Portraits

What's a family vacation without trying to get some good portraits right???? This is BY FAR my dad and Jeff's most unfavorite part of a family vacation...but thankfully they are good sports and indulge us in our quest for good pictures. It is never without tears from the children which leaves all of us wondering why we ever try in the first place! Ha! However, when it's all said and done, we are all thankful for the memories and good pictures that I know will be cherished forever:).

This year, we decided to forego the traditional beach pics in white. Too. much. trouble. So, we decided to adorn ourselves in shades of turquoise and do it out by the pool where we were staying. There were these beautiful waterfalls that I knew would make a great backdrop and contrast to our turquoise. Anyway, we got a friend (and fellow blogger who loves photography) who was on project with us to help take the big family pics and she did a great job and was such a trooper!!! Thanks Kitty! I didn't put a watermark on these because they are just too beautiful! I'm probably being paranoid anyway about pictures being stolen.


Without further ado...our Wood/Norris family portraits...Destin, Florida 2010...

at the end, Samuel wanted to take a picture...so he took this one of my mom and me (all the others had gone in already)

then he wanted a pic of himself and Nana

and finally, he wanted one of himself and me:). i absolutely LOVE this picture and my precious little man!

Beach Fun

I am sorting through over 600 pictures so I'm sure there will be many more posts this week with pictures from our trip. We had a blast but are kind of happy to be home. I am SOOOO ready to get back to the gym (have I mentioned I've randomly decided to start running again??) and back to my good eating habits. I tried as best I could to stick with eating healthy and even walking/running a few days...but I'm not going to lie...it was hard and I definitely cheated. And you know what, I do not like how it has made me feel. Thank goodness, I know it was just a small derail since I seriously will be back on track tomorrow! We only have 2 weeks until our Mexico vacay:)! I don't think I'll make my original goal, but hopefully I will be close. And then when we get back, I am actually going to reset my goal to lose about 10-15 more pounds from what I am now.

Enough about that though. We seriously had so much fun at the beach. My family was able to join us (as in mom, dad, brother and sister in law). They were strictly there on vacation with us. Jeff still had to work a lot and we were able to do some project things together as well as just enjoy Florida. So fun! We ate some good seafood, tried not to get too much sun (skin cancer scares me), saw a few movies, and got lots of energy out swimming in the pool and running around the beach! The water was as blue/emerald as I have ever seen it. No oil in sight!! Samuel declared today on our way home that it was the BEST vacation EVER.

So here are some pics from our first day on the beach...



Ryan (my bro) and his wife Erin. Are they not the cutest.couple.ever????

Abigail is not crazy about the beach as you can see here. She preferred to be held or sitting in a chair drinking juice and eating goldfish (that's my girl:)).

possibly one of my favorite pictures:)

Samuel and EK being silly:)


my beautiful girls...

Fun At The Pool!

The pool where we are is AWESOME! As suspected, Abigail did not want anything to do with it at first. She is beginning to warm up a bit today though. The older 2 LOVE it and are my little fishies. I do not have photoshop on our laptop, so these pics are mostly unedited and I wasn't able to put my watermark on them (oh well). I think I've taken around 400 pictures so far (shocking) so this isn't even touching the surface of the cutes ones I've gotten! I'll try to share fun beach pics later this week:)

Lovin It

We are at the beach and lovin it!

More pictures to come...

A New Respect

13 days ago, Jeff left to go down to Florida to direct a missions project for college students.

I "got" to stay home because of a little something called SCHOOL. The last 10 days have made me think about homeschooling more than ever:).

Today, Jeff is coming back home to help me pack up and then we will all drive back down to Destin tomorrow and finish the project up in about a week. There are 2 really great things about that....we get to enjoy the beach (hopefully the oil will hold off a little while longer) and there is NO MORE SCHOOL FOR SAMUEL!!!! Hallelujah!

I have a definite new respect for single moms and for moms whose husbands travel a lot. I did have some help off and on during the first part of the 13 days but for the last 5, I have been totally on my own. It has been hard and I have been close to driving myself over to Bryce Hospital several times to admit myself. I LOVE my kids and I truly do love being a mom. But having to do most of the daily tasks (meals, bedtime, bathtime, homework, therapy, etc. etc) ALL BY MYSELF has made me so TIRED. It has also made me jealous and envious of people who get to live close to family. All that to say, I am so thankful for my husband and all that he does when he is home. What a difference it makes to have a daddy around!!! Thank you God for giving us such a wonderful daddy and husband to do life with. I don't think I could have made it one more day without him.

The kids have done well for the most part. It's just the dailyness of having to train and discipline and redirect and break up arguments that get to me. I am struggling with feeling like my kids are just really horribly behaved. And it's never more clear when we are in public. Pretty much every place I take Ellie Kate gets to witness her strong willed nature and desire to pitch fits over every.little.thing. This week, especially, I have truly become a bit scared at what her future holds. Of what she will be like as a teenager. I literally am crying out to the Lord for wisdom and patience as I parent her throughout the day.

But the hugs and kisses, the times of obedience, and the way they love me unconditionally...it's worth it. The times they play well together are times my heart is soothed and I know I will long for these days back again when they are all grown and gone. For now, I fight for patience and I ask sweet Jesus for all of His strength because Lord knows, I am so so weak.

It's been a really beautiful week here with nice temperatures so we have continued to spend a lot of time outside. I have added a watermark to my pictures because I have become a bit paranoid about my pictures being stolen. Anyway, hopefully it doesn't take away from them:)

Not to be outdone by Samuel's photography skills, I let EK take a pic. I was standing right beside her and the strap was firmly around her neck. She snapped this of Abigail...

I think she might need a bang trim:)

And these are just some more fun ones of the kids that I love...

yes, EK has on her china UGGS in 80 degree weather (I pick my battles)

samuel found a wild blackberry

classic

no more pictures mom!