Whew!! Graduation and the end of school makes time fly by, it is so busy!! But I'm back... with some pics of Jared, of course! Before graduation: Receiving his diploma: My future graduate: After graduation, we went to the park and had cake with family: Celebrations are always such a whirlwind! In addition to Jared's graduation last week, we decided that since my dad was in town for Jared's graduation, we'd get some of the family together to celebrate his upcoming 80th birthday. And then, since it is hard to get everyone together in the first place, we decided that we should take a family pic of the family members that were there: This week has been a mixture of trying to get in a routine w/ the kids home for summer break and doctor visits. Hopefully everything will fall into place easily and we can get into a routine soon! Have a wonderful day!

Seminary Graduation/Prom::May 21

This week will wrap up my kids' school year. Late work is due. Graduation is this week. Family is coming from out of town. And there is stuff to do. I'm feeling some pressure...

Last night, Jared graduated from seminary. In our church, kids in high school attend release time seminary during their regular high school day. In the end, they graduate from seminary the same as they graduate from high school. Jared said that after 4 years of attending, his certificate should count as a bachelor's degree. He even went as far as to say that he should start his own church.... but he laughed, which I assume means he that he realized he was getting waaayyyy ahead of himself. ;) The eclipse was going on during his seminary graduation ceremony. He laughed about that and said that if he was from Old Testament times he could really have a hay day telling the story of when God withdrew his light from the heavens as his class was graduating. I love that he is so cheerful and happy and can almost always find the humor in a situation.



Today is definitely a list making day so that I don't forget anything important along the crazy rush to graduation! Steve is already taking care of the first thing on the list: return Jared's tux. Saturday was prom, and because Jared's group already had a photographer (dang!), I did not have an excuse to show up and take pictures of him and his date. I really enjoy that, too. But I did take a picture of him the day after prom, all dressed up in his tux for church and seminary graduation.



Today is also the day for reconciling the checkbook and paying bills. Yuck. But at least we'll have another month of electricity, hot water, a telephone, and a place to live, so it could definitely be worse.

I'm off... to make lists, pay bills, total the checkbook (you can take that any way you want, because they are all correct!), clean the house, take care of Michael, pick up the kids........

I hope that you have a wonderful day today and that you survive whatever your Monday throws at you too!

Steve & I took a trip around Nebo Loop again, and we stopped off at the Grotto to take a short hike. The trail dead-ends at a waterfall. This gorgeous waterfall: It is a place that gets lots of traffic, but while you are there amid all of God's splendor, it seems that you are the only one. It is a magical spot.

I hope that you are enjoying your weekend so far. Are you getting ready for the solar eclipse this afternoon? My family is pretty excited for it!

Have a great rest-of-your-weekend!

This Moment::Michael::May 18

Macro::Pink Flower::May 17

Macro::Iris::May 16

I hope that you are having a Wonderful Wednesday!

My Mother's Day, told a few days late::May 15

My Mother's Day was packed full of good things!

Karen, Josh, & Aiden gave me their present on Saturday evening: A beautiful vase with the words: "HOME is where my MOM is" filled with Hershey's kisses (MY FAV!), given with the sweetest card filled with love notes that made my heart melt <3 Then, Josh played a game with some of us and Karen rocked Aiden to sleep. Karen and Aiden looked so sweet sitting there, both asleep, so I had to take a picture :) Also on Saturday evening, Tino took me out to a delicious dinner at the place of my choice :) Steve, Amber & Emily joined us. He had wanted to do something for Mother's Day for me too, but had to work on Sunday, when Amber came down (Isn't he sweet?!). Amber came down on Sunday after dropping Tino off at work. She cleaned my kitchen and then made me a yummy breakfast of cinnamon pancakes topped with real whipped cream and strawberries. So good!! She also brought me a lot of goodies: A bouquet of cut flowers, a potted ivy plant to replace my plant that just died, and a plaque. Here is a pic of the flowers and plaque: Jared gave me a cooling pad for my laptop, Emily, Jared, and Steve straightened up the house for me, Matt watched Aiden on Saturday, Steve made me a yummy supper on Sunday, and Michael gave me lots of hugs, kisses, and "I love you"s.

Emily also made me a cute handbag, sewing it herself: I have a terrific family, and I'm so thankful for them going out of their way to make me feel loved! Thank you all! I love you all so much!!

This was the first Mother's Day without my mom, but even harder than that: it was her birthday the day before. It was very strange to not be able to call her up and tell her "Happy Birthday" and take her a gift and visit for a bit. I hope that she celebrated in heaven, and knows how much we love and miss her.

Today I finally get my Monday to tidy the house and put life back in order. Yesterday, Jared, Michael and I went all over the county trying to get his new moped/scooter, that he bought on Saturday, legal for him to drive. It still isn't ready, but it is closer than it was!! By next Tuesday he will be the proud *rider* of the bike, as well as the proud owner that he already is.

I hope that all of you nurturers, whether you have your own children or love and help with other people's children, had a wonderful Mother's Day. The world is better because of you!

Mother's Day::May 13

I hope that all of my wonderful Mom friends out there have had a TERRIFIC Mother's Day! See you tomorrow!

This Moment::Sunstar at Sunset::May 11

A New Lens!!::May 10

I got my new lens in the mail on Tuesday. I am so excited for it! So, I took pics of my easiest (read: around the most who doesn't mind their pic taken on the spot) photo subjects: My favorite pic is of Beth, my black lab. I love how her head is in focus, her front legs just a teeny bit blurry and her back legs, along with the background, very blurry.

This is going to be my portrait lens, a 50 mm 1.8. It is an inexpensive lens, but everything that I've read says that, though it is not sturdy, it creates beautiful pictures and is every bit as good as a more expensive 50 mm lens. I figure where I'm not making much money for my photography yet, I can buy what I can afford now and upgrade later, since the quality of the portraits won't suffer a bit.

I have really wanted to tell you about my new lens and show you my pics for days now, but my computer is going so slow and has issues, so it isn't much fun to write on right now. Hopefully things can get better for it.

Anyway, I am looking forward to using this lens and taking lots and lots of portraits to get used to the lens' capibilities, and to use it to capture beautiful moments in my own family and branch out to create beautiful moments for friends too.

Have a wonderful day!

At the reservoir::"Balance"::May 3rd

A couple of nights ago, Steve, Michael, & I went to the reservoir and listened to the frogs and birds singing their melody. While we sat and talked, I noticed a beautiful scene: a small sapling, under water, gracefully arching, looking very much like a Japanese painting. Yesterday, I went back with camera. The word that came to me while looking at it was "Balance", so that is its name.

My wish for all of us is that we can achieve balance in our lives too, following the example of this tiny tree.