Two Little Breaths of Fresh Air

That's what I think of with these two...their whisps of hair, cute feet, semi-hippi attire and self inflicted tatoos. They are a visual treat.

Katie + Tony = Engaged

I believe this: It is not a mere coincidence when two people meet, fall in love, and decide to spend the rest of forever together, it is evidence that God has a hand in your life. On that note, meet Katie and Tony. Every couple has their own love story. Here is their's in a nutshell: moms who care, unrecognizable voices, dance, meet, first date fell through, second date a huge success, dancing, somewhere in there, it clicked...they fell in love...spring wedding...so worth the wait! Loved spending time with them this week while doing their engagment photos. It didn't take long to recognize their chemistry...but deeper than that...they DIG each other...and that encompasses EVERYTHING in my book.

Shoes tell a lot about a person and both Tony and Katie have good taste in shoes. They have pizzazz. They both have an artistic flair. Tony is an amazing artist. Watch for him. Katie has a good eye for fashion and detail. Can't wait to see what they do together!

They were good sports with these shots...Katie has a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh...AND they can laugh easily together. That's as good as glue.

I'm pretty sure there is going to be some Salsa dancing at their wedding. I may just have to give that a try. :-) So looking forward to your wedding day. Katie told me she's been making lists like crazy. Here's a short list for you, Katie:

     

        1. It will all come together

                                     

Presenting Robert: Class of 2009

It's Senior picture time.

Meet Robert. He's been a star volleyball player at his H.S. He plans on attending ASU next year. Robert's parents and my husband go way back to High School themselves. Good friends. Great to see the next generation ready to make their mark on the world!

We had some fun with his volleyball.

Best of luck to you Robert!

41... "UN-Believable!!"

41 single, non-matching socks in our mismatched sock pile. Yes, "UN-believable!" is what we can expect to hear from Brian when he does laundry and gets to the socks. He even goes so far as to count the socks without matches...because it really is "UN-believable" how many there are. He has actually stopped counting now, because it's beyond "Un-believable". I have been wanting to post about this for some time, because it has been a problem at our house for FOREVER! Admitting the problem in some cases can help you solve it, but in our case I think we just need to start all over. I'm just waiting for everyone's feet to be the same size, then it's out with the old and bring in the new AND we cannot care about socks with personality. They're ALL going to be  the SAME. No more colored socks, no more stripes, no more crew vs. ankle. NO MORE! It is ALL about function. If you see my boys wearing athletic socks to church, you'll know why. Wait! If they're wearing socks at all, that's actually a miracle!

Good-bye cute pink socks with little hearts.

The thing is, we used to care somewhat about matching. We would at least try to find another white sock to go with the white sock in our hand...then we stopped caring about colors all together, so long as they kind of fit and were clean. As can be seen in this recent photo of Adam at the City Meet, we don't even care if they're a similar style! Just give me a sock, please!!

I took Adam to the doctor on Monday. First he grabs Ben's shoes (because they're easier to put on. That's because they're too big!) When we get to the doctor's office, I look down and can only see one of Adam's socks, so I ask him if he's only wearing one sock. No, he's wearing two, just one is really small, so it can't be seen. As we leave the doctor's, I sheepishly confess that I only have one sock on myself that morning. None of us is immune! I have to laugh about this, because it's the only way to survive it. If your children leave socks at our house...I'm really sorry. Chances of them surviving as a couple...very,very slim. Ultimately,they're only adding to our confusion.

On a good note:  Adam's socks seemed to have served him well at the City meet, because he came in 5th in the 800 against the other 7th graders in the City. Technically, he's still 6th grade age since he skipped a grade, so he did really well. Way to go Adam. Ben did great, too. He took 1st in the 400 and his relay team came in 2nd. Love to watch my kids run, no matter what kind of socks they're wearing or not wearing.

By the way...if you think any of the socks in this post belong to anyone in your family...please come and get them. And hurry!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My little sweetheart, Brian said he had a present for me for Valentine's. I said, "I didn't think we were doing presents." He said, "It's just a little something." It was an unexpected surprise. He's good at little surprises. Hmmm...what could it be?  It was shaped like a box of chocolates. I would have been o.k. with chocolates...especially my favorites, marzipan, from See's Candy.

