Be Prepared...

Be Warned: It's gonna be a long post!

It's been a week since I've posted but before that post I was busy for the past 3 months working on Mariah's birthday party. Throughout my day I think of things I want to say on my blog when the time comes to post and I never get around to it. So today, I'm going to put everything else aside and blog!

First off I recently weaned Mariah. I never thought about the fact that it would be so sad but one day I read my friends blog (a couple of years ago) and she mentioned how hard it was for her when she weaned her little girl and I thought "well, I never thought about that but I would imagine so!" And she was right! When Mariah was born I wanted to nurse her for the first year. The timing couldn't have been better, she was slowing down nursing anyways and I wanted to just do it either in the morning or in the evening. Well, she kind of just stopped it all on her own so I didn't force it. It really didn't hit me until LAST NIGHT. I feel like that bonding part in our lives is now gone-forever -and she just seems so grown up now even though she's just 1 (from time to time, I'm such a sappy mom). I feel like she doesn't "need" me so bad now and I think she's becoming quite the Daddy's girl. Which I'm not complaining about that at all. But in some ways I felt like she was still just a tiny baby when I fed her. I'm thankful I was able to nurse her for that long, it was sweet times. 

This time of year I just absolutely love. I remember when Larry and I first got married and he would ALWAYS point out how beautiful the colors of the trees were during this time with the leaves changing color. I would laugh and didn't quite understand until he reminded me that he was from Florida. AHHHH! Now I get it! He didn't grow up having the different seasons but I did being from the perfect state of NC! So I joined in with him pointing out all the beautiful trees and such. Then when we moved here mid March the trees were starting to bloom for the spring. It was pretty but let me tell you, it's GORGEOUS in the fall here. You know how God answers your prayers and sometimes it's a little more than you could have ever imagined or sometimes A LOT more than you ever imagined. That's how we feel about God bringing us here. Sometimes we drive around with our jaws dropped at the beauty. Sometimes we say "oh that's puzzle picture right there" the scenery here is just beautiful. It's just perfect for photography! I love winter clothes (thank goodness summer is OVER-I believe I go into a state of depression when summer comes around LOL!), I love taking pictures and having pictures done in the cool, crisp air with boots and scarfs on and even tho I freeze the whole winter, it's my favorite time of year. We went and drove the Blue Ridge parkway yesterday and took lots of pictures. Up on the mountain there are several Christmas tree farms and I can't wait to get my camera out and take some fun pictures at the farm! 

You can tell the ride on the parkway was exciting for her.

We had our pictures taken this past Saturday at a park in Lexington. I can't wait to see them. Mariah was really good and I thank Brandi for the time she spent taking them for us! Will post them when they're done sometime this week! 

I continue to learn more about photography. I'm actually becoming obsessed with it. Larry read in a book one time that if you spend at least an hour every day for the next 5 years in something, you'll become a pro. HAHAHA well, I'm not sure I'll become a pro and I'm not willing to wait 5 years to get better but I am working at it. My new flash for my camera came in yesterday and I've been working with that. This past Friday I took Neriah's senior pictures and the view was so pretty. 

Mariah is enjoying her Monday play dates with her little friend Kaci. It's so good for Mariah to learn early how to share toys and Mommy:) Mariah continues on with her "firsts". Yesterday she fell and hit the corner of the nightstand and bruised her cheek. But she's a tough little girl:) Here's a little video of her riding around in her homemade wagon LOL... yes we're RED.

We love our life. It's the little silly things that we enjoy more than anything.

We're excited about spending our Thanksgiving for the first time here at home. Larry's parents will be coming in from Florida and we're looking forward to the guys fishing and hunting and the girls some shopping and hitting up some Antique stores! I have a love for antiques that I think has been hiding my whole life and just came out when we moved here! We have some really good antique stores here and it's hard staying out of them! And! last year we ended up not getting any Black Friday shopping in so we're planning on making up for that BIG TIME this year!

Our church is doing absolutely wonderful. We can't thank God enough for all He is doing in our church. EVERY TIME Larry comes home from his deacon's meeting it never fails, he says "those are just a good group of guys" and they are, as well as everyone else in our church. We're growing so much and we give God the glory for that. I thank Him for allowing me to stay home with Mariah. Our church takes good care of us and I don't take that for granted at all. 

This Saturday we're heading to the corn maze and then having our "trunk or treat" back at the church. Mariah's pretty excited about her costume, or maybe I'm the crazy excited one!