Abby’s Saturday // Two Hundred And Three

Highlight of the Week

On Tuesday night, we started celebrating my littlest sister Ruby’s 13th birthday (which was officially yesterday). It’s crazy to think that my “baby” sister is now a teenager (I mean, I’m barely in my 20’s, so how is that possible?)!! A whole group of us were going to the Trampoline Park in North Versailles, but we simply told Braelynn that we were going to a “surprise”. She was so excited all day long on Tuesday, trying to guess what we were going to be doing that night. She guessed almost every option in the book: “Kennywood?” “The movies?” “Ice cream?” “The Zoo?” “The park?” “The Lake House?” Finally, right before Derrick got home, she finally guessed it: “The jumping place?!” I couldn’t tell her no, so I confirmed that that was in fact where we were going – she started jumping up & down & screaming that she was, “So excited!!” It was adorable!
It’s always so hilarious to me to see this tiny little pig-tailed person running & jumping across the trampolines in & out of all the “big” people, simply having the time of her life. She loves that place!!
As we left, she picked up a picture that she had drawn that day that had come into the car with us. She told Derrick & I that she was “so happy” because we had done everything on her “list”. We asked her what “list” she was talking about & she showed us her drawing. Then she kind of signed & said, “Everything but a rainbow”, and then she left out a whine & said, “I really really wanted to see a rainbow.” We kind of giggled at her dramatics, came home & put her to bed.
Wouldn’t you know it, about 30 minutes after putting her in bed, I noticed that there was sunshine coming thru my window while rain was simultaneously pouring down. I instantly jumped up from my computer & ran out our back door to see a huge full beautiful rainbow. It literally took everything in me not to run up to Braelynn’s bedroom & wake her little sleeping head just to show her!

Yes, This Happened

• For being June, it has surely been a crappy weather week. In hindsight, it’s probably just because we went & got Braelynn a little plastic swimming pool last Friday that the weather has been so downright dreary! Poor Braelynn has been begging every single day this week to go play outside with her swimming pool – but with rainy/cloudy days that have barely hit 60º, it simply has not been a swimming pool week. Then came Thursday! It wasn’t a half-bad day – it was sunny, we hit the low-70’s, and I could no longer say “no” to Braelynn’s swimming pool cries. We broke out the pool Thursday afternoon & she had a blast.
• Braelynn is obsessed with watermelon. Every time we go to Eat N Park with my Grandma, it’s pretty much all she eats (just several plates full of watermelon). So, we bought one at the store & I think she has single-handedly eaten half of it already.
• I know I’m a bit behind on this one, but I just saw The Greatest Showman last weekend while we were at the Lake House. What a fabulous movie!! Omigoodness, I’m a bit obsessed. Needless to say, we’ve been listening to the music all week long. And now, you can sporadically hear Braelynn singing: “This is the greatest show!”
• Braelynn & I went with my Mom & Ruby yesterday morning for a little yard saling adventure. I was looking for a few specific items & unfortunately didn’t find a single thing I was looking for – so we literally did not end up buying a single thing.

Feeling Blessed

Derrick & I are off to shoot another wedding today! It’s just so relaxing to wake up in our own house, in our own bed, on a wedding morning, to lazily do some work & go over the itinerary of the day over breakfast together – it’s wonderful! For so many years, my business has been so firmly based 5 hours away from me & it’s just so relaxing to now be shooting most of my weddings so close to home that I don’t even need directions to get to the venues. Not that I don’t mind shooting “destination” weddings – they’re fun every once in a while! But there’s so much extra work that goes into prepping for them – these close to home weddings are definitely the BEST!
And now we’re off to do a little rain-dance & pray that the raindrops hold off until at least after the outdoor ceremony & portraits are complete!
Check back on later next week for highlights of today’s wedding!