But it turned out to be even better than chocolate!

I love it! Thank you. So very thoughtful! I don't know if I've mentioned that I dropped my keyboard a couple of weeks ago and ever since then it has been a bit 'space bar challenged'. AsinwhenI wouldtypesomething,sometimes it wouldgive me the space, and sometimesitwouldn't. It was a little high maintenance. Typing on this keyboard is a dream.

I've received many cards, notes and letters from Brian over the years. He has been a great writer, ever since I've known him and we go WAY back. We once spent 37 months only communicating via snail mail, while we were both out serving missions. One day I would love to go through all of those letters and make a book out of them. Because of our history of writing, my heart was trained a long time ago to go pitter-patter when I see Brian's script attached to my name. I just have such fond memories of courting through letters. This is a card that Brian gave me that I keep out because I like it so much. He's always been much better at picking out cards than I have. He knows me. We still dig each other. 

 

 photo on card by David M. Grossman from the M.I.L.K. photo series, "a celebration of humanity"

                                              

So, B., I think you know that I've still got a crush on you, after all these years!

LOVE,

Me

Photography 101- Fun!

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

--Dorothea Lange

I did a Photography Workshop at my house last night for the women in my church. A signup went around and I thought, maybe 7-8 women would sign up and we would sit around my computer and talk about photography stuff. Apparently it's a popular subject matter as the final count on the list was 26! With that number we weren't going to be able to sit around my computer. With benches and other available seating we were able to fit in my living room. (Sorry about the bench seating, gals.) It was fun to have such a great turnout. Thank you to everyone who came and made it such a great evening. I gave out the assignment (hint, hint to anyone who was there!) to make their own personal owner's manual using a packet that I myself had filled out for my camera in one of my classes. If you know your camera, you can really start to enjoy it. Even point and shoot digital camera's are capable of more than we give them credit for. I wanted people leave excited about using their cameras and trying some new things.

In preparing for the workshop I went through some old photos and combined them with some more recent ones as an informal display. The photos were from different times in my life and it reinforced to me how important photos are in helping us remember. Along with that, I had collected some quotes by famous photographers that I like:

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."

--Robert Capa

"Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter."

--Ansel Adams

"If I could tell the story in words. I wouldn't need to lug around around a camera."

--Lewis Hine

"You know, so often it's just sticking around and being there, remaining there, not swooping out in a cloud of dust: sitting down on the ground with people, letting children look at your camera with their dirty, grimy little hands, and putting their fingers on the lens, and you just let them, because you know that if you will behave in a generous manner, you are apt to receive it, you know?"

--Dorothea Lange

Olivia turns 2!

It's not every day a gal turns 2. I gently chided my sister-in-law, Christine, about the BIG bash they were throwing for Olivia's 2nd birthday. If this was her 2nd B-day, what would they be doing when she turned 7,10 ,16...?! She said, "Same thing, a Dora Bouncer!" I can't wait, sounds perfect. Actually I can wait, because I am enjoying my little nieces SO much just where they are right now. Here are some pics from her shindig this past weekend:

The Birthday Girl!

The Dora Theme.

The Pinata...those of you who know my brother, James, might guess that he was in charge of getting the pinata.

I just love her little arms and the intent expression on her face here. She is pretty "into" her candy bag.

Blowing out the Candle.

Gotta have balloons.

And presents... by the way, isn't Olivia's mom pretty?

The Grandpas.

AND her Grandmas, who joked about that maybe they might even make it onto my blog. If I had known they felt this way about my blog, I would have featured them a LONG time ago!

Here they are for real.

My brother, who loves being a dad.

There was music.

And Friends, Big and Small...

I just have to say about this young friend that I think she has the "look". I wish I knew how to "discover" someone. :-) I'm just saying for the record: Here she is.

Sometimes telling a child NOT to smile is the key to getting a good photo. She looked perfect just like this. :-) You will never hear me saying, "Say cheese!".

Party is ending...time to start saying good-bye. This embrace says it all about Olivia.

She is such a sweet little girl.

Happy Birthday, Little Cutie-Pie Muffin Girl!

love,

your Aunt Maria