WELCOME!!! We're so glad you stopped by.  This website is both a documentary of our life together and an exhibition of our photography.  We hope you enjoy it!  If you'd like more information about our photography, you can either leave us a comment or you can click the "Tyson and Julia Photography" link in the navbar to see our contact information on our proofing site.

Our guy will be two years old this week!!!  How is that possible??  As much as I deny it - he is totally boy now.  It's been so long since I wrote an update that don't know where to begin.  He's a full-blown talking and running little character who is SOOO sweet and SO much fun.  I just adore every bit of him.  You would think the "newness" would wear off or something - but I seriously still sit back and adore him just as much as I did on his very first day.  I can totally spend 30 minutes just silently watching him put together a jigsaw puzzle or fingerpaint.  And I still get the urge sometimes to want to wake him up after he goes to sleep (especially if Tyson came home really late and missed that evening).  What I love about his age now, is that he has such a love for life.  Every new activity is fun to him and he's very "go with the flow".  And I LOVE how he's completley and totally a miniature version of Tyson :).  He's super serious when doing something new or analyizing something in nature.  And he's all giggles and super sweet the rest of the time.  I LOVE THIS BOY!!!!!

Some things I don't want to forget....

• How he says "Hey!" in such a cute high pitched and happy voice
• The first time he actually turned around and walked back to me when I called after him...(after he learned to walk, Tyson and I tested it out - he really didn't care if we were following him...)
• How he looks at me and nods his head yes when he wants permission to do something
• How super sweet his "no" sounds (I don't know how long that will last!)
• How he runs to his cabinet to get his little knife anytime he sees the butter out
• If he's given an english muffin in the kitchen, he says "no no no" and carries it to the back porch to eat (I think Tyson started this tradition.)
• How he always asks for a blue straw when given a drink (the colored ikea straws)
• How he's "starving" the second he wakes up
• How he has never ending room for "more banana"
• The day he suddenly counted to into the high teens when pointing out bugs in a book (only counted up to three before that!)
• How the day after that - he suddenly counted to six in Spanish! (yea - it was a big two days)
• How excited he was to get a Mickey Mouse shirt and wouldn't let me take it off
• How he sings in his microphone
• How he dances to the programmed song in the keyboard
• The first time he drew something with a crayon and then told me what it was! 
• How he runs to his get his little sisscors whenever UPS comes to our door (yes, I order from Amazon way too much)
• Our routine of saying bye to Tyson every morning
• His excitement when Tyson gets home (a neighbor's repairman witnessed the welcome home greeting and told us he was nearly in tears watching)
• How he'll pretend to be Tyson and walk down the front walkway in Tyson's work shoes (all while signing "work" in sign language)
• How he requests two of everything
• The day he discovered he could request three of something and was quite proud
• How he randomly runs to the garage and asks for "bike ride bike ride" (loves going in the bike trailer)
• How he'll put on his helmet before getting in his Little Tikes car
• The day he woke me up in the morning and asked earnestly to "see caterpillars"

Right now I'm doing all the preparations for his party....and of course, my simple projects are turning out more involved than planned.  I'm really looking forward to the party though because he's definitely learned in the last twelve months what a party is!  We've been practicing saying "I'm 2!".  So far, I can't get him to say it after I say "How old are you?"...he just repeats what that line...O well - he has a few more years to get that down :).  Did I mention I LOVE THIS BOY!??!!

At 23 months of age, our boy already had to experience saying goodbye to a friend :(.  He's seen David, and his mom Ashley, nearly every other day (sometimes every day) since they were both about 8 or 9 months old.  Today, they moved to Colorado.  It's really strange saying bye!  They lived (even strange using past tense!) just down the street from us and it was SOOO perfect to be able to just call them and say, "Hey - want to walk over to the park in 10 min?".  It's not often that you have a stay-at-home mom right next to you with a boy the same age.  It's also been so great to watch these two grow up together.  When we first started meeting at the park, neither of them were walking, and they didn't seem to pay much attention to each other...and now, they both seem so grown up!  They copy whatever the other is doing and adore each other.  If we're about to do something that reminds our boy of David, he'll say "SEEE DAVIIDD" (about 3 times in a row...).

I've attempted to convey the meaning of moving to our boy this past week.  I pulled up a bunch of pictures of Colorado and showed it's location to him on the map.  I also took him over to their house while it was being packed up.  We'll see what happens when David doesn't come to the library story time.... :(. 

But...to be real - it's me who will probably miss them more!!!  Ashley's been such a great friend since we've lived here and I was SO lucky to spend time with her and have her show me around.  Tyson also played volleyball with her husband, Scott, once a week.  WE WILL MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!

Here they are back in April:

Here are Kelly and Dan Proctor!  Kelly is a special friend of ours - her sister Nikki is married to Tyson's long-time friend Aaron (best man at our wedding) - so we've gotten the chance to know her and her adorable son, Jayden!  Kelly and Dan have known each other since high school and were beyond thrilled to offically tie the knot!!  What a perfect day awaited them!  They were married at the Rusty Pelican in Tampa and Craig Hemond of Grant Hemond & Associates was their DJ.  Congrats, Kelly and Dan!!  You have so much to celebrate!  We are so happy for you guys!!

View Kelly's & Dan's fabulous slideshow here!

Here are Shannon Thompson and Craig Schlottmann!  (and here's their engagement shoot from awhile back!) They're both UF grads - Shannon's now a lawyer and Craig's an electrical engineer!) They were married at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs, followed by a reception at Harry P Leu Gardens in Orlando.  It threatened rain in the morning, but it cleared out just before the ceremony!  Shannon was one of the most elegant brides ever!! 

Click here to watch Shannon's and Craig's extended edition slideshow!!!

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day.  We'd talked to our friends Bryan & Angela a few days earlier about getting together for dinner, maybe cooking up some burgers (since I'm a part-time vegetarian and all).  Around 3 PM, when our boy woke up from his nap, we gave them a call to see if they wanted to maybe meet up at the park to get some fresh air.  As Julia was talking to Angela, I looked outside and it was suddenly a bit cloudy.

A quick check of the weather forecast said there was a 60% chance of thunderstorms, so we agreed to head over to their house to grill out there.

Then "the red" moved in - just as we were finishing the burgers, in the space of about 5 minutes, the wind picked up to near-tropical-storm-force-winds.  I seriously thought some of the trees in their backyard were going to snap.  The sky was boiling, and it had that funny green tint. 

The burgers were delicious.

Here's Stani and Brad!  They got married on Anna Maria Island (near Bradenton Beach, Florida) at The Sandbar Restaurant!  The Sandbar's food is amazing, by the way.  Stani and Brad both graduated from UF, and now they are both at Harvard!  Very awesome couple. We loved meeting their family & friends (many who traved from Bulgaria!).  The day was so relaxed and fun.  Congrats, Stani and Brad!!!!!!

View Stani and Brad's extended edition slideshow here

Here is their beautiful "First Sight" beach path.

"Искам Тако Бел!"

James King from Grant Hemond & Associates.  You should pick them.