easter 2014

we spent this Easter with some old friends of Mikes, and it was nice and laid back. I didn't take many photos this year.. instead just sat back and relaxed, but I will share one of my favorites.. 

Hope everyone else enjoyed their day!

well darn..

So it's pretty obvious that I failed my new years resolution.. Don't judge, I'm not the only one! Since my last post, there's been quite a few things happening in our neck of the woods.

I quit working. The hours, and stress were getting to be to much, and I felt like I wasn't focusing on my family enough. It's definitely made a giant difference, and it was something that needed to happen. Since I quit, I got back into my photography business, and it has really taken off! I've had pretty much every weekend booked up, and started filling up weekdays too! I have photos coming out of my butt, and I couldn't be happier. It feels good to be home during the day, and also be working. I even got my own website up and working, and I'm pretttty proud of it. 
www.amandacomptonphotos.com if you want to check it out

We found out the sex of our newest family member! Instead of doing a photo, (tried to do one, and wasn't all that happy with the outcome) we changed it up a little. 

I'm pretty happy with it considering it was my first ever video to do, and we had no help. Naturally, there are things I want to change and fix, but that program is not the easiest to work with, so I'll just keep it the way it is. I do want to start doing more video work though, it's a nice change to just doing photos. 

Since we are having another boy, and I am way outnumbered, we got our little girl. 

Don't let that sweet little face trick you.. she is evil! Just kidding, but seriously.. she nibbles, barks, and runs wild, not to mention potty training. Just what you would expect with a puppy. Its like a new baby, but more intense at times. Logan and her have a love-hate relationship, as in it starts off all sweet and turns into a fight, where they roll around on the ground, and ends with crying.. Typically the cry is coming from Logan.  It's all very interesting, and makes for good stories. 

Speaking of potty training, Logan is making a lot of progress on it. It wasn't as bad as a I was expecting, so I'm sure the next child will be my challenge. 

I'm sure much more has happened, but forgetting them is my punishment for not blogging it all as it happened I guess. I do have a ton of pictures at least, and plan to get to putting them up very soon. It's time I start balancing my time.. Between my own pictures being edited, all my customers photos, and spending time with Logan and Nala, I hope I don't lose my mind!

Wish me luck!

big news

Over the Christmas holidays, we shared with our family and friends that we are expecting baby number two! We announced with a photo we had taken, but I want to go ahead and share some more from the photo-shoot.

We are so excited for our new addition! Logan is starting to get used to the idea of a baby in my belly, and has started insisting on kissing it, and telling the baby night-night. He also makes sure that if he gives my belly a kiss, daddy needs to also.. its pretty adorable. If he is in the mood to discuss the baby (because honestly, he has his moments where a baby isn't his favorite topic) we ask him what he wants.. brother or sister. His typical response is "sisser" and there's no changing his mind. 

We got to see our little baby on ultrasound a few weeks ago, and my next ultrasound might reveal what we are having.. you never know! Everything looks good so far, which makes me super excited! I've even had a pretty decent first trimester, with a minimum amount of nausea. I can admit though, that I have a shorter fuse, and the littlest things can make me angry, and just like with Logan, I could sleep for days, and still be tired. But no complaints here, I know it could be so much worse. 

Say Hi to our newest family member! 

logan's 2nd birthday

One of the major things I missed sharing was Logan turning 2.. which I'm really disappointed in myself for not at least posting the pictures. It was a lot of fun, and I know there are probably a million things that happened that day that I would have loved to share, but can't remember now. I'm at least happy that I got a ton of pictures that I can share now, even if it has been a few months..

At the time, Logan was obsessed with the movie "How To Train Your Dragon" which meant that was the type of party we had to through. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.. I tend to pick themes that aren't really popular.. Oh well, we managed to get by. Viking hats, and swords as the kids goody bags, a Toothless pinata (toothless is the dragon from the movie), some dragons around the house, and a big bouncy house was enough to satisfy our two-year-old. 

Logan had us relight his candles at least 10 times.. guess he had a lot of wishes

this is Toothless

We kept the party pretty small, which made it much more laid back and enjoyable. We ended up getting to keep the bounce house for the whole weekend, which was probably Logan's favorite part of the entire weekend.. Hours and hours of jumping, and lots of memories. 

*none of these photos have been edited.

happy birthday Jesse!

Yesterday, we spent our day partying it up for our friend Jesse's 2nd birthday! Lots of sliding, swimming, and acting like big kids!

I am so impressed by Jesse! This boy is 2 and swims like a pro!

This little girl, Lilly, is so adorable!! Loved playing with her, and hearing her say "this is so fun" constantly

Best Friends Forever!

I swear, Mike and Travis are THE biggest kids I know!

and of course I enjoyed seeing Ryker! He is such a little cutie!!

