This Year has Flown!

This year has FLOWN by!! Does anyone realize that it's almost NOVEMBER!!? I can't believe that it's almost 2014, and I will have a 5 year old and 1.5 year old in December! It's unreal!

This year has been great though, nonetheless! We'll have lived in our new home for 2 years this coming March and managed to do a little landscaping in the front yard this year! We have a LOT of landscaping left to do, but I guess plenty of time to do it right?! I love being able to make something our own.

We bought a new four wheeler this year, which brought back a lot of old memories for me when Jon and I dated we used to live on a four wheeler...I love our rhino, the convenience, room, safety....warmth in the colder months, but sometimes you can't beat an old four wheeler and the closeness of having to hang on to your fella :). Our rhino broke down in March this year, and after that it sat in our garage collecting dust for 7 months! I can't stand paying for something that isn't working. Finally we broke down and ultimately ending up replacing the belt, clutch, clutch cover and sheave plate...basically rebuilding the belt system. It wasn't cheap, but it's finally running like a champ again and I pray it has no other problems for a while.

Lawson celebrated his first birthday in June and Dillon will be celebrating his 5th birthday in a little over a month. I cannot believe he will be FIVE! Next year he will be in kindergarten full time, and I know it's gonna kill my soul after spending nearly 6 years at home with him everyday...but they gotta go to school sometime and he's pretty excited about it. His birthday theme this year (as long as it doesn't change) is Duck Dynasty. So basically a lot of camo and duck/buck stuff! I thought it suited him perfectly as he loves to play with toy guns and fake hunt with his Pappaw. I have lots of cute little ideas and when he gets his birthday present he's gonna be the happiest little boy in the world! I love doing things for our kids. I love going broke for them and spending all the money we have on THEM. Jon and I can't bring ourselves to do that with things we want, but we can do it for the kids any day. They aren't spoiled by no means....but they're well taken care of and it makes us happy to see them happy!

Winter is approaching quickly and I don't look forward to the cold months. It's already been cold a few days since fall has began, since here in Kentucky the weather is bi polar. I'll miss going riding as much, and of course being able to go out without dressing in 10 layers of clothes. It's also sick season and my kiddos have barely had a sniffle this year besides Lawson and his teething issues, but the first couple weeks of chilly air here and they both have had snotty noses for a few days now. Boo! Cold weather go away fast please!

Jon and I have had yet another great year! In July next year it'll make 11 years together...and it's been a wonderful 11 years. Can't believe we'll be celebrating our 7th anniversary either! It's so easy with him it just doesn't seem like it's been that long. I have seen so many couples splitting up and divorcing lately it's kinda making me sad! I wonder what ever happened to working it out and making it work or at least trying?! I also wonder what happened in their relationships to cause them to go their separate ways. I couldn't imagine not having Jon in my life anymore. I truly would be lost! I pray nightly for our relationship to be strong and withstand tests and for us to tolerate each other's faults and weaknesses. He is happy, I am happy...even on days we bite each other's heads off, we end on a happy note, or TRY!

I've been able to take some pictures lately. By pictures I mean photograph people outside of my little family of 4. It's been nice since it's been entirely too long since I've done that, I did miss it but can't take on tons with the kids being so young and still at home. Maybe when Lawson is older and easier to handle I can do a little more. But for now I'm just taking it slow and enjoying my time as a Mommy and Wife first and foremost.

I have made new friends this year and strengthened old relationships. Learned how to grow up and overlook drama and ignore silly things that may have pushed me overboard before. I'm almost 25 and ain't got time for that. Haha! I love all my friends, old and new, no matter the situation. I'm so glad to have a good handful of people I can trust and turn to who understand me and take the time to listen and be there but also understand me and my personality. I'm not your average woman, my closest friends who've known me most of my life know that I grew up around guys (cousins mostly) and somehow the 'guy personality' rubbed off on me. I'm kinda emotionless at times...laid back, don't care..etc. It gets misinterpreted as being shady or not caring but it's just how I am! Take it--Leave it, I was just born this way! LOL. But I don't have to worry about that because like I said, people who have stuck around to know me know how I am, so no worries.

This post has been nothing but random snippets of my life this year, and I'm sure I'll do it again closer to New Years, but waking up and realizing just how close to the year's end we are, made me think OMG! It's almost 2014! So I felt I needed to write, not to mention it's all cloudy and foggy and yucky out which switches my motivation OFF. HAHA! I have a "new" photography blog, I've yet to post in it. I am going to try to work on it next! The website is www.nataliefranklinphotography.blogspot.com if you're interested in stopping by and checking it out now and then! Thanks for stopping by and reading by basically public journal! Hope you have a good day!

Read More

My Hero; My Husband

It's been a while since I've made a post on here, but I have been thinking that the world...or the three people that read this...needs to know!

My husband needs no explanation. He is real, he is true, he is honest and straightforward. No need to read between any lines, he is what he is. He is not ashamed of anything he stands for or believes in. That is admirable and has helped mold me into the person I have become. He is very responsible, enough so for the both of us when I'm not. He is kind, loving, thoughtful and respects my opinion as his lover, wife, best friend, mother of his children, co-pilot...etc. The kids and I are his reason for waking up and leaving for work and his drive to hurry home everyday.

