This little lady is quite the bundle of life, love... and she...
never
stops
moving.
Until she sleeps :)

Watching my brother Mark be a father to his daughters brings a sweetness to my soul. Today I learned that this is the song that he and Raleigh will dance to the day that she gets married, and I can't lie... tears pricked my eyes as I listened to the words.

"If you leap awake
In the mirror of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second
You cant remember where you are
Just open your window 
And follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain
Where we counted every falling star

I believe the light that shines on you
Will shine on you forever
And though I cant guarantee 
Theres nothing scary hiding under your bed
I'm gonna stand guard
Like a postcard of a Golden Retriever
And never leave till I leave you 
With a sweet dream in your head

Im gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So youll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

Trust your intuition
Its just like going fishing
You cast your line
And hope you get a bite
But you dont need to waste your time
Worrying about the market place
Try to help the human race
Struggling to survive its harshest night

Im gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So youll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

Im gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So youll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you"
- Paul Simon

This morning Raleigh and I were both up a little early so she hopped in the stroller and we wandered our way down to the river and then to Bernice's Bakery for a special breakfast treat. I have been coming to Bernice's since some of my first visits to Missoula over 10 years ago when Mark was in college and had just started dating Shannon.

Pretty amazing to think of all that has happened over all those years and I delighted in having a breakfast date with their oldest little girl. We talked and babbled and I loved every second.

When I took these shots I was reminded of one of my favorite childhood author and illustrator... CW Anderson. I love how images can trigger memories... that is one of the reasons why my passion for photography runs so deep. I can look back at photographs and floods of emotion can be triggered with one look. Amazing.

Meet my scrump-dilly-iscous little nephews. You may remember seeing these guys from one of my more recent visits, oh my that last one still makes me laugh. Anyhow, I just got back from another visit in Fayetteville because we are moving there next month!! Yes, my hubs has officially taken a position with the Air Force as a Public Health officer and that means that I will officially become a military wife! I hadn't announced it here yet because I wanted to craft a beautifully laid out transition plan about how I will specifically be working once we move, but alas, that perfect plan has yet to come to fruition (bah!).... I DO know that I will still be working with clients in Charlotte, while also serving folks in Fayetteville and Raleigh as well. So, if you happen to be a client in the Queen city, just know that I'm still planning on seeing you, but it might just take a little more planning! I'm amazed that for all the places that we could have been stationed all over the country we landed a mere 2.5 hrs away.

Now, getting back to my most recent trip to Fayetteville... well, I have about a gazillion images to edit thanks to my oh-so-amazing-networking-like-mad sister-in-law, Tori! She set up an impressive number of shoots as a part of a fundraiser for her MOPS group. I got to meet a slew of awesome families and I can't WAIT to share some of those highlights, but until then... enjoy these gleeful moments that I shared with my nephews and just consider how excited we are to live right around the corner from these guys!!