A wedding...

My sister got engaged on Mother's Day and I'm sooo excited for her and her fiance, Tim!! (Secretly, or not so secretly now :), I'm excited for me, too! I get to help plan another wedding!!)

They are hoping to get married on 12/11/10 as long as they can get everything booked in time. My sister wants a winter wedding and doesn't want to wait until next year (understandable, right?). So, I'm immersing myself in the world of silk, taffeta and organza ~ yea!!

{I'm such a girlie-girl sometimes!}

OpLove

Last month Abigail and I were able to take advantage of one perk of Jordan being deployed - Operation Love ReUnited. I won't go into details about what it is, or entails, but basically photographers provide a free photo session to military families with a deployed spouse. You can do the photo shoot prior to the soldier leaving, or while they are gone. Because we didn't know about OpLove until after Jordan was deployed we took advantage of the "while the soldier is gone" photo shoot. The photographer that you choose not only takes the photographs and sends an album to the soldier, but they do it all absolutely free!! Amazing, right?


So anyways, we chose Kristen Murphy Photography out of Tonanoxie, KS. A blog post, by Kristen, about our photo shoot can be found here. We met Kristen at Shawnee Mission Park and had an amazing time working with her. Abigail did a great job until it was time for pictures with Mama, and Mama's pictures ~ I guess it was a day all about Abby! I have to admit, I had a couple of flash-backs to the summer before my senior year of HS :)

Jordan received his album just a week after Kristen mailed it, and probably 2 1/2 - 3 weeks (tops!) after our shoot. He was so surprised (I kept it all a secret!) and loved the pictures ~ she did a fantastic job!!

I had asked Kristen to take Abigail's 18-month pictures while we were at it (so I didn't have to put her through pictures twice). Not only is this woman an amazing photographer, but her prices are extremely reasonable.  A couple of Abby's 18-month pictures make me think she should explore a career as a baby model, hm...

Here are a few of my favorites from both shoots: ~ Warning ~ There's a lot of pictures!!

The pictures of Mama and Abigail

LOTS of ornery smiles!!

Me in Jordan's BDU top...

I tried to think of excuses to ask Jordan where some of his patches were, but I couldn't come up with any that wouldn't make him wonder, so it's kind of bare

Sr. Pictures, anyone?

Now for Abigail's 18-Month photo shoot...

Wearing the dress I made her...

In the shirt we bought in Salzburg w/her sunglasses...

Color? or Black & White??

Her pouty lip...

That's it for tonight! I had a great Mother's Day (a week ago!) and we had a great weekend. I promise to post about all of that sometime soon!!

Keeping Up With The Clarks...

Does that title sound too cheesy? I'm thinking about changing our blog title to something a little catchier than "The Clarks"... Suggestions? Anyone? Please?


Okay, on with the post {because I'm sure you guys want to see some pictures :)}


Here are some pictures from my actual birthday-day. We played at the park with our friends, the Klucks. Skylar is a few days older than Abigail (we met during "baby class"), and it's so fun watching them interact. After a few hours at the park we went back to their house to cook out and enjoy some birthday cake!!

Abigail climbing stairs to...

The slide!

She loved the slide, I think we could have went up and down all day long!

Attempting to feed the ducks!

But they were full...

here Abby is very disappointed they didn't want her crackers.

Friends!

Abigail and Mommy blowing out the candles!

Up until the rain started this last week, Abigail and I have been spending a lot of time outside, and I've been loving it! The other night I made Abby come in, because the wind was ridiculous and we were getting pelted with little helicopters (the seed-pod thingys, not real helicopters gone wild), and she threw a tantrum. That's becoming the norm... throwing tantrums when we have to come in from outside. She just loves it, which makes me really happy, but can cause obvious problems at times!

When we play outside Abby loves to blow bubbles (actually she loves them in the house, too) and explore...

Holding bubbles while playing with rocks

"Uh oh!" 

she got caught playing in the dirt!

Checking out my tulips!

"Enough with the pictures already, mom!"

Last weekend we had a bachelorette party for my friend Sara {who I went to HS with, who lives just around the corner from us, and who is a great babysitter!}. Okay, "we" didn't have it, but "I" attended it. Friends from home came down for the party and we had a great time! Don't worry ~ we were very responsible ~ there was a party bus that took us everywhere, so no one had to drive (definitely the way to go, by-the-way!).

Abigail and I before I left...

She was less than impressed, I think

WCHS Class of 2001

Okay, that's it for tonight! Remember... I need help with a new blog title!