Ok so I know I am falling behind in my personal photos and blog. Thankfully the photography business has been busy, but that means y photos suffer a bit. Well maybe not suffer but I get behind in taking them off the camera. I have a load of pictures from BellaRose's birthday party that are so fun, but I wanted to document these garden pictures and hiking pictures first.

Worth and BellaRose planted our garden with carrots, beans (green and sugar snaps), silver queen corn, squash, pumpkins cucumber, a variety of peppers, tomatoes, and basil. It is already looking good and we can't wait for the summer bounty! It is neat to watch BellaRose this year with the garden because I think that she really "gets it". Her favorite is carrots.

We also went on a family hike last week that was a lot of fun and as you can tell just gorgeous! We really do live in an awesome place! The girls and I just got back from Atlanta and as much as I love my hometown it is good to get back to these mountains.

BellaRose is 3!!

The real BellaRose post will come when I tell you about this wonderful 3 year old and how she is such a helper and a joy to her parents, how she loves being a big sister, and wants to sing everything she says, and she adores her friends and family, and her favorite thing to show people when they come over is her big girl room, how she thinks you are the coolest person if you just sit down and read to her, how she says every morning "I woke up" in the sweetest sleepy voice, how is a constant non stop ball of energy and so full of love and innocence that it sometimes makes my heart ache. I won't tell you all that now, for now I will just tell you that this child has stolen my heart and her daddy's heart and we are forever better for having her in our life.

Happy Birthday to you my sweet sweet child!

Truly local

So as you know I love this town and where I live. I am surrounded by the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. I have a very eclectic city 15 minutes down the road. But what makes this place so special to me is the people we surround ourselves with. The caliber of people here is outstanding. I could not be more grateful for their love and friendships. I was thinking the other day about the creative talent that all my friends possess. Jen is an outstanding photographer, who I learn so much from. Becky creates beautiful art on canvas. Heidi is the mastermind behind Black Mountain Birdie. Her and Richard also make gorgeous cabinet pulls out of old railroad ties. I wish I had them in my home. Not to mention that I would love for Heidi to come in to my house and help me decorate and pick out fixtures! Annie sculpts amazing functional pottery out of lumps of clay. Susan is the mastermind behind the Snuggle Down, an amazing down sleepsak for baby. Margaret possesses a sense of style we all crave and sits down to blog about the latest trends. And this is just my in town friends, my out of town friends run the gamut from bakers, two bakers to be exact, seamtresses, farmers, and complete creative minds. And let me not forget to mention my amazingly talented husband who is a builder and perfectionist. I am always blown away by his quality of work. It is gorgeous and a bit mind blowing that he can start from nothing and end up with something has gorgeous as this screened in porch below. You want to talk about supporting your local economy, why don't you support these people. You won't be disappointed and you will be receiving something that is unique that no one else has!

Roses in my life

When we had BellaRose (almost 3 years ago, goodness!), we got Rose bushes to celebrate her birth as gifts. They have really taken off and this rose bush below sits under BellaRose's window and is about 3 feet tall now. It is gorgeous and beautiful just like the Roses in my life, my Grandma and BellaRose. Last summer I boutht 3 more roses and this summer they are blooming and they are tremendous!

This is one of them. I had no idea what to expect this year from these roses. I did not know what color they were or really even what kind. I am so excited these are blooming now for so many reasons, in honor of my grandma who I miss more and more every day. She is in my heart and now when I see these roses I can be reminded of her beauty and sweetness.

As these roses grow and bloom so does our sweet B-Rosey. She is really becoming her own spirited person. As I nurture these Roses I am reminded of BellaRose's 3 years on this earth and how I need to nurture her and not squelch her 3 year old spirit. Words are powerful and can hurt her tender heart. Worth and I have an amazing opportunity to watch these two little girls grow into beautiful women. I am terrified of time. These 3 years have flown by and when I sit and hold Hollings I try desperately to remember what BellaRose was like and that memory of them is fleeting. I sort of got sad today when I realized today was Thursday, how did this week go by so fast, how is Hollings is already 3 months old, how is BellaRose already 3!

WOW! I did not mean to get so sentimental, but I guess when you stop and smell the Roses that happens.

Will the real B Rosey please stand up

As promised here are her school pictures. The left one is so ridiculous it is cute. This is not my Rosey but her smile is genuine and she thought these pictures were pretty cool. She says she wants to give them to her friends.

This is the real Rosey!

I love this one. This is where she belongs!

Worth took these with his cell phone while I was on a photo shoot at our friends farm. It is some gorgeous land out in Barnardsville. More pictures to be posted soon on the photo blog. Keep checking back!