senior portraits (kind of - megan's not a senior)

My apologies for the photo overload of this post but these kids are just too cute to not share.

Meg's friend Abbie has a great sense of style...a cute, fun indie vibe.  I was wanting to practice my photography and I knew she'd be a good one to shoot cause she wouldn't expect perfection from me and she likes things a bit quirky and off beat - we'd be perfect together.

We didn't actually end up doing the shoot I envision for her (centered around music - her love, that shoot will happen soon) but we did get some cute shots of her as we walked around San Juan Capistrano.

Abbie (and Megan for that matter) are into a 70's type of editing for photos so thats what I went with.  I think the look and feel of this photos totally captures who Abbie is...cute & fun with a bit of edge.

picture below is one of my favorites...

another favorite below (I have come to realize when I look at pictures I've taken I gravitate toward the detail shots.  I think I like the little glimpse they give you of who the person is and they leave you wanting to know more about them) 

I also did a shoot with Megan because she need photos of herself for a recognition night at church (more on that later)  We went to a tick and rattlesnake infested field right by home and had a great time.

I love the picture below but it leaves me feeling a little sad...soon she'll be packed up and heading off to college.  Miss her already!

Did I mention that in addition to ticks and rattlesnakes there were thorns...lots of them!!  Gotta love this candid shot of Megan pulling some of those thorny buggers out of her body.

I got to go back to that neighborhood field and shoot another of Megan's friends...Travis.  Unfortunatley most of the photos we snapped were lost.  They were on the CF card when we got home but they would not download onto the computer.  Eventually they were lost on the card as well.  Not sure how we messed that all up.  We ended up with only about 15 or so photos.

So here's a few of handsome Travis.  The girls at BYU are gonna love him!

good friends

Ran across this baby picture of Megan and Kate Saylin while going through photos.  As a side note...while going through photos I found 48 rolls of UNdeveloped film.  Umm, I guess I got a little behind on developing.  We are now waiting to get the photos back to see what treasures we find.  

Back to to the baby picture.  When I found it I knew I had to find a picture of these girls all grown up.  From baby friends to EFY roommates these two are still good friends.  Distance has kept them apart for about half their lives but you'd never know that when they get together.

We're grateful for the good friends like the Saylins and so many others that touch our lives and make our journey a lot more enjoyable.

summer nights

This picture represents what has been going on most nights at our house the past week.

Girls spending lots of late, late nights eating food (cookie dough was the healthy food of choice this particular night)


Watching romantic movies (Penelope, Pride and Prejudice and a late night jaunt to the theater to see Eclipse - for the 2nd time)  I'd like to add...I love Pride and Prejudice..."Mrs Darcy, Mrs Darcy, Mrs Darcy" kills me every time!


Laughing with cousins and friends (this particular night there was lots of giggling - we love our Arizona cousins and Kenzie)


Spending time with Andrea our Summer house guest that we truly love like one of our own.  We love when she is in our home.


Pretty much no sleep.  

a family trip tradition

My mind doesn't compute in order therefor the next few posts of our family vacation will be out of order.

As is tradition for our family when traveling to Utah, we always go to BYU to bowl.  It is cheap, allows you to escape the horrible heat (Summer) or frigid cold (Winter) and we all have a fun time.

The last few times we have gone we started taking a bowling shoe family portrait (photo below from our trip in December)  We thought we were being so creative with the number 6 on the ball since there are 6 of us in our family but we soon realized most of our "bowling shoe family portraits" will all look the same.  Oh well, we still do it anyway.

But hey, look at this - the ball from this Summer's traditional bowling trip says 12, we have a different portrait - Yippee!

We happened to run into the Webber's (who live by us) and some of the Udall's (that used to live by us) in the BYU bookstore so we challenged them to a game of bowling.  Everyone was up for the challenge except Wendy and Beth, something about not eating all day and needing food. Do they not know that truly dedicated bowlers sacrifice their nourishment needs for the game? I happen to think they were just scared - the food was just an excuse. 

