New Dawn Photography

I'm really exited about this. I finally settled on a name for my future photo biz. I say future because for now I'm just doing it for fun and to gain experience. We've all heard that we need to write our goals down so right now with all of you as witnesses I am setting the goal to start my biz for really reals January 2011. I know that seems a long way off but I need to have McKay in Preschool and I still have lots more to learn. So for now I'm just enjoying having a hobby that I'm passionate about.
So back to the name... for those of you who know about my Twilight obsession I want to be clear that New Dawn Photography was not inspired by the titles of Twilight books. In fact the similarities didn't even occur to me until later. Perhaps on some freaky subconscious level it has something to do with Twilight, if that is the case I will be the first to admit that I need help. The truth is I had chosen two other names on two separate occasions and when I was about to commit to them I backed out because they just didn't feel right. I wanted something that was more personal to me. Last night I started playing with my initials and parts of my name. Then today it came to me "New Dawn". My middle name is Dawn, and of course dawn also means the beginning of something. I feel like I'm at the beginning of a new chapter in my life. McKay will be pottie trained soon and starting preschool soon and I will be doing something that I've never experienced before. I'll still be mommy (which is my favorite thing to be) but I'll have time every week child free. Time to be something other than mommy for just a little while. Time to be Natalie. Every now and then I get to just be her and it reminds me of how much I miss her. She's actually pretty cool. Don't get me wrong mommy is super cool too, when she's not stressed out about the millions of things she needs to do for other people. But even then, she's cool in a different sort of way. I'm really exited about the opportunity to do something that I love, that's just for me. I hope that someday it will benefit my family too, but that's not why I want to do it and that feels good. So there you go, you can check out my photo blog HERE, or by clicking the icon on my side bar.
I really appreciate all of the encouragement I have gotten and everyone's nice comments and most of all those of you who have been willing to be my guinea pigs. You're all amazing. Thanks

Happy Birthday to you. You live in a zoo.

10!...how is that even possible.

Your an amazing kid Nate. You have brought 10 years of joy to our family. You make me smile every day. We are so glad you're ours. I love remembering the story of the day you were born. That first night I couldn't stand to be away from you. I snuggled you up next to me in the hospital bed and we slept there together that night. The nurses said you had to be in your little crib if I was sleeping but I didn't care. You had been right there kicking me for nine months and I wasn't ready to be apart from you yet. You were the worst sleeper in the world and for those first few months I think I was sleeping about 3 hours a night in 45 min. sessions. I almost lost my mind. Okay, so it wasn't almost. I really completely lost my mind and I still haven't found most of it, but it was all worth it. Happy Birthday Nato tato.

Daddy's Girls

My Little Girl - Tim McGraw

The Daddy Daughter Ball!

Every year in February the town of Castle Rock puts on a Daddy Daughter Ball and little girls and their daddy's flock by the hundreds. Abby and Gracie love getting dressed up and having their hair done and spending a special night with daddy.

Nate's advice on dating

Tonight after Nate kissed me good night he said, "I just thought of something that I'm going to have to remember when I start dating. Y0u need one person with a long nose and one person with a short nose, or even better, two people with short noses, so that when they kiss they don't poke each other with their noses." I said "Well, you don't need to worry about that for a long time since your not allowed to date until your 35." Then he said, "35! ... I don't know any teenage girls who will want to date a 35 year old."
He's always thinkin' ahead. If he's still single when he's 35 and you have teenage daughters, lock em' up, but as cute as he is I don't think he'll make it that long. Some lucky girl will snatch him up early. And girls don't worry if you have a long nose or a short nose. Nate has a pretty short nose so he will match up pretty well with any one. Of course two short noses is preferable.