Auntie, the photographer.

So as a lot of you know I went back home to Arizona in November and for the first time in forever my niece and nephew were exposed to their aunt the photographer. My eldest sister is a fantastic nature photographer, but when it comes to people.. she kind of sucks. Don't start thinking that I don't suck at things too.. I can't shoot nature. Win/win? Maybe. 
Anyways, I was able to drag my sister, mom and the kids out to the desert on my last morning in AZ for a little family session. Now they were all "cold" to which I responded "you don't know what cold is!" and I got the roll of the eyes from Ms. Aidy -13- and my nephew Pat. I realized while doing this session that I have completely been blessed with some gorgeous family, and I'm a little bummed that I hadn't been around while they were growing up. These are the first and only professional images my family has had since I was 9 months old.

See what I mean by gorgeous?! 

Nane (mom) and her grand kids. I cannot believe how tall these kids are. They are almost at my 5'5.5" frame and I'm a good 12+ years older than them. 

I happen to believe my nephew is quite the stud muffin, despite his growls for having to smirk for me. 

Now here's a little side by side of my niece with her mom and my niece with me. She is definitely 12 years younger, but some how we wound up with very similar faces! I won't complain, she's my beauty bug and I am totally biased. It was awesome to shoot in Arizona for he first time since 2006 and I look forward to going back someday to do portraits for my niece when she's a senior *tears* and my nephew. 

Dearest Love a Fresh 48 | Grand Forks, ND

This last week (1/22/15) my best friend Tresa gave birth to an amazing little peanut named Steevi Lynn who I love so very, very much! As a lot of you know, I do photography part time and I've been working on getting into more lifestyle sessions. I do a lot of posed work, but I like to be in the moment with people and capturing the moments that are so beautiful to families. I've added a few pictures below, but to see more you can always follow me on Facebook or over at Belle Hiver Photography 

These two pictures are a couple of my favorites. I love seeing new parents with their babes and just how much they fall in love with someone so new and fresh into the world. 

I hope that you all enjoy this post and the amazingness that is a new family and keep an eye out for Steevi's upcoming newborn session. 

North Dakota Living

In case you didn't know I live in North Dakota now... its a very cold place, where the buffalo roam.. more like where the oil workers roam! Seriously this was never on the "top 10 for Acacia to live" in fact when I thought of the Dakota's I thought of Mt. Rushmore, cows, cowboys and cold. 

But here I am two months in and I kind of like it here... 

I know, slap me! 

I am the girl from Arizona, the one who hates cold and wants to permanently never wear shoes, likes North Dakota.. #smh -I like to use hashtags.. it makes me sound ridiculous- 

Now before we all get bent out of shape I can easily list the reasons I like this place: 

1. Its small! I was not meant for HUGE cities and I kind of like that it only takes me 10-15 minutes to get anywhere.. including another state. 

2. We live right next door to Minnesota, over the river -literally- to cabellas we go. 

3. My dog likes it. He is a fan of cold weather. 

4. Like minded people. I am conservative, but in a weirdly liberal way.. I like my Jesus to be talked about and not looked down on for it, but I also support marriage equality... nothing wrong with love in my book. 

5. I finally feel less judged for wearing leggings as pants. Stupid reason? NOT! You know how much it blows being looked at like a common whore -I said it- because Acacia was too lazy to put on pants? NO because here, people don't care, they are like "I like wearing leggings as pants, because they are pants" YAY! 

Do I fit in? Probably not.

Is my redneck showing? YES... incredible amounts of real tree and duck/deer meat have been blessing my home. 

Does A like it? I think so.. we both miss small things about "city living" but in all.. this would be a place to raise any sort of family.

How does my family feel? They laugh uncontrolably when I tell them about the weather. In fact my dad said he could never again tell me I'd never experienced a "real" winter. Win. 

So here it is.. my redneck, starbucks loving, boot wearing, leggings are pants declaration to my love of North Dakota... but I am extremely excited about going to Washington in Feb!
-Acacia

life lately

life is crazy, exciting and has been a lot nicer than when living in a hotel. 

basically A bought a house, we moved in and started unpacking and now.. now we are enjoying a beautiful life filled with a giant kitchen and our own bed. 

I've been working and looking for full time work.. despite how much I love both my jobs I have things to do, bills to pay and school to plan for. I just look forward to being able to focus on the real and very important parts of life. 

aside from getting the house settled I've been playing suzy homemaker.. cooking dinner every night, cleaning, laundry and of course enjoying lifetime.. because that's what homemakers do, right? Just kidding! But seriously, I do watch a lot of lifetime. I'm also -hopefully- done looking for a new church, which ironically, is hope community.. and I got to do a first for my photography: I shot a love session for a same sex couple!! 

© Belle Hiver Photography

Obviously I haven't posted this on my photography site, but I am getting ready -we literally just got internet. 

Well I suppose that's a pretty good update, stay tuned for an amazing blog-redesign and some great news for the holidays! 

-Acacia 

I moved..

Well we both moved.. technically three of us.

We moved across country to North Dakota.

Our last picture in front of our first house together. It was bitter sweet, I left my sister and some pretty amazing friends. I feel as if I'll never meet their dopple gangers in North Dakota, but we'll see. 

We hoped in our cars on August 25th and went to Montana that night. We decided after that initial night out that we would go camping so we found a place about six hours away and drove about six hours. Boulder River in MT.. its a little north of Yellowstone. 

Our family picture after Brutus dug out about twenty rocks from the creek. 

We managed to drive through to Miles City the next day -after a short stop in Billings, MT- and then to Fargo, ND

It was a weird feeling when we finally crossed the boarder to North Dakota. I was really doing this, moving with A and we were going to figure it out as we go along. Then again .. I have this crazy guy who I'm lucky to call mine (my boyfriend and my best friend) and while a lot of crazy things have happened.. I am comfortable saying that this is going to work out no matter what. 

Our first night in North Dakota we realized that 1. we left Bru's favorite toy in Miles City (moms bad) and 2. that this place isn't nearly as bad as everyone said. We went to Granite City Brewery and they were so gracious to allow us to come in a few minutes before the kitchen closed, but it was worth it! Delicious flat bread pizza, great beer sampler and a brucheta chicken salad. If you're ever in Fargo.. GO THERE! 

The next day we go to Grand Forks, we get in and literally start looking at houses.. see the tricky think about this city is that they aren't too keen on big dogs and you all know we have a 95lb bundle of love. We had discussed buying a house when we found out about the house situation, but didn't expect for things to move so quickly... I got a job Labor Day weekend and A bought a house.. yeah in one weekend. 

Oh well this is a little update and we hope to be getting into the swing of things in the near future, maybe a give away from my work and of course letting you all know how the move goes! 

I do hope that Oct 10th gets here soon.. our king sized bed and my FULL closet is calling my name. 

-Acacia 

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10697393/?claim=66megfbzny2">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

don't forget to follow me! 

and our new base is.....

Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota! 

Was this our first choice? No, was it even on the list? NOPE! But it is where we are being placed and it is where we will call home for three years come August.  

What do I know about this place? 

It floods and its cold.

2/3 of the time its snowing in the winter.

It gets in the negatives. 

Its close to Canada. 

I know this isn't a place that we were hoping for, I know that we are moving to a place close to Minneapolis and that we're putting in to possibly swap to a different base. 

I wont lie when I say I'm nervous, scared and possibly going to freeze my butt off. I'm excited too.. we're going to be away from family, and we'll be going on many adventures. I'll be possibly starting school there, maybe buying a house? I don't know! But whatever it is, we will figure it out. 

But until we know for sure (orders are printed) we will assume this is our new home. 

-Acacia