I travel. I travel a lot. I have to. My passion in life is my family and they don't live anywhere near me. I'm on a plane maybe once a month, maybe every six weeks. Lately, however, I have been living out of my suitcase and have spent more hours in an airplane and/or airports than I have in my own bed!
For those of you new to my blog (thank you for visiting), you'll come to learn I love photographs of life's moments ... documents of memories-made and cherished experiences. Here are a few random pictures from my last couple months of travel and miscellaneous moments. Enjoy!
Late May found me in Phoenix visiting family ...
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| Taking a break from swimming with nephew Charlie. |
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| Ready, set, go! Marshall, Carson & Charlie having fun! |
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| Three of my adored nephews ... an evening at the park. |
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| I was honored to take photos of Elder Guy Soper, a dear family friend, just weeks before he left Phoenix for the MTC and then his mission for the LDS church. Guess where he was called to serve? Yep, Sacramento. :) |
The following weekend, I flew to Santa Ana to attend my half-sister's (Cindy) wedding. Oh, and I met her that day for the first time ever. It's a long story, but one that I am honored and thrilled to say is finally finding its happy forever after ...
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| I had tears in my eyes as I watched my eldest sister walk down the aisle and make a quick glance and smile in my direction. Isn't she the most beautiful bride? |
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| Three of the six sisters here ... Cindy, Kristie and me. Family love is unconditional. |
June 7-9, found me in Billings, Montana for my youngest niece's (Bronwyn) baptism. Despite knowing I'd see all the family three days later (Hawaii trip), it was never an option for me to miss Bronwyn's baptism. I promised each of the kids I'd be there on their special day and I'm honored to say thus far I am six-for-eight ... two more to go.
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| Andrew, 16, baptized his youngest sister. |
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| A quick hug with auntie ... love you, Sweet Pea! |
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| Smile! |
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| My "test subjects" .. aka, my secret term for convincing them to help me find just the right lighting/poses for a photo shoot when all I really wanted was just a cute picture of these two. Shhhh, don't tell them. :) |
So, I returned home to Sacramento Monday and Tuesday left for Hawaii. I met my sister, Caren, and her family at LAX and we set off to Oahu for 8 days. Talk about paradise! It was an incredible vacation and I loved every moment of the time spent with my sister, brother-in-law Todd and the five kids. There are too many pictures to post here, but I'll show you a few of them. (Check my FB page for the larger collection, if you dare.)
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| First time snorkeling ... yes, I accept the fact I look like a complete dork here, but it was a fabulous experience and what a joy it was to see the sea turtles with the kids. |
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| Hanauma Bay ... beautiful! |
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| Caught the sunset with my nephew, Andrew. Can't believe he is now a senior! |
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| With my beautiful and amazing sister, Caren. |
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| Shell hunting on the beach with niece Bronwyn. |
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| Is a caption really necessary for this?? |
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| What a view of BYU Hawaii! |
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| Proof that I did, indeed, get in the water and attempt to boogie-board. |
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| My sister and her family ... love you guys! (Andrew refused to let me take any good photos of him smiling until I showed him up in the water, boogie boarding. Can you tell from his expression?!) |
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| The kids all went into the pond under the falls at Waimea. |
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| Building a sand castle. |
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| The Montana kids get introduced to the big ocean! |
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| Niece Avery, always smiling, stops to say cheese for me! |
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| Mitchell & Callum as we toured Pearl Harbor. |
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| Touring Pearl Harbor was incredible. The loss, sacrifices and yet ultimate survival and resilience touched my soul deeply. |
I returned home late on a Wednesday night, went to work the following day and that evening attended Logan's preschool graduation. Friends are often the family we choose for ourselves and never has this been more true than with my Sacramento-Family, the Freeland Clan. I'm so blessed to be part of their extended family.
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| Julia and Logan are all smiles after graduation. |
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| That's our Logan ... his smile will melt your heart! |
Saturday, June 22nd, I spent the day volunteering at the annual Albie Puttin' Pub Crawl for a local breast cancer awareness and advocacy group that is incredibly important to me. This event is always a blast and I thank my sweet friend and sister-survivor-warrior, Tammie, for helping again this year.
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| Setting up before the golfers come by ... |
Before I leave you today, let me share one last photo with you. I took this back in May in Scotland and I love it for one reason ... it's a reminder to me (as the amateur photographer I am) to always find what's important and focus on that and that alone. For me, my life's focus is my family, my friends, the kids ... love never fails, folks.
We will now return to our regularly scheduled programming ... the journey of my breast cancer battle shall continue on in my next post. Stay tuned.
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