Cynthia's Wedding in Nauvoo

 In mid-September Dave and I had the opportunity to go to Nauvoo, IL for my cousin Cynthia's wedding. I have mentioned Cynthia before as we are very close. We are only 3 months apart and we grew up spending our summers together, so she is really more like a sister to me. In our youth we were often found even fighting like sisters.

(the installation of fake eyelashes)

It was wonderful to see my family and to be able to spend time with them on many adventures (more to come) around the Nauvoo area. It was also fun to be a bridesmaid for the first time and to be Cynthia's wedding photographer as well. It was a little complicated to be both at the same time, but thanks to my dad for being my assistant it all worked out (although I must say I am a little jealous that he has a better camera than me)!

 

Neither Dave or I had been to Nauvoo which is rich in history for our faith. Along with the wedding in the beautiful Nauvoo temple, we enjoyed visiting many other church history sites.It was great to be surrounded by family that I have not seen in a while, some since I left for college.I am so happy for Cynth, she found a keeper! Here are a few more pics...

 

 

 

(I love that Dave stoped to smile for the camera, haha!)

 

(my two natural red headed cousins...and me, the artificial red head)

 You can check out some more of her wedding pictures on her blog: Cameron and Cynthia

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Lemon's

I am sorry for my absence from blogging...

When life gave me lemons, I made lemonade. I squeezed each one into a pitcher, but soon realized I was all out of sugar to sweeten it. All those lemons without any sugar were simply too tart to share...

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Photoshoot in Spokane

Our last day while in Spokane, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with a good friend of Dave's named Isaac. His wife, Emily, is a very talented photographer (and good cook I might add), whose work I am always intrigued by. She photograph's almost entirely with film which is really a lost art in my eye's. The beauty and depth of a film photograph is something no digital camera can recreate.

After dinner, we had the opportunity for her to take a few images of us with an old medium format camera. Although we didn't have much time and it was not my most photogenic day after a whirl wind weekend of a wedding, I have some great images to cherish. Thanks Emily for the wonderful photograph's!

 

 

 

 

 

* To check out more of Emily's work you can click on the following link: Emily Hawkins

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Kristy's Wedding in Spokane

Dave's sister, Kristy, was married on August 29th in the Spokane, WA Temple and we got to go! We have missed a few of the siblings weddings so it seemed like a special treat to be able to go and see his family as we celebrated Kristy's wedding. It's not everyday we get to be...

a Sister-in-Law...

 or Uncle!

It was a short trip filled with a long list of things to do and people to see... but for the most part, I think we managed to squeeze it all in. I felt super privileged and a little overwhelmed that I had the opportunity to take her pictures for the wedding. I love to take pictures, as I am sure most of you know, but taking pictures of people scares me! I know that sounds weird, but it completely pushes me out of my comfort zone (which I love and hate all at the same time).

I love the opportunity to learn and improve on my talents and Kristy and Devin were easy to photograph. They just simply looked great together and she was a beautiful bride. I have included a few of my favorite images below, but if you want to check out more, you can visit the blog I set up for them here: Devin and Kristy to see more images (I am editing and posting them in segments as I complete them, so they are not all there).

 

 

 

(these are most of her brother above)

 

 

 

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Our New Addition...(sigh)

That's right, we have accepted another dog into our family (and let's say it was done somewhat reluctantly).

Here is the story: Last Tuesday this sweet little girl showed up in our neighborhood for the first time. It is a common occurrence to have random dogs visit us because some people in our area do not feel it necessary to fence their dogs. She had a collar on but no tags. The next morning she was right on our front porch waiting for us. She even brought us the neighbors news paper.

Dave was leaving for work early that morning so that he could return home mid afternoon to mow the lawn before our trip to Spokane (details to come). I had just gotten out of the shower and while still in my bathrobe, I went to peak outside at her. Dave was attempting to back out of the garage, but the dog was very interested in him and wouldn't move from behind his truck, so I called her to the front door. He made it about half way down the driveway when she began to jump up on our wood door. Not wanting the door to get scratched, I went inside figuring that Dave was far enough down the driveway that she wouldn't be a problem.

