My Mama is amazing. Not only did she put up with me growing up, she put up with eight other kids. Yes, NINE(3 girls and 6 boys)! She is such a loving and giving woman. I hope I'm half the woman she is one day! You are one of my best friends and I absolutely love being around you. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. I LOVE YOU MAMA (aka Momito;).
This is us earlier today...:)
I don't do many personal blog posts, but here goes! Bruno is my almost four month old chocolate lab. Getting him has been on my bucket list for a long time…..about 4-5 years now. About two and a half months ago I finally found a litter near Statesboro, Georgia, that had a male puppy still available. He was about 6 weeks old at the time and was one of ten other puppies (almost like me—one of nine!-- haha). I had only seen a few cell phone pictures of him before I got there so I was dying to see what he looked like in person (dog?). It was definitely love at first sight. He was one adorable 10 lb. pup who instantly started chewing on my jeans. It was really cute (the chewing thing isn't so cute now, but it was then;). I finally understood the weird dog people who said stuff like "my dog is my child", etc. He's definitely my child, and I'm definitely one of those weird, overly obsessed, talks-to-their-dog-like-he's-human, Facebooks-too-many-pictures dog people.
He has taught me a lot over the last few months. My life is so fast paced sometimes and Bruno helps me slow down and enjoy life more. He makes me take him on walks and just play around outside. I know this may sound silly but I don't normally like to just walk around outside. I want to be accomplishing something like going for a run or working in the yard. Just to walk around wasn't even in my thought process before now. It's been amazing. Slowing down has made me notice the small things in life and I love it.
He also makes me laugh SO much. The way he has doggy dreams, the fact that he is SO clumsy(he gets that from me), how he chases me through the house, how he grabs his toy in front of me and gets me to chase him through the house, the way he tries to eat the air when he sticks his head out my car window, and my personal favorite-- all the different positions he falls asleep in (see pictures of this at the bottom of the blog post)!
***** These are a mixture of pictures from my iPhone and real camera. This is definitely not a post to show my photography work lol! #dontjudgeme *****
The day before I picked him up I had this made at PetSmart! I was SO excited!!! I picked out the name Bruno because I was listening to a Bruno Mars song one day and just thought it sounded perfect. Later I looked up what Bruno meant and found out the translation from Italian to English is "brown". I've found several different answers for it like "brown one" etc. so I'm not 100% sure. HaHa! Regardless, it's a dang good name for this boy.
The day I picked him up: He was the cutest thing I had ever seen in my life. Poor guy threw up less than a mile after being in my car. He was so scared. Don't judge me for taking a pic while driving. He was just so little and so comfortable on my lap I couldn't help it. This was definitely one of my favorite days ever.
Meeting his cousins for the first time. Left: Bandit (My brother & SIL-Barak & Krystynna's dog) Right: Cutler (my brother-Levi's dog). He's fearless and still doesn't believe he's smaller than them.
Cutler has become his best doggy friend. If we are on a walk and I say "do you want to go see Cutler?", he starts running so fast toward his house. It's so cute but it nearly breaks my arm off.
This makes me laugh so much. The left picture was within a couple days of him being with me and the right was this weekend. He is almost 4 months and HUGE! I'm trying to teach him not to do this lol (he's an inside and outside dog). Bruno's Dad weighs 115 lbs. and his grandfather was big too. So, I'm guessing Bruno is going to be a BEAST!
I love how he falls asleep on my feet while I work;) Sometimes he falls asleep on my feet while I'm washing dishes.
We had a photo booth set up at my house for a Valentines Day party. This is one of my favs of us ever!
I've taught him how to Facebook and edit weddings for me....
He can get away with anything....
I love riding in my car with him!
We introduced him to the river this weekend! He loves it!
This is one thing that make me laugh almost on a daily basis. I catch him sleeping in the weirdest positions. I love it. He's so classy.
This year I am trying to do things that are on my bucket list. I know that life is short and I'm so excited to do things that I've wanted to do for so long. Bruno is one of the best decisions I've ever made and I am so grateful for him.
I am completely stoked to show these images of my big brother and the love of his life, Steffi. They will be getting married in Valencia, California on July 1st this year. Our entire family (6 brothers, 2 brother-in-laws, 3 sisters, 1 sister-in-law, and 3 grandkids) will be flying out there to witness this amazing event! I couldn't be more happy for these two. Steffi is such an amazing woman and my entire family is so stoked to have her join us! Jordan is one of a kind. I look up to him so much and his walk with the Lord. He's the best big brother ever! I love both of you so much!!!!!!! Here is their story, from Jordan........
I met Steffi during a road trip out to California with some friends early last year. I still remember how we met that day and the impression she left on me. I was able to hang out with her and several other mutual friends that night in Santa Monica. We had such a great time and I couldn’t get out of my head how attractive she was, her smiling face, and how she laughed at everything! She was so much fun to be around and I wished I could have been around her more that weekend. I was able to see her one more time at the church she went to, Grace Community, before I left. As I was leaving I remember looking back as she gave me this sad puppy dog look. That definitely did something to me. I didn’t know then if I would ever get to be around her again. It worked out for me to go back out there for a conference a couple months later at that same church she attended. We made plans to hang out again while I was out there. I very smoothly got her to put her number in my phone on that trip :). We began chatting back and forth through facebook and text messages for about a month after that and then I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to call her. I couldn’t think of a good reason to call her so I was really nervous just calling her out of the blue to say hi. Well the phone call went well and I called her a couple more times over the next few weeks. Finally about a month of doing that I wanted to tell her my intentions. Being very nervous again I barely could get out what I wanted to say but I did and she said she wanted the same thing. I was so excited! In May I flew out there just to see her. That weekend I began to fall really hard for Steffi. Since that time I have been able to get to know her very well and she is so amazing to me. She is a beautiful, godly woman, who is fun and exciting to be around. She is encouraging and pushes me towards Christ. She is one of the most caring people I know and I am so blessed by the Lord to have her in my life, let alone be marrying her. I’ve prayed for a wife a long time and the Lord has answered my prayer way above what I could ever ask for.Jordan |
For those of you who know me, know that I fly to Texas a lot. My best friend Michelle lives there. We've been flying back and forth for about seven or eight years now. It's like my second home and I love it there. As the years have gone on, I've met & become friends with a lot of Michelle's friends(and family) out there. Alicia is one of them. She has a best friend named Rhonda(we're doing her photo shoot next time!). Every time I go to Texas now, we all four meet up for coffee. We talk about life, struggles, and Jesus. I always look forward to it for MONTHS. I look up to these two women and their husbands so much. I love how they love Jesus & they encourage my walk with Christ EVERY time I speak with them. I have been wanting to do a photo shoot of each of these wonderful women and their husbands and we finally worked it out for one of them this trip! We are planning on doing Rhonda's next time!
I love y'all!
You may remember Matt & Monica from about a billion photo shoots I've done with them! Well, they added another one to the fam! Welcome Aubrey! I love and respect this family so much!
My best friend Michelle and Josh had this bundle of joy back in June! Chloe!
This is how she gets around, she scoots backwards on her head! It's hilarious to watch!
Michelle, Chloe, and I!
I love her so much!
