the family these days

Time for some words about the fam. 

Piper is 22 months old. She is definitely developing some first-born child traits... she likes to tell us what to do. When Trevor sings with the music in the car, she says, "Don't sing that." She has also become really affectionate as of late. She gives kisses and hugs liberally. When she sees a dog, or a cat, or a bird, or anything else she knows, she says, "Hello ruff ruff (Dog). Kisses ruff ruff. I love you ruff ruff." It's always in that order. She is in the early stages of potty training. She has only actually made it into the potty once, and she has gotten super close (on the floor) like four times. I realize that my blog mainly consists of pictures of her, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it is nice to have some variation. I am going to remedy that... I'll post some recent photog work, and also try to get more pictures of all of us together. Or at least more of Trevor and me, though they will probably be separate. Someone has to operate the camera.

Trevor traveled to Miami last weekend. He was on the mock trial team at law school this year, and they competed against other schools in a tournament. Even though they didn't advance, he really feels like he did well, especially toward the end. I know this experience gives him confidence for the time he will soon be spending in court trying cases. It is nice to have some extra time with him now that it's over :).  We are planning a trip to the beach with my side of the family over winter break next year, and I realized that he will only have one semester after that... he is over half way finished, and it has gone by so quickly. He is in the process of figuring out what he'll be doing for summer employment. I am hoping he'll find something he loves.

Spring break is coming up... we're going camping :) We have so much to talk about in terms of the direction our family is headed. We need time to reflect and get centered. It can be so hard to stay unified when we are both super busy, but we want to do these things together, not alone. We want to share our successes and dreams as ours, not his or hers, and our struggles as ours, not his or hers. Our trip will involve lots of hoping, planning, sun, sleeping in our tent, hobo meals, campfires, playing with Piper, and time away from distractions. We are super excited. 

I have been reading alot about film, 35mm and medium format, and fine-tuning the direction I want to with my photography. It is definitely a journey, and there are some changes I want to make sometime in the future with my equipment. But that is probably a ways off :). I am not where I want to be with my pictures,  but I really have come a long way and I love the process of learning and growing. I have a fitting for the first of four bridesmaids dresses I am sewing on Friday, and a craft fair in Columbia, SC on April 16th, so between that and photo shoots, sewing class, making bags, and tending to sweet Piper, things have been full. But good.  Today I had an awesome shoot with an engaged couple! They were so laid back and fun.... we planned to shoot outside, but it started raining, so we went to Big City Bread and had an awesome time together. I also recently photographed a twelve week old baby boy, a hairdresser's work, and a couple that is expecting a baby in May, all of which were super fun and super good. Also, another thing that is exciting... my friend Tyler is coming on board at lightnest this summer to sew and market the bags with me :). This is awesome. There are so many opportunities for growth that I haven't taken advantage of because of time constraints, so I am pumped to see what we can do.

Before I go, a couple of readers asked me to expand on what I wrote in my last post about our journey from narrow religiosity into vibrant relationship with God. I'll write about that next. There really is so much to say! I have been wanting to write about it since I started this blog, but never did. I think I was worried about people judging me. Which is silly. I am not worried about that as much now. This is a disclaimer, though. If you read my blog and couldn't care less for what I have to say about the Bible, or if you plan on judging me (wink wink), no worries, but maybe skip the next post. I am still glad you're here, though.

xo

paige