the double digit

I am officially 22!  Ew.  I really am not too happy about that.  If only you could regress in age once you hit 21.  Psychologically, I am feeling so old; although, I will admit 22 is still young.  I have to be positive about this birthday.

I finished up the last week of school completing BIO 202.  It was a rough 5 weeks, but finished strong with a B..and proud of it!  That's a tough class and 5 weeks is hard core for all that material.  The last week, of course, had to be the first week of August.  Bummer.

On July 31st (sunday) we were over at Shem's parents for the traditional Sunday dinner that we enjoy every other week.  His family was sweet enough to make cupcakes in honor of my bday.  It was so nice of them to do that.  They really made me feel special and I'm so grateful for that.  :)

For the day of my actual birthday, I had important things to do for class and was not too thrilled for the day.  Regardless, Shem was a sweetheart and truly did spoil me.  Hmmm...if only that were a daily routine for him.  hehe.  It was so fun to spend time with him and Maycee.  That night, I skipped lecture and we enjoyed a $5 meal at Joe's Real BBQ.  Yep, they give a bday discount!  $10 off toward the meal of your choice!  Yummmm!!!  Unfortunately I did not get pictures of both Sunday at Shem's parents and our visit to Joe's.  But, however, we have pictures of Maycee blowing out my ONE birthday candle and she actually made it go out!  It is so cute!  I was so surprised!  She has come a long way since her one-year bday just six months ago.  She actually has enough breath to get that flame out!!!  Such a sweetheart.

And lastly, my mom and dad had a bday dinner with my side of the family just this past Sunday.  Yummy!  It's fun having lots of family around during birthdays.  Fun to have an excuse to party, which is one of my favorite things to do.  Thank you everyone for making my birthday feel special even though it is not my favorite day.

Flowers from Shem and Maycee.

The AWESOME homemade cookies Shem made for me :)

Birthday "cake"

I love my family!

Big girl blowing out mommy's candle!  

For our Sunday dinner, I discovered Maycee loves corn on the cob.  She is in love with it!

All the grandkids (minus 2) putting the 22 candles on the cake.  It's a crazy house everytime all the kids get together.
Shown: Cayleb, Nathan, Brayden, my mom (Maycee standing next to her on the floor), Connor, and Emmalee

What fun times!  Family time is the best time!

mischief

Our little Maycee Moo is quite the busy little girl.  Lately, she has gotten LOTS of daddy/mommy time.  Since Shem is home during the days, we have had lots of family time!  We have been able to go swimming lots and watch her get a great tan.  She has the best skin color!  And she is slowly transitioning to having just one nap in the day.  At night, she will sleep about 12 hours.  She's constantly growing and learning.  Lately she has been making kitty noises.  She says "owwww, owwww", which is her trying to say "meoww".  And she can say "one, twooo, freee".  I love listening to her trying to say words.  We are always asking her to say things and she is getting very good at repeating them back.  She is also getting to be a pro at giving closed-mouth kisses and the best hugs!  What can I say?  I'm pretty sure she is the best little 17 (almost 18) month old!  She keeps things exciting and full of life here at home.  I love it!!

I've captured her in the act of being a little mischevious!  So funny!!!

Hanging out at Tempe Marketplace.  HILARIOUS!

On the way home from hanging out in Tempe.  Daddy shared his chocolate chip cookie from Kookiez with little M.

She got into all of our papers that I was attempting to organize.  Just trying to help, I guess!

EVERY time I have my make up out, she heads for this brush.  It's her favorite.  Oh, and she is sitting in Sadie's bed.  One of her many places she runs to when she KNOWS she's into something she shouldn't be.  

Her hair is long enough for pigtails!!  (excuse the toilet in the background)

Spaghetti, one of her favorites!

She runs free once she's naked.  Check out that tan line!

