a North Dakotan girl through and through, wife, mother and die hard Catholic.

This is one of the most vulnerable blog posts I believe I will ever do. Letting others into your grief is a difficult thing to do no matter the amount and that “letting in” looks different for each person for what the Lord is nudging them to share. Whether that is in a small capacity […]

I don’t think I’d do George’s birth story justice if I didn’t talk about the months and weeks leading up to his birth. A few key aspects, if you will. I first have to accredit his birth to Our Lord + the intercession of Our Blessed Mother who carried me through my pregnancy, labor, and […]

Well my friends I’d like to introduce you to someone very extra special around here… Our third son, George Joseph Merck. Although Fulton John + Peter Daniel’s namesakes are something oh so special to us as we purposefully + intentionally prayed for their names, our little George Joseph’s name has a little extra personal meaning […]

AHHH! I am so excited to finally get this guide to you fingertips! Hours of planning, designing + curating has come to fruit! Something that was difficult to navigate with Fulton as our first was the ways I needed support during this new season of life for the first time + then again with having […]

One question I get ask quite frequently from first time mother’s is what should or what did I pack in my hospital bag with my littles? From experiencing being a first time mother + having our oldest right in the early beginnings of Covid with many hospital restrictions to not having any at all with […]

Since Fulton was born in May 2020 he’s gone on about 40+ different flights and Peter born in July 2021 he’s been on 8+ so far! We are by all means not experts but I’d like to think we got a thing or two down by now! I’ve travel with Fulton by myself, with Fulton […]

Yes, we are packing our bags as now as a family of four and trading the ID mountains for the ND prairie! The Merck’s are officially moving back to North Dakota! You’re right my friends, that means Root & Bloom Photography is based out of North Dakota once again and boy oh boy are we […]

It has been almost six weeks since we’ve welcomed our new little helper around here and on July 26th, 2021 Mason + I welcomed our Peter Daniel at 6:39pm in the evening on the feast day of Mother Mary’s parents, saints Anne + Joachim. We put Fulton down for bed Sunday evening and a few […]

Can I tell you a secret? This isn’t my first blog post..I know, I know shocking but somewhere in my deep past way back in early high school I started a blog where I’d talk about my faith and maybe (I’m just guessing here but like) three people read it, haha! I loved being able […]