Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...

Well, by now our Christmas cards have hopefully arrived to all! Next year, I will definitely fore-go the square cards since they involved gnashing my teeth during the design process, multiple trips to the post office and a million dollars in postage, ha ha. Seriously though, I love sending/receiving Christmas cards almost as much as opening presents on Christmas morning. I get really excited every day when I see my mail man :-) This year my mantra has been a low-key, no stress, keep it fun, who cares if the house is messy, style Christmas. I decided that instead of attempting to do our own family photos like a crazy person (aka = me last year), we would hire another photographer to do them for us so that we could enjoy the whole experience. It was also a treat for me to get to experience first-hand the process that my clients go through (waiting to see our proofs nearly killed me, lol) One of my high school friends' husband, Cory Callahan, is a super-talented photographer and so fun to work with. Here are a few shots from our session(s) (we got rained out on attempt #1.)













Merry Christmas to all! I sincerely hope you have a wonderful holiday, filled with lots of love and fun, and maybe even a little cold weather (fingers crossed!)
XOXO,
Sarah

10 years ago today .....

I was holding my precious newborn baby boy. It is so hard to believe that Jack is ten today. My heart swells with love for him more than ever before. He is so very special to me and is one of the best things in my life. When I think of how much he has changed me I have to thank God for the miracle of Jack's life. A (very) free-spirited but ambitious freshman in college, I certainly never expected to get pregnant at 18. I still remember very vividly the moment I found out. I was scared terrified. I took 2 tests to be absolutely sure and just remember the room spinning and a million thoughts running through my mind. I was in a relationship, but not married, was living in a college dorm, was a full-time student, didn't have a job and was an hour and half away from my family. But, underneath that flurry of emotions, there was a stronger current of peace, joy and excitement. I always knew that I wanted to be a mother and instantly I felt a love for this baby that I had never before experienced. I won't say that becoming a mom at such a young age has been easy, especially with all of the heartache we went through when John (Jack's dad) and I divorced 3 years later and I found myself a very young single mom. I know I missed out on a lot of things - experiences, opportunities ..... but I truly believe that God had (has) a very important purpose for Jack's life and that He protected us through all of our hard times and blessed us with tremendous love. I am so thankful that He chose me to be Jack's mother. I have always felt that this was my highest calling in life and NEVER regretted or even second guessed my decision to keep my child. My life is so blessed, so rich, so happy and fun because he is in it. I cannot imagine a day, let alone 10 years or a lifetime without my precious son. I am also thankful for the many wonderful people in Jack's life - Chris, for loving him as his own son, John, for giving me (one of) the most precious gifts *can't forget about my other sweet and precious boy!*, my parents for being SO supportive, encouraging and loving. For never judging me and loving Jack more than your own kids. Only kidding. Sort of :-) The world is a brighter place with Jack in it. Happy Birthday sweet boy, I love you more than words can ever say! XOXO, Mom.

*before watching the slideshow, scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit pause on my playlist, there is music on the slideshow and it will make you go crazy if you try to listen to both of them at the same time :-)

Wild Things....

OK, so maybe I'm a little psycho obsessed with Where The Wild Things Are...... This was one of my favorite books a child and I'm so happy that O&J now love it too. Nothing cuter than hearing Owen say "I lub ya so.... I'll EAT YA UP!" :-) I've always had somewhat of a wild imagination....I actually had 2 imaginary friends growing up, Jennifer and Allison (I could tell you exactly what they looked like and how they acted to this day!) and, at the risk of everyone thinking I'm a little nutso, I definitely still live in somewhat of a tilted reality now. I think maybe I just see things a little differently than most people. That's probably one big reason why I love photography so much! in a world full of mundane moments, and difficult moments and heart wrenching crap that we all have to go through, I get to create a sort of fantasy-land where everything is magical and golden and blissful and OK. I know that is a little cheesy and weird, so .... sorry :-) Also, I've come to the conclusion that I was just not created for a desk job. My heart literally sings when I get the shot I'm after (here I go with the cheese again.) Anyways, I am super excited to go see the Wild Things movie this weekend. It will be O's first "real" movie-going experience, and I'm honestly not quite sure how he'll deal, which is why Chris and I are tag-teaming so at least one of us (+ Jack) will get to enjoy the movie. I'm such a sap, the movie trailer made me teary eyed. Oh! and Owen is going to be Max for Halloween :-) I'm just waiting for my Etsy lady to finish his costume and I'll post some pics. I desperately tried talking Jack into being one of the wild things, but he is insisting on being a bounty hunter (??!!) instead. Maybe Chris and I will rock these grown up Wild Things costumes (hehe, yah right!) I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's embracing their inner Wild Thing this weekend - check out all this cool stuff from UO!

Sunshine Boy

That is what I call Owen (and Jack when he was little.) It was so touching to me today when I was editing these pictures and I asked Owen "who is that little boy?" and his reply was "it's a sunshine boy." This little sunshine boy melts his mama's heart!

See more here

The Bray Bunch

Well, here we are :-) All 4 of us in our finest attempt thus far at a family photo! Photos taken by Emily of Campbell Photography. Since I don't have a little girl (yet) I can't really say that it would be a different experience, but I think you can tell by the look on my boys' faces what it was like, haha! Thanks Emily for capturing such wonderful pictures for us!!

PS - YES, we were H-O-T. But, ya know, it is actually supposed to be fall, so we were trying to look the part. I'm still making good on all my bribery & cajoling :-)

31 years ago today....

