Blessings.

It’s hard some days to think how lucky I am to have my health, family, faith, friends, or even some of the basic needs like, food, water, a roof over my head. It’s been a tough year on so many.

But this blog post is to thank so many people in my life who have made this year a year of AMAZINGNESS (ok, I just made up that word). But it’s true. This year, warts and all, has been pretty friggin cool!

First off, a big shout out to the big guys upstairs. This past fall has been incredible for my faith as I help Cate, my 8-year-old, prepare for her First Reconciliation and First Communion. I’ve loved the time I’ve spent rediscovering my faith with her. Reconnecting with Catholicism. I have leaned heavily on God the past few years when times were tough. I believe that my prayers are always answered. Maybe not the way I wished them to be, but he does listen.

Secondly, I am thankful for my family, especially those crazy three in the photo above (thanks Carrie for the frame) and the rest of the DeLessio-Millers. Starting with the three above, I’m so blessed to be a mom, a wife and a friend. I have never wanted something more than to create a safe and happy home filled with love. I’m not saying it’s perfect, far from it most days, but it works for us and it fills me with such pride. I was fortunate enough to be raised in the same environment by two loving and imperfect parents and knew I wanted to carry on that life for my children.

Another thing I’m most blessed for this year is accepting me for being me. It really surprised me how out of touch I was with myself. I’ve spoken so many times about this in previous posts, but I am ready now to really embrace the new me and celebrate it. I am usually so humble about my transformation, but I couldn’t be more proud of myself. My dear friend, Dane has been such a great cheerleader through this journey and I have to credit him with always challenging me to embrace my current reality. Good, bad or ugly. It’s now second nature to stop and see where I am. To stop and see what needs to be done to get where I want to be. It’s a beautiful thing reality.

Also, I would like to say thank you to my amazing clients. This year I took a leap. It was time for a new way of doing things, something which is more in line with my business model. I have had some bumps in the road, but I have also started to see the fruits of my labor. Thank you to all of you that continue to allow me to document your lives. I look forward to an even more successful and fun 2012.

I could go on and on.

I decided to take today and every day forward as a gift. I hope that you will do the same. Forgive someone. Reconnect with someone. Do something in which you think was impossible. Embrace your current reality. Love deeply.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you were to ask me what my favorite part about photographing families is, I’d have to say that it’s the stories. Not just the silly stuff I hear on my shoots, believe me those are classic, but it’s the families story.  These families come to me year after year and I get an opportunity to continue telling their history.

I look forward to it the most out of anything I do.

Some families go to the same location.

Some reenact the same scenes or poses.

Some pick the same month every year.

This fall marks my third year I have photographed the Crawford family. I’m blessed to see their two little girls run around on our block playing with my own children, but to see them all dolled up and in front of my camera posing just warms my heart.

We met at the University of Tampa one very warm Saturday morning. Despite the heat we had a great time giggling and being silly.

Girls rule!