This is going to be a longer, more personal post than I typically tend to do. I need to take a moment sometimes to realize how blessed I am. These days it is so easy to get to feeling down about yourself and compare your life to the good looking lies the internet leads you to believe — that others lives are carefree and struggles are few and far between. Well, with all of the moves I have made in the past few years and the pressure of being the perfect mom, wife, business owner, and more I have recently been feeling a little sad. I have had to pull my self out of that lull and am taking a moment — ok several moments — to thank the Lord for ALL these bountiful blessings in my life. 2015 has certainly been a year packed FULL of unexpected adventures. First, I never thought I would be living in Florida once again, but we are just loving the super fun activities that living so close to the ocean has provided. Another unexpected blessing is all the trips I have been able to go on, with my infant!! (She is quite possibly the best and happiest traveler in our family..)

Colorado kind of fell in our laps since Brett was asked to go on a work trip and it happened to be ON Hadley’s FIRST BIRTHDAY!! AGH!!! How could we be apart on her first birthday?? We couldn’t. So we joined him. We held her birthday party over the weekend in Orlando the day before we all flew to Colorado. We started in Denver where his work training was at this INCREDIBLE hotel — free happy hour.. need I say more? — and I was determined to give her a grand birthday! I wasn’t sure where to go during the day when Brett was sitting in training, but I certainly wasn’t going to sit at the hotel. I envisioned Hadley with a handful of balloons sitting by the mountains and playing in the fields. Well, all our visions don’t always come to fruition do they? That was a bit crazy trying to stuff helium filled balloons into a small trunk. Then I took off for the mountains. Let me just tell you the mountains out there are intimidating. That is the only word I can think to describe them. They are nothing like the Smokies that I am used to. This Florida girl looked up the elevation in Tampa (3.23) and compared it to the highest point we made it to during the trip (13,000). A bit different. Well Hadley and I had NO OTHER CHOICE but to head to the Rocky Mountain National Park, since it was my 3rd time out there and I had never been. It was a good 2 hour drive in a foreign state, but we were not going to let that hold us back. If she could remember it, I’m pretty sure she would tell you it was an epic first birthday.

When Brett’s class was over we went down to MY FAVORITE spot in the state — Garden of the Gods. It is in Colorado Springs, and just an awesome place to hike and soak in some of God’s crafty design work. I am dying to photograph an engagement session out there and I just may get the opportunity coming up this winter!! After Colorado springs we went back to Denver where Brett’s family gave us the sweetest welcome celebration and birthday cake for Hadley. We toured the state with them for the remainder of the trip and I even convinced them all to go BACK to the Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park where we spent the day. Overall it was an awesome trip and literally dropped in my lap the week before my daughters first birthday, so I am just grateful we all were able to pull it off. I also have started a recent personal photography project inspired by some of these photos that I can’t WAIT to share.

Enjoy!!