Today is our 10th Anniversary!   Every day I count my lucky stars and thank the good Lord for bringing you into my life, Reggie.  I couldn’t ask for a more loving, patient, warm, funny, creative, intelligent, talented man to stand by my side, holding my hand, and enjoying this crazy adventure !  Time seems to have flown by in some ways, and, here we are today with two handsome little guys of our own and sharing this life we have created for us.  Thank you for being an amazing role model to our children, for showing me what love and happiness truly means, and for introducing me to new things that I may never have tried without your encouragement, like guacamole, hot sauce….and photography.   You are such a bright light in this world, and I love you more and more each day.  I’m excited to celebrate with you and our sweet boys today!  Happy Anniversary, honey!!!  I love you so much!

We happen to share this special anniversary day with my parents too!  Mom and Dad, Happy 49th Anniversary to you!!!  We love you both so much!!!

 

{Family Photos // Stefanie Childs}

I love looking at our wedding photos!  Here are a few favorites from April 12, 2008:

 

 

{Wedding Photos // Katie Collier}

It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago today we were married in our beautiful church, Holy Cross, among our family and friends.  It was a chilly, misty April day, and I vividly remember welcoming the cooler temperature as I walked from the back of the church building to the grand front doors.  A few guests were still arriving as I waited there. We hadn’t seen each other yet that day, and yet I knew you were right there, on the other side of those wooden doors with your Mom.  I remember hearing the music play before walking down the aisle.  And then it was my turn to walk through the doors, arm in arm with my Mom and Dad, as we walked down the aisle to see you!  You looked so handsome!  We listened to the readings that we had chosen and to the words from our officiant.  We greeted friends and family during the Sign of Peace.  And our hands shook and we giggled as we lit our Unity Candle.  We walked hand in hand down the aisle, lined with candles and flowers, until we reach the church doors, where our driver was waiting with his umbrella.  We hopped in the antique car, a 1953 Rolls Royce, and drove off!  It was a beautiful day, and just the beginning of so many more beautiful days together!  Cheers to us!

 

We woke up at 5am and headed to breakfast on one of the lower levels of the ship.  I was a bit seasick that day, and not being able to see outside and feeling the slow motion and engine rumblings at this point proved unfortunate for me!  Did we come prepared with seasickness prevention patches?  Yes, we did.  Did I have one on?  No.  Did I learn my lesson?  Of course!  Well, sort of…I will definitely use them the next time we cruise!  Once I got some fresh air and could get my bearings, I felt much better.  I did not want to miss anything, especially our first day in Italy!  We met up with our new friends Donna and Shane without any expectations of what the day would bring!  We decided to share a taxi.  And that was one of the best decisions we could have made!  Carlo was amazing!  We thoroughly enjoyed his company and local expertise.  We zoomed through the streets of Naples, his hometown, to the beautiful, colorful, charming town of Sorrento!  The four of us agreed that we would love to come back to this place and spend more time exploring and taking it all in.  We had an hour to explore on foot before Carlo picked us up for the  next leg of our trip: the ruins of Pompei! On our way, Carlo stopped so we could take photos along the coast, overlooking the Bay of Naples, views to Capri, and some delicious fresh squeezed orange and lemon granitas!  (See my previous post for the coastal images!)  He also purchased some delicious fruit candies to enjoy!

Our next stop was Pompei, where we spent 2 hours walking around the ancient ruins.  Again, you could spend so much time here!  It was so amazing to see what has been preserved by the volcanic ash and how they are working to preserve all of the ancient structures today!

We hopped back in Carlo’s taxi and headed back to Naples to enjoy his favorite pizza and gelato.  And oh my goodness, it was the best pizza and gelato (in hand-rolled cones) ever!  He carefully gave us directions and made sure we knew the way back to the ship.  We really should have taken a photo with him, because our time with him made our whole day of adventure so much more fun and personal.  He hugged and kissed us each goodbye, while again making sure we knew how to get back to our ship!  Carlo, mille grazie!  Thank you so much for sharing your day with us, it was absolutely wonderful!!!  He gave us his business card, and I plan to send him photos from our trip!

As we enjoyed our late lunch of the best pizza ever, we strolled up and down the pedestrian streets taking in as much we could.  We were invited to take photos sitting on a 30 year old motorbike by friendly locals.  And we took photos of each other in a colorful alley that captured a slice of Naples, Italy.  We saw the main square downtown, and Donna helped me chase some pigeons for photos, and we browsed a huge castle with intricately carved details.  As Donna said, it was such a lovely day!  It’s safe to say we enjoyed our time and already knew it was such a special place to visit!

We made it back to the ship on time and were greeted by Norwegian Cruise Line’s staff and music.  They really make you feel welcome each time you set foot on the plank!  That evening we enjoyed some cocktails and got rested up for our next day in Rome!

