Grae and I spent last Friday with Piper and Jade Bottger. These girls have tons of energy and are great entertainment! One of the highlights of our day was a trip to the Quatama Village pool.
While the girls had some serious fun, Grae looked on with envy and tried to entertain himself the best he could :)
After feeding Grae early Saturday morning, I laid him in bed next to Chris and became aware of a gorgeous blue light filling our beach house bedroom. The house is decorated almost entirely in whites and blues, and as the morning sunlight fell upon our curtains, walls, and bedding, it became an ethereal blue glow. Add to this scene a little boy in a white and navy striped shirt sleeping next to his dad, and I was in heaven. I carefully pulled a chair next to the bed to prop my camera for the low lighting conditions and took a few dozen pictures of my sleeping duo. I LOVED being the only one awake to quietly experience the serenity of that cool morning light, and I loved both watching and photographing my man and little man asleep. This was definitely a highlight of my trip to the coast.
Most of the photos I take of Grae are of him staring at me with disinterest, or even scowling. Grae is actually very quick to smile and laugh, but when my face is behind the camera trying to frame a shot, I cannot make the eye contact and playful gestures that Grae loves so much. The result? No smiles. Here are some pictures I took of Grae while at Rockaway Beach. I propped Grae against pillows next to a window and fiddled around with aperture and white balance in an attempt to learn more about my camera.
In contrast, here are some pictures that Chris took of Grae while at Rockaway Beach. He simply held the camera off to one side while making faces.
Very different priorities and approaches. Very different pictures. I captured the bored and moody Grae. Chris captured the huge smiles that Grae flashes at us all of the time, but that don’t seem to exist in our hundreds of pictures. Why? Because I am usually the photographer! Hope you enjoyed the smiles. :)
This weekend we vacationed at Rockaway Beach, Oregon with our friends Cameron and Karren Wilde and their daughter Sonya. The Wildes rented a beach house and invited us to join them – thank you Wildes, we had a wonderful time! Good friends, good food, fun games, crisp ocean air… so fun and relaxing. I have fallen in love with the little beach house we stayed in; it is small, simple, clean, cozy, and has an airy feel to it that is so soothing. I would be happy to live there all summer!
This weekend our ward had a combined Pine Wood Derby and Iron Chef activity. Everybody was invited to build a car as well as contribute a dish or two with the given secret ingredient. I built a car with the help of a friend/coworker. We thought it would be really easy to make an eraser-shaped car, so that’s what we set out to do. Most of the work went into smoothing out the wheels and axles. See how it turned out in the pictures.
I should also note that Darcy’s salad entry took first place. Those of my family that visited for Grae’s blessing have already had it and will remember just how fantastic it is!
