Happy Halloween!!

 So the costumes this year got simplified since we were still digging out of boxes but the kids had fun anyway!  Austin was Tron, Natalie was Strawberry "Cortcake", Mackenzie was a skeleton,and Katie was Clementine (from a book she just read for school).  Ashley decided to not dress up this year.

 Happy 1st Halloween Baby Girl!

Island Greetings

 We are in Okinawa and settled (for the most part).  It has been a fun new adventure and everyone is enjoying the new ward, new schools and new friends we are making here. 

 Ashley: Is at the middle school here on base and we are close enough for her to walk.  She is doing great in her classes and tested to their Advanced Band.  She has a great friend here on our street and is absolutely loving our new branch!

Austin: Is going to the elementary school with Katie and they walk or ride bikes everyday. He really loves his new teacher and is taking part in a Taiko Drumming club at school and is slated to begin baseball sometime in December.

 Katie: Is part of her schools running club and will start softball in December.

Natalie: Well what can I say she is a goofball :)  In all seriousness she was the one who had the hardest time with jet-lag but after a few mornings of breakfast at 3am she aclamated.  I am VERY proud of her... She is potty trained!  After what seemed like forever she goes both pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty and for the most part is dry through the night.

Mackenzie:  What a sweet girl! If only I could get her to sleep through the night now :)  She is on solid food and can sit up by herself.

 Lewis and Tina:  Well between 2 new cars and a mountain of boxes (which is pretty much gone) we are surviving.  I have a great group of ladies that I walk with in the mornings and Lewis is enjoying work.  He will actually pin Major of Nov. 1st.  We are enjoying it here and are looking forward to exploring more and falling in love with the island like everyone else here has :)  I have been keeping all the antics on FaceBook since I couldn't upload to the PC, but will start doing more here again.

These are some pics that we took in September at Mom and Dad's.  I really love them!

On Hold

Just wanted to let you all know that we have not fallen off the face of the earth, but are just in the very long process of moving overseas.  I will be updating via FaceBook for now and promise to update the blog as soon as we get to Okinawa and I can dump my camera.  

Love to all and see you on the flip side :)

What a Sweet Blessing

 The last day in ABQ we had Mackenzie's blessing.  We were lucky enough to have all the family there except Anna and Ryan. 

 On the Taylor side all of the brothers had a baby born this year:)

Mackenzie 9 weeks, Addison 6 months, and Henry 3 weeks.

One Last Trip

While we were in ABQ we went up to the mountains and enjoyed one last fishing trip with Papa (at least for awhile).  It was a lot of fun!  Emily and Mark, and Matt and Elisha came too.  It was a lot of fun and the weather was nice too.

 The only thing that Emily caught was weeds :(

Naomi went walking in lake when we got there and then walked around pantless for a little bit till Uncle MArk found her some fun shorts to wear.

Austin was the only kid to catch a fish.  No worries we still stopped for fry bread on the way home :)

No Matter how awesome Japan is we will still have a place in our hearts for the mountains of NM.

5 Weeks Old

 Tomorrow Peanut will be 5 weeks old.  She is an amazing little girl!! I think personality wise she is a cross between Austin and Katie; calm and go with the flow.  Here are a few images I took today.

ENJOY!

 All snuggled in Daddy's shirt.

Love me those blue eyes!

New Beginnings

 I realize it has been a long time since an update however, with big family changes happening I thought it only right to start the blog back up.  

This being said I decided that the right place to begin was with our new addition.

Mackenzie joined our family on May the 5th.  Yes I realize that is Cinco de Mayo, and no we are not gonna change her name to Juanita or something like that :)

 She is such a sweet baby and very mellow.  I am hoping that I did not just jinx that.  The only down side to having a baby is that I never end up with the pics I want since I am not the one behind the camera.

 Little girl is three weeks old today and I took these two pictures this afternoon.  I  love that you can see the blue in her eyes (we are really hoping that they stay that way).

Update on the family:  We are beginning to get things de-cluttered in preparation for our move to Japan (still no orders or dates on that one) and the kids are really enjoying the summer.  All of them got great grades and relished in the moment that they could show me and Lewis.  Lewis is one and a half classes away from finishing his Masters degree.  Ashley just finished soccer (her team came in second in the league), and is getting ready for Girls Camp in June.  Austin is getting ready for baseball camp, and is worried that there will be no football in Japan.  Katie is playing softball right now and in love with the sport, she is really thriving on it.  Natalie loves Mackenzie and makes sure to remind me that she is HER baby (remind you of anyone Mom?).  And for me I am finishing up open orders and trying to get into a good grove.  I have given up trying to tame the mane at the back of Mackenzie's head and decided to focus on the de-cluttering instead.  We hope to be visiting ABQ before we go over seas so that we can bless our sweet Peanut before our big move.  I promise to do better at keeping this up!

 All our love and hopefully new family pics coming soon :)

For Me - Flight Suit Bag

 I have been dying to make one of these for myself!  This is a bigger version of a handbag I made this summer.  I wanted to have one big enough  to be a "Mommy Bag".

I still need to add a big flower to it but was too excited to use it that I will wait on it :)
 Did I say that I totally LOVE this bag?!  Cause I do!

 Notice Monkey feet standing and waiting to fill "Mommy bag!"  with a diaper and blanket.

 Thought I would show you it all full too.  I made the inside pockets big enough for my paper brain and for diapers (I hate it when they get all mushed at the bottom of your bag).

Is it wrong to be in love with a bag?  Well I don't care,  I love it anyway :)

EJRT Falcons Place 2nd!

 So Austin played football this year and can I just say.... he LOVED it!  I am so proud of him!  His team made it all the way to the championship game and ended up placing second out of their age division.  Just so you know: In OK football and baseball are religions.  Watch out :)

Halloween - Take 2

This is what the kiddos wore for the Base Halloween party.

For Lauren

 This sweet gal has a hubby that washed chapstick in his pocket :)  I totally knew what to do...

And the bag turned out perfect if I do say so myself. 

This bag was delivered just before Halloween and I saw her at the craft show a few weeks ago toting this bag and telling me how much she loves it!

Trunk or Treat

 Tonight we had the annual Trunk or Treat at church.  I got the kiddos to stand still long enough to get a couple of pics.  And FYI, Ashley is Homicidal Maniac (they look just like everybody else :)).  Goofy girl!

We took the neighbor kids with us and they had a blast too!

Portfolio from this month...

 Here are a few favorite shots from my last few sessions.  Last weekend I did the wedding of P&C Bacon.  They are so cute and sweet!

 We had so much fun once they loosened up :)

The night before was his younger brothers Eagle Court of Honor.  Congrats D, what a great accomplishment!

 Before that there was a maternity/family shoot for my sweet friend S and her family.  They jsut moved to Seattle and I was sad to see her go.

 The above is a shot for the Hall family.  They won a photo package that I donated to the MDG Booster Club's Auction.

 These last few were some pictures for a wonderful family from church.  Dad just deployed not too long ago, and they wanted some pics before he left.

 I really love taking pics for military families.  Maybe it is because they are such a big part of my life, or that I know what they are going through.  I just enjoy being a part of making a physical memory that they can hold onto when they are apart.  

Thank You R for Serving!