fall swap #2 :)

I participated in yet another fall gift swap! :) They were just way to much fun to be apart of!

 

This time I was paired up with Mei from http://fairweatherdiver.blogspot.com/.  Super sweet :)

Her package to me arrived early this morning-9:30 am! It was so unexpected and exciting to get a package with goodies in it first thing in the morning :)

 

Inside were some fuzzy, comfffyyy socks, candy corn ( :D ) and a box of note cards! I am in love with the cards! I can't wait to get started in using them! :)

Such fun!

Make sure you head over to Life of Meg to see what others got in the mail and next year make sure you sign up to participate in a fall swap! :)

 

baby Chloe

My sister asked me to take a few newborn shots of Chloe, so we got together not once, but TWICE and got some adorable pictures. (At least *I* think they are pretty stinking adorable! :) )

Meet Chloe Elise.

She is absolutely precious.

Gideon and Tirzah love her and it's so fun to watch them interact with her! Tirzah loves to say her name :)

I love just holding this sweet baby. Seriously everyone, being an Aunt is SO.MUCH.FUN!

I was also able to grab a few family shots while there :)

Beautiful, right?

 

*these are the photos from the second shoot I did...I might include a few from the first one later on.

Have a wonnnderful day!

It's about that time...

to start planning your Christmas/Holiday cards!!! :) For me, that means going to Shutterfly and trying to figure out WHICH one of their Holiday cards to choose. It's a hard decision for me :) I would like to use them all.

But I can only choose one.
So which one should I choose?

I am already coming up with ideas for what we could do for family photos this year! :) Since, after all, we WILL have a sweet little baby this time in our photo :) So, which one do YOU like best out of the three I listed?
Make sure you check out all of Shutterfly's cards!

Right now, Shutterfly has some really good special offers going on. Like 40% off photobooks, and 20% off of all cards right now with FREE shipping on orders of $30 or more!
Have I persuaded you to go check them out and use them for your cards this year?

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I was compensated in the form of free product. However, all opinions are of course my own.

Fall Friendship Swap

I love this time of year! :) It is just way too much fun. And fattening I am sure.

A few weeks ago I signed up with Kristen, for a Fall Friendship Swap. :) She matches everyone who signed up with a different blogger and then the two of you swap addresses and information about each other and you put together a box of fun fall goodies for her.

I was paired with Jennifer! We are both expecting mommies, so that was something neat that we had in common :) Her box to me arrived this past Friday. I loooove getting packages in the mail and this one was just so fun.

  Scarves and candy corn-definitely spells Autumn to me!

When I opened the box and saw the nail polish, I knew I needed to use one of those immediately :) Brandon offered to paint my toe nails so I got a free pedicure out of this whole deal too! I say I scored pretty high ;)

 Isn't the wreath just beautiful? Jennifer made it for me! I can't wait to find a spot to hang it in our house!

Annnnd, I am a candle freak, I do believe. I am planning on lighting this tomorrow afternoon so I can have my kitchen smelling like an apple pie :) YUM.
Wasn't the package so cute and fun? Next year you should sign up to get a new blogging friend and some amazing goodies in the mail!!

:)

Beach Trip Number 2!!

We were sooo blessed and fortunate to be able to go to the beach not once, but TWICE this September! We had a week at home inbetween and the second trip was with Brandon's side of the family.
Definitely a smaller group, but oh so fun! :)

Brandon had the ENTIRE week off of work! It was his first true vacation with this job so it was wonderful that he didn't have to carry his work phone around with him all the time and he was able to just enjoy NOT working all week.

The only downside was that Brandon got sick. He felt like he had pneumonia coming on and he felt LOUSY just about all week. Even on his birthday :/. He had a cough, fever, headache and was so fatigued. Thankfully he is on the mend now!

We went to the Sand Dunes one day....and hiked up the huge dunes. It was beautiful!! To your left you could see the Sound and to the right-the ocean!

The ocean was different on this section of the beach. It's amazing how just a few miles can make such a difference. More shells and the water came up higher and there wasn't such a steep drop off. There was also hardly any other people on the beach! :)

There was also ALOT more wind to be felt that week. Sometimes it was painful when you went on a walk and the wind whipped up every few minutes and stung you with sand!  Not very fun, but hey, it was the beach.  And I would probably do it again :)

There was lots of sand castles being built by Ken and Corban. :)
We were also once again blessed with beautiful weather for the whole week. Even the rainy day was gorgeous in it's own way. As my dad says, "any type of weather is okay at the beach" :)

We will have to remember to make a little kiddy pool like this next year when we bring our little baby with us! It's such a clever idea!

I just loved the sunsets while there. God is just so creative!!

Brandon celebrated his birthday on the last full day we had at the beach. He is 25 now! Crazy. :)
We went out for lunch at 5 Guys Burgers and Frys and had a dinner at the house with his new birthday gift-hot sauce :)

This was the last morning there. SO gorgeous!!!

 Erika, Jeff, Corban, Hannah, Ken, LouAnne, Brandon and I

It was such a wonderful week and I can't wait to go again next year! :) (Next time with a 10 month old baby!)