Hello hello hello! It has been way too long since my last blog post, but that's about how hectic this semester has been. Since my last post, I've progressed to adding audio to my photo stories. This story, with a focus on the N.C. State Fair was my first. It was a rewarding experience and definitely and eye-opener with the added audio. Watch it here.

This next assignment was focused on a news event. Noting in my head that the Tea Party movement will be in history books, and after my first news assignment of covering a Marine homecoming at Cherry Point fell through, I ended up with this project. This was fun and definitely a lesson in ethics when you have politicians pushing you to report that they are running for office. Watch it here.

Either way, these two photo-audio stories taught me a lot about handling photojournalism with audio gathering and led to many long nights of editing in the Journalism school's basement. Be on the lookout for a post of my final photo project to be posted in a few days!

My photojournalism final along with a BIG and HUGE thanks to the Boyd family for letting me invade their lives this spring! Thank you all so much!

As Marcey Boyd loads her four adopted children into her grey Nissan Pathfinder that is packed with hot pink car seats, Chloe Boyd picks her nose. Chloe and her identical twin sister, Addie, are getting over a recent cold, making runny noses Marcey's daily villain.

"The girls slept in some today. They didn't want to get up. But watch, tomorrow, they will be up really early," Marcey comparing the girls' sleep schedule during the week to the weekend. Ashlee (far left) flopped over on the family's Duke University fleece blanket on the couch while her sister, Charlotte, watches recorded "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" episodes. Her adoptive father, Wes Boyd, holds Addie as Marcey gathers school clothes for their daughters.

Chloe and Addie (left to right) both reach for water as Marcey helps them wash their hands after their first time playing outside following a harsh North Carolina winter. While their sisters are at preschool, Marcey plays and reads with the twins to help develop their early childhood skills, such as speech development.

Ashlee runs and hugs her dad, Wes, as he picks her up from Protestant Preschool & Kindergarten. "Friday afternoons are Ashlee and Dad time," said Wes. Ashlee and her sisters are all "daddy's girls" but one-on-one time with dad is hard when there are four daughters commanding his attention.

Bath time for the Boyd girls is an adventure for mom, Marcey. The oldest two, Ashlee and Charlotte, do not like shower water in their eyes and the twins, Addie and Chloe are constantly trying to escape from the bathtub. However, all four of them are clean and tear-free after a good scrub down with Johnson's Bedtime Bath body wash.

After bathtime, Chloe recieves her second nebulizer treatment of the day. Her and Addie have to receive respiratory treatments because of complications from their premature birth. This is just one of the many side effects foster and adoption parents face.

Wes, an ordained minister, and his wife, Marcey, pray "God our Father, God our Father," to the tune of the nursery rhyme, "Frere Jacques." Religion is a huge part of the Boyd's lives, and has played largely into why they have fostered and adopted their children.

Wes and Chloe share a moment of peace during Ashlee's fourth birthday party. Wes and Marcey both pray that the adoption of their fifth daughter, Anna Claire, and biological sister to Charlotte, Addie and Chloe, will be approved allowing her to soon quickly in North Carolina and be able to create bonds with her four sisters and soon-to-be new parents.