First Post...

So....I've tried this blog thing before and it didn't go well. But that one was solely for my photography business and this one is about our lives, so hopefully I can keep up better.  ; )
Just a little about us for the few of you who stumble upon this and don't know us personally:
My name is Christy. I'm 31 years old and married to my best friend, Chris. We tied the knot 15 years ago....yep, that's right, I got married at the ripe old age of 16! ; ) We have two children. Megan is a freshman in high school, and Bryan is a 4th grader. 
We got married in 1996. We had Megan in '97 at the end of my junior year. As soon as I graduated high school in '98 I went to work at a bank. I had Bryan in 2002 and for the first year of his life I went part time and worked 1-2 days a week. Then I worked 3-4 days a week the following year. When he turned 2 I went back full time. In early 2008 I slowly started venturing into photography. I started taking portraits of my children, then I took pictures of my friends' children, and it just kind of grew from there into a part time business. A year or so later things started changing at the bank. It became a very stressful environment...to say the least. Our extended family was changing as well...my in-laws (our primary babysitters) had taken on the responsibility of caring for my husband's 92 year-old great-aunt & my mother (secondary babysitter) was working 2 jobs and trying to help take care of my 94 year-old grandfather. As things continued to go downhill at work, the writing on the wall became very clear to me. The bank was about to change in a drastic way and I could change with it, or I could move on. (Although, they hadn't informed the employees yet, things were so bad that the board of directors had decided to sell.)  Chris and I talked in early April 2010 and we decided that with the changes at work and the changes in our families it was time to make some changes of our own. It was time to focus on our family.  In May 2010, 19 days after my 30th birthday I worked my last day at the bank. It was bittersweet walking out of that building and into the next chapter of my life, but I haven't had one regret about it. In fact, I think it was the best timing ever....days after I left the bank sold. I'm thankful I was spared that stress. I've spent the past year and a half working on my business, Portraits by Christy. This year, we've decided I'm going to step a little farther into the housewife mode. I'll still be running Portraits by Christy, but in 2012 I'm going to be working on a limited schedule. It's going to mean we will basically be living on one income and we're going to have to get creative to make ends meet. We're okay with that though. We're gonna do things OUR way!