We've had our arguments, fights, disagreements but 95% of the time it's behind closed doors, in the sanctuary of our own home where we make sure to talk and work through each and every problem to a compromise or an agreement. We drive each other bonkers, bananas, insane some days. We are insecure, selfish at times, hateful, grumpy, sad, tired...and we may take a few snaps at each other's throats but we always in a sense "lick each other's wounds" in return, as gross as that sounds...but it's what husband and wife do, or this husband and wife anyways.

He's made me into a person who will stand up for herself, has morals, high standards, won't take any less that what she deserves. Speaks out against the bad and encourages the good. He is a Godly man who prays every night and teaches his children about Jesus...who disciplines when needed and instructs and shapes and molds his sons into the MEN he wants them to become. He is firm but understanding, has hard edges but gentle hands, and like all of us he sins but asks for forgiveness and mercy. He's everything in a man that -I- could ever asked for. Maybe not you, your mother, my mother or any other random person reading this, but for -ME- he's perfection...in my eyes, he's MINE.

I could never be more proud of a man, he has taken my view on a lot of things and changed them...he has shown me who is bad and who is good and how to judge situations I may have been unsure of before. He helps me with all my challenges and problems. I can tell him ANYTHING and know that he 100% listens and respects my faults and my shortcomings. He knows all my fears and insecurities yet still makes me feel like a beautiful woman, even on my ugliest, most hateful days. He melts the anger that sometimes has built up, the hardships I've encountered he helps me realize are minuscule, and the people who drag me down he helps me see don't matter.

He puts up with all my faults and in return I put up with his. None of us are perfect, no couple has a perfect love or marriage, but one thing is for SURE, it is perfect for US. What any other person's definition of 'love' and 'marriage' is means NOTHING to our relationship. Nothing we do that works for us, is wrong in someone else's mind...because our love is our bond and our fairy tale and our love story.

I am so proud of him, he does so much for us and he does it with pure selflessness. He is currently training to become an MET (Mine Emergency Technician). There is supposed to be one for every 50 employees. He decided to take the class because he's seen first hand on more than one occasion something happen to friends and not know what to do, and wanted that knowledge to be able to help someone hurt or possibly save a life in the future. He is CPR certified already, and it just makes me proud as a wife can get of him bettering himself and learning new things for good reason. He is smart, his biggest smarts are in the common sense department...real life knowledge, he's smarter than me in that area at times. I was always book smart; straight A's in school, high GPA...bookworm. He knows so much about life and just general knowledge and I have learned so much I didn't know from him these last several years.

I could go on and on about this man and his magnificence (to me). I appreciate him so much, his hard work to provide for our family, risking his life everyday to make sure we are fed, clothed and have a home...a job I initially begged him not to do, but now is a way of life and he takes pride in calling himself a coal miner and I support him every step he takes. There's nothing better than having a spouse to be proud of, that you can brag on, who compliment each other and bring out the very best there is. He is amazing and no one could ever tell me a thing less. And that's just a little bit of how I feel about the man I call my better half :)

Read More

The Big Boy

It's not often nowdays that I even get ONE photo of my older son during a mini session anymore. He runs from the camera most of the time unless you bribe or beg him. The other day though, I was able to capture several shots of him with one of his favorite things...a guitar. I feel that he will be into music simply because so many people in the family and all around him play and he is exposed to it constantly and he loves it. He strummed on this thing for nearly half an hour, listening to the hum of the strings. I loved watching him as he played with the different sounds and tones.

He just turned four in December, I can't believe he's FOUR already. He is so smart to be four...people in town never believe me. He can talk more than any girl I've ever been around and he learns so easily. He knows his full name, age, birthday and address. He loves string cheese and hawiian sweet rolls...he also is addicted to popsicles. He has such a kind heart and loves his Mama..;) He helps so much with his brother but can also be a little rough at times. He thinks he is grown some days and often talks about wanting to 'hurry' and grow up so he can shoot guns and do big grown up stuff. I tell him to slow down and enjoy being a kid because once he is grown he'll wish he wasn't. I know sometimes life gets hard and stressful...so I am gonna try to help him make the most of his childhood and make as many memories as possible.

Seems like he's hitting growth spurts left and right. I thought it'd be forever before he got out of 3T's but he went into 4's and already getting in 5's! I am buying some stuff from the 'boy' section at walmart instead of over where the baby/infant clothes were. Makes me so emotional. I take all the cuddles, kisses and hugs he offers because I know one day there won't be many of those for him to give out so I want to cherish it all I can. I love him (and his brother) so much! Like I said in my last post I am proud to be their Mama and I wouldn't trade them for anything in this world! Here are a few of the photos I was able to capture the other day...







...and about a week ago I caught this sweet little moment on camera:



Squeal! Just too adorable for words! Hope you enjoy!

Read More