thursday through my lens :: Abbey's maternity photos

My little sister, Abbey just had her first baby a few days ago (she posted cute pictures on the Ten on Ten linky if you want to see :)). She and her husband have been living in New Zealand for the past few years and it's just killing me that we are so far away, I am dying to kiss my adorable niece!

It reminded that I had never shared any of the maternity photos I took of her this past fall when we were all together as a family in Palm Springs. We visited Joshua Tree and she was looking so adorable in her little sun dress so she let me take a bunch of pictures of her first baby belly against the desert backdrop. I am definitely looking forward to getting my camera out to capture her new family in a few months when they finally move home to the states (hooray!)…Congratulations Abbey, little Caitlyn is just as adorable as you!

see more from the collection on my flickr account HERE.

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Dinner at Eight 2015

All right you guys, I know I've hinted at bringing it back before and even attempted a few times to bring it back too but this time I mean business. Dinner at Eight is coming back this year - one date a month, at home, a special, intentional time investing in my marriage.

Are you going to join me? The plan is really simple and straight forward and in NO way should feel intimidating and overwhelming. The idea is to be intentional and that can look a million different ways.

Over New Years I found myself talking about this project several times with friends and what I kept coming back to (and what surprised me a ton) was the heart behind Dinner at Eight not just the cute decorations and yummy food and photos. When Andi and I started this project we were so intentional together, we prayed for each others marriages and we held each other accountable to invest in the gift of being married. I am passionate about marriage - I've first hand experienced the pain of what broken marriage can do to a family and so I want to treat my marriage as sacred and blessed by God and I want my children to see that too.

Over this next year I will be hosting a date night each month here at home and will even have a theme to spark inspiration. I will post a linky here on the last day of the month for you to join in and share how your date night went if you want.

For January I've picked Candlelight as the theme - it doesn't have to be fancy, eating a peanut butter sandwich by candle light can be romantic, but there is something about even taking the time to set out the candles that can take any meal up and notch and make it special.

So these are my initial thoughts - I will post more as I progress but I want you to know that I am praying for your marriages too and I am not just saying that I mean it. I am holding you up in prayer believing for joy and grace to abound in the midst of all that the union of marriage can mean. So do you think you might join me this month? I hope so! xo

you can see past dinner at eight dates HERE!

Review with Firmoo Glasses

Over the holidays Firmoo sent me a pair of glasses and asked me if I would share my thoughts about them with you guys. I don't do reviews all that often and am always super hesitant ordering things like glasses because I like to try them on before I make a commitment, but I agreed because they had some cute choices on their site.

I have to say they came and I was very pleased with them - the prescription is great and they are really nice quality! I also made an error when placing my order and their customer service was so kind and fixed it without any issues. I definitely could see myself ordering from Firmoo again because the prices are great for the quality, I could upload a photo to see what they would look like and the website was super easy to use - thank you so much Firmoo, I am so grateful for my new specs! Check out Firmoo HERE - looks like they have a 20% off code right now too!

Ten on Ten :: January 2015

Happy Ten on Ten you guys - is it really the EIGHTH year for this project?? So awesome - I am so blessed by you! I hope you have a great day today searching for beauty in the unexpected places. I will be back later with my set apparently we were all about food and football today (go Seahawks!!) :) I can't wait to see what you found, off to look through the linky! More about the project HERE.

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Friday Pieday

When I started doing Friday Pieday with the kids last year I really had no clue what I was doing (still don't) or where it would lead, but for about six or seven weeks every Friday I just made a point to bake a pie with whoever was around and wanted to join in. The tradition stuck like glue with them and in fact even though we took a break from making a pie every week they still ask, without fail all the time if it's Friday yet and if we get to make a pie.

It was kind of shocking to me actually how much the little act of intentionality worked on them and boosted their confidence so much in fact just this week Grandma told Josie that Grandpa loves apple pies and apparently she beamed and said "well I know how to make pies!" and that just made my heart swell with joy!

So I've decided to make it a yearlong goal to make a pie as many weeks as possible with the kids in 2015. We shall see where it leads and I know I will learn a ton, I am not a great pastry chef by any stretch of the imagination just a Mom on a mission to bless her kids with a special tradition!

I mentioned to a few friends that I was picking back up with the project and got a few comments like "that is crazy, do you even sleep?" :) ha! Made me crack up because I TOTALLY get the intimidation factor and stress of baking with toddlers - I thought I'd share just a couple things I've learned so far in case you were thinking of starting a similar tradition or are groaning at the thought of what a mess it would be.

The first thing I do is choose the pie with the kids in advance and make sure we have all of the ingredients on hand for Friday before Friday rolls around. Nothing worse than not being prepared.

If the pie has a really involved crust or many many steps I usually make the dough the night before or try to do any of the steps in advance so that Pieday is not complicated or stressful for me!

Make sure your work space is clean and set out all of the ingredients and the tools needed before calling the kids into the kitchen and if you want to photograph the experience have the camera there too so that you aren't looking for it with flour all over your hands with the kids grabbing and flinging things while you scramble.

And after we are done making the pie and get it into the oven or fridge I like to have a little snack and a special movie or activity all set to transition the kids onto the next thing and give me a chance to clean up alone - I know it's good to have the kids help with clean up but on Pieday for the most part I like to get the crazy mess under control quickly making my stress level a lot lower.

And then make a HUGE deal when the pie is served. We usually do pie right after dinner on Friday and we ooh and ahh and set special plates out - seriously you will be shocked at how they beam with pride, it's my favorite part!

Just my two cents of course if you have any other tips or ideas I would love you to leave them in the comments and if you've done a similar project tell me about it I am all ears!

