Up and running.

I feel like I've been going non stop lately.

First off, Florida was amazing. We did so much. A dolphin cruise, aquarium, beach days, the zoo, eating yummy seafood, shopping, and the list kind of goes on from there. My mini me had a blast. And I was able to try my hand at beach photography.

We have been doing a little upgrading to the apartment. We [finally] have a whole matching bedroom set. It only took 5 years. Haha. So we've been doing some redecorating. Now I'm in fall mode, putting up a few things here and there.

I bought an amazing new lens for my camera and I have quite a few sessions booked with KGP! I just wish my favorite location wasn't closed for construction :(

My oh sweet husband told me he wanted to start trying for our second baby and I was kind of shocked. We talked about it, but I'm just not ready yet. So we got a puppy. Compromise right? His name Jack and he's a chiweenie. And adorable. I call him my little Jack Jack. He's snoozing on the couch as I type. He's a playful little guy and LOVES to snuggle. Audrey is in love with him, but still a little rough. We are working on it though.

My 5th wedding anniversary is in 3 months. Already?!
Five years with my best friend. We had some major plans, but his new job hindered them. Which is fine.
We are having anniversary pictures done and I'm planning a few little things. Hopefully we will be able to do what we had planned next year some time. As long as I'm with him, what we do doesn't matter to me.

Mini getaway

Here in an hour or so I am packing up my car and heading to my Mom's. Hello eleven hour drive. But, we want to go to Florida and hang out. It should just be my mom, little lady, and I. So a little girl time :))
D can't go because of work, but told me to have fun. I need the break from work and the time with my mom. I don't get to see her as often as I would like.

This is the perfect opportunity to take my camera out and explore new things. Like beach pictures. I should have rented a lens, but didn't think about it and now I don't have time.

Five years with my best friend

Every so often this hits me. I have been married for almost five years. Five. That's a pretty long  time for people our age. I mean, I don't know many others, our age, that have made it to five. It hasn't been easy, but it's been worth it.

Not many people know this, but I only knew my husband for two months when we were married. And I was eighteen so you can imagine how much the odds were against us. I met him while he was in training. And I flew from Hawaii to Missouri to see him graduate. And let me tell you, I was a nervous wreck. I landed the afternoon before and I was with his sister. I was 5 minutes from him, but I couldn't see him. I ate dinner, talked to him for a few and then crashed. Hard. I had spent 24+ hours traveling. And it was the first time I was basically by myself and had to navigate airports. I was seventeen. It was stressful at times. And I had just left my mom. So I was exhausted. I think it was 7:00 pm when I fell asleep. I woke up the next morning a ball of nerves. What if he felt different about me? What if he saw me and changed his mind? Obviously that didn't happen, but I was still scared.

I remember when I saw him. In his Class A's. He was so handsome and I had butterflies. I couldn't wait for the ceremony to be over so I could be near him. But of course he couldn't show any kind of PDA so I don't think he even held my hand. After everything was over and he grabbed all of his stuff we headed back to his sister's, which is where we were staying until he was supposed to be at {then} Fort Drum. He held my hand the entire ride. That is one of the little moments that I will never forget. We spent a great two weeks together and then on December 5th, 2008, my eighteenth birthday, we were married. I remember he told his dad  the night before that we were getting married. He was SHOCKED. Asked if we had any money, a car, anything. We didn't. Not really. So he pulled some strings and got us stationed at Fort Hood last minute. That bit of time was stressful. I don't know if he knows how much he helped D and I the first month of our marriage.

Ok, now I have gotten WAY off track, and taken a trip down memory lane. In the last five years we've had a beautiful little girl, kicked a year long deployment's butt, gotten through a major surgery to try to help fix his deployment injury, which led to him being medically discharged, so we are now adjusting to non military life. Many fights, hard times, being basically robbed, car troubles, many new houses and a big move. Now we are talking about buying our home and planting roots. Having another baby. I'm  trying to get a photography business going on top of my full time job and D is trying to start school to further his career. My marriage hasn't always been easy, but I have loved every second of it. It's different and wonderful.

Photography School and civilian life.

   First of all. We are a civilian family. D is done. It will be "officially" official in a week or so. He already has a new job. He's been there for about a month. He loves it. He comes home dirty from head to toe. Which is what he wanted. He loves working with his hands. And he is OBSESSED with wanting new tools. So I know exactly what to get him for Christmas, our anniversary, and his birthday. We both have our specific likes now. Haha. Him wants tools and I want photography gear. It makes it easy peasy.

   Speaking of photography, I have started my first unit of school. It's been slow to start because of the craziness that is our life. I haven't been able to get out and shoot because my car has been in the shop and I just got it back. I'll tell you why down below. The hubs and I are going out for a little drive these weekend so I think I'm going to do some shooting then. And I am supposed to be taking 1 year portraits for a cute little girl sometime in the next few weeks. I just need to get out there and practice. I have a separate page that I will post pictures one. Which is here: http://katreonagillphoto.blogspot.com I have had it up for a month, if not more, but I haven't been able to take pictures to put on it. I'm hoping to find a workshop that I can go to soon. Just for face to face learning. I think it will help me a ton. And I'll get to shoot away.

