matrimony

I went to Utah for a long weekend to attend DJ's beautiful wedding. It was a quick trip, but I really enjoyed it and Zola Jane got buried in attention from all her Cousins and Aunts/Uncles. I started calling Roger her "Dad away from Dad" because he is definitely her favorite person in Utah (no offense to everyone else... it's just a fact. Ha ha.)

Zola Jane got her pictures taken with Jailyn, her cousin who was due on the same day but born three weeks or so apart. It was so interesting to see how much different the two girls are... and look at all of Jailyn's hair! How wonderful. She is also much taller than ZJ.




How did this cute one taken at home get in here? Oh, because it's so cute who can resist. She's grabbing at those feet constantly. And so am I. They're irresistible.


Marilyn looked lovely. She had little strands of golden tinsel sparkling in her side-swept hair and a contagious smile all day. The evening before the wedding we got to hang at her bachelorette party where we dipped strawberries into a chocolate fondue fountain and talked about how exhausted we all were. What work weddings are!


I hijacked the rings for a few shots with their beautiful cake. I just loved the figurines. Such a fun touch to the fireman theme.



The cousin in the middle is Wyatt. He is a few months older than the girls.

pioneering

As these first-time mom magic moments slip through my fingers, I realize that a few things are important: images and stories. You would think a scrapbooker would be an expert at storing these precious things away. But, I can't keep up with the diapers, nuzzling, AND the scrapbooking (who can?) So my temporary solution is to toss them down a hole and get back to them later. I am investing in photography equipment and taking as many high quality photos as I can as often as I can remember to pick up the camera. And I started a blog just for ZJ where I will tell the stories that I want to remember - with the idea that someday, I will slurp the blog and slap in the photos and publish it bound instead of trying to physically scrapbook it all myself. That way, she has a little journal of her baby stories - and so do I.... without consuming the effort that I could be using to love and hug and kiss her sweetness out of her.

If you are interested in the stories, her blog is here.

pics of z

After going back over some of these pictures, I can really tell how much our tiny person has grown. These are almost all from her first week of life. Her hands used to be wrinkly. How cute!

friends

This is Madhuri. I have been scrapbooking with her and she is quickly becoming very special to me. She is letting me practice learning how to take portrait photography with her -with an emphasis on photo journaling her pregnancy. It has been very fun. These are my first shots of her taken yesterday.

Aside, I went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls - 4 shots were perfect! And I swam today - learning that all this time, I have been counting my distance wrong by half. I am swimming nearly 1 mile every time I go! Yay!