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Enter your (witty) blog post title here

This is the main body of your blog post. If we can give you once piece of advice, keep it brief.

Kansas City River Market

Somehow the weekend snuck up on us before we realized we didn't really have ANY plans! I mean, there was the usual...swim lessons on Saturday, Church on Sunday, but that was about it! With the end of summer vacation coming to an end soon I wasn't about to spend the whole weekend sitting around watching T.V. so we decided to head to the Kansas City River Market on Saturday afternoon to check out the fresh produce (and buy some yummy peaches) and other goods. We are definitely going back earlier in the day next time to eat lunch while we were there...so many interesting places to eat! We also strolled down to the Fire Department there where Chad knew a few of the firefighters and they had told him to bring the kids by anytime. We had been before when the kids were smaller and they thought it was pretty cool. The guys there are so nice and before we even made it to the door they were welcoming us in and taking the kids to check out the trucks and gear. They even got donuts and Bomb Pops! Fun day and excited to visit again soon.

Christmas 2013

Another Christmas in the books for the Neal family and Santa was very good to us. It was our first Christmas in our new home and it was filled with family and making lots of new memories here. Our Elf on a Shelf, Bam Bam, came back to visit us this year and had fun finding new hiding places here too. Mamaw and Papaw came for an early Christmas and got to watch Marissa at her first meet of the season (hence the leotard in the Christmas photos...although that's what she usually is wearing anyway). We had a great visit with them. Then on Christmas Eve Nana and Poppy arrived to celebrate with us and we had so much fun spending time with them too. The kids are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents who love them so much (and I don't think they mind all of the wonderful gifts from them either). I don't think I'm going to commit to a 365 blog this year but do plan to get back to blogging regularly and taking more personal photos. Probably a lot in the winter and then less once I get busy with work again in the spring, but we will see what happens. I'm starting to get more into Instagram too and might try a 365 on there. Feel free to follow me (or whatever you do on instagram)...hmneal74

Day 2...Fall

Today I am thankful for Fall and all of it's beauty.

Day 1...My kids

I know a lot of people got tired of everyone on Facebook doing the "Days of Thanks" last year and honestly by the end of it I was getting there too. As a matter of fact I think one of my last things I was thankful for last year was that it was almost over. BUT I'm doing it again. Truth is I do this every day anyway and I think if everyone spent a little more time looking for things to be Thankful for, they would complain less and appreciate life more. I think this would make the world a much better place and I know it would make facebook more enjoyable (seriously, some of you need to settle down...life is too short!). Anyway, I decided to make it a little more interesting this year and try to incorporate photos to represent what I'm thankful for that day. It might be a link to a blog post like this, or maybe just a good ole iPhone photo posted on facebook...whatever my mood or time allows for. You will probably also be happy to know I plan to write much less than this. :) Today I am thankful for my Marissa and Chase. You made me a mommy and inspired me to become a photographer and helped me to realize those two things are what I was meant to do and what make me happiest. I could go on and on but instead will wrap it up by saying "I love you to the moon and back".

Autumn Moon

I have photographed a LOT of full moons. No matter how big, bright and impressive it appears in person, let's face it, a full moon pretty much always looks the same when photographed unless you are fortunate to be somewhere amazing like the beach while photographing it. I don't know why I have never felt the urge to photograph the moon when it's not full, but last night as I was walking past the front window, I caught a glimpse of this and went running for my camera.