Thank you for having us Jesse! We always love hanging out with The Flowers Family!

first trip to the beach

Now that the wedding is all over and done with, and I no longer have to worry about getting tan lines in the wrong places, me and the Flowers family decided it was time to attempt a beach trip. There were some doubts, and we pretty much planned for anything and everything to go wrong, but in the end, it actually turned out awesome! 

The kids had a blast, the weather was perfect, and we didn't forget anything! Even the water was nice, which is rare for Galveston. 

It was Ryker's first trip to the beach, and he LOVED it! And sierra got to ride the boogie board for the first time, and was actually pretty good at it.. When I tried, I'd fall off, it was sad. 

There were quite a few attempts to build sandcastles, but as soon as we got one up, it'd get knocked down by Sierra the Giant. Besides the knocking down, Sierra and Logan were very helpful in filling up the buckets with sand. 

It wasn't until the end that things started going wrong.. The storms that we managed to avoid, moved in quick, and even though we were just about packed up to leave, we didn't quite make it out without getting rained on. We made the best of it and laughed about it, until we went to leave and one of the vehicles wouldn't start (I blame Michelle and her bad luck). We ended up having to call some of my family to come lend us some jumper cables, and help us out. In my opinion, it made the trip that much funnier. 

This trip was probably one of my all time favorites, and I can't wait to go back, hopefully soon! Of course, since everything went so well this time, next time will most likely be a disaster. Lets hope not!  

recap of our night

Sunday, I married the love of my life, and my absolute BEST friend. Months of planning, stress, and hard work came together, and it was a blast! There were a few things that really stuck in my memory, but all together, the whole night really was everything I could have asked for. 

Logan did amazing as the "ring bearer," although he didn't really carry the rings, or the carrier I put together for him. I'm just so ecstatic that he actually ran down the aisle, and he did so with the biggest smile on his face. He also had a part in the ceremony where he got to come stand with me and Mike, and naturally, he couldn't do so without some goldfish. I think my favorite part of the whole night is when he decided to feed both me and Mike a goldfish in the middle of the ceremony.. I will always, always remember that moment, and how happy I was that he was there to share and put his own little touch on our day. It was like the goldfish was his gift to us, and I wouldn't have had him do anything differently. 

I'm so blessed that I had the 3 best bridesmaids ever, and they were so good at helping me with every little thing I needed, and keeping me calm. We had such a blast together, running around fixing flowers, putting last minute things together, and over all just hanging out. I love those 3 girls more than they will ever know. I'm also so happy that Mike got to spend time with his brothers and that he had a good, relaxing weekend too. It was much needed, and I don't think he would've picked anyone else to have spent it with. 

The food was awesome, the wedding cake was perfect, and the surprise groom cake that I got for Mike was a hit. There were plenty of tears, and laughter.. and definitely a lot of emotions. 

I can't stress enough how much I appreciated the photographers and assistants who happen to be some very close family friends. They did awesome, and I will never be able to repay them for capturing this once in a lifetime event. I want to say how much I loved having my mom, and step-dad there for me, I love them both so so much, and it means so much that they supported me and Mike. 

Mostly I need to express my thanks for my mother-in-law who was there whenever I needed her and always answered any questions, and offered so much help. She was awesome, and I'm so glad we have a great relationship!

I'll be posting new pictures from the night here and there, as I get them.. There are a ton! 

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT CAME AND SHARED THE NIGHT WITH US, WE REALLY ENJOYED SEEING EVERYONE AND HOPE THAT IT WAS AS MUCH FUN FOR Y'ALL AS IT WAS FOR US. 

surprise shoot with granny!

Since granny was in Beaumont at Jeremy and Mandy's (my brother-in-laws), me and Logan went to go visit! I really do wish I could help out more over there since Mandy has so much on her hands between the three kids and packing up/selling everything to move to Malaysia in two weeks. I have to say, she is stronger than anyone I know because I sure as heck couldn't handle it. Kudos Mandy, kudos! 

In an attempt to keep the kids busy while Mandy tried to gain some sort of sanity back, me and granny had the kids out back entertaining each other. When they all have something to do, they are actually a great bunch of kids. 

It's been forever since I got a picture of all four of them (actually, not since Logan was like 2 months old), so of course I had to get one before they move. I'd say they came out decent considering it was four kids with the shortest attention spans known to man. 

Ice cream really did the trick in keeping them quiet and still, even if it only lasted two minutes. 

I also wanted to get some of granny with all of the grandkids since we didn't have any.. I wish I would've just recorded the whole thing. Pictures do not do that little amount of time we spent trying to get photos justice.

I only picked a few to put up because I'm positive my mother-in-law would murder me if I actually posted some of them. Instead, I plan to give her a CD with them so that she can share when/if she feels like it.

Poor granny was actually taken to the ground, where she then took on "tickles" which I'm sure felt more like tiny jabs in the gut. She also got some actual jabs too, along with three of the four kids jumping on her, and using her as a jungle gym. I had a lovely time watching hahah. Logan did too.. he played it smart and sat by me, safe from all the mayhem.

Those kids always provide great entertainment, I love it!