LONG HOT SUMMER | SUMMER HIATUS

Sigh. It's Summertime, folks. A time that sounds blissful to most, but to those living in the suburbs of Phoenix with 6 children 7 and under, it is less than awesome. It is chaos. It is too hot for kids to be outside, it's too hot to cook dinner, it's really even too hot to work. I knew this would be coming, and I purposefully planned not to take any shoots until the summer was over. Of course, that doesn't mean that there wasn't work to be done. I still have plenty of client orders to process, a wedding and an extended family session to shoot on location in Sedona, client consultations, and marketing and branding planning galore. I have actually been working my ass off, just more behind-the-scenes. And now I'm tired. I'm so tired of not being out in the world like a normal person, interacting with grown-up people that share my same interests, not just my DNA. Don't get me wrong, I have truthfully reveled in my children being home and we have created so many fun memories and have grown so much just in these short weeks of summer. We're in a place now that I never dreamed of being before. We took our kids on a trip ALONE. No other adult help. We take all our kids to the swimming pool; just Braden and I and 6 kids. Alone. I never thought that day would come. But it has. With the loss of my children's utter dependence on us, we have gained so much freedom as a family. We have been brave, and have struggled many a time, and we've been frustrated, and now we are proud. We have survived the summer once again in this blistering heat, and have only a few short days until our three oldest kids will be going to school, and our twins will start preschool twice a week.

I've missed my online world, but am gaining so much by taking a step back and taking a much needed "break" and have some really amazing things in the works. There's going to be some changes on the blog coming up- a new layout, a new approach, and a fresh perspective on where I want to grow as an entrepreneur and creative. I have a few other projects in the works that will be announced soon, that I'm just too excited about and have a lot of kinks to work out before their launch. I've tried to stay current on my instagram at the very least, and sometimes Facebook but again right now my days are just filled to the max, and I may be sparse for another couple of weeks until Back To School blows over. I just wanted to touch base with the world again and let everyone know what's been swirling around in this head of mine.