The lyrics to Tim McGraw’s My Next Thirty Years have been playing through my head quite a bit over the days leading up to my 30th birthday today.  I remember when I was a teenager, thinking 30 seemed SO OLD  Of course now, it feels SO much different!  I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on some things over the past and look ahead to the future.  I feel like I’m starting a whole new chapter in my life and from what I hear, the 30’s are fabulous!

It’s always funny to think back say, 10 years ago, what I thought things would be like for me when I was 30.  I thought…

• I would have 2 wonderful kids
• I would have an office job/career
• I would have a great husband and family
• I would be in excellent shape
• I would have more self confidence
• I would feel older

Now, don’t think that many of those aren’t true!  Fortunately, the most important ones are true on there!  I have 2 of the best kids a mommy could ask for and an even better husband!  But I never even dreamed…

• I would become a photographer
• I would own my own business and actually be relatively successful so far with it
• I would want to be a stay at home Mom
• I would have such a hard time looking the way I want to
• I would still need to work on my self confidence as much as I’d like

But that’s the fun thing about life, you take the good with the not so good and you just have to embrace it.  While there’s a whole slew of things I would love to change about MYSELF, there is very little that I would want to change at all in my life.  I am SO incredibly blessed to have gone down this path.  There was a time in my life where it could’ve turned out VERY differently, and I thank God every day that it didn’t as I would be in a very different place right now.

I get caught up in the day to day grind and often lose sight of how lucky and blessed I am.  And I need to try to take a step back every so often and remember that I have a LOT to be thankful and grateful for.

With all that said, I can’t wait for what the next 30 years holds!  It’s crazy to think that Tyson will be 35 then and Bailey will be about my age, hopefully I’ll be a Grandparent by then and enjoying the fruits of our hard work and labor.

Until then though, I’m going to try and savor each day and embrace my “30’s” and try to really become the person I know I want to be.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!  Quite the rambler today!  :-P

It’s probably been at least 10 years since I have gone rollerblading. Tyson got his first pair of rollerblades for his birthday (and some awesome pads and wrist guards too, thank goodness!). It did NOT go well when he first put them on him. He was scared out of his mind and held onto us for dear life. But, we tried again a few days later and I had remembered what they had taught them to do in his ice skating lessons, about standing with their hands on their knees and bent down. And sure, enough, it worked! He felt more and more secure, and before we knew it, he was cruising (slowly) down the sidewalk!

Little by little he’s getting better at it and he LOVES it. Brings back so many memories! So many in fact, that I dusted off my old rollerblades and took to the streets. I’ll spare you the details on how that went, but let’s just say my life did flash before my eyes just before I hit the pavement.

We had Miss B’s first birthday party at our house on Sunday.  Just as we did for Ty’s first birthday, we invited all of our extended families over to celebrate this day with us.  It was so nice to see everyone and to have them all over to the new house.

Here’s the birthday girl having her morning breakfast.  Ty said “I wonder if she’ll look older now that she’s one” before she woke up in the morning.  I think he was a bit disappointed when we went in her room to see that she still looked the same! LOL

As soon as b’fast was over, it was time to get the giant cupcake cake decorated for the party!  We had a cupcake themed party.

We also had a whole slew of smaller cupcakes for everyone.  I loved this Cupcake Stand, it was so cute to display them all!  To feed my Esty addiction, I got these adorable cupcake wrappers and personalized cupcake toppers.  I just loved how they all came together for the display!  And Tyson was such a good little helper and put all of the giant sprinkles on the little cupcakes. 

It’s Party time!!  Here with Grandpa Al & Grandma Arlene.  Adorable birthday dress from here and bow from here.

The dainty pinky in the air.  Don’t we all eat our crackers like this? LOL

Who are all of these people and why are they here?

Time to sing!

Good thing we have our helpful big brother around to blow out the candles for us!

Time to enjoy a cupcake

SO big!

Time to open some present!

She LOVES her new tea party set!

Me and my girl

Tea anyone?

I’m still hoping to get a Bailey’s first year post up later this week, so stay tuned for that!

Finally, I feel like I can breathe.

The last month has been such a whirlwind in our lives, but a wonderful one.  When I look back at the last few weeks, I wonder how we survived, but we did, thank God, and we’re all settling in.  We couldn’t have done it without the help of our family.  We hired some amazing movers as well to help.  If you are in need of a moving company, I highly recommend Two Men and a Truck.  They were A M A Z I N G.  The best money we ever spent.

We officially moved into our new house on the 26th.  It’s been a little over a week, but now it’s beginnging to feel like we’ve been there MUCH longer than that.  I drive by Tyne Lane every day and wonder how our cute first house is doing.  I’m sure the new owners are loving it, but part of me does miss it just a little.

We also had an awful decision to make about a week before our move.  Our dog, Zeus, was 9 years old (that’s senior for a Doberman) and his health had been declining pretty quickly over the last few weeks.  We knew the time was coming, as horrible of a decision as it was, we made the choice to put him to sleep and let him cross the Rainbow Bridge.  It was a very sad day for our family, but we knew in the long run, it was the right decision. 

We’re now getting settled into our new home.  I have been taking a few pics here and there, but it’s been such a mess with boxes and unpacking, that I’ve been holding out on taking too many until it’s all prettied up.   So, when it’s all nice and pretty for B’s party this weekend, I’ll be sure to take some new ones.

Speaking of The Princess, can you believe she’s turning ONE on Sunday?  I know I sure can’t!!  We took her one year photos on Sunday and did a cake smash.  Stay tuned for those, but here’s one of my faves of her laughing at her brother.  And I LOVE my new natural light studio in the house!!  I can’t wait to use it over the coming years!!

While I’m on the subject of photography…I’m having an amazingly fun contest over at the Ten Tiny Toes Blog.  Definitely go and check it out and I’d love to have you join in the fun!