Monday Moments | The Real Us | Personal

I can't believe another week has come an gone already! This very rainy summer is flying by way too fast. This week has been full of runny noses and nasty coughs and lots of big boy things. First. Enjoy the many faces of Malachi watching Toy Story. This is serious business people.

Malachi has started talking up a storm the last few days!! He has said everything from "I want that" to "Jonathan." Big progress around here!! He has also taken to stealing phones from people and running around the house yelling hello at the top of his lungs while holding the phone up to his ear. Cutest thing ever. Until we take the phone from him and then he isnt so pleased. Its alright though. He will get over it eventually haha!! 

I got to spend Saturday afternoon with a dear friend eating yummy Olive Garden food and showing her all of the baby must haves for her soon to be little man!! It was so much fun spending time with someone so near and dear to my heart and sharing such a precious time in life with her!! I loved every minute of it!!! 

Nic also decided to spike malachi's hair after his tubby the other night and that resulted in a desperate need to get his hair cut haha! Also he was starting look like he had a bowl cut. Which isnt flattering on anyone. So we made plans to get it cut later in the weekend!! Also. Enjoy Malachi eating breakfast.

I so enjoyed watching my Nicolas love my Malachi this week. You never realize how deeply you can love someone until you watch them love your children. It changes everything. 

We have really started trying to make sure that we are teaching Malachi about Jesus more now that he is old enough to start understanding what we are talking about. We watch a lot of Veggie tales and read him bible stories from his Jesus Calling book. We try and make sure that one or the other happens every single day. No matter what anyone tells you, its never too early to start feeding your children's little spirits. Its such a valuable part of our every day.

And here's his haircut!! Such cuteness!!!

We have a few sessions on the books for the next few weeks and have a few booked up for the fall already!! And! This weekend we get to go and visit one of my dearest friends from college in Buffalo!! I cannot wait to spend the day with her and hear all the wonderings of her heart. It has been far too long!!

Stay tuned for double session features this week and a few sneak peeks in there too!! Happy Monday Friends!! 

Monday Moments | The Real Us | Personal

The Monday Moments are back!! Its been a busy few weeks for us since getting back from vacation!! Quite a few sessions, lots of family planning, some sleep training with the little man and a whole lot of giggles, stories and love in between. But!! We are back with some fun cell phone moments from the last few weeks and some stories of our adventures!

We moved Malachi into his big boy bed! Much much earlier than planned, but necessary at this point. Malachi slept in his own bed while we were in Disney, and once we got home he would have nothing to do with his crib. So we sleep in the big boy bed now. Fun times haha. So that was a busy few days of trying to make that switch happen and training him into the new bed. It took about a week, but Saturday night he slept through the night for the first time in a long time and last night only got up once! So we are making progress people!! Three cheers for Malachi!

Nic and Malachi play the guitar together. Sweetest thing ever. Believe it or not, even though he just slaps the guitar, he isnt that far off when it comes to rhythm. Music lessons start next year. He just doesnt know it yet haha!! We also bought the little man a new pool for out on the deck and he is loving that!! What little boy doesnt want his own Pirate ship!! So that has been so much fun for him!!

He has also become very attached to Duffy bear this week. Our pediatrician recommended getting him attached to something that he could sleep with so that when he does wake up in the night, he doesnt automatically scream for us. He will look for his comfort item. And because he wasnt attached to anything, we got to pick what we attached him to. We thought Duffy bear would grow well with him and its something we know we could get a second one of if we ever lost it. Plus we can order Duffy his own pajamas to wear to bed. That may or may not happen in the near future haha!!

We celebrated the 4th of July by doing it right with the parade and the fireworks! We spent some time with our New Life family that morning and enjoyed watching Malachi's face as he saw all of the new things pass by him. It didnt come close to the reaction to the Disney Parades. But, I mean, really... what could. We fought for a nap that afternoon and then swam a bit, cooked out and went to the South Hills Village to watch the fireworks!! It was a great show!! We loved every minute of the family time and so enjoyed Nic having the day off to spend with us!!

As far as whats happening in our life or the things we have been working on, Nic and I are working to try and prioritize our relationship a little more. Its so easy when you have a kid to get caught up in what youre doing and everything that this little person wants and needs that our relationship gets lost in that a little bit. So we are going to start having our weekly date night again, be it alone or with friends, just a time for us away from Malachi, and also start prioritizing what the other needs a little more. Time alone or even just something that the other wants to do. Its important that we thrive so that our family can thrive!

We are gearing up for two weddings in October and some really big news to follow those!! We got our final logo designs back from the fabulous Christen at Allocco Design and Crafts and we cannot wait to show those off!! Our new website will be going live in just a few months!!!

This week we have an amazing themed session on the books and I am so excited about this one. Into the Woods is about to meet a nationally ranked dancer. Magic is going to happen. So much magic.

