zip lines and sea turtles..

hello all!
whoa this little blog has been neglected for sometime...but, with good reason.

we moved back home to tn just a little over a week ago and things have been pretty crazy around here as we settle back into the house. mainly because of the mice invasion we had. we live in the country, so mice do come to visit once in a while (tis life, i suppose) but being that the surrounding areas to our home were devastated by a tornado and the little critter's homes were turned up...i suppose they figured the next best place to call home would be our home.. ICK! no thankyou! sorry, guys...you are not allowed. i can respect you in nature, your natural home, but you are not welcomed in our home. harsh, i know.

so, after much cleaning (thanks to my sister and bro-in-law for coming over and helping me a great deal) the place is clean, and now i am slowly unpacking the gulf shores things...i am also using this time to purge the house of unnecessary items. it is such a freeing feeling to brings lots of bags to the donation center. the bags keep going right out my door, into the 4runner, and to the donation center...i imagine that will be happening for awhile. i have a strong dislike for too much "stuff" right now. it must go for my sanity. clutter free is nice.

meanwhile...i am also working on lots of shoots which took place right before the move. just finished up a precious maternity shoot, and will post some from that shoot just as soon as i can. i have one more shoot to finish up (amy's) and then another to start and finish (lisa's). :-)

river will also be officially starting homeschooling this month.....so, things are quite busy around here to say the least.

let's see....so much has taken place since my last post that i am going to try to quickly get you up to date on the happenings....

firstly, one exciting event which took place is when we were invited after my friend amy's family shoot to go grab some ice cream with them (okay, though ice cream is pretty awesome it was what happened after ice cream that was super exciting...) we were invited to go to the beach and possibly see some baby sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean. and guess what?? they actually hatched while we were there and we got to see them make the journey to the ocean. oh, what an amazing thing to witness! pretty much a chance of a lifetime, it was! unfortunately, we did not do flash photography, obviously,  as the lights could have disoriented the turtles as they went to the ocean. we did use the tripod and got some...you can't really see the turtles, but you can see some stars, light from the pier, sand, and the ditch that was dug for the turtle trek, and of course...our littles gazing upon the little turtles in transit. ;-)

river and lily are sitting in the right of the photo...they are watching the little turtle trek to the sea, and trying very hard not to touch the turtles. they did a great job just watching. 

some  interesting effects going on in these photos.

did you know sea turtles lay their eggs in the same location of where they were born? yes, really? and did you know that people go out here week's, months, years trying to see such an event, and some never see it? i consider us pretty blessed to have been able to be a part of this!

just so you know...baby sea turtles are out-of-this-world -adorable!!!

the whole experience spoke to me of God's plan and design.

thank you, clint and amy for the invite! that was completely amazing! i am thrilled that lily and river got to experience such an event and that rocky and i did, too. ;-)

in other family news:
no, i'm not pregnant...though, i wouldn't mind it really. bring on the baby, is how feel most of the time. ;-)
anywho...the kids went zip lining for the very first time.
my dear friend, amy invited us over to her mom's house for the adventure. both lily and river LOVED it.
someday we would love to put a zip line somewhere on our land, well...that and a pool...and we might as well throw in some hardwood flooring into the mix, as well, since i'm at it. ;-)

apparently, lily loves 4 wheelers

noah showing us how it is done!

the set-up...

lily and amy still working that 4wheeler.

river getting hooked in...

i saw a smidge of fear in his eyes right before going off the edge...that soon passed.

getting all harnessed up..

daddy squeezed in a little hug before she zipped away. ;-)

facing it, with no fear..

from the "launchpad" you can see me clapping...proud mama!

she loved it!

taylor

we are going to miss the gulf shores/orange beach area, but most importantly, the friends we made while there. there is no doubt that we will return for visits. truly, a great bunch of people there. we will miss you all! but, you can't get rid of us...we WILL be back to visit! hey, and will probably be looking for a pad to crash at. lol. (hint hint).

so...more photos to come from gulf shores.. i am way behind on my photos in general. don't even ask about how my project365 is doing. i assure you i have been snapping my photo a day, but they need edited and put up on flickr. i will get it done.
more gulf shores photos to come just as soon as i can get them up.

have a wonderful day!

and if you are awaiting photos from me...thank you so much for your patience. this move back has been crazy. normally i give a 1-2 week turn-a-round window for photo editing and such...this move threw things off schedule to say the least. but,  rest assured you will see them soon...i sleep very little. ;-) burning the midnight oil i guess you could say.