… why I love Aaron Brown.

1. He LOVES pearl snap shirts. It could be a potato sack, but if it has pearl snaps on it, he’ll wear it.

2. He always picks out the girliest outfits for our daughter.

3. He gets really attached to TV shows. I’m not allowed to watch the last episode of Friends because he always gets so angry that it’s over.

4. He knows how to shoot guns. Really well. Probably better than the average guy.

5. I always ask him if it’s weird that his daughter looks completely Asian. And he always says no.

6. He can’t grow a beard or a mustache. His 5 o’ clock shadow usually starts showing up after a week and a half.

7. We’re learning to dream big together.

8. If he’s trying to find something on TV to fall asleep to, it’s almost always a really old Western.

9. He set his alarm for 6:00 am this morning so that he could text his mom before she went into surgery today (everything went well).

10. Lemon desserts are his favorite (and it’s on the menu tonight).

11. He has plenty of man crushes. And he’s not ashamed of them. Can somebody tell me how I can contact Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker?

12. Mexican food is his comfort. Thank God cheese quesadillas are quick and easy.

13. When we started dating, he abhored the fact that I wore jeans from Old Navy and Target. So he bought me a pair from the Buckle because he thought they made my butt look better.

14. He and my cat have seriously bonded. He’s really not my cat anymore.

15. He’s an avocado connoisseur.

16. He absolutely hates promoting himself. He would rather his character and his work speak for themselves.

17. He has an incredible prophetic gift & anointing. The stuff he sees and hears in the prophetic realm is crazay.

18. He’s a country boy who wants plenty of land for our kids to run around on.

19. There are always 2 things from his childhood that stand out to me the most: the fact that he made his own tomahawk when he was practically a toddler, and the fact that he burned the backyard down. Twice.

20. He also grew up with 3 younger sisters. That definitely helped him snag a wife.

21. Whenever his snoring keeps me up, he kindly goes into the other room so that I can get some sleep.

22. He was an avid reader as a child. His goal is to collect as many childhood books as he can for our children to read.

23. He cut his hair just for me.

24. He’s always happy to step in whenever I need a break from mommy duties.

25. He’s never too proud to admit when he’s in the wrong.

26. He never expects freebies or good deals from people just because they’re friends. He’s happy to pay what they’re worth.

27. Can I say that he has a really nice tushie again this year? His biceps aren’t bad either.

28. He loves going to the movies. I don’t, so whenever we do go, I have very strict rules: not on the weekend, we have to get there at least 15 minutes early to get a good seat and watch the previews, and I almost always need popcorn. And he happily obliges.

29. He told me on Valentine’s Day that he can’t wait to take Anna Lynn out on a Valentine’s Day lunch date when she’s older. I asked him what if we had another girl. He said he’d take one out to breakfast and the other one out to lunch. I asked what if we end up having 3 girls. He said, “Maybe I’ll just take them all out to lunch then.” Talk about porn for women.

30. I never knew how much he loved hats until he became self-employed. That also explains why he requested several hats for his birthday present.

Happy birthday, babe! I love you!

Super cold. Super windy. Royce was congested, and little Anson was coughing. But everyone braved it out and with the help of some peanut m&ms, we all made it through! This is one gorgeous (and growing) family that Aaron & I have gotten to know over the past few years, and we are so fortunate to be doing life together with them. Lauren, along with our friend Lindsay, is the mastermind behind all the cute headbands that Anna Lynn wears. Royce is in construction (which Aaron grew up doing). They have 3 kids and are now expecting their 4th in April!

Thank you, Pinterest, for the posing idea.

Lauren knew the sex of baby #4 and she wanted to tell Royce.

It’s another girl!

Big brother Braeden. Someone please put him in a clothing catalog!

Sweet Aurora Grace. And yes, she wears Anthropologie very well.

Baby Anson Royce. I about DIED when I saw his pictures. Such a cutie!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Does anybody else get the heebie-jeebies when their desktop is filled with tons of unfiled documents? *shudder*

I ABHOR clutter. Despise it. If there’s not a perfectly suitable location for something, then it needs to be thrown away or hidden somewhere. Don’t get me wrong – my house is FAR from clutter-free. I still hyperventilate whenever I have to go into our garage (aka The Black Hole). It’ll never look like that chick’s house on I Heart Organizing. And of course, I married a guy who doesn’t mind clutter at all.

That being said, whatever I can manage to organize, I do. So basically, my desk, the kitchen, the cabinet under my sink and my side of the bed are fairly organized. My hatred for clutter also applies digitally. And usually, being so anal about something like that is annoying, but I will say that digital file organization is incredibly important. Especially when your business depends on digital files.

From the very beginning, I was told to organize my pictures in a certain way by my former boss/friend/pastor who married us/entrepreneur/programming genius Yuri Star. I don’t listen to him often, but this was one of the best things I ever did. I have never had any problem locating pictures because of this.

When I first started, I had thought about organizing my pictures by type: weddings, family shoots, etc. But then I started to realize that types can become endless and vague. I DON’T LIKE VAGUE. Just ask my friends: I call them out on being vague. So what if I did a shoot for fun that was for a couple who just wanted pictures taken? Is that a family shoot? A couples shoot? A “for fun” shoot? And what about food? Is that its own category? What if it was at a birthday party? Oh, the ambiguity started to stress me out. Plus, it wasn’t going to be a good way to look back and see how many shoots I did over the year. Therefore, organizing your pictures chronologically makes the most sense in my mind. Sure, whenever you think back to an event, you may not remember exactly when it took place. But this allows your search to be orderly. Then from years, it breaks down into months, and then into separate shoots. Within each shoot folder are all my RAW files and edited JPEGs as well as any other important documentation. And of course, everything is on an external hard drive.

Here’s my pretty desktop:

Just my internal hard drive on top, then my external, my Stomped! folder where all my blogged images have to go … and then a folder that Aaron put on there when he had to do something on my computer. Yes, it’s driving me nuts but I don’t know if I can delete it or not. Even my trash is emptied out on a regular basis. Am I annoying anyone else yet?

Happy Friday!