Holidays...

we hope yours have been filled with
love
and
laughter.

 

xo

today...

today i am grateful for my family... and for their health.
although it appears to be kind of screwed up at times, i know i am blessed to be in the situation that i'm in.

siblings, parentals, in-laws, out-laws...
they all shine a lovely afternoon light into my life that i couldn't live without.

{Happy Christmas}

okay.. so life hasn't really eased up on the stress since my last post.. until recently! yay! my sister and i kind of started a large project for my dad and mamacita vicky and it took all of my time after work to do... but it will be SO worth it and we're very excited to give it to them.

also, tis the family portrait season, my weekends were full of taking family portraits for family, friends and clients {aka new friends!} galore. I LOVED it. LOVE having a creative outlet and LOVE seeing what comes from a session with these lovely people. If right now you're asking yourself "what?! she's a photographer?" well my answer is simple "yes, yes i am." haha. ok, so i'm working on the confidence of actually calling myself a photographer. but ooooh how i love the sound of it! :) go on now, go check out my photo blog here. 

i'm excited for christmas. now that stress is behind me. 

can't wait to give my incredible husband his christmas gift that i'm sure he hasn't quite figured out yet. love surprises! we're spending this year with the casto family and i'm excited for:

*the good company
*tasty brunch
*crowded movie theaters
*time off work
*the feeling of giving
*children's smiles... and even their whineyness from being tired since they woke up too early. it is christmas afterall.
*bug eating all of the wrapping paper the second it's unwrapped. i've even seen a few kitty bite marks in the wrapped gifts already under the tree.
*knowing what the holiday is truly symbolic of..

what're you guys doing to celebrate the holiday?

and just so you know i wasn't lying about the whole photography thing.... this is me. with my camera:

stress level: high

so it's been a rough week.

we all have em, right? not just me?? week after week after week??? i think it's this city.. i always blame it on the city, though. and working all day.. then going home and editing pictures (working some more). then looking at my house.. with piles of clothes begging to be folded and put away.

but when?

i'm grateful that i'm so busy... because i really love doing photography and my weekends are devoted to that right now. just need a clone sometimes?

and there's other stuff.. always other stuff going on to try to throw me off kilter and be mad at life. but i LOVE life.. i don't want to be mad at it. :) so i'm trying to learn how to manage my stress... deep breathing, a little yoga maybe.. where's benja when you need her?? oh... in st. george.

i'm blessed to have a husband who loves me so much. we can get through these holidays together.

my loves

haven't posted in a while. sorry about that, internet. i've been super, insanely busy with the photography biz the last month or so. (which totally rocks, by the way, no complaining here..) but i wanted to say what up ya'll to my peeps and post a photo or two of some favorites in my world. hope all's well!

Presenting Baby Blake!

She really is gorgeous... and I love her name, too- Blake Tristan Gornichec. She is my oldest brother and his wife's fifth child and we are so excited to have her here! She arrived this afternoon at 1:58 pm. 8 lb. 1 oz. Yes, it's been a crazy week.. and I've loved it. :)

Carter is here!!

Carter Lucas Gornichec is HERE!! and so handsome... He came via last minute c section because his heart rate kept diving during labor. He came out just as perfect as can be, though! Don't believe me? I have pics to prove it. :)bun in the oven....

6 lbs. 13 oz. 20 in. long 3:45 pm

I am in love with my new little nephew. :)

AND I get a brand new little niece! Megan is being induced on friday! Can't wait to meet Blake!! :)

THE summer vacation

so for those of you who don't have facebook, or are not fortunate enough to be my friend on there at least... :) i wanted to post our idaho pics so you could see them! also, to tell you a little bit about what we did... SO we went up to idaho the beginning of last month to a little place called island park. SO BEAUTIFUL. loved it. while we were there, we got to enjoy some marvelous huckleberry pancakes & huckleberry cheescake (YUMMMM), the amazing wonders of the very first national park in our country- YELLOWSTONE, did a little fishing, saw the GRAND TETONS, and cruised back home through the ever loverly Wyoming! A big, grand THANK YOU to my gorgeous sister-in-law's family for having us and to jake's family for being there as well and making it a wonderful trip. without further ado.. presenting...... the pics. :)
p.s. they WILL be a little scattered because i really hate trying to organize them on this thing.. just know it was all on the same trip ok??

OLD FAITHFUL
so the pics are posted backwards. so if you want to watch it 'go off' you have to scroll down, then scroll back up. sorry!

check it...

check out some new photos by {yours truly} here .

St. George

we traveled away to st. george a few weeks ago to see my family... especially to hang out with my aunt and cousins from back east. it was pretty enjoyable to hang out with everyone and meet a couple of the new babies we've now got in the fam. we had a big family bbq, a mini photo session with little baby {P} and went to the lake to enjoy the sunshine and lay out on the sandstone rocks. here are some shots of the weekend:parker and heidi enjoying girl time.

chase. love the goggles.

aunt heidi's bonding time with ty.

our camp for the day.

mandy found these flattened coins in her pocket. they're from Matsumotos Shave Ice in Hawaii!

court.

this is my mum's kitty, Bella. she's the strangest little thing... but LOVES jake. :)

my gorgeous aunties.

my cousin's wife and their sweet baby girl.

aunt kelly, grams, whitney, baby p.

mandy and scott lookin like teenagers. ;)

p.s.

oh, and....

I PASSED THE P&C TEST!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEAH!!

meet murray... our little man fish.

some eye candy for ya.... bug & the newest addition to our fam- murray. :)