So 2014 CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALL….

but seriously it did… in good ways and in hard but nontheless it came in fast and furious and filled with change. Another year full of good times and blessings. We are SO blessed. Gosh I just cannot get thankfulness off of my mind these days. Thankful for the grace and thankful for the shortcomings as well. My friend Laurel and her sweet family came and stayed the weekend at the farm and she wrote “let our lives be full of thanks and giving” on my kitchen chalkboard back before Thanksgiving but I just cannot erase it just yet. I want to linger on it a bit longer.
So this year in review post could be summed up solely in pics of building a house and sports. That is what the majority of this year was taken up with. However, I read good books. I listened to music. I prayed with my kids every night. I drank wine. I saw movies during the day. I laughed full hearted belly laughs so so many times. I binge-watched TV shows. I snuggled my two new nephews. I worked hard. I wore a lot of lipstick and said I am sorry a lot too. I cried out to God and he heard me on numerous occasions.

THIS POST IS REALLY LONG so if you need the Cliffs notes version here it is: A few of my favorite things in 2014… the hard parenting stuff, cows, hashtags, selfies, lipstick and saying no. Of course there are good and bad things that I didnt have pics of or didnt have time to explain but you get me.

{ You can read the 2013 year in review from last year HERE.  }

I guess I will start where last years post started. SOCIAL MEDIA. I still hate it- and struggle with it- and cant for the life of me stay on it.  I love quiet moments and stories that are just my own- not intended to make you like me more (or less) As one of my favorite bloggers wrote HERE (I swear I could have written this article) “I swim best when I mentally stay in my own lane.” Yes. To this times a thousand. I spent the majority of this year, just like in years past, on a sabbatical without any social media and downloaded it back on my phone in late Sept when I was pursuaded to try and win a camera bag if we Instagrammed at our conference. I didnt win the stupid bag and I was sucked in for a brief period of time. Its so dangerous. I watch high schoolers addicted to it every second, looking for validation in likes and retweets, I watch my own dear friends not look me in the eye during conversation, I gripe at my husband for checking a score on twitter during dinner, I too have caught myself looking down and not up at the sweet faces that watch my every move. Its just all around not good for me. And do you know whats crazy? My business has thrived without it. That was my excuse for years was that I needed social media to run a successful photography business. Nope. Thats a lie. When I have signed on recently and seen other people IG’ing every darn thing it just makes me sad they are busy in the hustling and not in their own personal, beautiful, real life worlds. I have also learned how to have a secret private IG account and not follow anyone or let anyone follow you. Its the best for journaling your lives privately without the approval or disapproval of others.

Like I said before this entire year was devoted to building our farmhouse. We sold our house way faster than we anticipated and had to move in to a small rent house in our little town for close to a year. We chose to build it ourselves with my dad being our sorta official builder. I know you have probably heard that building a house is HARD but let me tell you again that BUILDING A HOUSE IS FRIGGIN HARD. You second guess yourself a million times, you have to make important and unimportant decisions at every turn, you have to get gripey and have feelings you didnt know existed. It consumes every once of your being, your energy, your conversations, your free time. Mark my words… I will live and die in this house. This is our forever home. We are SO VERY EXCITED for it to be done but man was it a long ride! I took pictures of the entire journey and I wont bore you with the entire process but it was fun to keep track of the process and see how it changed from week to week.

COWS. Oh you know I wouldnt do a year in review post without pics of the cows. They were mostly confused by this year because we were at the farm working almost every single day, numerous times a day, and they didnt get to roam freely anymore. We actually ended up selling (ahem butchering and selling) the majority of them to pay off things for the house but the cows are still pretty awesome and they are going to be around the farm for a long long time. I will continue to take photos of them and they will continue to wonder why…

Girlfriend here got her front tooth knocked out in PE at school. This has been quite the ordeal for us this year as it has included racing to the dentist to glue it back in, a TON of trips to the dentist, braces, a root canal and lots of teeth drama. I was (naturally) suckered in to buying her whatever she wanted while filling her prescription the day it happened so of course she picked a teeny bop magazine that I NEVER let her get at the grocery store. Naturally.

