I wish I had a picture of my face right after I passed my accounting final with flying colors and realized that I was DONE.  No, not forever, but for the term!  I have three weeks of fresh air ahead of me.  LOTS and LOTS of projects are being planned with the littles and a REALLY big project that I am so ridiculously excited about that I can hardly contain myself.

My little Miss Aliyah is already 9 months. I think it’s painfully hard for me to process this.  I’ve been drooling over the few pictures I edited from her 9 month pictures.  I have a few more to do – story of my life when it comes to editing!

She’s addicted to food this one and her little rolls on her thighs tell the entire story without me having to go into detail.  And her face? I can’t kiss it enough.  Her cheeks are squishy and her double chin is delicious!
I’ve been going through one of those inner growth spurts that I love to go through so much. I’m really weeding out a lot of negativity and working REALLY hard on not only what I’m thinking, but what I’m saying.  I’ve been searching for this Ensign talk about having the voice of an angel or something along those lines.  It talks about not talking bad about anybody and speaking how you would speak in front of God.  I may be a tad off on this, but this is basically the jist of it and if you know what talk I’m talking about PLEASE leave a comment and let me know.

When you read these words how can you not just realize that our judgments on our friends and acquaintances is uncalled for?

“You know my name, not my story. You know what I’ve done, not what I’ve been through.”

My story will never be your story, and you will never have to walk my journey.  That is the beauty of LIFE!  God has put us all here to journey through our own trials and grow in our own ways.  Sadly, we’re all too busy down here worrying about each other’s journeys.  I think we as humans fail to realize that our salvation isn’t dependent on each other’s.

I recently was having a conversation with an acquaintance of mine and cringed through our entire conversation.  She goes to church and thinks very highly of her little family, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a positive thing come out of her mouth.  She put all of her energy into talking bad about all of the people in her life including her husband.  I sat there thinking to myself how constructive is this?????  Then I thought… hmmm…. I probably in a way do the same.  I’ll talk about the choices that other girls make with their children, judge them on how they treat their children, but how is any of this MY business?  It’s not.

I’ve been reveling in my head why this is the way it is.  Why we feel as women to gossip behind each other’s back and form judgments on somebody when we aren’t on their journey….. they are.

We will NEVER be able to truly understand the thoughts and actions of others.  They are always thoughts and actions that are helping that individual along their journey.  The mistakes they make are mistakes that they will hopefully learn and grow from.  So, lately, I’ve been focusing on worrying about me and mine and not so much about her and hers.

I’ve been putting a lot of energy into launching my new etsy store.  There’s a lot of work that goes into launching this thing, but I seriously am busting out of my seams with excitement!!!!  I never thought I’d ever be able to dabble in the world of arts, but I’ve found my nitch in it by combing two thing that I fancy quite much.  I have this passion for words.  It’s how we communicate for the most part, it’s a love language, it’s what not only I but so many people yearn for.  I could spend hours engulfed with positive quotes, positive reading, reading about love and hearing one’s song.  Words represent and entirely different art to me.  Combine that with photography and I swoon.

I’m going to start doing custom art pieces combining people’s pictures with their words, their vows, their songs, their favorite quotes – or they can use my examples.  I want to create an art piece that they will hang in their homes and treasure throughout their lives.  This piece right here is our first dance on our wedding day, our song incorporated into it and now this picture has a completely different feel to it.  

My little Diva turned 4. She’s been giving me glimpses into what my life is going to entail when she reaches the teenage years. She already is just wanting to hang out with “older” girls and has attitude that I can’t grasp. Listening is right out the door, but her beauty…. oh my goodness. This girl gets more and more beautiful every day. Ella and her cousin are refreshing to me.  They remind me of summer nights, running through the pastures with my cousin {her mom} and family.  That’s how it’s been this summer – we’ve soaked up the peacefulness of our surroundings. 
Lately I’ve wanted more of a family feel in my life. I’ve wanted my kids to experience the bliss that has been embedded into my soul that I felt when I’d spend summers up at my grandparent’s. They live in pure beauty, and when I pull up to their home I have a sense of home. The smell comforts me and I end up feeling instantly creative inside, because that’s how it is there. This quote says it all…. how can I have my kids experience that if I don’t take them up there? They live not even 5 minutes up the road from me – and that’s now what I do. I go up there and soak up the beauty, and sit back as my children get a nice dose of what childhood should be like. And every once in a while I get to see a moment like this and I can inhale a breath of love and infatuate over my children.

It’s rejuvenating up there. It’s been exactly what my soul has needed.