rene

rene has been a good friend since we first met in high school. she is joyful and real and is one of very few people who seem to be at home in themselves. recently some people in her office nominated her for a kc magazine 'hottest singles' special that's supposed to be published in december, and rene needed a photo to give to them. since the last time she really had photos of herself taken were her senior portraits, we thought this would be a good excuse to wander around downtown for an afternoon of picture taking. here are some of my favorites...

once we were in a group that was called the 'succulent wild women' group because of sark's book that we were reading through with the same title. rene is definitely a succulent wild woman. she's got a lot of spunk.

her eyes are so stunning to me.

summer's cowgirl extravaganza

my five year-old friend, summer, and i have the same birthday, the same wild, curly hair, and the same craziness about us. so every year we give each other cards and gifts and sing happy birthday to us. this year though, summer turned five, so her mom pulled out all the stops and threw her a cowgirl birthday party. she even arranged for a pony named mr. whitey to visit for a little while...

have you seen this outlaw? summer's big brother, william and his friend jonathan dressed up as outlaws, and all the party guests had to capture them to get their loot.

summer and mr. whitey say, 'howdy!'

throughout the party summer kept coming up to me, and taking my face in her hands would say, "can you believe that mr. whitey came all this way to my party? i just can't believe it..." as if somehow mr. whitey knew that it was summer's birthday. i like that she is still so young and trusting and innocent and is fully convinced that a small pony knew it was her birthday and made a point of coming.

william really wanted some photos of himself with his guns.

william and summer's little brother, henry, is two. he was much more interested in sneaking mints out of the cowboy hat filled with candy than anything else at the party.

william, summer, and henry's dad... cowboy steve.

kristin & taylor

if i could use one word to describe kristin and taylor's wedding, it would be...genuine. even though their wedding wasn't the most extravagant or over the top cutting edge, the family and friends who gathered to celebrate their day were so excited for them and the next part of their journey as husband and wife that it just radiated throughout the day. the day was packed with intimate moments, here are some of my favorites...

kristin and her mom, bridesmaids, soon to be mother-in-law, and other close friends and family got together to pray before the ceremony. i think becca said it right when she mentioned that kristin and taylor's family and friends really treasure them.

a quiet moment between kristin and her dad right before they walked down the aisle.

even though this isn't my best photo of the day, i really love the emotion on taylor's face. his dad was praying before kristin's dad gave her away. i love that he looks overwhelmed with the feeling of being so blessed.

you know you make me wanna SHOUT!! the little boy in this picture was our favorite. during the reception he showed off some pretty cool dance moves.

vacation

Spending time with lots of family and on the beach are probably the best kind of therapy there is. Every year I look forward to going home to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and a few days later I look forward to escaping them with my immediate family to recharge at a beach cottage in North Carolina.

Ry and I nearly missed our 5a.m. flight, only to hang out for a few hours in the Atlanta airport for our layover... the third photo is how he really felt.

While we were in Virginia, we spent a day at Busch Gardens, where we have been going every summer since I can remember. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all came with us too, which is part of the tradition, and a large part of the chaos that I love so much.

All the cousins loved the teacups, especially Parker Grace...

Jack Jack is almost two, and quite a handful, but he is one of my favorites.

At dinnertime we went to a German-themed restaurant at the park called the Festhaus, complete with dancers and a polka band. We were halfway through our dinner when it started pouring and lightning was spotted, so we got stuck in the Festhaus for over an hour! While we were there, my brother got really into the show...

eine...

zwei...

drei...

zufa!!

They kept doing the show continuously since more and more people were packing in because of the storm. It took days to get the 'Oy!Oy!Oy!'s out of our heads. The beach sounds definitely helped. In Corolla, NC days are spent at the beach eating snacks, getting sun, taking walks, and reading books. Nights are reserved for seafood and rummy, with few exceptions.

Jesse was much more interested in feeding the birds, (or maybe trying to be a bird? we're not sure which...) than snacking and hanging out with the fam.

Late afternoon and early evenings on the beach have this great feeling of renewal about them, that's contagious. I watched the sunset every night and was left with contentment and a quiet kind of peace.




Each night at the beach the 'big people' (our family minus my two youngest siblings) played rummy, as is customary when we're at the beach. On our last night my dad decided that we needed to change up the generations old rummy championship and play some hearts. I didn't do so well this hand...