The other HUGE change in our lives this year has been Jace, my hubby, getting the head high school softball coaching job at our school. The coach that was here left mid year and Jace was coaching the Jr high softball program. He wouldnt say that he knew it at the time but he was CUT OUT to coach high school girls softball. It has been SO FUN to pour into these girls, to get to know them, to watch them grow, to see them work hard at all of the things. I am SO PROUD of the coach that he is and the coach that he has become. I will also say that we would have probably not started building a house if we knew that this was in the plans for this year. It takes up a LOT of time and energy and phone calls and scheduling and practice and OMG so many things that I had no idea existed.

Daddy daughter dance 2014… sister here picked out a matching bowtie!

this little guy turned 12 last week. WHAT IN THE WORLD… how did that happen?! He made me a mama and stole my heart for good twelve years ago. We normally have a mama/son date on the night the other two go to the daddy daughter dance.

Weve had a rough go round with parenting this year… not gonna lie. There have been some “we have older kids now” parenting struggles that we werent quite prepared for. We had the sex talk with both kids. This was something I have stressed about doing right for EVER and we have had the best conversations about it since.  Last week I took my daughter to 3 different little girls houses to apologize for some little girl drama that she had a hand in. Aint nobody got time for that little girl drama.  I had to show her how to own her own actions and apologize when she is wrong. We have done the hard work this year. Hard conversations. Saying Im sorry. Loving each other well. We had to take this sweet boys birthday party away. I know, right? IT WAS THE WORST…. (for me, of course, because his birthday is my favorite) AND even though most all of his friends have one and he is SO mistreated… we are still holding out on the cell phone. Sorry buddy, we want to keep having face to face conversations with you and have your attention before that device steals you away. You’ll thank us later. Parenting is hard. But man its worth it. I learn so much from parenting these two. They make me cry but they make me laugh SO MUCH more. Most of my friends have toddlers right now and I remember those stages of life…. BUT at each stage that my kids are in I always say that THIS (whatever season THIS is at the very moment) is my very favorite. And it is. This stage… the hard conversations and learning how to own our actions is my favorite. Tomorrows stage of life will be my favorite tomorrow. Its been hard- but its been unbelievably good.

Love this group of high school girls SO MUCH…. and did you see the cute little bat girl in the middle?!

she is quite happy with her role as bat girl… as you can see…

Except she is kind of the worst bat girl ever. Her job is to carry the bats during the game. One of the players texted me this during the game…. she is asleep on the bench during a game but still clutching that dollar. Because… sunflower seeds…

I blogged extensively about my time helping my friend Shannon Ho with her Beautiful Art of Balance workshop… you can read more about it by clicking on the link above. It was a definite highlight of my year and I am still SO proud of my friend Shannon!

Little Benjamin Forester was born. I have photographed probably 60 births in my life but photographing my best friends births…. SO unbelievably emotional, inspiring, authentic…. even if it happens in the middle of the night… the two births I have gotten the privilege to document of my best friends babies are right up there with my own kids births. It is such an honor to witness their arrival!

How cute and fluffy is this guy? Dont you want to pet him? He wouldnt let you but dont you want to try?

We love our small town. Every year the 5th grade goes to Camp Goddard for a week and has school outside every day. They stay in cabins with parent chaperones and the teachers do nature hikes and outdoorsy stuff for lessons every day… it was so so fun!

this is my sweet family on easter this year. If I told you I have my camera sitting on top of a golf cart with the self timer on and me running back and forth… would you believe me? You should. Also, I have awkward hands in ALL photos… my hand is directly on top of my moms so it looks like I have twelve fingers.

That coach of mine? (we’ve nicknamed him Coachy… and its probably going to stick) he worked SO hard for and with these girls to make it to the state championship games in May. They are some of the most talented – hard working girls I have ever seen and watching them play all season was truly some of our favorite moments. Ill save you the time and let you know that we won the high school state softball championship  in 4A…. it was a pretty big deal for us all!

and that cute little bat girl? she was maybe the happiest of them all…

his first season to be a head coach and we walked home with a state championship title.

SO I bought a kayak at TJ Maxx. It went down just like it looks below. I was running in to buy socks and when in the world have you ever seen a kayak at TJ Maxx? Ummm…. NEVER. SO I texted my hard working teacher of a husband and asked him if it was ok if i bought a kayak for myself for mothers day.. which sounds like it could be but it definitely isnt… the craziest text he has received this year during the school day. It fit into my trunk (praise be to jesus) and so I took a few selfies to show him how happy I was for buying my own mothers day gift. My shirt is wet bc I also fell in our pond bc I tried to get in it with a running head start. Dont ever try that at home.

