Tessa's wedding :)

Another Stewart wedding took place last night, and what a relief to have it over with! Tessa and Dustin HAHN are now on their way to New Mexico for their honeymoon. There are so many fun stories that I want to share about the day...and I can't WAIT to see pictures. Erin Woolsey of ee photography captured the day. Seriously...there is no one else I would have for this very important job. I was able to enjoy the day and only crack out my camera once!

A few funny stories from the day:

Major caught the garter and was SO pleased with himself. He was sitting next to me and said (holding the garter proudly and raising his eyebrows), "Guess what, Aunt Taylor...it was made in Chiiiiinaaa." I held back laughter as he smiled with excitement. That kid is hilarious! Also, I would have given anything to see what Landon was thinking as we stood on the stage during the wedding. He was looking a little bored but trying his very best to stand on his piece of tape.

Of course, Tessa looked beautiful! It was so much fun being around my whole family. It made me feel so blessed to be living so close to everyone. The few times I did cry were because I wanted the wedding to go on forever so I could spend more time with everyone. I held up pretty well considering I am the biggest ball baby of our entire family! Something that made it easy for me to keep my tear ducts in check during the wedding was something unfortunate that happened to Hannah as she was walking down the isle. I knew her shoes were painfully high....I mean...I don't even know how she was WALKING in them. As she was coming down the isle, I looked at her feet to see how she was holding up. And I saw this....BOTH of Hannah's pinky toes had slipped their way out of those strappy silver stilettos, and she was having a terrible time of it! During the wedding, she used the stairs to slip them back on. Seriously. These shoes were ridiculous. I doubt Hannah will ever wear them again.



There are many more stories to tell, but I'll leave you with a very special one from the rehearsal dinner. Of course, Dad has the same problem as all of us. He just can't quite hold back the tears. He had us all bawling when he said this, to toast to the bride and groom, "Dustin--if you love Tessa even half as much as I love her Mom......(long pause to hold back the extreme emotion of this phrase)....you will have great joy in your life." To stop everyone from having a complete meltdown, he then said, "Tessa--- you know, you're welcome to come home and visit. But always remember...from Dust you came, and to Dust you shall return!" Dad is famous for these one liners. Seriously...he had us all in stitches!

Well, it's late, and I have to work tomorrow. See you the next time I have something good to say!

New Favorite Thing :)

This is my new favorite thing. The other day, as I was breezing through a magazine waiting to get my hair cut, I saw the most fabulous item. It happened to be on a page that also pictured a light blue box with white ribbons. I'm not really a jewelry person, but I found myself captivated by these. They're absolutely presh. I know what you're thinking....they're from Tiffany's. BIG BUCKS. However, I found the price to not be too awful, especially for how excellent these are. I know that some women have a signature piece of jewelry. I don't. But I'd like to....and I'd like it to be this! So, if you happen to be talking to my husband, will you please let him know that this would be an EXCELLENT birthday present for his beautiful wife. My birthday is in about a month. That should be plenty of time to get the word out. :)

I probably wouldn't get this one, being as it's more than we laid down as our deposit on this house, but diamonds ARE pricey!



My VERY favorite one...love it!



A montage of all the different ones to choose from. You're going to look at the website now, aren't you?

happy anniversary :)

Today, Scot and I have been married for two whole years! I can't believe how much I've been blessed by knowing him. Everyday, I learn more and more about how to be a servant and to love this precious man who has given me so much :) I'm so glad that I said yes to that very first date to Midnight Oil, and I'm even more happy that I said yes before he could even finish proposing on October 14, 2006. As we celebrate the two years we've been together, I can only think about the many more we have to share! I can't wait to grow old with him...

Graham-burger :)

Our new nephew has finally arrived! On Saturday morning, my brother called me as I was out the door to shoot a wedding. I was able to pack a few overnight things before Hannah and I drove to Ft. Worth for the day. While Hannah was at Barnes' and Noble catching up on her Harry Potter reading, I photographed the wedding until the happy couple left. Then, we were both off to Temple to meet Graham Levi Stewart, the newest addition to our ever growing family! On the way out of town, my change oil light kept blinking, and I got me a little worried, so Hannah and I (with the help of a slightly creepy smoker at the Shell station) changed the oil in my car. I was so proud! Off to Temple we flew, with a little rain in the sky and some new found confidence in ourselves...because of the great job we did with the oil. Skip to later that evening when we pulled in to the hospital...we were SO excited to see the little guy. He was amazingly handsome with his full head of dark hair. What a beautiful baby! Here's Hannah holding Graham, or Graham-burger, his newly adopted nick-name.



