Family Pictures

Hey Babes,

It has been a little bit since we have had our family pictures done. I think the last time was a month before Aria’s first birthday. She is now almost three. It was time.

I was incredibly nervous I was’nt sure how Aria was going to act. Sometimes in new situations she does really well. Other times she has a hard time and pouts a lot. I was bracing myself for pouty pictures much like this:

To my surprise she did amazingly well! She loved our photographer (here), and she loved playing in the trees.

I am so incredibly grateful for this amazing family that I have been blessed with. Before Brandon and I were married I was fine with not having kids, but we decided to give it four years before we tried if we wanted to.

Four Years and three months later I found out I was prego with Miss Aria. With health issues I wasn’t ever sure this would be possible. I am so lucky and so grateful for this blessing.

Our Back Story

I posted just a snippet of our back story on Instagram and a lot of people were interested in our story. So brace yourselves it’s a long one.

Brandon’s family did come from a cult, yes that is true. His amazing and strong mom was a party of the Kingston’s. Her escaping that part of her life made a new life for her kids and I am incredibly grateful for that. I won’t dive into details it really isn’t my story to tell. If you watch Escaping Polygamy it is pretty accurate to say a lot of that actually happens.

My family left our previous home due to a number of things. My parents took us on many open houses and we were kind of excited to start a new life. They told us the put an offer on a house and brought us to it. I am not kidding when we pulled up to this house my heart sank…it was so ugly. The yard had been overgrown, it just looked dumpy. Once we walked inside it was a cute house but it was not like the cute ones we visited previously.

I sat on the porch, bummed and upset. Not wanting to move my house and my friends my senior year of high school. When all of the sudden a red car pulls up to the house next door and a major hottie steps out. AKA Brandon. All of the sudden I was okay with this new dumpy house. There was a hot guy across the street with a nice car..SOLD.

It took us probably a year to even meet and talk. He would talk to my brother they hung out and worked on their cars. One night he invited me to take a ride in his Camaro and we became friends in that instant.

We “dated” on and off for 4-5 years. When I say “dated” we “hung out” .

How I knew

I knew he was the one at a family BBQ. I can’t even remember the year, or why even. He was walking out of my parents house helping my dad bring food out and I was overwhelmed with that feeling. The feeling of clarity. I knew in that moment I was ready to marry Brandon.

He has seriously been one of the greatest blessings in my life. Our first year of marriage was really hard, trying to understand each others personalities and little quirks. After that one year mark and a lot of learning, we just got into a groove. We discuss and talk about everything. Rarely do we fight but I am not going to light there are sometimes we have our sassy days.

We agree on parenting and we both love this little girl with all of our hearts. She is super sassy, hilarious, and so entertaining.

Aria’s Outfit:

Dress: Mae Dress (similar) | Boots: Children’s Place (similar) | Bow: Homemade

My Outfit:

Dress: Nest Boutique | Boots: Shoetopia c/o | Necklace: Charming Charlie (similar)

Photos by Sarah Tobler Photography (she is amazing with kids)