Back to building a house… contractors that come to work on your house are the DIRTIEST people on the planet. This was my everyday. Cleaning up their awful lunchables, moldy burritos and empty coke bottles. THE WORST. I even made signs and put trashcans around to persuade them to kindess. It did not work. I also got the trash cans stolen. So theres that.

Thanks Pinterest. I LOVED this idea and now every single room in our house have scripture written on the interior beams.

My sweet little nephew was born in June and wow do we love him like crazy? Theodore Joe McCarty was born in Cody, Wyoming and they got to fly home with him two weeks later. We are smitten. Wish I could snuggle him every day.

This swing was actually my brothers when they lived in OKC and now it is housed on our favorite tree on our farm.

My older brother married this darling girl and I LOVE HER SO MUCH. They had a beautiful ceremony under a tree at their farm with pie and whisky served later. I tried whisky for the first time on this night= not a fan. BIG FAN OF YOU THOUGH CARA!!!! Welcome to our sometimes dysfunctional but ultimately awesome family. You are a perfect fit.

We hang out with high schoolers a lot so selfies became a thing in 2014. My phone is full of pics like these times one thousand. The bottom right one is at the PROM. Yep, the prom. We were chosen as junior class sponsors and spent a saturday night not chaperoning high schoolers AT ALL but instead taking selfies in the back to send to our kids FROM THE PROM.

Summer lovin happened so fast… so much fun at the lake with friends, running around the farm, little league games and all of the other shenanigans. Speaking of the LAKE… how have I not known of its awesomeness. I have BIG PLANS for more lake time in 2015.

I was hired and paid to take photos OF SOMEONE ELSES cows. Life is so good like that, isnt it? I mean, my own cows totally makes sense but someone elses? God is good.  #bucketlist

this girl (sadly) thinks she is a high schooler. I am glad we have so many girls who love on her and babysit at a drop of a hat… but the girl needs to slow the heck down and grow up a little slower for petes sake.

My sweet dad cannot be thanked enough for all of his hard work on our house. He spent so much time, energy, money and thought on our new house I cant even tell you. He is also best friends with our son which is such a gift I.cannot.even.tell.you. He worked REEEEAAAAALLL hard all year on this house. I am so lucky.

Making dinner in our rent house (with most of my kitchen utensils in storage) was quite the feat but we made it nontheless. My two favorite recipes this year were Tomato Basil Chicken and Hawaiin Chicken and Rice. Man, I love to cook and dinners with my family are what keep my heart happy.

Guys, I also roasted a chicken. It was easy. But I cant handle a naked, cold, raw, bird and stuff its crevices with spices. It wont be happening again so I just had to put proof on here that it happened one time (and never again) in 2014.

Again, this “older kid” parenting is hard stuff.  My kids wouldnt stop bickering with each other in early summer so I threatened to make them run in the 100 degree heat. They kept at it and by the looks of their sweet little faces they got that I wasnt kidding… the last few weeks of summer went by perfectly ;) Gosh I love them.

We had lots of helpers with building our house. Friends that listened to me banter on and on about countertops and paint colors and lighting options and sinks and hearing me complain about decisions I regretted the day they were made. I will forever be grateful to you. So many are not pictured bc I was consumed with my decisions but I will forever be thankful to you. You know who you are ;)

I took this the night we finished installing all of the doorknobs, the air conditioning worked, and the lighting fixtures worked after dark. It was celebratory indeed.

I obsessed ‘like a mother on the paint colors. It has always been my dream to have an all white farmhouse. EVERY SINGLE CONTRACTOR has questioned my decision to not use brick or a color or stone or something other than white but I LOVE IT. I am obsessed. Every single square inch inside and outside is the same white paint color. I wake up every single day loving my white farmhouse. 

I cannot take credit for this cow as he is not mine. He lives down the street from our rent house. I kept driving by and these cows were BEGGING for me to photograph them. BEGGING. So one day before a shoot I had all my camera equipment and I obliged. I love me some white cows.

