Favorite Photos of 2017

Hey everyone!  I hope you all had a great 2017.  We had a good year that was full of changes and fun.  Here are a few photos that I love from this year.

Wishing you all the best in 2018!

Hard Work

This year, as some of you might know I've started my photography business back up.  I really missed the creative outlet it gave me.  I made a new website, which you can visit Mariah Hechler Photography, I worked really hard on learning new things and perfecting my craft.  I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really proud of how far I've come.  So, I'm going to share some pictures with you all.

The Little Things

Life has a way of sneaking up on you.  You get busy.  You have things to do.  You have bills to pay.  Life happens at an amazing speed.  I'm learning that as my kids are getting older and are going to be off to college before I know it.  I mean we are halfway through Wolfie's freshman year.  That's insane.  Next year will be Driver's Ed.  Next year will be no more kids in elementary school.  Here are just a few pics of things around here.

Halloween Pics

Who doesn't love Halloween Pictures the week before Thanksgiving?  Sorry to be so far behind but our life is hectic.  We've had after school concerts, practices, and study halls.  All things that happen with your kids getting older and more independent.

 The Hippy

 Some weird pumpkin thing…the costume took five minutes to pick out so I'm not complaining.

A Nintendo Wii emoji?  If you're confused, so am I.

We did made it around the block in record time this year.  The kids are getting faster and no one complained they were tired.  I consider that a success.  

The Black and White Photo Challenge

I recently participated in the 7 day photo challenge in which you were to share 7 black and white photos.  The rules were to post 7 photos for 7 days with no people.  So, I'm going to share them here, give you some info about the photos, as well as share my overall feelings about challenge.

Day 1

This is just a fire in the backyard.  We love to sit outside around the fire and watch the boys play.

Day 2

My coffee…I love coffee.  Erik and I have matching mugs that we purchased to support the fallen officers in Dallas.

Day 3

The boys bikes.  They ride around the neighborhood.  They ride in the yard.

Day 4

The Organ Mountains…I love them.

Day 5

One of Maddie's paintings in his room.  

Day 6

My mom has been going through old boxes in my grandmother's house.  She found a box of WWII love letters my grandfather sent to my grandmother.  They are extremely delicate.  They are also burnt at the edges because they were stored for a very long time in my great grandmother's attic which caught fire many, many years ago.  My mom and I are trying to figure out the best way to preserve them.

Day 7

This photo was actually taken in Colorado when I was there for my bestie's wedding.  It's actually better in color, but I was running out of steam with the challenge.  These rocks do show up world wide.  My good friend in Australia is part of a club where you paint the rocks and drop them in locations for others to find.  I thought it was pretty cool that we found this rock and several others.

So what did I learn with this challenge?  I think you learn something with all things you do.  This time I learned that I really didn't like excluding people from my photos.  People make up the most important aspects of my life.  And while it was fun to try and find subjects, it got really old.  I did try to choose things that are important in my life.  I also really hated doing so many black and white photos.  My Instagram feed was so dreary.  I need color in my life.  I do love black and white photos but not every day for everything.  Overall, I'm glad I followed through with this challenge and I do think I could do another….just as long as it includes people and maybe a little color.  

Listen

I came across this most beautiful quote the other day:  We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams.  I loved that quote and I couldn't stop thinking about it until I could finally put it into pictures.  

 

Always listen and always make something beautiful when you can.  It might be messy, but that's life in all of it's beauty.  

Hello October: Here's Something Crafty

Hello everyone!  I thought I would share these layouts I made for the Clique Kits Instagram Share.  They were done in my Traveller's Journal.  I love that little thing.  Remember I'm using a Moleskine journal.

I'm going to try and post some updates this week.  It's just been so busy around here.  This week is going to be busy too.  Anyhow, happy Sunday!

Service Announcement

Hey there.  Apparently, Photobucket isn't doing free third party hosting anymore.  That means if you are viewing my blog in a browser, you are seeing these huge icons where I had cute things posted.  You know like my Pinterest, Facebook links, and my cute signature at the bottom of each post?  Please bear with me while I try to figure this out because I'm not going to be paying $40 a month so you can see those cute icons.  I'm sorry about that…I love you all, but seriously $40 a month??  The saddest thing of all is that I made those things years ago and now I'm going to have to research how to do them again.  So, wish me luck. And here is a pic of green Chile just for fun.  They are from my garden and they are pretty darn hot!!

Phew!

What a busy few weeks.  I love and hate going back to school.  I love it because I love my students.  I love teaching them and seeing them learn.  I hate it because it comes with lack of sleep, lack of time to work out, lack of time with my kids, and working late all of the time.  I swear, I'm gonna finish cutting out all of the stuff I laminated after I post this.

This weekend, Erik and I went to Colorado for my bestie's wedding.  We had an AMAZING time.  Here are some pics.

 This super cool bar…it is over 100 years old.

We went on an amazing mine tour.  I mean seriously we were lowered in a skim 1,000 feet below the ground. It was really cool.

Sadly, we were in bed in our hotel room…with no operable window about 10 o'clock every night.  Even on the wedding day, we were in bed by 10:30.  I guess we are getting old.

We had such an amazing time.  It was hilarious and fun.  It was so wonderful being surrounded with people that we love, and that love us.