rain & sunshine

We had a full week last week and I am just now getting time to blog about it. Monday was a very emotional day- it is still so hard to believe that Daddy has been gone for eight years. Nathan and I were just looking at pictures today and his smile was so contagious. I miss him so much everyday. I am not sure how people say 'it will get easier with time' I am positive it is never easy and there wont be a time that it is 'easy'. When you loose your Dad and hero, its not going to be easy.
 The rest of the week was kind-of a blur. We had track and volleyball, then Thursday Kristofer came over for a very 'random' dinner(chicken fingers, taco's, pickles, pulled chicken, mac & cheese, french fries and capri-sun) we all had a good laugh over that! He kindly suggested that we go to his dad's restaurant for a 'meal' but I insisted that our meal was very well balanced! ha Thats what happens when you are coaching a sport!
 Saturday we were scheduled to have a track meet BUT it RAINED!!! yippee. Lets' just say that I was not the least bit disappointed when they canceled it. Nathan and I stayed in most of the day and he read, I worked, I took a nap while he watched some games and then we went to church last night. I must say that is just another thing that I LOVE about our church. We had plans for today, so we were going to miss church, but thankfully Northside has a Saturday night service so we didn't miss!
 Today we were up and headed to Indy for a photo shoot. It was a little chilly but so much fun. We made a quick stop for lunch at mom's and headed back south so I could edit and get the pics sent to the clients. Tonight we both have been busy at our computers. I must say I am sooo thankful for the double desk that we invested in this fall. It makes it nice to be working in the same room!! :) 
  We have a full week and I am sooo excited for it...then its time for the Easter Bunny to visit! :)

and the thunder rolls...

I love bright sunny Saturdays that you can spend the entire day outside-however I do LOVE a good storm too and today it is a good storm day!
 Last night we had a 'star gazer' track meet that kept us out until 2AM!!! CRAZY I KNOW! We left school at 3:30 and the bus pulled in with a bunch of sleepy high school runners and coaches at 1:30. Talk about a long day! I must say though, it turned out to be a fun night, as much as I was dreading it. The weather was perfect(75 & sunny) and the girls ran great!!! It was really a fun time and I think the girls enjoyed it too. I don't think I have ever coached a more fun group. It helps to only have 11 team members because you can really get to know them and with a small team its about how well they do personally so they all work really hard. We had lots of laughs and high fives which always makes it fun! Last year they only scored 4 points and this year we finished with 20! Not too bad if I do say so myself.
 Nathan and I slept in today and when I looked in the mirror this morning I just started laughing!! It is bad...the bags under my eyes are about as big as grapefruits and I think I need a tooth pick to hold up my lazy eye!! haha
 After a night like that I am sooooo thankful for a good storm day. Nathan and I are going to stay in our sweats all day and enjoy every hole of the Masters!! I. CANT.WAIT! I love love love watching it and we have a bet about Tiger so that makes it even more fun!

a little of this and a little of that

This week FLEW by(now only 7 weeks left of school) !! Lets see- on Tuesday we had track practice and came home and did NOTHING. It was a little silly but both of us just sat in quite and enjoyed the evening. I finished a book I was reading and Nathan played games on the ipad. Sometimes in this crazy busy world, its good to take some time in quietness and reflect.
 Thursday we had a track meet. I love having Nathan there too help(and the girls LOVE having him there too!). I was VERY proud of the girls, I really couldnt have asked for more. Once the track meet was over, we finally got to head home around 9! That is one of the things(other that it being COLD) that I don't like about track is that the meets sometimes take forever! We were both pretty cold when we got home. It was a long few hours standing out there.
 Friday was April fools day! No, Nathan didn't play any jokes on me(not that I know of that is!) haha. We spent the day together- it was a pretty awesome day. Friday night we headed out to dinner with Heather and Stephen before going to the Easter Pageant at SouthEast church.  

 This is the largest church I have ever seen!!! We sat in the THIRD balcony and had to take two escalators up to get there! The pageant  was AMAZING!!! It was the story of Jesus from birth to death. I cried through half of it and was drained when I left but I still cant get it out of my mind. This production took over 1500 people to put on- they had live donkeys, camels, goats, lambs, a Broadway actor and a live baby Jesus. I just can't explain how unbelievable it was.

 Nathan and I talked when we left about the part that hit us the hardest. The one thing that we both agreed on was the feeling of His followers turning against him after they had seen him perform so many wonderful things. It really made me think- how many times have I seen him do things in my life, yet when I am not getting the answers that I want, I turn against him. Has made me think alot the last two days. 

