Free Range Family

I don't have too much to say about this day, except for it was one of the best days of my life. I do, however, have a bunch of photos to show everyone all the love and beauty that made this day so special. I love my sister more then words can explain, I love my nephew to pieces and I love my new brother-in-law. I am so very happy for them to begin this journey of marriage, it will definitely be a wild ride for them! But they both have a great love for wild rides and dirt bikes, so that is right up their alley. Love you Aunt Natalie, Uncle Jake and Benton! Day Three: Natalie and Jake's Wedding Day My sister and her husband were married at Mission Mountain Resort, just a shot away from Flathead Lake. It was a cute, small little resort ran by a elderly couple. There were so many different trails leading off everywhere, we went on several throughout the whole day but I don't think we ever covered half of the many trails! The resort was snuggled up into the Mission Moun...

I have been neglecting this blog bad this month, and I have no real excuses for why I haven't been posting.  :/ Sorry! I have been quite busy at work, I guess, we finally got a new boss at the daycare. She has a lot of big plans for the activity scheduling and for me, I am very excited to work with her! I was also sick this weekend, everyone else had it the week before. Everyone but Mister Alan of course, I don't think that boy ever gets sick. He's lucky! :) Yuck, I hate being sick and usually am only once a year myself. But it always stinks! I am glad that today I am finally starting to feel normal again. Anna and I have officially started our weekly Mama and Daughter dates while Alan is in preschool on Thursdays. We usually just go play in the YMCA Open Gym for an hour, but she just loves it! I enjoy spending time focusing on just her too, it is quite special to us both. I love that I get to spend individual time with both of my children! That way, both Alan and Anna h...

The other day, I went on google image and typed in two words. Beautiful and Beauty. Can you guess which one is which? I bet you can. The "beautiful" photos are the ones that are of things: the cloud painting, the abstract water photo, the blue rose. Whereas, the "beauty" photos are the ones of the girl's faces. They are all beautiful, thus the tagging of beauty on Google. These two words mean very different things to me. Beautiful is something that I think is pretty and colorful. Sometimes it is a person but it can be an item too. I find lots of things beautiful in this world. However, beauty has always had a negative conontation for me. I find that things that are beautiful on the outside, are not always that pretty on the inside. It definitely is in the eyes of the beholder. Being a girl, I grew up desiring beauty and acceptance only to be shunned by my peers. When all I really needed was to realize my own beauty. I am a smart, artistic,...

I have had my internet turned off for a week and we are preparing to move today hopefully. Not too much happened last week except for Anna's friend Cordelia's first birthday party on Thursday and Color me Rad on Saturday. I will post about Cordelia's party later this week when I get the pictures from it. But I just HAVE to post about Color me Rad. Because it was simply AMAZING!! I ended up not running Color me Rad but working it. I was able to work as a color bomber and let me tell you, I think I had more fun than the runners! I was put in charge of eleven other people, we were the Blue Crew! It was the best group of people ever! We had so much fun! I do not even know how to explain to you the awesomeness that is Color me Rad but I once again have more awesome pictures to show you! And I am in some too! :) The before picture... Yes we rode in the back of a Uhaul to get to our stations I wanted my shoes to be color blasted too Part of my crew I was hop...

Being Buddhist, I am usually not a materialistic person. I do not usually desire materials, only love and positive energies. But I do find myself occasionly getting hooked on specific materials with sentimental values. Like photographs, certain baby things, and other memiors. Well, I have this new blog that I am just OBSESSED with. Like seriously obsessed, I check it at least once a day (lately twice a day because she is pregnant) to see what she writes. I just love her, she is so much like me! Her name is Melody, which I love and is pretty close to my mom's name Melanie. Anyways, Miss Melody has an etsy shop where she sells jewelry, adorable scarfs and motivational quote paintings. Yesterday she posted about a sale where the first ten buyers get a piece of nest jewelry for free. Of course, I missed the sale lol. But I looked at this jewelry, read the background story to it and I'm pretty much obsessed with them too. Yeah she's pretty amazing, like I said!    H...

Because I really think I need one again. This is step one of Operation: Make Mama Feel Normal Better  I say feel better and not normal because in reality and all truth, I hate the word normal these days. People have this hidden expectation of "normal" and what it is, and they are so scared to stray from it. All my life I have known that I am not necessarily normal and really kinda weird. It honestly has never bothered me because it is who I am, it has always been me and thus is natural for me. But I have noticed that when I call someone weird, not even to insult them, just as an observation, they become uncomfortable and get offended regardless. Why is this? I am just calling you weird in comparison to me, in my eyes this is a good thing and not something to become upset over. I am not trying to insult the person, just connect with them. Of course as an adult now, I no longer call people weird that much, except sometimes for my husband when I'm not thinking abo...

As I mentioned in a post awhile ago, Meghan's mother found her a beautiful red dress to wear and she has had her Red Dress Moment. Regardless of this fact, here is Meghan's story if you would like to read it. Alas, my red dress is still waiting to find the next perfect woman to bless with its magic. Last month, I think that my dress finally found the one. In a beautiful woman named Harmony. Harmony is a free-spirited punky mother of three. Like my husband, she and her family hail from beautiful Utah. In the past three years, she has gone through quite a bit with her. I believe she is definitely deserving of my red dress. Here is her story about her desire for a Red Dress Moment, from her perspective: "These last 3 years, I have struggled in my marriage. This last spring, its gotten worse and I've been unable to eat or sleep properly. On May 30th, I made a decision to end my marriage before I ended my life. The best decision I have made. I have joined a gym and am ...

Its been almost two weeks since I had my photo shoot and after posting on several Traveling Red Dress forums for another worthy woman who would be willing to share their journey with my blog and I, I have found the perfect woman! She is a beautiful woman named Meghan who lives in Pennsylvania. She has three children, one of whom is physically disabled and also a set of twins. Needless to say, this woman is very deserving of her Red Dress moment and I believe that my dress is the one for her. This is what she sent me, a quick summary of her adult life. I plan on having her write a more in depth story that I will share with you later but for now, meet Miss Meghan: "I am the women that would love to wear your red dress. Here is my story. Shortly after my husband and I were married we decided to have a child. For 1 1/2 years we tried and was told by a really bad doctor that there was nothing wrong and to "Go home have some wine and have fun". We decided to stop trying a...

Yesterday, I had my Traveling Red Dress photo shoot. Aunt Natalie and Jake went with me up to the Rims to take pictures. Thursday it was beautiful and sunny out, however yesterday it started to rain and sleet some. That didn't stop us though, as we are Montanans lol. :P So we still went out. Let me tell you though, it was just FREEZING out there! I wore my winter coat the whole time I wasn't taking pictures and I still froze lol! The wind also made it hard to see and smile in the pictures, but I still felt beautiful and wonderful in my dress. :) I loved the whole experience and can't wait to share this dress with another needy woman. This dress made me feel powerful and beautiful, at a time where I haven't necessarily felt that way. This pregnancy has been rough on me. I have had to deal with morning sickness and weight gain issues, plus just the normal fatigue and exhaustion I have been experiencing. I haven't felt beautiful in a while, just blah. This photo sh...