After we visited with Alisha for a while, we drove to Adam's house. First we took a slight detour...TomTom didn't quite know where their house was. As we were driving out in the middle of NOWHERE and saw a scary biker bar, we quickly called Adam to get correct directions. The night ended well with a little bit of tv and some visiting. We slept extremely well that night, and were woken up the next morning by a sweet little head wrapped in a blanket staring at the bed expecting to see his parents. Landon quickly ran out of the room, slightly confused, but in a good mood. Time to get ready for church! Poor little Jonah was still MISERABLY tired as he said, "Please! I'm not ready to get up yet! I'm still VERY tired...I just need to rest!" After running the bath water, he seemed a little happier. Here, the boys demonstrate "silly face/silly hair" in the tub:



At church, the boys were very sweet. We then went off to McDonald's to grab a quick lunch and get up to the hospital. Once there, they both wanted to hold that sweet baby. Here are a few of the fun images of some sweet kids...



This is right after Landon said, "I think I'm gonna call him Graham Cracker!" Jonah replied, "Hey, don't eat my sweet little guy!" They were so sweet while they were holding their new brother. Both of them were so proud!









Here's the whole family when it was finally time to go home. We look forward to many sweet moments with all of the Stewart boys! Our family is very blessed!

garden gnomes and other interests

Today I bought something that very much excited me. It was a spesh that Scot said we could get for the new house. I'm very much into items that are a bit whimsical in nature and add personality to our home. However, because we're afraid someone would steal this beautiful treasure, I'm going to put it somewhere in the house. I haven't decided where it should go yet, but I'm thinking somewhere in the office or possibly in the living room. He does look very sweet on the grass though. He's such a little cutie! Any name suggestions?




We're still in the process of beautifying our home...




The shower has been completed, and the wallpaper is all gone. Scot scraped the popcorn ceilings off this afternoon, and we're well on our way to a completed bathroom! It's just going to be lovely! If you'd love to see the entirety of our home, maybe you should come see it...

In other news, Scot's busy season at work seems to be over. I've very much been looking forward to that! Friday evening, we watched a movie and ate chili that Scot made. He makes the best chili! It's not too spicy, but still flavorful. It's his secret recipe. We enjoyed just spending time with each other. Neither of us worked on stuff around the house, and it was a great time had by all involved. Sometimes, I wish we could just spend everyday all day together. I sure do love him!

Speaking of work, we've just completed a series of lessons at church on working and the purpose of it. It was very insightful, and prompted much discussion at the Jackson household. The last lesson in the series was this morning. He talked about the idea of your work not defining you as a person. Sometimes it's easy to get caught in the "Taylor: the photographer" trap. My work becomes so important, that I forget to be the person God created me to be. Although being a photographer is definitely what I do, it's not who I am. I AM a child of God, created to bring Him glory. If I can do that, then I'm fulfilling my purpose.

Something very random - right now, Scot is over speaking to our neighbor whose dog has been barking for about two hours straight. Can people not hear? We just watched "Marley and Me" this afternoon, and all of those warm fuzzy feelings that it gave about being a dog owner have been completely yanked away over the past two hours. If you can't keep a dog quiet, you don't need a dog.



It was a pretty amazing movie though. I cried a lot. Even if you're not a dog person, you should definitely rent this tear jerker.

I'm back :)

SO I haven't been the best blogger as of late. Lots of things have happened! I've been blessed with a job working for a church. Let me just say that I LOVE IT. Also, we moved...into a house :) Pictures of that are to come. Right now, we're still trying to put our heads back on straight. I'll give you a little teaser -- we're remodeling the bathroom:



Here's Scot destroying things with his hammer. So handy! I'm just glad that he does the heavy lifting. I'm in charge of removing the wallpaper :) We also are very safe in our home renovation, hence the gas mask. No lung cancer for us!



This is my favorite feature of the new bathroom! Our very own claw foot tub :) I thought I'd put a picture of me in it...then thought that would be a little inappropriate.







