Abby’s Saturday // One Hundred Fifty-Eight

Highlight of the Week

We have been at Derrick’s parent’s house all week! It’s been a full week of traveling, reconnecting with old friends, taking pictures, and visiting with family (not just Derrick’s parents & his brother’s family, but his Aunt & Uncle who live overseas, as well as their daughter & grandson – who I’ve never met & who live in D.C. – stopped here for a visit on their travels through).

I also photographed 2 newborns, one 6 month old, and one 1 year old this week! I don’t’ advertise that I take these kind of photos, but for my already established KAP Couples, I’ll do just about anything for them!! I love reconnecting with everyone – it’s so much fun to be able to step back into their lives to capture more special memories for them!

Yes, This Happened

• Last Saturday I photographed my first “destination” wedding – it was literally a dream. Everything went perfectly (which is odd for a wedding day) and everything was so beautiful. I had a blast with Sarah & Jason – their wedding highlight blog was posted here: Sarah & Jason’s Christmas in July Chautauqua Lake Wedding.
• So while I was shooting the wedding, Derrick & Braelynn went exploring around the area. They found a beach, a playground, and a small amusement park – with, you guessed it: a mini roller coaster. What’s funny, I had looked at this mini park’s website & didn’t see any mention of a little roller coaster! Leave it to Derrick to sniff out the roller coaster though – riding it was number 189 on his list & number 2 on Braelynn’s!
• Since we’ve been at Nana & Papa’s this week, Braelynn has been eating her fill of popsicles, cheese puffs, and juice boxes. Only at Nana & Papa’s!
• Speaking of popsicles, she’s been particularly obsessed with those! She’s been asking for them from the moment she wakes up! Every morning, we’ve told her she needs to wait until after lunch. Then on Thursday, she finished her breakfast & then anxiously said, “Time for a popsicle!” I said, “No, you need to wait until after lunch.” To which she replied: “I just ate my lunch!” “No baby girl, you had breakfast, not lunch!”
• I heard on a podcast the suggestion of a new “to-do list” app & I was curious about it. I’ve had a to-do list app on my phone for a while now, but it was a bit clumsy and not my favorite. It did it’s job though. This new app is called “Todoist” & I’ve been using it for the last week. I love it! You can schedule tasks for certain days, divide items into certain categories, it will send you reminders (if you want, I hate notifications & always have them all turned off). It’s clean, super easy to use, and free! If you need a to-do list app, definitely check it out!
• Our new car has been wonderful! I’m getting used to driving it & am absolutely in love with the keyless entry & backup camera! Having those extra seats really came in handy this week too, as all 6 of us (Derrick’s Mom & Aunt, Cousin & 2nd Cousin, Braelynn & I) were all able to ride in one car to the park on Wednesday morning! So much fun! It already needs cleaned out though – why do cars get so dirty so fast? And why do cars have black carpets on the floor? Don’t car companies know that black carpets show dirt more than any other color?
• This may seem silly, but I realized that I could connect my Bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iMac to my iPad! Duh – but seriously so handy! It’s suddenly made my iPad more of a usefultool than just an extra large phone. And with my MacBookPro being so old & slow (it’s a grandpa turtle), my iPad has been amazing to have while we’ve been away for answering emails and writing this post!
• I’m so excited for this coming week – stay tuned!

Feeling Blessed

At the beginning of last week, Braelynn came down with a cold. She got it from either her Aunt Ruby or her Uncle Cheese. By the middle of last week, I could feel that I was coming down with the same cold. I tried not to panic, but seriously, of all the times to get a cold, this was not the time. Thankfully, the cold never seem to “hit”. My nose ran a little bit over the weekend, but by Monday morning, it was pretty much gone. Braelynn’s cold cleared up around the same time & we’ve been healthy every since!