 

 

I am so excited to relive this amazing adventure that Reggie and I were so blessed to embark upon this past spring!  We knew about a year in advance that this trip of a lifetime was coming up, however, I don’t think it truly hit us until we saw it.  Before I get to the incredible vessel that is the Norwegian Epic, I’ll first go back to the beginning.  We flew from Indianapolis to Philadelphia, and then boarded the plane for our trans-Atlantic flight to Barcelona, Spain.  Reggie has traveled to Spain when he was a young kid.  I myself had never been there, so we were both looking forward to get a glimpse of this city.  When we arrived it was very early in the morning, and it was rainy.  And since we couldn’t yet board the cruise ship, we opted to stay on our airport shuttle for a driving tour of Barcelona.  We got to see some of most popular points, like the amazing church that is under construction, Sagrada Familia.  We drove through market and shopping districts, admiring the architecture and culture that is embedded in every square inch of Barcelona.  In my sleepy haze, I took some photos and videos on my iPhone…which I need to go through!  Before we knew it, we were back at the port of Barcelona to begin the embarkation process.  I’ve seen cruise ships while traveling in Key West, however, I’ve never set foot on one, and merely driving up and seeing it and all of the process it takes to embark, it was really something!  Once we boarded the ship, we found our room.  We learned our luggage would be delivered later that evening, and, fortunately, everything arrived as promised.  Our room featured a balcony, a few closets, plenty of drawer and cubby space, life jackets, and a complimentary bottle of champagne!   It was time to go check out the ship, and we met a wonderful bartender by the pool who made THE best margaritas and mojitos!  We enjoyed hearing about his life and how he came to work for Norwegian.  By then our day of traveling had caught up with us, so we took a little afternoon nap, before attending a ship-wide, mandatory safety drill.  They are serious about safety!  There’s never a lack of anything to do aboard a cruise, there is always something going on somewhere!  If you don’t want to get too social, you can always grab a snack, hang out by the pool, walk around, whatever your heart desires!  Pro: They have self-serve ice cream machines!  Con: They have self-serve ice cream machines!  Ha ha!  (There’s also a fitness center, a running track along one side of the ship, a rock climbing wall (which we both successfully completed!), and many, many staircases to test your endurance if you don’t want to take the elevators!  Some days we’d try to beat our previous day’s stair climbing, thanks to Reggie’s cool techy watch!

By early evening, the ship’s horn sounded to signal that we were setting sail for the night.  Everyone was invited to a Welcome Aboard Party, and to enjoy the views as we left the port of Barcelona.  We had a Day at Sea (Day 2), and we met a wonderful couple (hi Shane and Donna!) and we decided to explore Naples with them the next day.  Since we had a day to hang out on the ship, we climbed the rock wall, enjoyed time in the hot tub, and saw a show that evening called “Burn the Floor.”  Reggie and I both like watching “So You Think You Can Dance”…and this show was crazy good!  The dancers were all so very talented, and they performed a variety of dance styles.  It was, in a word, spectacular!  When we returned to our room that night, our cabin steward had left a towels folded into an elephant on our bed!  (Note to self: search the art of towel folding on YouTube.)

In the morning, we woke up to the view of Mount Vesuvius.  It was beautiful!  A fantastic way to start Day 3, which was one of our favorite days!  I’ll let the story of Day 3 unfold in a forthcoming post, so for now, here’s a sneak peek at the beautiful coast of Naples, Italy on our way to the charming town of Sorrento.  Ok, first I have to mention that we decided to hire our own taxi driver.  And we couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful way to see this part of Italy!  Carlo was awesome!  He was a stylish older man who came to feel almost fatherly to the 4 of us as the day went on.  And the photos below are where he had us stop to take pictures and to try delicious, freshly pressed orange and lemon drinks!  Stay tuned for more soon!!!  Ciao! 

 

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  Season’s Greetings!  May this magical season fill you with peace and joy and hope for a Happy New Year!  Thank you for making 2017 another amazing year of photographing your most treasured times, it is truly such an honor to witness and document engagements, weddings, the addition of new family members, and special milestones like graduating high school and anniversaries.  Sharing all of these life moments with my clients is an incredible experience that I don’t take for granted.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much!  A big thank you to my hubby, my family, and friends who have supported me and cared for our boys on so many occasions!  Love you all so much!!!

And a blog post simply wouldn’t be complete without a photo or two…or many! 😉  It was a chilly day and some snowflakes were flying for a quick wintery session with my little loves!  Remington and Emerson, thank you for being the best gifts we could ever dream of, we love you so much!  xoxoxo

The boys’ adorable matching outfits (I never thought I would I love dressing them alike so much…not all the time, but they have a few matching outfits!) are from my parents…and my Mom custom-made their hats to match!

It seems like 2017 has flown by even faster than any other year!  I can hardly believe that we were bringing home our second baby boy on Christmas Day in 2015!  And now he’s turning 2 today!  Last year on his 1st birthday, I remember rocking him at nap time, which was at his time of birth and my eyes filled with tears.  The bittersweet kind of tears.  He was entering the toddler phase, and leaving behind the infant and baby stage.  Being Emerson’s mommy has been such a wonderful experience!  He is a happy little guy, with a quiet and serious side at times.  He loves to run around the kitchen table, just like his big brother Remington.  And his favorite color is blue…blue trucks! Blue choo-choos! Blue shoes!  He loves counting to 2!  If there are two of something, he will let count them for you!  He loves his blue (!) hippo, his soft white blankie, and his stuffed shoo-wahs (which is what he calls dinosaurs).  He loves imitating noises and sounds.  And sliding through my legs while wearing Mickey Mouse slippers is a favorite game he likes to play in the kitchen!   I adore how he grabs my hand to lead me where he wants to go, or points to tell me where to sit.  He simply fills my heart with so much love and happiness!  His warm hugs, his adorable giggles, his little babbles and growing vocabulary keep us entertained and truly smitten each and every day!

Emerson Ray, we love you so much and we wish you a very Happy 2nd Birthday!!!