black and white

Is it bad blog etiquette to delete some random, crazy post you wrote as a sleep deprived, lactating, hormonal mess? Umm.. sorry I said lactating. And hormonal. But hey, it is what it is. So if you read my previous post.. sorry for the drama. It happens to me sometimes and no, I'm not medicating. But I probably should be.

Let's just skip to the photography question shall we? So there's this lady who takes the prettiest pictures and she always shoots directly into the setting sun. Her pictures look so soft and, and.. ethereal. But when I try it, the sun reflecting off my lens overexposes everything. I had to fix the light levels on all these pictures, but that said, I was still pleased with the result. Although they look nothing like hers.

And that's a fake knife Ty's wielding! No sister's were hurt in the shooting of these pictures. Just chased around a lot. All in good fun right?

Wednesday evening thought

I just wrote this really long post on pride. Not the I'm proud of my kids kind of pride. Rather the enmity toward God kind of pride. And then I thought to myself "who wants to hear me blathering on and on? I'm so prideful." And I deleted it.

So to heck with my deep thoughts. They weren't coming out right anyway.
Here's some more pictures of my baby.
Happy Wednesday everyone.

Have mercy already!!

He's growing too fast. Way, way too fast.

My Garden

I don't think I've ever mentioned that my mom was a fabulous gardener. At one point she had nearly a quarter acre planted in fruit trees, squash, melons, tomatoes, and such.
I always imagined my life would be similar. A small town somewhere. A country house with a wrap around porch. Lots of land to garden and maybe raise a beef cow on each summer.
I never imagined raising five children in a highly metropolitan area. In one tiny apartment with a community yard we share with a hundred other people. Instead of mountains we have the beach nearby. Instead of homemade tree houses we have spotless, city maintained "play structures".
But I do love the beach. And play structures can be really fun. As you well know, life seldom turns out like we imagine. We've had both trials and blessing I couldn't have predicted. And great lessons learned while in the midst of both.
And I can still be a gardener of sorts. Instead of flowers I'm raising children. Teaching them modesty and integrity. How to work hard and appreciate the blessings God grants them. It's infinitely more challenging than raising tomatoes.

I still think about my Mom's garden sometimes. And maybe someday when the children are grown..

For now, I am content. Who has time for that other garden nonsense anyway? I'm growing children and mine want to go to the beach.

A house full

Except that they all stayed in a hotel. But theoretically.. in the daytime anyway, we had a house full. They came for O's blessing and it was such a nice weekend! Everybody left too soon and in the end, it just left me wanting more.

More family.. more beach days..
more time together.
This picture makes me laugh. It's my sister and I with all of our kids. From the back you really can't tell the two of us apart. Come to think of it, you can't really tell us apart from the front either! I love how it messes with our kids heads. See how I am? I enjoy the simple pleasures in life. You know.. cool sand on my feet, a salty ocean breeze.. and messing with my kids heads whenever possible.

windows to the soul..

In case you haven't noticed, I've been messing around with portraits lately. Trying to get closer and closer and closer! Which is hard when your kids are so darned wiggly. And start crying and dodging and beating themselves about the head as soon as they see your camera. *sigh*

I just love those super shiny eyes. And Owen's are especially fun to look at. They're just.. well, huge really. And so expressive. He's smiling and laughing now which completely slays me. I get nothing done when he flashes me those eyes and starts flirting. The kid is merciless. And I absolutely love it!!

red, white, and blue

Since I seem to have no life other than washing, teaching, cleaning up after, and obsessing over my children, (oh.. and loving them of course.. lots of that) this was the best I could do for the holiday. A little red, white and blue to celebrate this glorious 4th of July.

There is something about the word freedom that pulls at the very center of my heart. I don't feel eloquent enough to do it justice. I love my God and I love living in a country where I'm free to worship Him however I choose. I'm just thankful.. so very, very thankful...

Owen

We blessed Owen this past weekend. Such an awesome experience! It's like getting a little glimpse into the man he'll be someday.

So here's to you Little Man. I don't think we could love you anymore!
Ok, maybe just a little bit more once you start sleeping through the night.
I'm addicted to these youtube videos the Church puts out. They are so good and make me cry nearly every time. In a warm, fuzzy kind of way.
Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God