pond in our neighborhood.  I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been terrible about photographing my family lately since I’ve been so busy with everyone else’s…but I HAVE been taking some video on my little Kodak Zi6 HD camcorder.  I must preface this by saying that we are in the process of growing the boys hair out–on purpose.  I’m not just some lazy mother who has neglected her children’s trips to the barber.  :)  They just make me laugh so much.  They have such funny, amazing personalities and I feel so blessed that I get to spend my days with these little men.

I was just giddy to hear that one of my favorite families had just added sweet baby Noah to their family.  I first shot the Eblen family about a year and a half ago and we had so much fun.  I love how Deb trusts me completely and how flexible she is–AND how she’s not going to be mad at me for being slightly late with this sneak peek. 

Meet Noah and his big brother Sam…

I have so many images I’d like to post from this session, but only have a few edited so far.  I just had to share some tonight though rather than keep Mike and Angie waiting for their sneak peek.  Angie had great ideas for this shoot, to include JP Wine Bar–the location of their first date.  I’ll be shooting their wedding in August and I know it will be gorgeous and we’ll have so much fun! 

Loved this family–so adorable, so fun, and such love between them!

I’m hurrying as fast as I can to blog these and get the gallery done for this family who’s moving very soon.  I sure will miss them.  I feel so blessed to have known them for a short while and to hear their amazing story of adopting Lily from China.  Mom called because she wanted some mother-daughter shots and some of Lily in her traditional Chinese dress as well as her Americana dress to honor her new home.  She’s a brave little girl with a beautiful spirit.