This fall was the first time I started photographing clients at my farm. I love this place SO MUCH so it was only natural so start bringing a few clients out here to share it with. (p.s. my daddy built me that floating dock for my birthday last year)

The 4th of July is my favorite… we made the hugest slip and slide at my parents farm with these foam noodles, stayed in swimsuits for the entire weekend and made one heckuva 4th celebration.

and my dad taught our son more things about cabinet building…

We have gotten to see Jaces family and grandparents a lot more this year and they love it at our farm. We have loved having them visit as well!

LOTS and LOTS of fishing has gone down, of course.

I have joked with several people about my changing game. A lot of Saturdays you could find me with a baseball cap and no makeup on working on the house, attending a little league softball or baseball game until time to leave to shoot a wedding. The amount of time it takes me to transition from sports mom to HolliB is quite the accomplishment.

Also, another new addition to this year… Lipstick. I have not worn lipstick in the history of my life. (i was/am a tomboy at heart) My secret to looking put together? Lipstick. Big fan of it in 2014

SO MUCH of our free time is spent watching these two play ball and I wouldnt have it any other way.  Girlfriend below loves the softball ( I am sure its because of all that bat getting she does so well) She played on two different teams this year a league team and a travel team and she played a LOT of ball. We love the families that we get to spend time with and the memories we make in hotels traveling to and from late night tournaments.

It was pure accident that I brought my camera to Jax last tournament ( I do not take my big girl camera to very many games at all ) the sunset was incredible on this night and I captured some of my favorite pics of Jax playing baseball.

I dare you to not laugh at this cow. Just making sure that you are paying attention… its a long year in review… i get it.

We floated the Illinois river and went to our family reunion weekend. This was one of my favorite trips of the year. Nothing big and totally unfancy- totally fun times. This is Haven with my sweet niece Harper- they are quite the pair.

The next two pics sum up our entire summer of working on our house. It was hard. and hot. and demanding. AND HOT. and hot. and so much of the hotness. it is worth it now that we are in but oh man we have worked hard on this house with our own two hands. it means more to us because we have done a lot of it ourselves but man it was  a long hard year of house building.

We have been borrowing my brothers kayak to go along with my mothers day present kayak and have spent many hours kakaking around the pond. Sometimes with friends and sometimes with cows.

Haven made her own bucket list when summer started and the very first thing on her list was a photo shoot with her two best friends. I waited until the night before school started but we got it done! whew!

We moved in to our new house on the weekend of our 14th anniversary. Oh man it felt good. We went to dinner and counted the many different moves we have had in professional baseball and after and this was our 31st move. Are you reading that right? WE HAVE MOVED 31 TIMES in our 14 years of marriage. We also only counted places that we lived for six weeks or longer so that number could very easily go up. The baseball life was hard but we learned a lot along the way. We are SO SO grateful for this home and the roots that we are putting here. I could not imagine moving with any one else that many times and this cute little farm boy that I now call “Coachy” is my favorite of all of the favorites.

we havent had cable (and dont plan to get it) in over 5 years.  Catching moments like this take my breath away… Haven reading on a rainy afternoon and Jax going on a sunday afternoon kakay excursion in his backyard.

She is still loving the cheer. thats all i have to say.

I am still loving the cows. (these not ours… proper credit for these stranger cows needs to be pointed out)

Every fall I am a part of a Conference in Atlanta called Pursuit and each year I come home changed. Taylor and I were so excited for a week long getaway to hear from the Lord and be encouraged by other Christ loving business owners. I am SO excited to be leading a local Pursuit group starting this month. If you want more details please feel free to ask! Also, I hung out with Bob Goff again #heisthebest

So just when spring slow pitch softball ends you get a few weeks off before fastpitch softball starts up. The high school baseball job opened up and I was surprised that my hubby didnt even flinch. He is a baseball guy- he loves his hometown- he played professionally for 8 years- he has always wanted the baseball job at his hometown school- until it came open. The day it was announced one of the girls on his team came into his classroom and flat out asked him if he was leaving them. He looked her in the eye and told her no. I was just as surprised as he was that he didnt have to think about it much. We are in this softball thing for good. He loves these girls so much (WE love these girls so much) After a grueling fall schedule this group of girls made it to the fast pitch state championship and crazily enough Coachy got his 2nd state championship title in the first year of coaching. SO SO proud of this team!

so we had this bobcat at the farm…. and he had to go…

I love me some sports…. BUT when the season ended I was REAL happy to have my hubby home for dinner every night and for us to be able to really settle in to our new home (i.e. have him move all of the things for me that were too heavy for me to move). This little family of four has thoroughly enjoyed the off season together.

