September 2015 Catch Up

It has been a very VERY long time since I caught you up on our world, so here we go!

Since I last updated you we have added 2 new little boys to our extended family! Little Liam was born in the beginning of July and Logan was born at the end of July. We love both of our new nephews/cousins so much (and we can't wait to meet Logan).

In May we had some wonderful then extremely sad news. On Mother's Day we found out that we were expecting a baby in January. We were very excited, picked some name options, planned how we would re-arrange, then shortly after we went to the hospital and found out we miscarried the baby.

This hit us all really hard (well...maybe not Oliver because he didn't know WHAT was going on). I'm not going to lie it was physically painful and even more-so emotionally painful. I know it seems to be a passed over subject in most social situations but I am not ashamed that it happened, it was part of our life, part of our journey, we had a baby for 5 weeks and then suddenly we didn't and it has left an impact on our life. We decided at first to go ahead and try to get pregnant but have now decided to put it off for a while as we *try* to get a little more financially stable. I do know that I am terrified that it will happen again when we start trying but God will let it be so if that is what is meant to be ("I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born says the Lord."). The following quote stuck with me during this loss: "The truth is that it hurts because it is real. It hurts because it mattered. And that's an important thing to acknowledge to yourself." John Greene.

In happier news we were able to have the following family outings: Zoo in May, Beach and Lake in August and *fingers crossed* Carolina Renaissance Festival this fall? I hope hope HOPE that we will be able to afford it this year because I love it so and I know Dusty and Noah do too (It will be Oliver's FIRST!).

I had my first ever PAID photoshoot as a D. Snow Photography photographer! I think it went well, I was a nervous wreck about it but I better get my act together because I have 2-3 more paid ones coming up and 3-4 unpaid ones coming up!

Oliver just turned one last week. Let me say that again, because I don't think you understood the severity: Oliver, my little sweet tiny baby just turned into a big, grown up ONE YEAR OLD. To make this more dramatic our sweet, kind little Noah turned FIVE. Dusty and I are feeling very old these days (not to mention that he turns the big 3-0 this year and I turn 28 in January! I think we are going to have to have a party for him!!). Oliver is also eating all regular foods (no more baby food for this baby!) and so far he LOVES Macarroni and Cheese, Pineapple, Apples, grilled cheese, peanut butter on crackers and peanut butter banana bread (made with love by Sierra Cox). We are trying lots of new foods with Oliver, so far he hates Gerber meals (i guess they taste funny), Green Beans and steamed broccoli (looks like he is a fruit guy like his brother!).  We aren't walking yet without holding on but when he has something to hold he will take advantage and walk like someone was chasing him! Oliver will be starting Daycare on September 28th (we hope) and I am sure he will love it!

Dusty and I did not follow through with that weight loss challenge BUT we have started a new diet (we are on day 2 today) and are hopeful for good results even though we are heading into holiday season. I am positive we will have some cheat days (Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc...) but we are very serious about loosing weight and if we stick to it I know that this time next year we will be much closer to our goals and I know we will see an improvement in our physical and emotional health.

To catch you up...

Wow, I can't believe I have neglected this page so much! I have so much to fill you in on!

April 11th marked my and Dusty's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We celebrated by going to Charleston, SC and exploring the downtown area, taking a ghost tour (no we did not see any ghosts...unfortunately), and eating yummy food. Overall I loved Charleston but I found the people to be very rude and the drivers to be INSANE. Dewey's gave us a free 6 inch cake for the occasion which was very yummy. I will not go into the complete chaos that was our hotel experience but just know I will not be staying at, and will never recommend the Best Western Plus Airport Inn and Suites in North Charleston. We also opened our letter box from the wedding where our guests wrote us notes of advice and such and found some really sweet, some really funny and some really inappropriate notes (you know who you are!) and then read our letters to each other that we sealed inside during our ceremony and cried like babies. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man!

While on our trip we bought ourself a present...a new DSLR Camera! Dusty will use it for photos and Ghost Hunting and I will use it for photos and the start of my photography business D. Snow Photography! I will be honest, I'm still very amateur but anyone who knows me knows I have been interested in photography for a LONG time! I am not going to charge anything at first as I am still taking some photography courses and working on my skill but I am hoping to eventually have it as a side business to help save for family vacations, Christmas/Birthday gifts, a new car eventually, down payment for a house and date nights! I hope it will also let me save toward the prize of the weight loss challenge Dusty and I will start together tomorrow! If you want to support me feel free to like my facebook page (www.facebook.com/dsnowphotos)  and if you need/want some pictures let me take them and feel free to recommend me around!

MORE on this weight loss challenge! Dusty and I have decided to challenge ourselves to loose weight. Recently our place of business had a challenge but when so many people are participating I just loose motivation because I know I wont win. Our challenge is a little different because there wont be other people winning there is just one awesome prize we will be hoping to earn! Here's how it is going down:

Goal: Loose a total of 100 pounds. This means that it doesn't matter if I loose 70 and Dusty looses 30 or if Dusty looses 90 and I loose 10, once we hit a total of 100 pounds lost we win our challenge!

Timeframe: However long it takes us to accomplish this, There is no deadline so no reason to give up because we are close to the end and we don't feel like it is possible.

Prize: If we accomplish this goal, our prize will be a CRUISE! We will be saving towards this goal since no one is going to HAND us a cruise just for meeting our weight loss goal.


To update you on everything else, Dusty recently got a promotion at work to LEAD Guest Services Representative (because he is awesome!), Noah and Oliver are growing like weeds! Oliver is working hard on his first word, he spends all day going Dadadadadadadada and backwards waving at people.

Anywho... I hope you all are having a wonderful day!

5 Goals for 2015

Here are a few things I hope to accomplish this year. I think they are all possible...we shall see though.

1. Pay off some of our debt (not including student loans)

2. Take a vacation

3. Read 10 new to me books

4. Lose 30 lbs at least.

5. Complete one home improvement job on our new house.