A love story

Well hello there.  Long time, no blog. :)  Life got insanely busy once I started back at school.  I'm talking crazy, didn't get much sleep, felt like a wild woman, piles of stuff everywhere, laundry piled up to the ceiling, dishes stacked miles high, messy desk, hair in a ponytail daily kind of crazy!  It really did get easier and life with working, being a mommy and wife and a teacher became the new normal.  I ended the school year on a high note and truly was ready for summer!  Boy did I have plans for this summer!  Somehow, it's taken me a month to catch up (or whatever that means at this point- haha) and now I finally feel like it is time to relax.  And school starts in less than a month... wait, what?!  I keep reminding myself I will like this whole balanced calendar thing come October when I am enjoying a two week fall break.  Not to mention, Landon's birthday party will be smack dab in the middle of that break- woo!!
Anyhoooo...  summer!  We've had a great summer so far!  Really thankful Colby's hours switched almost right before I went on break so we can enjoy a full weekend together.  We went on a small vacation, have spent a lot of family time together, and watched Landon grow and change so much just over the past month!  It needs to slow down. Like now.  But that is for another blog post another time.  :)  Now that I feel like I have caught up on life in general, I have gotten around to making some of the projects on my wish list.  Here was a big one that I finished last week...

          At some point on pinterest (probably when I browsing one night at 2 a.m. while nursing Landon) I saw a pin of a lady who had written her and her husband's "love story" in the form of a book to read to her kids.  I LOVED this idea.  Fairytales and fantasies are wonderful for kids imagination (and our kids will be getting PLENTY of those stories, believe me!) but what about a real life love story?  How sweet would it be for our children to know their very own parents love story that led up to our life now?  I want our son to be respectful to women and a gentleman.  I want my daughter to see how a man should treat a woman.  Who better for a role model than their daddy?  I'm not saying we are perfect by any means, but I want them to know our story.  I want them to know real life love stories, not just ones in fairy tales.

         So my little brain stored that idea in the back of my mind.  Then, lo and behold, I received an email last week from Shutterfly for a free 8x8 photo book.  All I had to pay was shipping and handling.  I was sold!  Colby can attest to the fact I could be described as giddy going through the different themes and accents I could use.  Then, I shifted to contemplating over which pictures to use.  Finally, I began writing our story.  I loved replaying the last 5 and a half years in my mind, picking those most important moments, and asking Colby for input along the way.  After two days of adding, editing, rewording, and final proofing, I was more than satisfied with the outcome and ordered it.  When it came today, I ripped off the packaging and eagerly flipped through each page.  It's perfect and I love that we will be able to read it to Landon and hopefully our other children someday.  Here's a quick peek at how it turned out...

Front cover...

The beginning...

(This page is my personal favorite)

Some of the inside pages...

I wanted to include pictures of our kids but obviously, we don't have all of those just yet. :)  So I left this page blank to add pictures as they come!

Hope you enjoyed my first official blog project in a while!  Looking forward to doing some more creating and updating on some recent projects!  Happy 4th of July tomorrow!  Stay safe!