8 month old professional pictures!

Today we went and got Brody's 8 month photos done.  Here are just a few of our favorite shots, but lets be honest. . . they are really ALL my favorites! :)

 It was quite the experience for our little guy and he didn't like the bright lights and flashing camera.  After I thought about it I remembered that the last time we had his pictures taken he was a newborn and asleep for 90% of it.  We were worried they wouldn't turn out because he just wasn't having it today.

As we were going through the disk we both pointed to a picture and said, "This one is my favorite! No this one is! No this one! This one!" I swear they all turned out just perfect.  We couldn't get enough of his beautiful little face that is ours to kiss and love forever.

By the end of the shoot we were all exhausted.  Him from trying to smile for the camera and us from dancing like chickens, doing spirit fingers, and singing disney songs to get those smiles.

But when I look at these pictures it was all worth it! :)

My first real memorial day

This year was the first year that I have ever really had anyone to go visit in a cemetery on memorial day.  My thoughts are always with those who have passed away on this day, but this year it was really personal for me.  As I sat by pops grave I looked around the cemetery at all those placing flowers on loved ones weathered graves who obviously had done it for years.

Does it get harder or easier as the years go by?  I am not sure, probably both for some, but for me it feels like forever since I have seen pop and it has only been six months. I am really thankful that memorial day is a holiday because for how busy and full our lives seem, it feels really good to spend a weekend thinking about memories of loved ones.

Our very own { not so little } natural disaster

 

 

 Last week I had my own wizard of oz experience when the wind storms hit our little town of Centerville.

The winds howled all night, none of the three of us got any sleep.  I kept dreaming of the house blowing away and the roof floating off, and the storm sucking us out into the dark.  

Walking outside in the morning i didn't even recognize parts of my neighborhood.  I knew the winds had been strong, but I never expected to see the things I did.

Signs twisted like taffy, fences toppled like toothpicks, and trees pulled right out of the ground. 

Our own little house weathered a little damage but we felt so incredibly blessed as we saw the damage others had endured.  We lost a few sections of fence, some shingles, screens and gutters, and power for quite a while.   

Once I made sure our house was secure, I went to head out for work and realized my car had a flat tire with two nails.  Brian had to come to my rescue and attach my spare.

I feel that between pop dying, this happening and the holidays coming out of nowhere, I am still trying to catch my breath.  I am keeping my fingers crossed nothing else happens for a while!

Our lincoln memorial experiance

We were enjoying absolutely everything about the Lincoln memorial until a tourist asked if she could take our picture for us. It was a nice gesture so I handed her our camera and she had snapped a couple pics when it happened. Our poor camera fell onto the hard marble floor of the Lincoln memorial. It all happened so fast that I literally had no idea what was happening. Before I knew it we were rushing over trying to quiet her down and stop her profanities :) We tried to assure her that a broken camera was no big deal and that a camera was completely replaceable.

As we walked away our camera started to choke and rattle a little and actually turned on! Now when we try to use it sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It is fine by us though because we have been wanting to replace it for some time. I laugh a little every time I see these pictures because they are the last perfect pictures we ever took with that camera. It is never the way I expected to remember the Lincoln memorial but I can't help it. That experience is forever en grained on my brain.

My valentine

I sure do love this boy. He means the world to me. I was really lucky to find him when I did. I have no idea how he wasn't snatched up before I got there. Just extremely thankful.



We were driving last night and laughing like usual when he looked over at me very seriously and said Linds you make me so happy, I really love you. Its moments like that when I can't help but smile, giggle a little, and thank heaven that I am so blessed. XOXO valentine, always and forever.

Remembering 911. . .

The last thing we did in New York was visit 911 and the areas around. We really wanted to see it bc we had heard incredible things about the exhibits made by the volunteers.

And I had an inkling that it would be large area but in no way was I prepared for how much room these two towers would have taken up.

I wish I had an aerial photo so that you could see what I meant.

And all the construction was fenced off so that you couldn't see much, but I still took a few photos anyways so you could see the area.



They said that it was the only project in new york that they were working on 24-7 365 days a year on. I thought that was pretty crazy.

After looking at what we could see of the construction, we decided to see some exhibits that people had told us about.

There was one in particular that caught our special attention. There is a church across the street from the 911 site that the volunteers slept in on cots and came for rest and food and many died there also.

So as we got to it, I was blown away that it had an incredibly old cemetary too! I know you think it is weird how much I like cemetaries but there is so much rich history and genealogy that I just love.

Part of it I blame on my job, bc all we do is genealogy, dna testing and family history, and some of it I know is from my mom for always taking us to the cemetary to honor the dead and to learn about the lives of those who were once alive. I find it very interesting. . .

So before heading inside we walked around and looked at the dates and the old marble handgraven headstones.

After looking around, it was kind of cool to realize that everyone buried here witnessed the founding of our amazing country and I think that must have been such an incredible experiance.

They were lovely and very interesting shaped.

Some had been there for so long they were beginning to sink into the ground.

Also back then people died SO young! This is just an example of a woman who died at 37 but there were many like her in the cemetary also.

And I am not sure what this is called, but the graves above ground were so decorated and large.


And then we found the door of the church which was very large too! And SO old!

We later found out that some of founding fathers were buried here and some had been buried at Trinity Church just a couple blocks away.



There is just something so spiritual to me about walking where so many great men have been laid to rest and who gave everything for the priviledges I enjoy so much today. . .

Inside the church was SO many cool exhibits set up by the volunteers to remember those who gave their lives that day to help save the survivors.





Artwork done by children.


An original cot that was slept in.

Exibit showing what food was made for the volunteers.

A cross made out of beams from the fallen building.

Badges from some of the people that helped serve were collected.

Someone painted this of the church with all of the artwork before it was all organized. This is the inside of the church. You can see how huge it is!

You may not be able to see it very well, but the flag is made up of all the names of the people who died because of the attack.

And they had so many incredible pictures around that made you just cry. It showed that all people were affected by this horrible event. They had a movie playing too that showed so many scenes from that day and the days following.

This banner was hung from the balcony.

A hat found in the rubble signed by volunteers.

After we saw the exhibits of what had happened we visited a small exhibit that showed what they wanted to do with the land the towers had once been on.

They plan to build a park with two ponds where the buildings were and make it a place to remember what happened.

I am sure it will be a amazing place when it is completed in a few years.

As we left the church we both talked about where we were the day we heard about the attack. I told brian that it was SO real to me and that I was a junior in high school, in Drill practice dancing when the someone came in and shut off our music to tell us our country was under attack.

Brian was in the MTC preparing to leave for his mission in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. And he told me that he had feelings of utter disbelief. That he couldn't believe this was happening to us, and in a place that seems so big like New York. He told me he was angry too, that someone would think destroying a building could destroy us as a nation.

Even though we recounted our memories of the day we experianced it, it was incredible to experiance it a little through the people who lived here and saw it out their windows. I can't think of anything more terrifying.

We will always remember our trip to New York. But most of all I think, I will always remember the way I felt looking through the memories of those present. I think my emotion was mixed with a little anger, and lots of sadness.

We loved our trip here and hope to come back to New York someday with our family and be able to share this with them too.

Love Linds