There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 19th

It was sweet to see Eric's older siblings loving their baby brother.

Baby Eric

I met the newest kid in the ward tonight and he's really cute.

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 18th

Meet Paul and Nancy Dredge.  We've been in the same ward for nearly 25 years and they are dear friends.  Paul is the bishop of the Arlington Ward and he's amazing.  I'm the RSP and it's a pleasure to work with him.  The day Paul was called to be the bishop I told him that I'd always wanted Paul Dredge to be my bishop and he gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

The Dredges moved here for grad school many many years ago and never left (there are a lot of people that have done that).  They raised their family of five children in New England (and four of them live in the area; their two daughters are also in our ward).

Paul and Nancy clearly have a deep love for each other and it seems like they've enjoyed growing older together (though they aren't really old!).

This is what mid-winter looks like

Colin

This kid could be a model for North Face or Burton Snowboards (Mat's favorites).

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 17th

There's not really much more I can say about this photo.  I love it.  And I love this family.  And I love and miss their dad.  He's the one that inspired this series of photos I'm posting in February.

Valentine's Day, was the 2nd anniversary of Mat's death.  I emailed lots of Kimberly's friends and asked them to send messages of love and I taped them on hearts and late Wednesday night went over and taped the hearts all over their front door and screen (a "heart attack").  Here's a link to Kimberly's post about it.

I love the Burnetts.

Burnett family photos

 

I've been wanting to take photos of the Burnetts for a while and finally today it worked out after church.  Colin must have gotten some green candy from his Primary teacher but I didn't care if he had green teeth; I was taking photos!  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  They are a photogenic group!

Tayte

I babysat Tayte and his brother Daxton the other night.  Tayte woke up twice so I got to hold him and rock him back to sleep.  He's just adorable.

The sign says it all

Craft Your Heart Out

Today was our rescheduled Craft Your Heart Out R.S. activity (since last week there was nearly 3 feet of snow).  It was really fun and I think we had about 25 women there!  It was fun to make AND FINISH two crafts (I did the heart banner and the LOVE blocks).

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 16th

These are the Soelberg sisters.  They were in Boston a few years ago for a "sisters trip".  I know Janalee -- the one right smack in the middle (she lived in my ward).  I was so excited to meet all her sisters and asked if I could photograph them.  I have three (awesome) brothers but am a wee bit jealous of friends that have sisters, though I can't imagine having 8 sisters!  And, they also have 4 brothers (and I think 3 sisters-in-law now).  They are all so nice.

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 15th

They love that little Elizabeth (who is growing like a weed)!

Nothing is free

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 14th

And there's a lot of hair in this photo!

Heart siding

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 13th

I had heard of the Hiltons (Mariann's dad was my friend's thesis professor at BYU) but didn't meet them until they arrived in Boston for Bruce to attend grad school at MIT.  We became fast and close friends.  Their three oldest (of six) kids were born in Boston.  I used to visit them a lot and we share lots of fun memories from that era in the Arlington Ward -- celebrating birthdays and holidays, taking day trips, playing games, playing pranks, trips to Maine and the Cape, and lots of babysitting and one of my favorite things; borrowing their kids Conor, Alistair and Isabel.

Mariann and Bruce were born a day apart (same year) and they are first cousins (their dads are brothers).  The whole cousin thing was intriguing but they are seriously awesome (and normal).  Before you freak out (and say you would never marry your cousin like I would say) --- they didn't grow up knowing each other.  They met the first time at a family reunion when they were teenagers.  Bruce joined the church and went to BYU.  I think he played soccer so went to Provo early and stayed with his aunt/uncle/cousins before the dorms opened and they started to get to know each other.  Bruce went on a mission to Taiwan.  Mariann served a mission in Louisiana.   Then they realized they were in love and wanted to get married.  The interesting part of the story (at least to me!) is that you can't marry your first cousin in Utah but you can in California!  So plans were in motion for their wedding in the Los Angeles Temple in December.  An added twist is that Bruce's brother and Mariann's sister were also considering marriage.  So Mariann's dad, Gill (who passed away recently), who was so cool, sat them down and suggested since both families were going to be in California for Bruce and Mariann's wedding, why didn't they have both weddings there in December.  So they did.  I think Bruce and Mariann were married one day and the siblings got married the next day and somewhere inbetween Bruce's brother was baptized.  They have six awesome kids and there is a lot of love in their family.

One day a bunch of gals in the ward were having lunch together and talking about keeping your middle name.  Mariann said, "I don't get what the big deal is" and Karen Hovey quickly said, "I guess you wouldn't, Mariann Hilton Hilton."  Mariann would get annoyed when people would try to figure out how she was related to her kids since they were also her cousin's kids.  And when their first baby was born and Mariann's mom came to visit to help out, there was confusion in Relief Society when she introduced herself as Colleen Hilton, Mariann's mom.  I said one day, "Since Bruce is your cousin and your husband, he's like your cusband."

The Hiltons are some of my closest friends.  They live in Idaho now and when I go to Utah I either drive up to see them or we've met up in Utah at the Hilton homestead.  They are wonderful friends and I love them dearly and like most of my friends that have left Boston, I keep hoping they'll move back.

Gross snow

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 12th

One of the funniest things Alicia ever said was, "I'd rather be by myself the rest of my life than marry someone who was shorter than me."  And one of the sweetest things she ever said was to Jenn (her now sister-in-law), "I can't believe I've known you two years and didn't know that you had an adorable brother!"  And then she met Jeff.  And they kissed.  And got engaged.  And she moved away from Boston.  And got married.  I was lucky enough to be at her wonderful wedding.  And I love taking candid wedding shots; this is one of my favorites.  I have SO many fun memories of eating out, movie nights, shopping, New York City, Vermont, Maine, the Berkshires, antiquing (she tolerated my hobby) and endless good times with Alicia.  I secretly hope she'll move back to the Boston she loves.

I love to make things at midnight

There's a lot of love in this photo - Feb 11th

This is Adler with his paternal grandparents.  Adler's dad died when he was not even two and his grandparents spent a lot of time with him before he moved to Oklahoma.  I asked if I could take some pictures of the three of them before Adler moved and it was fun to see them together and how much they love each other.