Of course, as always, totally attached to the bink but she discovered TWO can fit in her mouth.  haha

This girl is a crack up.  I gotta share these funny photos more!!

journaling

Today at church, there was a wonderful talk given about the importance of keeping a record of our lives.  As the talk starts out, I think to myself wow, I'm really good at journaling because I keep a blog.  As the talk proceeds, these points are brought up:

-write about YOURSELF
-write about the people around you
-write about current political/social events
-write about your triumphs
-write about your struggels/trials
-share your spirituality
-and most importantly, BE HONEST

Those points put me in my place!  All this time I have been thinking I was pretty good about giving updates here and there, when in reality, I have really been slacking.  With the intention of keeping a personal record for our posterity, I feel like I've not been fulfilling that!  The most striking point was that of writing about yourself.  I have a phobia about appearing self-centered (had some INTERESTING things said to me on the topic, ex. EFY teacher, ha..long story) and avoid talking about myself to anyone no matter what the vehicle (computer, text, face to face, etc).  Throughout all my life, my parents have taught me to be considerate of others.  Therefore, I have yet to fully feel confident in talking about me, me, me.  I hope I'm not the only loon who thinks like that?...  haha anyway, I am truly motivated!  In a sense, I am choosing to doing some inward reflecting.  Time to focus on ME!

And what have I learned today about me?  Well, number one...I cannot make anyone do what I think is right.  I cannot make Maycee eat her vegetables and I most certaintly cannot make my Biology teacher push back our test dates because we only have a week to prepare.  I can't make those close to me understand my love for them or those that I do not favor understand my lack of love for them.  So what have I learned about ME in these realizations?  Well, that I have not fully understood this principle until today.  In my life, very recently, I have felt great peace.  I have felt love for those around me in ways that I have forgotten I could feel.  Each day I find something to be grateful for, whether it be a roof over my head, or the random check in the mail/random job that brings in just enough money to carry us another month or two.  Truly, I feel blessed.  I know I'm blessed and so is my family of three.  And beginning today I want to keep myself reminded to not "control", rather to let people have their agency.

In conclusion, I plan on journaling consistently about my personal experiences.  I do not feel comfortable doing it publicly here on this blog, but will share certain occurrences here and there, such as my thoughts today.  It is such a great feeling knowing how important this simple task really is and having  an appreciation for it.

The end.

Happy Sunday, I hope it was a restful one.

Wrapping up

This week I wrapped up all my photo shoots that I've had to finish up.  What a relief, but also I'm sad.  As I posted earlier this month, I am no longer doing photography.  Just temporarily, until I have attained my nursing degree. I also feel strongly that I need to do a better job at fulfilling my role as a mother.  There is no way I can be a photographer and be a mommy and be wife and be a student and be pleasant to be around with the piled up stress!  Yep, I reached my limit.  With putting a strain on important relationships with those I am close to as well as not ever feeling satisfied with my work or, anything else for that matter, I knew something had to give--my passion.  I'm sure others can relate in different areas of their lives.  As Pres. Monson has said, "Never let a problem to be solved be more important than a person to be loved."  Too often have I found myself sitting at the computer editing pics late at night and not practicing a good night-time ritual with Shem or with myself.  And then in the mornings I am exhausted and don't have the energy to care for my little firecracker, Maycee.  Although I am temporarily not doing business I will be continually perfecting the art as I capture precious family memories.  That being said, I look forward to taking off with a part-time business in a few years as our family grows and I'm a stay at home mom.  It will be so much fun!  If anyone is interested in photo tips or camera equipment questions, don't hesitate to ask.  I'm no professional, but I have invested lots of time in the art, post-processing, researching and reading on the subject.  And, of course, I will still post cute pictures of "mini" shoots I do of my family!  :)  Happy photography-ing to all!

Britynn.  One year pictures.

Lauren. Taken at 4 days old.

Tiffany expecting her daughter Holly.  Taken at the Orange Patch in Mesa, AZ.

2nd shooter with Trevor Dayley Photography.  Taken at the Mesa, AZ temple and a nearby barnyard

Nicola and her son Luc.

Adam and Sherra's sweet kids: Kaden, Britynn, and Kenidi.

the comparison

So, here are photos of Shem and me close to Maycee's age or at least as toddlers. I had to make this quick collage because I can't believe the perfect mix she is between us two. It's so amazing that Shem and I are parents. AND that she looks like the both of us!  Love it.

I will venture to say she got the best of both of us!