These two entered into 2017 as Husband + Wife

I was contacted mid December by this gorgeous Bride who was putting together a small, romantic wedding at Barcelona in German Village. They tented off the garden area and it was so cozy and sweet. I'm still blown away she was able to put all this together in just a few short weeks. The flowers were done by her sister even. The amount of love that surrounded them was unbelievable. Everyone was so excited to see them become a new family as Husband and Wife.

*for more photos and ideas for new years themed weddings, there is an upcoming feature in Outre.com Wedding blog with more of this couple's wedding day!

christmas spirit + santa struggles

Christmas is upon us & as Americans we are bombarded with constant shovels of stuff we just need to buy. I should add the branding for target is absolutely genius! When I walk in there, I suddenly "need" it all. But let's be honest, I don't remember very many gifts that I got as a child. I remember the traditions we carried on and the magic of Santa. So as an adult I love seeing their faces light up with just walking through Christmas lights & how much I enjoy a good wine with the husband in front of the fire. 

The truth is we put so much stress on ourselves to be enough. Well loving one another is enough. Caring about people definitely makes you enough. Even though I'll forever love that my husband wants me to unwrap something Christmas morning and watching Die Hard puts me in the Christmas spirit. I don't really need to wrap beautiful gifts for every single person I know & we don't need to attend every party or every light show. The kids really like stacking one cookie sky high with homemade sugar icing-- they don't care to make 100. I put all that on myself. This year I decided okay, the teachers will just get a great end of year gift. And I'll send a thanksgiving card instead of a Christmas one. And you know what my sessions will take a couple weeks to edit instead of a couple days. I had to leave time for my family. 

I ended up getting way more done without feeling like I didn't do enough. I actually felt accomplished. And I'm so excited to just be present with my family tomorrow. Plus my mom and I will be cooking a bomb meal for everyone and I got all the wine for hanging out. I'm pretty excited if you can't tell. Santa's magic will touch our home tonight and it'll be lovely. (I'm still going to pray for snow!) Happy HOLIDAYS from the COOPER FAMILY!

Ps PJs in bed make for the cutest photo gifts. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow and give them some cute personalized gifts! 

my little family of cuteness

As a girl I loved the frilliest dresses. I actually think my girls inherited one of my traits. I was really starting to wonder if they were half me. It's crazy how a person just comes with their own personality. As parents you still like to think you're making some sort of great impression. (but seriously these photos of them dancing around makes my heart melt as their mom.)

So when my daughter was thinking about girl scouts, I knew it was something we could do together. Even though I was a girl scout for far to many years to admit-- yes I'm old-- I have learned even more being a mentor to these wonderful little girls. I didn't realize how I needed to become a better friend. They do such a good job of that. My oldest daughter is such a great friend to her younger sister that it makes me pick up the phone and call my own sister. I think its easy to become disconnected from what really matters in life and its good to have people around to remind you of those things. So if you aren't living by the girl scout law-- or don't even know what it is; take a look. It's your homework for the week ;)

>>>Oh and these photos were from before and during the Nutcracker Performance today, if you haven't been to the ballet lately: it's absolutely magical! Another highly recommended show!