We played on 3 lanes, adding up each families score so that one family would be crowned the ultimate winner.  Since this is my blog I feel justified in saying the Bakers swept the floor with the Webber/Udalls.  If you talk to any of the Webbers or Udalls and they tell you different just know it is because they are bitter poor sports.  It was a Baker victory all they way.

To protect the innocent (and the bad bowling scores) names have been changed.  Most of us went with the Harry theme although there were constant name changes on one of the lanes - each time someone would finish bowling they would look up to check their score on the screen and find there name changed yet again.

It was another fun trip to the bowling alley, made better because we got to be with good friends.  Thanks Webbers and Udalls for hanging out with us!

beth, who?

I don't know who this Beth Udall person is but she seems to need some sort of shout out (see comments from previous post)

Love ya Beth!

Sorry I didn't include you!

I love you just as much as I love Wendy!

In all seriousness Beth, I was only concerned about Wendy laughing - I have to see her on a weekly basis - you? I don't see near as often and I'm totally ok with you laughing behind my back.

And to my other readers...I do know Beth - she is a friend that used to live in California before she abandoned us for Utah. She owns Blackberry Paper - visit the site and buy stuff from her so she'll forgive me :)

i think i have finally recovered

I ended up getting to bed at 4am after Harry Potter and have had many a late night since then. I think last night was my low point - major headache and not feeling so hot but after some Tylenol, a great neck massage and a good nights sleep I am finally feeling like I have recovered from the middle of the night festivities.

We had a great time waiting in line for Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Hogwarts crew.  We ended up having 31 (or was it 32) of us in line to see the movie with a few other party crashers that came to hang out in line with us but left around 9:30ish because they didn't want to do the midnight movie.

Here's a shot of some of the teens that went.  What a great group of kids.  I love that my kids have good friends to hang out with.

You can see more pictures from the night here.

We loved the movie.  I wish they would have included more from the book but I knew going into it that things would be missing.  The sets were amazing (they always are)  I loved the humor in this movie - it was good to see Harry laugh a little.

a personal thank you

Dear Brenda,

You are far too kind and thoughtful.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love the housewarming gift.  You could not have given me anything better.  I love, love, love it!

Thank you for thinking of me - you made my day!

I can't wait to get the walls painted so that I can find a place of honor for my fantastic "B"

Many, many thanks!

Denise

from the family

We are deeply saddened to report that our sister, daughter, wife, mother and friend, Susan Lynne Cummings Grover passed away today, Saturday, November 1, 2008 at approximately 1:00 am.  Following a valiant seven year battle with breast, lung and finally brain cancer, Susan passed away peacefully at her home with her husband Doug and her siblings at her side.

 

Susan was 38 years old.  She is survived by Doug, and their three daughters Sierra (9), Emily (7) and Rachel (3).  Susan earned bachelor and master’s degrees in education at Brigham Young University and worked as an elementary school teacher prior to working as a full time mother and homemaker.

 

Most that knew Susan well will always remember her as fiercely loyal and incredibly diligent.  She was beloved by all who knew her and was a friend to countless individuals.  To her family, Susan always did and will forever represent the ideal Christ-like woman.  She was unwavering in her commitment to keeping the commandments and living a pure and righteous life.  She profoundly loved her daughters and husband.  Susan never failed in her love and support for her brothers and sisters.

 

At this moment of devastating sadness, we hope to honor Susan for a life of near-perfect goodness.  We hope to replicate her deeds, words and actions in our own lives and in our own individual walk with Christ.

 

A funeral service for Susan Grover will be held Friday, November 7, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel located in Austin, TX (5201 Convict Hill Road, Austin, TX  78749).  A viewing will be held at 12 noon on Friday, November 7^th, one hour prior to the funeral service.

 

Funeral arrangements are being handled by All Faiths Funeral Services located at 4360 S. Congress Avenue, Suite 115, Austin, TX  78745 – 512.326.8878.  Please direct any flowers or contributions to All Faiths Funeral Services.  Please earmark any contributions in Susan’s memory to the Perpetual Education Fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

i miss you!

This post is written with a very heavy heart.  

My friend Susan passed away this morning at 1:00 am.  She leaves behind her husband Doug and 3 beautiful girls (9 yrs old and younger) Sierra, Emily and Rachel.  She was 38 yrs old and fought a 7 year battle that started with breast cancer.

