Our Wisconsin Trip {in pictures}

Wisconsin was a blast. Need I say more? uh, yes, honey, you really freakin-do-dah! Although Maia was sick a good portion of the time *cough, the whole time, cough* we still made the best of our cold vacation. Boogers, new teeth, poop and all!!! So my second morning in Wisconsin I woke up to my dear friend Leah snickering and Maia like so:

Yup, I vaguely remember pulling her onto the couch with me around 2 am and sometime in the morning she slipped off and found one of Leah & Eric's gifts under the tree {box of hot cocoa stuff} and decided to open the packet and eat it! Go Maia, we have a chocolate feign!

So as the morning progressed she just kept about her business being as cute as ever. Surprised? Nuh uh! This girl is DIVA!


Leah & Eric let us stay at their cutesy little place for the first two nights as we caught up on baby talk and momma stuff {she's pregnant with #1!!!!}. And then we snapped their pics in front of their first Christmas tree together!!!

Yup, these folks are gonna have themselves a cute child...no secret there!

So then we went to Elizabeth's and this is where we remained the rest of our 3 weeks in Wisconsin. And Maia quickly began a ritual every morning...wake up, call for momma, diaper change, proceed to kitchen, turn on the oven light, hit the "0" button on the microwave {the only one she could reach}, kiss the dog Chloe, and then take everything out of the drawers in the kitchen. Hello toddler!!!


And then the rest of the day she'd just play...and did I mention this girl climbs everything!?!?!


We of course had to meet up with my best friend since forever, Auntie Katelyn. This was Maia and Katelyn's first time meeting. And Maia is particular about getting comfortable with someone, but she knew how special Kate is and instantly jumped into her arms with huge kisses and hugs!




Kate took no time for granted as she helped lay down Maia for a nap, tucked her in, carried her around the house to talk to the kitty, doggies and birdy...and then feed her!

Such a beautiful, beautiful soul!!!!

Maia began to get sick less than a week in and it was apparent that there was some teething happening, as I watched her take a liking to biting the most peculiar objects including handles, chairs, tables, books, dog bones {hahaha}, ice, metal bars on the dog crates...oh you name it I was chasing after her saying "get that out of your mouth"...after 2 days of this, it gets old and you say..."eh what the heck"...she's a baby, she won't die. In between chewing like a dog she was just cute as punch!




And one day a mystery package appeared in the mail. It was a Raggedy Ann doll for Maia from our Grandma Carol. She has made one for every grandchild and I was just so blessed. This would also be the grandma that influenced me in my pursuit of photography. When I was 15 she was looking through my pictures and she said, "Sonya, you have a talent at capturing life, I really love your pictures". Grandma Carol doesn't lie, in fact, she's known to be a little bit harshly honest sometimes, so I tucked these words in my heart.



So precious! Thank you, Grandma!!!!

My older brother, Trevor visited and I will forever cherish my time with him. As through the years our contact has been "ish" and we've had some in and out...he recently made a life turn and he is just radiating joy. I really loved my time with him.


We ended up going to the lakefront, when my mom visited and Maia got to see Lake Michigan for the first time as well as the sweeeeeet Art Museum {it's a must see}.



Note: The Art Museum has wings that lift up on the side {not pictured} to look like a bird...state of the art!!! It's a definite must see!

We kept busy visiting dear friends. Hannah, the most cutest person ever, and her son let us stay a night with her. Her little bear, Clayton, is just a ham. He's sooo cute. Maia took a loving to him and her never ending trail of kisses and dancing for him clued us in pretty fast.







Look at his face! "How'd the heck did that girl go in and out? I wanna do thattttt!"

After a night of catching up and giggles, Hannah and I ventured over to another friend's...Jessica. To take pictures of sweet, little Laila! Clayton was teething, Maia was teething, and so the picture process was something like this..snap picture, grab a wondering kid and give them a new toy to keep them content, snap picture of baby, go take the lense hood out of toddler's hand...hahaha.








Jess doin her thing. Isn't Laila adorable. Head to her blog and show some lovin!







Isn't that the cutest little nursery?











And Mr. Clayton!!! I love these girls, I love their children! I love our little community of "mommas". Visit Hannah to go meet and send love to Clayton!


And as we settled back to our "home away from home", Elizabeth and Chloe come out to play!






I begin to ready myself for going home and as I watched Maia sleep I reflected on my favorite moments of such a wonderful trip.


I still have many more pictures from this trip but have ideas for posts! So you'll see them and hear the stories behind them.

As for the blog giveaway details will be released Wednesday or Friday!!! We have some awesome giveaways lined up and meet and greet with our new sponsors!!!!!!! Keep your eyes peeled I'm jumping with excitement!!!!