Then about a minute later I heard these horrible yelping sounds and ran outside to figure out what was going on. Dave had pulled back into the driveway and stepped out of his car. With somewhat of a pale face and shaky voice he said, "She just ran under my truck".

The dog had limped away into the bushes of our neighbors house. We had to coax her out to get a look at the damage. My initial thought was not good...I thought for sure her whole back end was crushed as her legs were just dangling there and bleeding. She had apparently followed Dave down the driveway. As he turned the corner down our street he didn't see her in his mirror anymore and figured she had stopped so he began to speed up. Just at that moment, she ran under the back of his truck tire.

We couldn't call animal control because we knew they would just euthanize her. So Dave took her into the vet who suggested that we try and find the owner before he do any extensive treatment. That evening after work we went from neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house looking for her owner only to come up empty handed. No one had ever seen the dog before and many shared stories of how people come and drop off dogs in our area all the time.

So $400 later, a small hip fracture, and with much reluctance, we are now the owners of a third dog (another sigh)....that is, unless you want to take her-haha! Now we have the task of naming this little girl. She is about 6 months old and looks like some sort of lab and basset hound mix (don't ask me how that worked out). Please vote in the poll (right hand column) or give us some suggestions for her name...

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Flowers in my Garden

As most of you have probably noticed, flowers are one of my favorite things to photograph. These flower images are taken from my garden. They are Cosmos, and when I planted them I thought the package said that they would grow to be 4" tall. I decided they would be prefect along the border of my flower beds. It was too my surprise when they actually grew to be 4' tall (some were even over 6' tall)! They were too beautiful to cut down, and so they stayed, but looked slightly odd in proportion to everything else. I guess I will look at the package a little closer next time!

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Checking out...

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass...it is about learning to dance in the rain."

I have been a little overwhelmed the past two months, not only physically but emotionally. I reached a point where I felt I needed to simply "check out" from life for a while. No blogging, no Facebook, minimal emails, reduced outings, and only necessary phone calls. I found that home was the safest place for sanity. All of the others only seemed to be heavy reminders of what I was lacking.

I do not typically discuss the personal challenge I have faced to bring life into this world on our family blog. I usually save that topic for my other blog, "My Road to Motherhood"). But for some reason, today I feel it necessary to explain myself and my recent withdraw from the world. So on a serious note, here it goes...

I seem to be somewhat unavoidably surrounded by pregnant bellies and beautiful babies. I wish to say that I certainly have nothing but joy and happiness for each couple who has been blessed with such, but it doesn't mean that the joy and happiness for them can't be combined with a little personal heartbreak and sorrow. The longer I am left childless the harder it has become to plaster a smile on my face and act like I am stronger than I really am.

Going into hiding seemed to be an easier solution than facing the harsh reminders that seemed to tug at my heart almost daily. But even at home I found that I could not escape my circumstance. I would walk by the room I have verbally labeled "the future nursery" only to see it filled with nothing for a baby. I found a combination of laughter and tears as I have recently received sample packages in the mail of baby formula and diaper samples. Hummmmmm....obviously the sender of such "junk mail" knows more than me, because there is no little one to be found at our address.

It has become harder and harder to be patient and simply hand my circumstance over to the Lord, but in all reality that is about all I can do. We have diligently prayed not only for a child but by which means (IVF or adoption) we should go about to obtain such a "hoped for" desire. Each time the answer is clear and simple... "just wait, it's not time yet".

So that is what I am doing...waiting... and watching as practically everyone around me (of child bearing age) has their dreams fulfilled with their beautiful pregnant bellies, and cute little giggly babies. Even the sweet girls who have been on this infertile journey with me for sometime, have so deservingly, had their wishes granted and I have been left to walk the road alone.

In attempt to cope with my situation and the emotions that surround it, I simply took a break, withdrew, and "checked out" from the world (I know...not really like me at all). In hopes that when I returned I would be in a more stable state of mind. But what I have found is there is no stability in infertility; just hope, faith, and patience...lots of patience! Thank you for the countless prayers and sensitivity to my circumstance. It is often each of you that gives me strength to face, what sometimes must be faced. I am trying to learn to dance in the rain, in hopes that it might make my storm a little easier to endure. Thanks for all your understanding...

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