write what I want to on my own blog?

I guess I feel a little braver here in my own space. Its not like when you actually are mindlessly scrolling thru social media and “happen” to “stumble” upon a post or update that you really didnt want to see. If you know me very well at all social media is not my happy place. BUT you are choosing to come here and can do it OR not. So I am hoping to write here a bit more. I am a terrible writer. I have awful grammar and my punctuation WILL be all over the place. But welcome anyway :)

Honestly, I havent “shown up” here in quite a while. Like lots of years. Of course we have posted lots of pretty weddings and shoots and kept up in that way but my life over the course of the last handful of years has been focused on my family and living as simply as we know how. When I first started my business I was very quickly REALLY busy and wanted everyone to know it. I have grown up a lot and now I choose to be as busy as I want to be without forsaking my family life. When I am shooting more than two sometimes three nights per week my family life suffers. Of course I CAN do it, but I dont want to. I want my family AND my clients to have the best of me and if I am working too much or too hard- I think everyone can feel it too. There was a whole year in the first year of my business that I wasnt a very present mom/wife/friend and when I realized it- it stopped abruptly. I worked every night past midnight and almost never went to bed at the same time as my husband. I can honestly say that I NEVER work at night anymore. Its probably been over 5 years since I have. I want that for you too. If you are hustling too hard that your marriage or family are suffering- let me tell you that its not worth it and all you have to do is decide to change. It is that simple.

I have been blogging for 9 years now and when I first started I posted lots of fun photos of my littles. I even had a weekly “30 days of absurdity” post because my daughter was always doing something random and hilarious and I loved sharing it. I think it changed when a photographer friend of mind told me about a man coming up to her 4 year old daughter in the DFW airport and KNEW HER DAUGHTERS NAME because HE read her blog. That struck me so wrong. My kids deserve their privacy. I also have had a few situations with my own kids (similar but different to that) with my own social media posting. My kids are now 10 and 13 and have very real opinions about life. I want to respect those. SO while I am not saying that you will never see them, I am saying this is why I have chosen to keep our memories in our heads, our journals, our private instagram feed that no one knows about, our photo albums and not the internet. I hope you understand. I dont believe this is how everyone should do it- it is just what my little family has chosen.

Anyhoo, just saying hi and sort of reintroducing my voice to the blog. I am glad you are here!