not missing a second

time with my family is my most precious gift. sure we see each other at night, have meals on occasion, talk details, drive places together, but nothing beats time when we are captivated by each other. my little family drove to colorado last week. it was a little escape to the quiet, where we could be outside and enjoy the beauty around us and within us. we made time to make memories and connect.

i'm not much for cold weather, so colorado in the summer time is the perfect fit for me. we stayed in keystone during a women's motorcycle rally; fascinating. we spent an entire day biking to surrounding towns, stopping at playgrounds and bakeries. we took two (scary) gondolas up the mountain for fondue and rode back down in the silent dark. we met a rescue dog named kenya and two very eccentric performers. we played in a freezing creek, rode a train (or lawn mower. it depends on your perspective), had an artist sketch deacons face, saw the continental divide, and had lots of tickle fights.

for three years brandon has worked tirelessly at law school, this summer he studied until he fell asleep from exhaustion with the prayer of passing the bar. in a few short weeks he will start his job. for now we are soaking in our time together, trying to not miss a second of each other.

what is the deal?

i can never seem to get my timer on my camera to give me enough time to make it into the frame, face first. because i'm always taking the photos i have to take my tripod and hope for the best if i want a family picture. it requires a great deal of athleticism,and enduring weird looks from strangers, and my husband..... but i'm willing to take it, even if it's a goofy picture of me running, it proves that i was there. i do have a good laugh at myself, hope you do too.

more colorado photos to come.

i'm a fan

first i was a fan of him, now i can't help but love his girls. i met ben through my personal trainer friend mandy, he helped her with some serious back issues and thought he could help me- and he has! i met jen at the office one day and really liked her, and then there's Makenna, how could you not love her? with those bright blue eyes and bell like voice. i was so excited when they decided to come spend a little time at the farm with me.

they are expecting a little man in just a few weeks. i love these photos because jen was excited about photographing this important part of her life. she wasn't at all shy or self conscience, and it makes her even more beautiful.

check out ben
http://www.kcfamilywellness.com/

and mandy
http://www.trainwithmandy.blogspot.com

howdy handsome

it's not very often that guys come to me excited about a shoot, but cody was. i'm sure he's the life of the party everywhere he goes. it took very little coaxing to get him to do some ridiculous things but he wasn't shy about telling me how ridiculous they were.

when his mom and i were getting ready for his shoot she said she was interested in having me photograph him in his choir tux. i don't know why but for some reason i kept thinking red cumber-bun with white tux, and oh no this is not going to be good. i guess for a minute i was stuck in a bad 80s movie. thankfully his choir director has good taste and when he came out in the classic fitted black tux i was all but jumping up and down.

more like family

we left on a thursday, three of the four girls. we laughed like we were in middle school, about things i've been sworn to keep tight to my chest. all while listening to the twilight soundtrack, over and over and over. these are things we just don't get to do very often. in the midst of jobs, household responsibilities, and wild 2 year old boys, conversations are often clipped to a couple of sentences. we were going to big cedar, in branson, for a little girl time and our boys would be joining us in two short days, but for those two days we pretended to be about 12. we tried on cute clothes, we ate junk food, and found one of those trampolines that you get harnessed into, sorry no pictures from that one.

our guys and missing friend joined us on saturday. we swam, water skied, played games, drove go-carts until the little boys all started crying, debated- a lot, the boys guys invented "aqua tip", the girls tried to humiliate our husbands by buying them matching outfits- it didn't work, and realized we are so lucky to have such great friends.

big cedar is an amazing place and i highly recommend it! on the way home we stopped at lamberts, apparently famous for throwing rolls at their customers. the last photo is of my friend mandy, she's a personal trainer. she thought ordering a salad would be a healthy approach this restaurant of excess- apparently not. it arrived in a frying pan.