I can't express in words how I feel about the passing of my friend.   My emotions are bigger then me at the moment so the few pictures I could find will have to be all this post contains.

A birthday celebration for Susan at Bobby Mcgee's.  BM's was (is?) a restaurant where the waiters and waitresses dress up in costume. In this picture Susan is surrounded by most of the male wait staff as they sang to her.  If I remember correctly she was so uncomfortable and embarrassed and the rest of us found it hilarious.  As always she was a good sport even if she did want to crawl under the table. 

Susan was with me at my wedding.  I had no maid of honor because I just couldn't pick one friend.  How grateful I am that Susan shared this special day with me.

Before leaving for Bobby McGees.  This picture was taken at Susan's house.  I spent a lot of time there.  With Susan being one of 7 kids there was always lots going on at the Cummings home.
A picture of Susan and me at my Aunt Jill's old house.  As I have thought about Susan the last few days I can only remember good times.  I honestly have been unable to come up with any fights or disagreements we may have had.  I'm sure we had them but those memories just aren't there.  I can only remember all the good times shared with a very special person - a person that will be missed terribly.  I love you Susan!

My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.  May you feel God's comforting arm around you.

dear susan

I am thinking about you tonight and hope you know how much I love you.  You have been and always will be one of my dearest friends.  My life story wouldn't be complete without you - you forever have a place in my heart.  I love you Susan!

bff's

One of my dear friends, Susan, flew in from Texas today.  She stopped by for a few hours (much too short of a visit)  It was so fun to get together and laugh.

  

Susan is someone that my kids are all familiar with by name because they faithfully pray for her every day in our family prayers.  Susan has been battling cancer for many years (hence the cut military cut :)) and because of Susan's fight my kids always remember to ask Heavenly Father to bless her and her family.  I was thrilled that Megan and Emily hung out with us while Susan was here so that they could get to know her better and get a feel for what a wonderful person she is.

Susan truly is one of my best friends and has been since my junior year of high school.  She and Lisa befriended me when I moved to a new area and had no friends.  They welcomed me into their friendship and the three of us became inseparable.  How grateful I am for friendships that stand the test of time.  20+ years and I still feel as close to Susan as I did in high school.

quite an exciting day

Here is a wrap up of Luke's exciting day.  It started with the loss of a tooth - gotta love the toothless grin.

The day only got better.  We looked out the window at one point and saw Luke playing in a mud pool (we had been working with the sprinklers so we had an excess of water (please no phone calls from water conservationists)

With all the tempting mud available I was impressed that Luke (who is totally Pig Pen from the Peanuts) was keeping the mud to his hands and feet until Dad (yes, Dad) yelled out the window "sit in it"  We got a look like "for real, I can do that?" and then...

he was in - he was getting his mud bath groove on.  You know people pay big money for this type of thing at a spa - we are thinking about going into business.

Luke covered his body and enjoyed every minute of it.  At one point I wondered what the neighbors might think if they peeked over the fence (and yes, they do peek over the fence) but I let the thought quickly leave my mind because I knew I would be able to get great pictures and knew that when Luke was older he might remember this and tell everyone about his cool parents that let him play in the mud.

After some alone time at "Luke's Oh-la-la Mud Spa" Luke decided he wanted a friend to come play.  I had to be selective in my play date phone calling assignment because how many moms would jump at the opportunity to let their child come over to roll in the mud?  I immediately called Rona, knowing that she wouldn't think the call was weird (or at least wouldn't tell me it was even if she thought it) and I also knew her daughter Hadli would be more then willing to get dirty.  So clean little Hadli came on over.

The cleanliness didn't last long and soon she was slinging mud like a pro

The two of them had so much fun and watching them made me glad that I let them do their thing and didn't worry about the aftermath and mess. 

When we finally pulled Luke away he was all smiles - at least until we started to spray him off with the hose - he was not happy about the cold water.  I got pictures of that whole screaming episode but Luke has informed me that he does not want those pictures on the blog.  Maybe I'll sneak one on in a later post.  I mean if your mom can't embarrass you a little then she really isn't doing her mom job.