Cousins

Fake rose petals...good thing Amelia's dad was there to show her what they're really for. Thanks David and Lauren for coming to visit. We love you!

Congrats Angel and Francis!

Angel and Francis asked me to take their wedding pictures. They got married on Sunday morning. It was a small but amazingly beautiful occasion. Congrats to the both of you!

Why I Love Shoplifting

These pictures don't have anything to do with the following comments, but they are pretty cute. I just wanted to say that I was never really temped to shoplift before Lizzy was born. Now I find myself stealing things just about every time I go to the store. I leave the store, and just as everything is packed up and Lizzy is asleep in her car seat, I find one item that inevitable slid to the back of the stroller and snuck out the door without ever making it's way onto my receipt. To make matters worse, this usually happens at the worst times, like the Saturday before the Super bowl when the lines at Wal-Mart stretched to the back of the store. On top of it all, I've never stolen an expensive item. The most expensive thing I ever stole was a jar of salsa that was on sale for $2. So, what do I do? I sit there staring at the salsa, or wet wipes, or mini paper plates, or ribbon (yes, I've stolen all of those items and more), and I think to myself, "I would pay so much more than this stupid salsa is worth to not have to drag Lizzy back inside, wait in that gigantic line, and pay for this." And I sit there for a very long time, being very tempted to just put the salsa in the car and drive away. Of course, I've never done it. I always unpack Lizzy and go back inside and wait in line and explain to the confused clerk that I stole her salsa. And I think it's strange how I'm always so grumpy about it on the way back into the store, but on the way back out again I feel really good about life. So, what am I getting at? Well...maybe shoplifting's not such a bad thing after all. =)

Miles

it's Lizzy's room converted into a studio, but it's doin' the trick. Kenon asked me to take pictures of her new little boy, which inspired me to finally set up my studio lights. I think they turned out pretty good...but how can you go wrong when you're photographing such a cutie?

My Daughter the Angel

Well, this picture is from Lizzy's blessing day over a month ago, but I think it fits the story well:
John wants a bike for his birthday this year, so we’ve been looking on Craigslist.com for used bikes. We found one that sounded great in Lynchburg (1 ½ hours away) for $35. The owner said it was about 5 years old but was a smooth ride. So, I packed up Lizzy in the car and made the trip down to Lynchburg, a very Southern Baptist town because of Liberty University, the Christian college located there. When I got to Lynchburg I found that the bike was busted up pretty bad and not very ride-able. The owner said he didn’t know it was in such bad shape (you’d think he would have tried it out before promising a “smooth ride” but I guess not), and he felt really bad about it. While he tried to fix it his roommate started to ask questions and it came up that I had gone to BYU. He asked if I was Mormon. When I said that I was, he said, “I don’t know much about Mormons, but I watched a show last night about the FLDS.” I quickly said, “Oh, that’s not us.” He said, “But they used to be, right?” I fumbled around for a good answer, and the best thing I came up with was… “um…a long time ago.” I felt so dumb. I didn’t know what else to say. Then the guy selling the bike apologized that he couldn’t fix it and said he’d just give it to me for $5. I agreed and we all went our separate ways. I hadn’t gone far when Lizzy started to get really upset. I pulled into an empty parking lot next to a Mexican mart and tried to calm her down. It was cold outside and Lizzy didn’t want to be in the car any more, so I took her inside the Mexican mart to look around. There was a Korean girl working inside (funny for a Mexican mart, I know). She asked if she could help, and after explaining why we were there she began to chat with me about other things. I told her that my brother had been a missionary in Seoul Korea. She seemed to think that was pretty cool, but when it came up that he was a Mormon missionary she became quite a bit less interested. I felt bad about missing the opportunity to share the gospel with the roommate previously, so I decided to give the Korean girl a pass along card even though she didn’t seem all that interested. As I started to drive away, Lizzy started to cry again. The thought came, “she’s trying to tell you something. She wants you to go back and give that roommate a pass along card and she’s not going to stop fussing until you do.” It felt awkward, but Lizzy insisted. So, I called back the guy with the bike and told him that I had found something in my car about Mormons that his roommate might be interested in. He said I could leave it in the mailbox. So, I drove back and dropped off a pass along card with the articles of faith and the church’s website on back. It was so much easier that it seemed, and as soon as I had dropped it off Lizzy calmed right down. She even slept all the way home! She may seem too small to know very much, but the spirit knows everything and I think He tells her a heck of a lot more than He tells me…probably because she’s so much better at listening.

My first job in Charlottesville!

A quick thank you to the Croft family for asking me to take their family pictures. As you can see, they are an adorable family. I had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

...a little late