    And as for my car. My poor little Sophie( Yes, I named my car. Didn't you?). D was driving her down to post and he was maybe 10 minutes out of town when the guy in front of him hit a tire. The tire flew back at my car and caused quite a bit of damage. It hit my bumper/headlight, bounced up and hit my hood, and finally hit my windshield. Shattering it. So my car was out of commission for a month. There was glass all over the inside. My dash and steering wheel had to be replaced. My driver side mirror and headlight as well. And everything else had to be fixed. It was the longest month without a car. But I have her back! :)

   In other news, everything is going pretty well. We are talking about what kind of house we want. I KNOW I want a nice big kitchen, a fireplace, and a room with lots of natural light that I can use for a home office/studio. D wants a garage, place for a shop/mancave, and land. Hopefully we can find something that meets our wishes. We talk about building, so I guess we will see. Other than that, we are all kind of busy just being our little family of three. Working, playing, going to church and just being together.Which is our favorite place to be.

Saying goodbye to military life

In a week or so we are saying goodbye to the military life. D will be going on his leave and we are going to spending some time together. My mom has been bugging me to bring up her grand baby and Audrey asks me everyday if we can go to Grandma's house. So we are all driving up there in the next couple of weeks to drop our baby off for a couple of weeks. So while she's gone we will be spending some quality time together. A date night at this place that is supposed to be great. And maybe hit up Six Flags since we will be kid free. A movie or two and be able to have "us" time without our three year old waking up and wanting to lay down with us.

D already has SEVERAL job offers, which is one thing that worried me about him getting out. But things are looking great. We are taking care of some debt, and as long as he gets a job that is local, we will buying house sometime in 2014! And once we have a house and he really settled in a good job, we will be adding another cutie Gill baby. And I'll be going to part time.

This December is our fifth wedding anniversary and we are planning a nice little trip. Kind of the honey moon we never got to take. And it's somewhere totally different. We are both really hoping it works out. His new job might make it kind of hard, but fingers crossed. It's such an awesome place and somewhere not many people decide to go. D is going to hate me when it comes to prep and all the stuff I would bring haha. By the trip I'll have at least 2 more lenses and of course I'm going to take my gear. I want awesome pictures. And then I'll spend the whole week before getting my hair done and some clothes just for the trip. I have to look nice. ;) My mom already said she'd keep our munchkin for us. I'm so excited for the rest of the year and next year. So many things are happening.

Oh, and we made a proclamation of faith at Church on Sunday and next Sunday we are being baptized. All three of us. Everyone was so happy when we joined the church. Everyone came and hugged us and it was great. It's an amazing church and a great family. I thought my military family was close, but I was wrong. Most of my "military friends" have all forgotten me, even though we've been friends for year.

I guess that's about it for now. I'll hopefully be starting school this next week so I'll update then.

New town. New home.

We made the move. We now live only 5 minutes from my work and over an hour away from the closest military base. It's heaven. 

But let me tell you, it wasn't easy. There was some drama with my babysitter and I had to take time off. Audrey now has a new sitter, and she is AMAZING. Plus she's only 5 minutes away from if an emergency comes up. And trying to clear our old house. Oh my goodness. I told my husband I am not moving again until we buy a house.

We moved from our big duplex into an apartment. But it's a nice apartment. We didn't need all of the space and we wanted some extras. We have a salt water pool that I know Audrey will love when it warms up. A fitness center so we don't have to have a gym membership, or drive to work out. And there is a play ground maybe 500 feet from our front door. It's also really quiet. No parties or loud music anymore. Now we are thinking about the kind of home we want. We are both leaning more towards building. But that is more than likely a couple of years down the road.

D is almost out of the army. We are just waiting on a couple of things, and then we'll start the process. We are both SO ready for it. No more long drives. No deployments or going into the field.

We have started going to church, and I love it. I think it's just what we needed in our lives. Everyone was so welcoming towards us. And they love Audrey. Of course.

I have been learning SO much about my camera. Starting to make my way into photoshop. I'll be starting photography school as soon as everything calms down. I love every minute of it. Learning new things and getting new gear. Gear makes me giddy. It's ridiculous. And I don't even have that much. My camera body, the kit lens, and a 50mm lens. I have so many things that I want to buy. One thing at a time, though, I guess.

Come on Spring.

Let's play a little catch up, shall we?

Christmas was great. My family drove down to spend the holiday with us. It was great to have my mom down here. She ended up taking our munchkin so she could spend time with her [only] grandbaby. And she potty trained Audre for us. So a big thanks to her. My little girl is growing up!!

New Years was spend at home, with my husband. Nothing special. Just time together.

I finally got the camera I've been wanting to get for years. I told myself I was going to take up photography when Darryl deployed. Over 2 years ago. And I never did. So I finally took that big step and bought my camera with some bonus money from work. Can I just say that it feels really good to spend my own money? Well I've been trying to learn different things ever since. It's going to take a while, but that's ok.

Let's see, Audrey turns THREE in 20 days. 20. I really can't believe it. She's just so smart. She picks up something new every day. And I can't get over that we don't have to buy diapers anymore. Hello more money. So when people ask if we are going to have another baby, I kind of just laugh. I don't want to see diapers for a while. I mean, we want another baby, but we want to do some things first. Like buy a house. So I can really decorate a nursery.

And I'm so excited for spring. Tons of opportunities for pictures, and I get to revamp my wardrobe. I'm keeping with my love of coral, and adding a ton of mint. I bought this mint sweater back in December and ever since I have loved the color. I'll have lots of bright colors and tons of accessories.