we had a fun day out at lost pines with gaga and moon! they are coming again next weekend with the donovan clan. i'm excited for lily to have more time with lucy and charlie too. after that we are heading up to dallas for work and to visit with family while kevin is on his big trip to europe with the boys!

i'm not sure i want to know what they are adding to my apple juice to make it last 1001 years...

talk about preservatives! :)

a few pics from jill's 30th bash in lukenbach and the peavy's gorgeous ranch! you can see all the pics HERE :)

its all fun and games until someone gets sick...

i had a great time at the peavy ranch for jill's 30th birthday party until a stomach bug took over my fun around 1am. thankfully it looks to have been a 24 hour bug b/c i'm already turning the corner on feeling better.

lots of fun pics to come soon- we had a great time in luckenbach!

a few months ago my sister burned me a CD of hymns that i find myself listening to over and over again (sorry lily and kevin). my favorite song keeps changing and this week i've been playing the same one on repeat whenever i'm in the car.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

it is a beautiful song but the idea that if i was really focused on my savior that things that seem so important in this world would fade away as clutter just seems so amazing and convicting at the same time.

happy friday and happy weekend to all! i can't wait to celebrate jill's 30th birthday out in luckenbach tonight! :)

overheard while walking into aaron brother's frame store today...

a grandfather holding his 3ish year old grandson up on his hip pointing at a sign in the window advertising the 30% off sale saying "see, the sign says 'sale'... s - a - i - l.... sale."

i swear it took the entirety of my self control to keep walking without a chuckle.

i'm not feeling like a mental giant today. i only got 33.

take the quiz - see how you do!

guess the 100 most common words in the english language!

today's post brought to you by erin, score 32.

its hard for me to believe summer is already winding down! vacations are over (if you can call a 24 hour visit to the beach a vacation), my mom heads back to school in 2 weeks, and lily starts preschool in just 3 weeks.

now the 100 degree weather begs to differ with my theory that summer is about to end, but do you ever feel like you'll blink and it will be christmas already?! when did time start speeding up?

i will admit i'm the teeny tiniest bit heartbroken about lily starting 'school'. on one hand i can't believe my baby is old enough to be away from me twice a week, but on the other hand i think about how much fun she is going to have learning with other kids and how i will be able to balance work and staying at home better and i feel good about it! yet another example of motherhood being a big mixed bag of emotions! :)

not much else to report around here. we are heading to yoga as soon as lily wakes up from her nap in my attempt to motivate my increasingly lazy bum! so if you need a laugh, just think of the most un-flexible person you know trying to disguise their new muffin top while balancing on one leg... sounds about right!!

rock the vote!!

yeah yeah, i know there is a presidential election coming up, but i'm talking about my very first photography in bloom contest!! head over to the bloom blog and join in the fun :)

stupid edouard and his stupid tropical storm.

i'm back in austin 24 hours after heading to the beach for vacation with my family and all i have to show for it is bags of clothes packed with a week's worth of gear, some sand in my ear, and some fun pics from the morning with my niece and nephew.

lily's birthday pics are up and running. here are just a few, but you can see the whole album HERE

birthday girl


cupcakes from sugar mama's!

happy birthday to lily


yummy cake

barton springs birthday

her first official dip in the springs

birthdays make me tired

birthday pictures are soon to come, but for now i'm so excited about the full set of family portraits we had done here are just a few of my favorites.

okay, so maybe its more than a few, but can you blame me? :)

happy birthday sweet lily. thank you for the last 365 days together! i have already learned more about patience and love than i ever thought possible and you still have so much more to teach me! you are a gift and a joy, sweet girl!

i could not be more excited!! i have had the privilege of doing a photography swap with another photographer and she did a wonderful job today- even from the sneak peek she posted i am already in love!

its my first time seeing my family through another photographer's eyes and it makes me even more excited that i get to offer this service for others :) custom portraiture is so worth it!!

you can see my images of her family HERE
you can see her images of my family HERE

sweet child, for the last time, my name is neither mimi nor amy. its mommy. sheesh. kids these days... if you've told them once you've told them a million times.

it doesn't seem like this could possibly have been a year ago...

i'm having so much fun playing with my new camera that sweet lily is being subjected to my daily torture again...

this one just makes me laugh.

she seems to think the old camera is hers now...

sooooo big!

as if i did not post enough pics of lily yesterday, here are more :)

she is almost one and it was a perfect cloudy day for pictures!

lily and i had a very fun time in dallas with friends and family. here are a few snapshots from our visit.

lots of good gaga kisses

we met our newest friend, ange and daniel's baby luke

we saw two bumps - this is brittany!

and the home of baby rhodes

fun in the pool with cousins

laughing at moon's 'camera'

and playing in the gillette's gorgeous backyard!