cousins

My cousins have always been a big part of my life. Over my trip I was fortunate enough to take pictures of my Cousin Isaac's cute family in Santa Cruz. Two years ago, while on vacation he shared a story with me... someone had given him something, something very nice for no reason or expectation. He then gave me something very special and told me to "pay it forward" to someone else. I think about that often and I hope in my little way these pictures can say "Thank You".






see more here




My other cousin (sister) Tristan turned 21! We went to Park City and had the BEST day. It turned into an impromptu "photo shoot" I'll add some of that day later but some pics of her gorgeous self are here

Love Love Love this...

They walked in tandem, each of the 93 students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind brood smiles and moms freely brushed away tears. This class would not pray during the commencements... not by choice but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice but they were routine... until the final speech received a standing ovation. He stood still and silent for just a moment and then... it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them suddenly sneezed!!!


The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said "GOD BLESS YOU, each and everyone of you!" And he walked off stage...

The audience exploded into applause. The graduating class found a unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future with or without the court's approval.


*dedicated to my cynical Uncle Mike who I love very much even though we don't agree on "things".

Goodbye Summer... schools in session

Taylor started FIRST GRADE on Monday (still in shock) and Halle starts her first year of Pre-school in a few weeks. For those of you waiting for pictures (Nicole, Tristan) I promise I'll get on them THIS week:) It turned into FALL here last week and than it turned into summer again, go away 90's I like the 60's.

photo shoot for an old dear friend...

see more here

my brother

The best part about our trip was unexpectedly seeing my brother. Six weeks ago he was involved in a traumatic FREEK accident where he almost lost his eye. He was rushed by ambulance to Johns Hopkins where they were able to save his eye. His lens was out of place and another surgery was done to remove it. In 3-6 months he will have another surgery to attach an "artificial lens". Right now he has no vision (just blur and shadows in the injured eye). They had just moved to Bethesda, Maryland where my sister in law Tammy started her residency at The National Naval Medical Center. Lucky, because he was treated at a world re-known hospital, unlucky because he is going crazy, being isolated in a new place and not able to do CRAZY things like this. He got the ok to fly out for the vacation at the last minute. He braved the family craziness, my kids hanging on him like monkeys and tried to stay clear of the sand and salt water. We only wish Tammy could of come also.

we are back

The last 3 weeks have been crazy fun stress, ya know what I mean???? E went out of town for a week and right before he came back I packed up the Jeep, the kids, all our crap and drove to SLC in time for July 24th (for those of you not familiar with that day -it's basicly as big as the 4th of July in Utah) for a week of crazy fun with both families and some dear, dear friends I have not seen in sooooo long. Than we packed up the kids, more crap and my parents and drove to Santa Cruz, CA for our Family Vacation {more crazy fun}. Roundtrip we spent 42 hours driving, 42 FREEKIN hours....I'm never leaving again, Im too tired!!!

I got LOTS of pictures, I'll be posting them for like the next month-