............WELCOME BACK SUMMER {RANDOM}

This week it hit 96 degrees. On May 10th. In Iowa. THAT'S CRAZY. I sure am not complaining tho.
Because the previous week it was 46 degrees. I love the heat. I love the sun. I love sunburns that turn into tans.

Life is good. God is even BETTER.
Summer is approaching. Life is getting busier now that the weather is nice. But I don't mind. I have been in awe watching as God works in me and in my life. I have been thankful that He is showing me what needs work and starts there.
Somedays it feels like just too much. But God reminds me then that, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus".

(something i read the other day that is a good reminder for me, thought i'd share).
Is it the custom of your life to draw aside daily to a quiet place for fellowship with your Heavenly Father? He wants you to enjoy Him - alone. He waits for you to come. He promised if you will draw near to Him then He will draw near to you. Do other things rob you of this blessed privilege? You can began again to set necessary time alone just for Him.

It's Wednesday! {RANDOM}

I know. I know. I haven't blogged my brother's second part of his Senior pictures {it's because I still need to edit them...shhhh} and I need to blog about the couple I second shot Sunday {yeah, those need to be edited too}. But lets call this post a random post {as in the heading, I'm so smart}.
And it's Wednesday. There is no better day to do a random post! {Not really, I just made that up}.
p.s. Olivia, I had fun doing our super duper mini photo shoot with the sun blinding us! :)

Coffee Lover's Coffee Cake {RANDOM}

I loooooove coffee cakes. Especially ones with streusel topping. Those have to be my favorite. In fact sometimes I'll pick the streusel off and just eat that and leave the bread behind. YUM.

I found this recipe off Taste of Home...Taste of Home taught me to cook! I kid. My Mother is who taught me how to cook but I will say Taste of Home magazine's with all those pictures of all that delicious looking food made me want to cook all the TIME. I still remember a couple years ago my sisters and I would each have turns opening the new Taste of Home that came once a month...it was the highlight of our day. Good memories.

My whole family really liked this except my little sister and I. Neither one of us like coffee at all. At all. It has definite coffee taste/flavor to it. So for us it was a bit much of coffee in the cake. But if you are a coffee person (like one of my brothers and my Dad!) this is for you.

"Coffee Lover's Coffee Cake"
Ingredients:1/3 cup sugar4-1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon3 tbsp. butter, softened1/2 cup sugar1 egg1 tsp. vanilla extract1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 tsp. baking powder1/2 tsp. baking soda1/8 tsp. salt1 cup plain yogurtDirections:
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, coffee granules and cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with yogurt, beating just until combined. Spread half of the batter evenly into a 9-in. square baking pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with half of the reserved sugar mixture. Repeat layers. Cut through batter with knife to swirl. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack, serve warm.




My sisters and I went out for the evening, grabbed dinner and saw HOP. I have been watching the trailer for the past couple weeks just waiting to see it.....it is worth that $9 ticket. Very funny and who doesn't love a Easter movie with Easter right around the corner?! I sureee do.

April Already?! {RANDOM}

I can't believe it is April already. Halfway thru April already might I add. Iowa has been having gorgeous weather, it hit the 80's here already and I think I forgot how hot it can really get. But I am not complaning, I love the warm weather. Love it. Loooove it.

Some family friends of ours had a brand new spankin' baby a couple weeks ago! William Leonard Novak III. I finally got to meet the little man last Saturday and do a mini-photo shoot. I will blog the rest later. Oh yeah, and blog my brother's Senior Pictures....this week it will happen!

The big sister Addy who loooooves her Dad's ATV. She is only 2 and knows how to start it. Smart kid.
_________________

Find rest my soul, in God {alone}......

Everybody

We have recently been watching "Ramona & Beezus" and let me say that they have some of the BEST music ever on there. I was not aware of this song by Ingrid Michaelson before watching the movie and now I LOVE this song!! Makes me feel like I'm on a beachtown in California. Mmm, summer is "almost" here.

It's Tuesday and I'm grateful for yet another day to live. :)

BOYCE AVENUE....You-tubers who can Sing

You know how you find all those people on Youtube who sing all the popular songs? Some of them you wonder why in the world they don't have a record deal and some of them you are wondering why they put that video up. But I guess it's a free country, right? :)

After seeing all these youtubers who make music videos, I KNOW there is no lack of talent in this world! I found these guys last year and they have gotten much better over the months....my favorite thing about their songs is that they take the original songs and change the lyrics. Because sometimes the lyrics are not great from the original artists ;)

Hope you enjoyed some Boyce Avenue on your Monday. It's a snowy Monday here.

B & W, M-o-n-d-a-y.

It's true.

• Guys make snowboard helmets & goggles look better than any girl.

It's true.

• Guys that snowboard always have the coolest outfits.

Now us girls? Well lets just say we don't come close to being as cool or as good. We may try the jumps and if we don't fall on our backsides and only get 2inches of air, we are doing pretty good. Or maybe I should speak for myself? :)

It's true. Guys are {COOL}.

(espcially this brother of mine)

......ITS FRIDAY.

And I'm being random!

And I haven't posted since BEFORE Christmas time....LAME!

Christmas was good. New Years was good. I am very thankful for a New Year.

I will be doing a looking back post and reflections soon. My blog is currently being re-done, the changes coming are going to be exciting!! I decided it was time to do a face lift to this ol' blog of mine. Thanks so much to Katie Jo for helping me out!

(Some friends, my little sister and I went and saw Tangled. It was my 2nd time seeing it and I LOVE LOVE that movie. One of Disney's BEST. If you haven't seen it, you really should.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I cannot believe it is only 2 days until Christmas!!
I do not even have all my shopping done yet and my Christmas baking hasn't even started. I'm procrastinating so bad this year! Nothing like waiting until last minute. I'm looking forward to getting off work at noon and heading home to bake and then spending the evening with my Mom and little sister for Christmas shopping. I'm so excited for a long weekend and I hope you and yours have a blessed Christmas!!

(p.s. My Dad took us to Chicago this past weekend....all I can say was it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. with all the lights making Chicago shine).

(My brothers and my Mom, the stores were all decorated so pretty).

(My brother and I - I'm kinda realizing that me and my brothers and sisters do resemble each other. I thought for the longest time we didn't).

Sneek Peeks

I'm working on getting my last session edited but here is a sneak peek of it and a Senior Session I recently did. The full blog posts will be up this week!

NEW THINGS HAPPENING!!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been super busy. My blog is getting a bit of a makeover and some changes are being made, I'll be back soon!!!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been too long...{This I Know}

Wait, the last time I wrote here was in July?! Time flies! July feels like forever ago and yet it feels like it was yesterday. Church softball and all those fun late summer nights are over but now it's time for leaves, cool weather and hoodies. I love fall.

I know I've pretty much abanded this blog but no more! I've decided I don't want to post just about my photo shoots but about life and my awesome God. So if your still here, thanks for sticking around....I'll be updating much more often. :)

My brothers and I at one of their softball games. About that Hawkeye shirt....I just want to say it was part of a "Beat Cancer" cause. I haven't reformed.

December hasn't swallowed me yet!

Nope. I'm still swimming above crazy December. I will be updating the blog soon; as soon as things settle down a bit. Ha, probably won't happen anytime soon but oh well. I really think the older you get, the more busy life is.

(Me & my friend AM)

I seriously cannot believe Christmas is in what, 20 days!! Wow!