**WARNING** This is a super, duper long post! If you are short on time, or don't think my husband is as awesome as I do, you can just scroll down for the pics :)

31 years ago today, my dear husband was born :) We were talking about this last night (not to go off on a tangent, but every year on my birthday, my mom calls me and says "xx years ago today, I was giving birth to a beautiful baby girl!", so I always jokingly do that with my kids, the husband, etc.) anyways, I was expressing how neat it was to think that 31 years ago, my mother-in-law was giving birth to MY husband. It's crazy to think that the wheels were put into motion so long ago and that our own beautiful children are here because of that wonderful day :) Not to brag, but I think that I have THE most wonderful husband in the whole world (not saying he's perfect, but he puts up with me, which says A LOT). I feel so blessed that I have been able to spend the last 6.5 years of my life with him (5 of those as his wife) and that I get to wake up to him every morning (well, except when he's out of town, which is quite often). I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this, but the card I got for him so perfectly sums up how I feel about Chris. It says "It gets me every time. Seeing you with the kids. Watching you around the house. Feeling your kiss on my cheek. I've got a heart full of these little everyday moments that remind me I'm married to a man who's anything but ordinary. Only you can make being dependable look sexy and tenderness feel like incredible strenght. I love that you're my husband, my partner and my friend. I love that you're you." A little cheesy, yes. But it's SO him. So, as a tribute to my beloved spouse, I thought I would post some pics of us/him through the years and list the top 31 reasons why I love him so. Happy, Happy Birthday Honey - we love you SO much and are so thankful for you. Hurry home so we can celebrate!!

XOXO

31 things I love about Chris:

1. He is really funny. Like make-me-pee-in-my-pants funny. Though granted, most of the time I am either the butt or the recipient of the joke, he's still pretty dang funny!

2. He gives Owen a bath and does pajama duty nearly every single night so that I can have a break.

3. He is the smartest person I know. He laughs when I tell him that and when I brag to people that he was invited to be in MENSA in high school. But he is genius-smart.

4. He says he "doesn't even notice" when the house is a mess :)

5. He works really, really, really hard and long hours to provide for our family.

6. He is 100% supportive of my dreams and my business and gives me honest feedback and genuine praise.

7. He has great hair. I hope all our kids get his hair!

8. I think I can count on 1 hand the number of times he has ever raised his voice to me (and um, I can pretty honestly say I probably provoked it, hehe)

9. He hardly ever complains about anything.

10. He puts up with all of my whining and complaining :)

11. He had Jack take vows with us when we got married.

12. He will watch my silly girly/reality TV shows with me and actually get into them (I'm pretty sure he can tell you the difference between Blair Waldorf, Marissa Cooper and Brooke Davis)

13. He pushes me to be a better person and think more deeply.

14. He is a great teacher - he can even make physics sound interesting.

15. He bought me a puppy when I lost a pregnancy 3 years ago.

16. He wants to have a house full of crazy cute little kids!

17. He has the BEST mother in the whole world (besides mine, of course)

18. He never says no when I tell him I need a girl's night out, or to go for a drive to be alone and clear my head.

19. He has the theme songs for Mighty Machines, Bob the Builder and Caillou all memorized and can sing them to Owen verbatim.

20. He can spend an entire day playing Legos with Jack.

21. He has the most amazing blue eyes :)

22. He bought me my first "real" camera.

23. He thinks my airhead moments are cute (I'll have to tell you all the "Wafrica" story another time)

24. He can fix a computer/TV/thingamijiggy like nobody's business.

25. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt.

26. I can trust him completely, 100%.

27. He coached me through natural childbirth and was my biggest cheerleader.

28. He values my opinions, even when I sometimes feel like no one else does.

29. He sold his rowing machine to pay for our first date :)

30. He makes me feel beautiful, valued and appreciated.

31. He is a wonderful husband, father, friend, brother, and person!

PS - please forgive the picture quality (some of the older ones had to be scanned in)

100th blog post and a little Jack for ya.....

Hope everyone in the blogosphere had a lovely Labor Day weekend! Ours was quite relaxing - didn't do much.... a little farmer's market, a little bike riding, a little swimming, sleeping in, ate some ribs. In my opinion, it was just perfect :) I have been burning the candle at both ends lately and was starting to feel just a wee bit burned out on work, mothering, etc. etc. so it felt really good to just breathe, recharge my batteries and now I feel inspired to get back to work and be creative - yippee! This holiday season is going to be super crazy busy - I have holiday mini sessions coming up (see the photo blog), a couple of weddings, plus regular holiday client sessions! Crazy how the holidays start in Sept/Oct. for us photographers! Anywho, I wanted to squeeze in a little photoshoot with my eldest while I still had time. Although it is INSANELY hot in Florida this time of year, it's one of my favorite times for taking pictures. There's something about the way the light starts to slant (at least that's what my mom used to say) that makes you feel like it's officially the end of summer and fall is around the corner. The afternoons are long and lazy and sun-drenched. The hour before sunset is most magical to me, it's like the light just melts and turns to liquid gold. Mr. J is not a fan of having his picture taken, and to make matters worse - I not only photographed him, but I STYLED him for this shoot. He hated the clothes, but how super cute hip does he look in his skinny jeans & fedora? I know he thinks it's lame to have his photo taken, but I treasure these photographs so....he is turning into a little man right before my eyes and I REALLY see that in these images. On another note - this officially marks my 100th blog post! Wahoo! SO -Leave me some blog lovin and make my day :)