 On our way there- God wanted to hi!  can you see his promise. :)

It was a wonderful night and I am so thankful that Heather and Stephen asked us to go. I will never forget the experience.
 Saturday I think both of us were drained from Friday! Nathan got up and did homework for a few hours while I delivered photos. We went for a run and then spent the rest of the day watching basketball. I am so excited about Monday night(Go Bulldogs!)- however it is always so bitter sweet to see March Madness come to an end. Just means we have to wait till November again to watch basketball every night! 

 Today we heard a great message at church. He said something that really made sense to me(maybe because I am a die hard basketball fan and I could totally under his analogy) . He mentioned March Madness and talked about how we start with so many teams and we keep eliminating them to get to the champion. He then asked us who or what is our Final Four? If we have as a God part of our life we should ultimately have God as our champion every time. Makes me think a little- what is my Final Four and do I make God my champion every time?
 Today has been a beautiful blustery day. I am procrastinating on doing the laundry with blogging, taking pictures outside and cleaning- I HATE LAUNDRY!!!   haha.
 Go Bulldogs and Go God!!!!

a man and his dog

There is just something special about a man and his dog.

Since we have moved here Hoss and Nathan have developed a special bond. He LOVES to go on walks and runs with him. They are pretty good buds(I must say I get a little jealous sometimes so I just give Hoss a few extra treats and then I get the extra attention for a day or so!!)

When we walked outside for our walk the first thing out of my mouth was WOW this lighting is every photographers dream! After we finished out little trip, I ran inside to grab the camera and got this shot. I LOVE how the sun is hitting the top of Hoss's head and coming through the trees. so cool.

  

Happy Monday!  love Nathan, Erin & Hoss too

spring break

I posted a few days ago about our sunny, warm, beautiful trip to Orlando, however, today we woke up to this........

yes, that would be snow!! I guess I spoke to soon about that crazy state of NJ getting snow in March. WE HAVE IT TOO!! I much prefer the sunshine and palm trees, so I had to post them too.

We ate at the most delicious steakhouse called Charlies. It was AMAZING!

please excuse the extremely tired look- this was after our day of flying!

 I hate ALLIGATOR!

Nathans 22 oz steak!! yumm

yep- Nathan found the basketball hoop!

my stud!

 Its tradition that we write N loves E in the sand...but since we weren't on the beach Nathan did it in the sky!! Pretty cool huh?! :)

N loves E

you can take the boy out of Indiana but you can't take the Indiana out of the boy!

before dinner

Downtown Disney!!!!!

Marry Poppins...my favorite!

Disney everywhere!

I think Nathan is dreaming of the day we will take our kids to Disney! haha

super freaky moving winged lady.

T-REX

Legos- so cool

its even Magical @ night!

my view for the two days

getting out of the sun for a bit!

:)

GOSH I MISS THIS!

Tomorrow- I head back to work.booo.however, I am going in with a positive attitude and with the count-down of only 35 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my mom

Today I had a to-do list ready to start bright and early this morning, however, God had other plans for me today and I am so thankful he did. Today I spent the morning into afternoon with my mom. We sat and talked for hours about....well about things that mom and daughters talk about. It was something I needed more than I realized. Although we see each other much more than we used to- it seems that life gets in the way and we don't get to spend much time just being mother/daughter. I have missed it. A mother just knows when you need a hug, talk or shoulder to cry on- it really is amazing. I am so thankful for my amazing mom. She really is the best and I can't thank her enough for words of wisdom, hugs, love and advice she has given me.

Mom you are beautiful.

wonderful.

thoughtful.

kind.

funny.

loving.

the best.

I love you mom- thanks for a wonderfully, perfect day of just being together as mother and daughter.

Airport

Nathan and I are sitting in an airport in New Jersery and we are heading home from a very nice trip to Florida. We left sunny and 80 degree weather to land here where there is snow on the ground!!!!! I have no idea why anyone would want to live in this crazy city where it is still snowing in March! ;)
We decided last minute to go for a short sunny get-away and I am so thankful we did! We went to very delicious restaurants, Downtown Disney(it was the closest I could get Nathan to Disney) but I loved it and can't wait to someday take some little ones there...it really is magical!!
For two days straight we layed by the pool, read books, got sunburnt, slept in, watched TV in bed( a treat for us!), took taxis that cost too much, laughed a lot, cut it super close to make our flight and enjoyed just being the two of us. I am one lucky girl!
We are now heading back to Indy where there is no palm trees and no Mickey Mouse but with wonderful memories from the last few days. I am starting a new online workshop so I am excited to get started on that tomorrow. I am hoping the last few days of spring break will go by slowly so I can enjoy the free time.
Our flight is boarding, time to head to sunny, warm, Indiana!