As you’re well aware by now, #MeAndD’s four children have four legs = we have an eight-year-old English Bulldog named Hazel, an eight-year-old Miniature Pinscher named Killer, an eight-year-old Miniature Dachshund named Nella, and an almost fifteen-month-old Border Staffy puppy named Cash. That’s our pack. That’s our family. That’s our world. ♥ Shortly after Cash turned one-year-old in October and was well on his way to becoming one hell of a dog, our sweet Hazel started to show her age. You see ten years old is OLD for an English Bulldog and with Hazel getting closer and closer to her ninth birthday this April, every moment we have with her is extra precious. SO one day I shared with D my yearning to have some professional photos taken of our pack. “I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t have a really nice photo of our little family.” And although my husband is not a HUGE fan of “having professional photos taken,” he obliged my wish. Enter Julie of Julie Ferneau Photography! Julie and her boyfriend, Louie, are good friends of ours. In fact, Louie is the Louie of 656 Photography; the photographic wizard that always makes this #stylecrazed gal look so good in the pictures you see here all the time on LuckyLittleMustardseed.com 😉 and his other half is equally as talented! With her photography business however her focuses are mainly engagements and weddings, but when I asked her if she would be at all interested in taking our “pack” photos, this fellow dog mom was all ears and holy-moly, did she deliver!! I practically spent all of last weekend obsessing over her work and how wonderfully beautiful all of the photos she took turned out. I mean not only did she get all the dogs to be such little models [move over Zoolander!] she also made my handsome D feel super at ease as well. I think it’s safe to say that Julie is 10% photographer and 90% therapist, because she is a photographic wizard as well! I just can’t get enough of ’em, y’all 🙂 now I’ll share with you how our furry four-legged family came to be . . .

Me and D met after midnight on New Year’s Eve going into 2012 [well, I guess since it was somewhere around 12:30 a.m. it was technically New Year’s Day and was already 2012 but just stay with me] we were both at this party I was the event planner of . . . both were there with other people [awkward turtle!] once we met there was an instance connection but we did not act on it [in fact neither of us even acknowledge it to each other] until our paths crossed again a month or so later. I was newly legally separated from my soon-to-be ex-husband, where I had earned sole custody of the two miniature dogs we had adopted together . . . AND D had just broken-off an engagement a couple of months prior and had recently moved from Kansas City, MO to San Diego with his stocky female bulldog for a job promotion. We were both adjusting to our new lives as single dog parents when love stepped in 😉 feel free to gag here, y’all! Lol. I’m not trying to make it mushy. It’s simply what happened!

So then there was this new couple with three dogs, insanely in love, trying to figure out how to all live together in harmony in this condo located in the Carlsbad Village of North County San Diego. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that we moved into together quite quickly?! Haha. Well, judge all you want, but it’s almost six years later and here we still are = in love and with even another dog! Yes, we might just in fact be clinically CrAzY, but I’m getting ahead of myself here . . . so after four and half years together, I think it’s safe to type that Me and D had mastered how to keep our blended family balanced and HaPpY. “Killer likes to only lay here.” “You can’t leave Hazel and Nella alone in the same room together.” “No more sleeping in our bed with us. They sleep in their crates.” Things like that. It may not have for most people, but it worked for us. AND THEN, in November of 2016, while volunteering through D’s work at Harrah’s Resort Southern California, we decided to haphazardly rescue a seven-week-old puppy named Cash [you can read more about his said adoption here] which completely turned our household upside down!

But Cash is paws down the best decision of our life together so far ♥ well that, and taking a chance on each other back in 2012 and moving in together, eloping, and buying our home together, but you get the picture 🙂 Cash is our seventy-eight-pound love child and there is just something so CrAzY special about rescuing this [once] little fur-ball together. I mean not to steal a line from Tina Turner, but [Cash is] simply the best! An initial challenge in the beginning? Absolutely! I mean he was so little that he really should have still been with his mom AND our other three [older] fur-babies really despised him at first, which broke our hearts. But now look at us = looking all cuddly and fly and sh*t for Julie Ferneau’s camera 😉

“Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Politics are ugly, religion is struggling, technology is stressful, and the economy is unfortunate. What’s one thing that we have in our lives that we can depend on? A dog or a cat loving us unconditionally, every day, very faithfully.” — Jon Katz

That was until we ALL allowed our true colors to show right in front of Julie’s lense. This is seriously my favorite photo of the entire bunch = Cash wanting all the love and not realizing how big he’s grown . . . D trying to keep Cash from licking his glasses . . . Killer chilling like all middle children learn to be . . . me dying laughing from the chaos . . . Nella being unsure and nervous around Hazel . . . AND Hazel, well, simply not giving a f*ck and unapologetically just doing her own thing. Yep! That’s our pack. That’s our family. That’s our world. ♥ Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to Julie of Julie Ferneau Photography for taking such fantastic photos of us at PVCC AND to Louie of 656 Photography for tagging along that day to act as a professional wrangler 😉 WE LOVE THEM and I can’t wait to frame!

Photos by Julie Ferneau Photography

D’s Outfit Details:

Glasses: Warby Parker / Sweater: Victorinox Swiss Army / Jeans: Paige / Boots: John Varvatos

My Outfit Details:

Glasses: Ray·Ban / Necklace: COS / Sweater: J.Crew

Long Cardigan & Pants: Cabi / Boots: Kelsi Dagger (Oldies But Goodies)

*Quick Style Tip: If your husband is like mine and isn’t a huge fan of having professional photos taken, allow him to pick his outfit first! That way he feels super comfortable with what he’s wearing and then you can just simply base your outfit around his 😉 works like a charm and you’ll avoid an “outfit” debacle!*