These are a few pictures of pies we made that I never posted about - Orange Dreamsicle and Blueberry Fried Pies. We are making a pie today and I will be sharing it next Friday of course. Thanks so much for letting me share a little about my process and plan here it helps me with accountability! Hope you have a wonderful Friday - and I will be back tomorrow with Ten on Ten! xoxo

wrapping up my holiday heart

2014 has come and gone and in so many ways it was so so blessed. Lots of good and some hard things sprinkled along the way and it seemed that this past holiday season was a climax of sorts for our family. We are still recovering right alongside Chris after his total hip replacement. You'd think that his young age in terms of the average for this kind of surgery would be super advantageous but it hasn't proven to be the case for him - he is making great strides each day and is now only walking with a cane but he's been limping for two years and his muscles are slow to get the message that he can walk again and driving is still out of the question to so we are still in many ways cozied up as a family recovering and overwhelmed with gratitude and the goodness once again poured out for our our family through so  many amazing hands over the season through prayers, meals, notes and visits!

I also wrapped up the first six months with Rebekah Gough Jewelry this season. It was so so fun to get my hands creating again and I actually sold out of the entire line!! I have been praying hard about the next phase for my little business and am beyond excited about the ideas God has laid on my heart. I am equally praying about this space and feeling a deep draw back into sharing more frequently here on my blog all the comings and goings of our family, my heart wants to jump in again.

The kids and I are making big plans to continue on with Friday Pieday this year - I know it's a huge commitment but seriously can't even believe how much it means to them (and me) to spend that time building tradition together. We might not always make an actual pie we might occasionally do a cake or something equally delicious but I am publicly committing to making time to bake with my kids once a week - wondering if any of you would like to join us?

The other project that was stirred up again over the holidays through a couple of sweet conversations with my SIL, Rachel as well as my new friend Bridget was Dinner at Eight. My marriage needs it, my heart needs it and truthfully I miss that intentional time each month making much of the relationship God has given me in my husband and spoiling him with a really fun date night at home. Definitely hoping you might consider joining me on that project too!

The one project though that I can't decide if I should keep or finally let go of is Ten on Ten. My beloved monthly ritual I still love with all my heart but with all of the newer photo projects around each month I feel insecure that it's gotten boring..just thinking about it but will be doing it this month for sure no plans to officially retire it just yet.

Over the holidays I spent some time praying about a new theme for the year too. Last year I picked the word RISE and although I didn't blog about it much it was certainly an incredible resource in my life in so many ways - the Lord used it so many times to grab my attention and speak truth and love into my heart. I even ran my first half marathon this past year in an effort to rise above the ways I see myself - to stretch the limits of what I saw was possible to accomplish. I love picking a theme for the year!

I was considering Follow Through as a good theme to grab for 2015 and told Chris that I thought it might be perfect. I so struggle with following through on many things in my life (you should see my inbox!) and truly before the Lord I want to work on that. But just the other morning as I was reading in Ruth, God almost audibly gave me my word - He said: PARTAKE - I don't want you striving out of a need to prove your worth and harshly work on being a better person, I want you to instead Partake in the goodness all around you. The things I have laid on your heart, soak those in. Partake in the life I've given you and ask me for more but don't settle for the "try hard" mantra that will only lead you to yourself.

So I have picked the word PARTAKE this year to be my theme. It's not easy to receive I like to be the one accomplishing things that are measurable and likable and attainable but I feel a pressing on my heart to simple receive from the Father more goodness than I could ever imagine and out of that filling up be motivated by love and joy to build His kingdom!

So with that and all my crazy ramblings - I am welcoming 2015 with open arms and hope to share a ton of it here with you too! Hope your year is off to a great start - Happy New Year, friends! xoxo

Ten on Ten :: December 2014

I don't usually add text to my ten on ten sets each month, I like to keep them quiet and let the photos do the talking that way when I look back years later what I really get is the feeling and emotions from the frozen moments in time. But this month feels different, I am feeling a bit weary of heart and body and so I thought, if for even just my own sake in years to come I'd document too the goings on behind the images shared.

My husband Chris had hip hip replaced on Monday evening and we just got home last night from the hospital - it's been a long few nights with lots of pain and sleeplessness. It is so very hard to see your loved one in such pain and not be able to immediately help. Our kids are staying with Grandma and Grandpa Gough (thank you guys so much!) until tomorrow and I am so very grateful for this small chance to focus on Chris's recovery but am also just exhausted to the bone and know that they will return with a force and I myself have been fighting mono as a mom does by simply praying hard each day that there are enough moments to sit and rest to make it through the hectic chaos of raising four little ones.

My amazing friend Julie Jane sent me the dearest note this afternoon with a prayer in it that brought me to my knees in tears and gratitude for her strength in bearing burdens with me through this season. And truthfully these images, finding the beauty in the ordinary is such grace as well. It's so humbling to look around and find that God has given to us in each moment exactly what we need right when we need it. He sent my best friend with chicken soup and strong arms to help me arrange the furniture better for Chris. He sent me the hope that is Advent and how his humble life came down to earth to serve us all. He sent me coffee, and snugly socks to keep my toes warm and even presents to wrap. He is good and even when life is really really hard he sees it and carries us through and I am grateful in the midst of it for chances to focus my mind and heart on him.

Thank you guys for joining in each month in whatever way works best for you - twelve photos or only two, fancy dslr or phone photos this project is simply about observing grace in the everyday thick or thin and I am seriously so honored to be a part of it all with you! Happy Ten on Ten friends, you guys are such a blessing! xoxo

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