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Realizing Some Bigger Dreams Of Ours

February 28, 2018

We jokingly refer to our family as a zoo – in fact, that’s even what our family Instagram account is called. It’s a little wild, it’s very scheduled, and we’re always up for donations and visitors (ha ha ha!). Back in 2014, we took the zoo on the road – a little over 5,000 miles and a month of non-stop adventure. We booked shoots at every stop along the way, and we loved every single minute of it. Two years later, we started thinking about taking our zoo on the road full time … but we let our fears talk us out of it. We got too scared of the daunting task of homeschooling the kids, too caught up in the fear of marketing across the country instead of one specific region, and all the little scary negative thoughts led us moving back to Colorado, into a bigger house and setting up a life for ourselves back here.

Except … here’s the thing, and I’m being totally open and honest here: I’m not entirely sure we made the right decision.

Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE COLORADO. I love every minute of being here, I love the friends we’ve made, I love the friends the kids have made, I love waking up and going to bed with Pikes Peak towering in our backdrop. The weather, the people, the opportunities – Colorado is our favorite place in the world.

seqouia national park road

But I can’t help but have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that our family was meant to do more.

And not to get all political (because if you know me, I hate politics) … but the rise in school shootings has Randy + I both terrified to take the kids to school. A couple weeks before the most recent school shooting, there was actually a threat made against our kids’ middle school, a plan that eventually unfolded in Florida with the use of a fire alarm and the loss of innocent lives. It’s terrifying. Actually – I don’t even know if there is a word to express the utter terror I feel dropping our kids off at school every day. Absolute crippling terror.

But more than that – we are traveling a lot for work. More than we ever have before, actually – and it’s incredible. But having to leave the kids so often is not easy.

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Heyyyy ... I'm Ashley Durham and I'm a luxury wedding photographer in Phoenix, but I travel all over Arizona and the desert southwest to hang out with the most incredible people. I am obsessed with puppies, extra hot coffee, sunrise and firmly believe that love conquers all.

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