When you are in the business of photography, your camera can kill the mood while enjoying a day out with family.? Being a “do it right” girl, it is very hard for me to snap off a shot (and subsequently keep it) if I didn’t plan the shot.? So I torture my children.? :)? I am trying to learn to invest time in capturing the day though.? Letting go of technical stuff, the composition, the art, and just try to “BE HERE NOW” (that was a quote from Bank One days that still haunts my thinking).??? My point?? I am going to try to post more unplanned shots just to encourage me to take the mom shots instead of just the photographer ones.? Will be tough for me to do but there are moments I will treasure and I don’t want to miss them because of a “technical difficulty”.?? (I admit – a good percentage of these shots had the photographer involved but maybe next time I will try shooting from the hip more).

Isn’t that field of flowers pretty?? Last week Jim and I escaped the heat and went to Flagstaff.? The pictures in this series were taken near one of the open sledding areas fairly close to the snowbowl.? It was raining off and on and oh so cool.? Such a nice time away with my family.? Even if only for a day.

Trio pictures are always difficult but Ty was most true to form in this one.? I see that look and stance everyday.

Ty has been getting slighted lately and hasn’t appeared in nearly as many shots as his siblings.? This is because he is six and pictures are at the bottom of his favorites list.

That just melts my heart.? He was leading her away from an ant pile.? Her older brothers adore her.? She has been playing with Ty a lot lately.? They are cute together and Tori has been good for Ty.? Because Ty has absolutely no pretention about him at all, he treats Tori like an equal.? She is a big fan of her brother Ty because of it.? Every day I hear her saying “Ty watch this!? Ty watch this!”? And everything she does makes him laugh.? And he makes her laugh.? They really spend quite a bit of time together.? Yesterday Ty discovered that he could lift her and she was making him carry her all over the house.? Ty’s CP and dispraxia make many gross and fine motor tasks difficult so being able to carry his sister short distances was a really big deal for him.

This is Daddy checking out the ant hill.

Her sentences have been lengthening this week.? The other day she told me “Mommy do not go ANYWHERE!? Pick shoes!”? I was leaving for the store and she wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave before she picked her shoes out.? :)? This month her talking has really seemed to mature.? Her thoughts have always been mature but she had trouble expressing them.? I expect that our quiet girl is about to evolve? into a motor mouth like her mama.