Thanks for being a part of this Monday Moment! See you later this week for an adorable siblings birthday session!! And remember to follow us on instagram at destmorris or with our family hashtag, #morrispartyofthree !!

Jennifer Inskeep | Headshots | Portraits

In may we had the opportunity to do some professional headshots with Jen! I actually went to high school with Jen so it was great to get to reconnect with her and to meet her new husband!! Jen is an amazing coach for BeachBody and works alongside Kelsey, who was featured a few weeks back!! Jen wanted a more natural feel to her session, so we met at Mingo and spent some time walking to park and aimed to capture her as she sees herself. Enjoy a few of our favorites from Jen's headshot session! 

Thanks for trusting us to help with your journey Jen!! We enjoyed every minute of it and we hope to get to work with your family again in the future!! 

We offer a variety of headshot packages so if you or anyone you know are looking for some professional photos to help push you ahead in your career goal please don't hesitate to contact us! We would love to work with you!!

Look for our Monday Moments posts to return this coming week and stay tuned for some pretty adorable kids in next week's featured birthday session!! 

Monkeybutt Meets Mickey | The Real Us | Personal

Here is the long awaited Disney World post!! It has been a whirlwind of a week getting back into the swing of things after being away for so long and enjoying some much needed family time! Malachi and I both hated to see Nic go back to work, but we have so many sweet memories to keep us smiling through this week and for so many to come. So. Without further delay! I present to you, the story of Monkeybutt Meets Mickey!

We are a little bit Disney crazy, so when we started planning this trip, I did my research and planned every detail of the trip to make sure we could make the most of our time there! With so many weddings happening next year (both ones we are in and ones we are photographing) and not being totally sure of what the following year holds for us, we know it will be at least a few years before we are able to make it back! So we made sure to have some sweet time relaxing but also to have some straight Disney magic along the way.

We stayed at the same resort that Nic and I did on our honeymoon, which was super sweet for us. The French Quarter is a magical place, to say the least. So much good food, amazing decor and just all around fun. We spent a good amount of time at the pool, and we also loved walking around in the evenings just enjoying so many good memories being made. You are able to take the water ferry right to Downtown Disney, which we did twice. That was an amazing. Because we traveled with my family as well, Nic and I were able to enjoy a date night alone, eating at an amazing Irish Pub and do some shopping as well. We bought a little something for ourselves. A little something for a close friend, and then one too many things for Malachi haha! Most were bought with gift cards that we received from his birthday party, which was more than amazing!!

We spent four days in the parks and enjoyed every single part of each one. Although it was ridiculously hot, we still enjoyed meeting all of the characters and riding all of the must do rides. Watching Malachi meet all of the characters was the highlight of my life so far. He got to meet so many of his friends, and made some new ones too!! We are on a major Toy Story kick since being down there and he also loves Monsters Inc. Sully was by far the best character meeting that we had! He absolutely loved him!! We did Disney Jr. Live which was a big hit, and he also got to ride Its A Small World with Grandpa and Nonna! He loved all the music and made so many friends on that ride!! The Fantasyland Parade is a must see for anyone visiting the Magic Kingdom in the near future. It is the definition of Disney Magic His face was so amazing. He waved to every character he saw and the wonder in those eyes just made the entire week worth it.


I wont bore you with every detail of the trip, but I sure will show you!! The camera was never far away!  Just to warn you... its a long one :)  Enjoy our week of magic!!

We celebrated my brother's birthday while we were away! We started the morning with cake for breakfast and spent the day at Hollywood Studios for the first day of a Totally Frozen Summer, which Malachi loved every single minute of. He got so excited when he saw Christoph that he shook. It was magic.

We had lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe and had the same waiter that Nic and I had on our honeymoon!! Three years difference and all three of us have put on some weight haha! At least I have a baby to thank for mine ;) If you ever eat there, ask for Uncle Mark. You won't be disappointed.

We got to spend a day with Nic's parents while we were down there as well!! We did brucnh at Chef Mickey's which was awesome because they got to experience Malachi meeting the characters! I, the camera happy kid, never got a picture of all of us, or even just them with Malachi, but I promise, they were there!! There are pictures of Chef Mickey's characters to prove it! 

So much fun and sun made for a long nap while the grandparents were visiting! But they got to enjoy the pool some before we all headed down to Downtown Disney to shop and spend some time walking around! It was such a fun day with so many sweet memories made! We are so looking forward to the next time we are all together!!

I love the memories that Disney brings and how young it makes even the oldest feel. There is just something about the Magic of knowing that dreams are possible and the joy that childhood brings never truly has to leave that makes you feel refreshed. I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend this time with family and to see the joy on my son's face as he experienced something so dear to my heart for the very first time. Im looking forward to all the memories that this place will have in our future and all the loved ones we will get to share it with.  

Farewell, old friend. Until we meet again...