(photo below by my friend Candi Coffman… This was the first time we have been photographed by someone that didnt work for me. I wanted to support my friend Candi’s fundraiser and so we had family photos done by her this fall. We love them… but I will forever be the “one-with-the-most-awkward-hands-in-all-of-my-photos” what is my left hand doing?!

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I dont have a picture to go with this paragraph but another big moment of our year was changing churches. We have LOVED every single second of our church home in Norman for the past 7 years but we heard from the Lord loud and clear that it was time to fully invest into the people and the community in which we live. We have officially moved to our small town church of Washington First Baptist and know without a shadow of doubt we are right where we are supposed to be. This has been a BIG change from what we are used to. We have done intimate house church life with our very best friends for a long time and it makes me teary to even think about the amazing friendships we have built. We are now seeking out the Lords heart for our family in our hometown and what that looks like in a small Baptist church. 

This entire post has nothing to do with my work life. Because you see, the only thing I have blogged ALL YEAR LONG is work stuff. You get the pretty weddings and awesome clients all the time so this once a year personal post is tediously long with my yearly highlights. The work stuff is so good though yall. We are currently in the middle of a re-brand which is exciting news. I photographed 22 BEAUTIFUL weddings of clients whom I just adore (20 is my maximum number of weddings per year but the last 2 bookings were unique situations). I have photographed just as many newborns this year as weddings. I have only taken on the right amount and said no to more than ever.  Also, I have this team of women WHO MAKE MY LIFE FULL. They also have photographed many beautiful weddings but I am not sure of their number as I write this and it is past midnight. I was never meant to own a business by myself. I truly believe that. The Lord gave me this business and I am just walking it out and doing it with the best people beside me. These women and their hearts are pure gold. They are all mothers themselves now and are working hard to achieve the work/home balance and I am just SO proud of the women that they are. I wont get all sappy on you but not only are they awesome in photography they are so incredibly fun to live life with. When I say that I am blessed it just does not do them justice. They are the best of all of the bests in every which way.

Oh sweet Haven spent a lot of time loving on the nephews this fall….My friend Lacey (who has never taken a picture on a professional camera in her life) took our family christmas card this year. She laughed at me bc I called her after church and said will you come over right now and take our picture? She reminded me that i have a team of people that work for me that know what they are doing with a camera but this was a last minute thing. It was snowing so much and our farm was covered. Thanks Lacey!

Sister here needed a few pics by herself in the snow so I happily made that happen…. she is so full of joy!

These guys were a little confused (again) but how cute are they in the snow? They even made a debut on our christmas card this year… #becausecows

We ended 2014 with a bang by going skiing in Colorado with my family. We started a yearly tradition about 5 years ago of doing a trip instead of gifts which is all sorts of awesome. I didnt Instagram it or facebook it so no one really knows (my favorite) but spending the last crazy filled holidays in a warm cabin in matching pajamas with this group of people? Hands down my favorite way to end the Christmas season.

These two are the best. They make our lives so full. They are 1000% different and that continues to surprise us how they can be raised the same but so darn different. They are just the best in every which way. They teach me more about God and my own imperfections and grace than any other thing. I love them more than any words could say. I love that we get to spend so much time together on the farm but I also love that they get to watch their parents do work that we love. I am so so grateful for the gifts that they are to us.

(photo credit below by Candi Coffman)

So I will leave you with one of my favorites paragraphs I read in a book this year. (the book was Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist and you should stop what you are doing and read all of her books)

 “My prayer is that we we’ll find ourselves drawn closer and closer to the heart of the story, the beautiful, beating heart of it all, that the chaos around us and within us will recede, and the most important things will be clear and lovely at every turn. I pray that we we’ll understand the transforming power that lies in saying no, because its an act of faith, a tangible demonstration of the belief that you are so much more than what you do. I pray that we we’ll live with intention, hope, and love in this wild season and in every season, and that the God that loves us will bring new life to our worn-out hearts this year and every year, that we’ll live, truly and deeply, in the present, instead of waiting, waiting, waiting for perfect.” – Shauna Niequist