Nice right? Don't you just love wallpaper? That is why pictures of the rest of our house are to come. I'm not really an organizer and never have been. In fact, it kind of makes me feel slightly helpless...almost like a child, because my skills in this area are so inadequate. If anyone has any tips that would help me, I'd love to hear them. Having said this, it might be a while before you see the finished product. Maybe the end of the summer?

There are some MAJOR bonuses to having your own home. We absolutely love the fact that we are getting to make this place our own. We're picking paint colors, choosing vanities, selecting tile, and deciding on furniture placement. It's nice to finally not be scared to use nails in the wall or worry about our security deposit. We listen to music as loudly as we like and we are no longer concerned with what the neighbors will think if we're vacuuming at 6:00 am -- (we're weird.) I love this time in my life. However, things are very busy at the Jackson household. I know that people say that it will only become more busy with time, but I sure hope that's not really the case!

Milla the Hut

Here's the sweet Milla Josephine a few weeks after she'd had a chance to fatten up a bit. I designed these birth announcements for my sister to send out. They're pretty cute, but not as cute as her face!!

Milla the Russian dancer :)

I realize that I haven't been a good blogger as of late, but we've just been so busy with other things, that I haven't had a chance to sit down and write about the busyness. So here's a good post to give you baby fever. I'm introducing my newest niece, Miss Milla Josephine, to you. And no, she's not Russian. While many of you may have the urge to call her "Meeeela," I assure you, that is NOT her name :) Her name is Milla...such a sweet name for a sweet girl. She was born on New Years Eve - the perfect way to end 2008. She was 8.2 lbs. I guess that extra cooking time added a little weight. Poor girl came out so quickly that she broke her collarbone and has to wear a sling. My sister Amber said, "big girl + small mom = broken bones." She's still presh. I got to hold her for a little bit when Scot and I went down to visit them at their house. With her broken collarbone and all, I was a little scared. I didn't want to hurt her, poor thing. Here are a few sweetie pictures that I think you'll enjoy. She's such a cutie. Here's one of the first pictures I took. Look at those sweet foot prints!



While we were waiting to see Milla for the first time, Jonah was very excited. He loves the idea of a new cousin. Here he is peeking through the window....waiting for a glimpse of the sweet one.





We couldn't see her very well because she was at the farthest end of the nursery. She's that little pinky peach blob towards the back of the photo. Tessa's fiance Dustin was there trying to get the nurse's attention so that she would bring Milla over to the window. He wrote on a small piece of paper and started knocking on the window. That wasn't working, so Josh finally went back to the nurses station and let them know that about twenty people were waiting at the window to see sweet Milla. Finally, they brought her to the window...for all of thirty seconds. Here are the only two pics I was able to snap before they wisked her away!




Here's Major admiring his newest sister. I think he really likes the idea of being a big brother. He told me the other day, before Milla was born, that he was more excited than a school bus - whatever that means. But honestly, he's always talking about "taking care of the ladies." He's a good little man, and I think he'll be a sweet big brother.




After we had waited for a long time, we decided to do a bit of shopping and come back so that we could actually see Milla up close when they brought her back to Amber. These are definitely some of the sweetest pictures I got that day. Here's Mary Alice being such a good big sis. She loves to hold Milla and tell her things like, "You're so nice, aren't you? I just love you so much, you know?" It's very sweet to watch her love on the girl.



Milla kept wanting to suck on her fist or anything she could stick in her mouth. What a sucker...



Here are some sweet pictures of the Smith girls. I love how Mary Alice's hands look so much like Amber's. The way they are both patting the baby is just too cute. I think this will be a very special time for Mary Alice to be able to help out with the girl. She just loves taking care of Milla. Evidently, she gets really sad when Milla cries :(





Can you believe how good Amber looks after having a baby? What a pretty sister I have. Hopefully, I will look as good when we have kiddos. But honestly, I hope our kids are as sweet as these ones.



And here's a close up look at the girl. She's a sweet one...I think you will agree.



FEET! I think wrinkly feet are just about the cutest thing ever. She has especially beautiful ones. She kind of looks like she's dancing!



And here she is admiring her Aunt Taylor. She loves me already. I'm pretty sure she asks for me on a daily basis :)