The Journey of Parenthood…

Show and Tell Tuesday: Top 5 Favorite Pictures!

Today is Show and Tell Tuesday and I’m linking up with Momfessionals to share my Top 5 Favorite Pictures!

This is an impossible task for me. I take over 2,000 pics a month…easy. And if we’re at Disney or on vacation? It’s more like 2,000 in a day haha. I just love pictures. I love the moments captured. I’ve never had a sense of smell and the thing that has always bothered me is that I don’t have that ability to smell something and have it be attached to a memory. This makes picture taking even more important to me. I LOVE that I can look at a photo and instantly be transported to that moment in time. I cherish photos. I read some study recently that said even the act of taking photos makes a moment more special. I guess our little family just has a lot of special moments 😉

In thinking of what my top 5 favorite pictures are…I more started thinking about my favorite moments. Because, for me, that’s what pictures are. It’s not about the actual photo…it’s about the moment it captures.

Cali


Zach and I love travel. We’ve loved it since we were dating (I’ve loved it since childhood but I had to ease Zach into it haha) and we always have such a great time just the two of us on trips. Of course we LOVE trips with our kids too (our favorite family memories are vacationing) but there is just something special about that quality time away together. It’s hard to pick through ALL of our amazing travels and pinpoint a favorite. Let alone ONE photo to represent it. But I have to say that our trip to California last spring stands out (yes, even ahead of fancy places like Italy! Paris! New York!) as a top trip for me. We were supposed to be in Italy and it got canceled 10 days before we were supposed to leave. I’m such a planner and having to switch gears in such a short span of time was insane. But yall. It made for SUCH an INCREDIBLE trip. We spent 10 days along the California coast and did it all. Whale watching, road trip in a convertible, golf at Pebble Beach, Jimmy Kimmel Live and (of course) Disneyland. 2016 ended up being a rough year for us and this trip will always be that special time before. It’ll forever be a cherished memory for me and I’m so thankful for it!

Our wedding day was magical…our engagement was beyond romantic…but our trips together are the most special for me!

This is a runner up for favorite trip photo…our very first BIG trip together. An 18 day long summer trip that included two cruises, a stay in the Bahamas, a visit with my family in Melbourne, a Ft Lauderdale stay and a Disney trip all in one! We both always talk about how we had a HUGE tub of clothes in the trunk of our car and would unpack and repack between stays. It was the beginning of our love for travel together!

Tess’s Birth

 

All of the days that our children were born were truly special. There is nothing like delivery day and that moment when a new life enters the world and a new member enters your family. But y’all this picture. It gets me emotional EVERY time I look at it. This was our third time around. And our second daughter. But that look of pure LOVE on his face. The tears in his eyes and the way he’s looking at her just shows the love he had for our baby…instantly. There are several from her birth where he’s watching me with that same look on his face. He is a man who love his family with all of his heart. I knew this by his actions and words and commitment…but I LOVE having a photo that shows it too 🙂

Runner up for favorite looks of love…Kye was SO sweet when Tess was born and was just instantly obsessed with her and I have SO many pics just like this one. With joy and pride and pure big brother love all over his sweet face!

Disney

 

Disney is my happiest place. It’s my favorite place in the WORLD and I’d live there if I could. I’m just the best version of myself when at Disney! I loved it growing up, but as a parent I love it in a whole new way. When I think back on ALL of our Disney travels the moment that stands out the most to me was that first “magical moment.” The one that just brought tears to my eyes because it was so perfect and special. It was Kye’s first visit and we met Woody and Jesse and he was just SO into it. He gave Jesse Mommy’s kisses and hugged them both and didn’t want to leave them. I was crying. Zach’s mom was crying. My mom was crying. It was just such a perfect Disney moment. I’ve had many, many such moments sense then (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cry at least once every trip…even when there by myself ha!) but this one will always be special to me!

Runner up for favorite Disney picture is also of Kye on our favorite ride together. Is this not the perfect Disney ad or whhhhat?

Girl Time

 

Having a daughter is such a gift. Growing up in a home where I wasn’t ever very close to my own mom has always made me anxious for a daughter of my own. I have so many goals as a mom and one of them is to raise my girls up in a way that they will want to be like me and will want to have a close bond with me as they grow into adulthood. I wanna be a mother that they will be proud to call their own! Holding my first baby girl in my arms that first day brought SO many emotions for me and the day we went to get our nails done together for the first time was just super special. It was the first true “girl time” moment we’ve shared and is something I’ve looked forward to my entire life (and, yes, I cried at the nail salon too haha). I know it’s only the first of many special girl moments we will share together!

Runner up has to be this pic from our Mommy-Britt weekend together! This Disney weekend was SO fun and SO special for our bond. It really was a trip I’ll forever cherish and one that she and I still talk about on a regular basis! You can’t fake this look of pure JOY!

Mini Me

 

Every child is precious and special and when I think of Tess my first thought is how she’s my “mini-me.” I LOVE it. I love that since she was born people always comment to me how much she favors me. I love that she looks like me and acts like me and is just a mirror image of myself. I know that it may not always be this way so I soak it alllll up while I can! I really want to find us some cute Mother-Daughter outfits to wear 🙂 I’m so thankful my mom saved so many of my baby clothes and that I’m able to do recreation photos with her!

 

Little Emily!

There you have it! A few of my favorite photos 🙂 Be sure to come follow me on Instagram to see more of our family (and a daily play by play of our lives in my IG Stories haha) and also follow me on Facebook where I post all of my blog posts as well as tons of other great parenting resources and articles!

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Emily Parker
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