a thousand words

no. 6

Two seriously important women in my life have both had their SIXTH babies in the last month.  Impressive, right?    

First came Mr. Harrison McKay Waite.  

Harrison's mom, Stephanie, is my sister-in-law.  Forget the "in law" part.  I love this woman like a sister.

 

I have one cute nephew.  

During this Easter weekend visit we had a mini photo session on my bed & I snuggled him as much as possible.  There is nothing better than a newborn sleeping on your chest!

The other baby no. 6 coming up shortly...

xxo

 

love made visible

There are kids in my life that I love like my own.  People in my life whom I love like my own blood. The Waites just happen to be people like that.  

We were able to create new Waite family portraits on what could have been a very difficult day, the one year mark since Camille's accident.  Go ahead and read Stephanie's blog for her description and details.

I don't normally share entire galleries or portrait sessions, but I happily followed my sister-in-law's lead on this one.  

I hope the love this family shares with those on earth and in heaven (as well as the love I have for them) is apparent here. 

enjoy.

xxo

(technical note: if the show is skipping... press play, then pause and let it load before watching)

tourist at home

with the kids out of school this week, and lesli & co. in town, I got to play "tourist" in my own town! it was great to go and do things that I often wish I had more time for.

monday we hit up the flower fields where the ranunculus were in full bloom. we fueled up beforehand at ruby's for brunch.

stella & her choco milk

lesli & her choco shake!

the expanse of flowers did not dissapoint.

but ONE is just as incredible as 10,000

the big kids wore themselves out collecting stamps at 8 stations scattered about, and I wore myself out trying to catch it all with my camera.

charlotte just enjoyed picking up the gravel and "feeding" the flowers. after doing this 50 times, she showed me her hands and simply said "mess".

a few snap shots to prove we were all there!
the kids were definitely threatened bribed to stand there for a few frames. berk would barely look up it was so bright out. (I could have fiddled with my fill flash, but I'm too slow and lazy...)

my munchkins

I love this one.

happy spring.

happiness is...

the start of spring break.

cousins in town to visit.

a walk in the woods.

finding critters & treasures.

the bird's eye view of a home we love.

being together.

Today was happiness.

say it with me now...

... "better late than never"!!! Mom & Dad in Nigeria, this is for you.

I do realize that it is almost february and that I am sloooooow. But, I still have to share this slideshow!

Between Christmas and New Year's we met a few of my brothers (I have 4), their families, and my sister in Midway, UT. We played in the snow, drank a lot of stephen's hot cocoa, sang along with High School Musical on the wii, froze ourselves tubing at soldier hollow, skiied, played hand & foot cards, shopped the outlets, went to the movies & ate way too much. Typical fun family stuff.

My kids are fortunate to have wonderful cousins on both sides of the family. Berk, in particular, has 6 cousins within 6 months of his birthday. When we were in midway, I barely saw him. He was off with the cousins. I love that.

The photos in the slideshow are a compilation of my sister-in-laws Jenny and Marilee, and my sister Traci. Traci stole my camera for a while and impressed herself with her mad hot photo skiiiilz. :D
Without further aideu...

Midway '07-'08

The Garff family will ALL be back together in July. All 29 of us!! I can't wait.

sweet sabrina v2.0

Stephanie (my sister-in-law) and her family came for a visit this month. We made our annual trip to ikea, a stop at sprinkles cupcakes for some red velvet, celebrated annie's birthday, had dinner with darren, nikki, spencer and kathryn, and visited the beach. The beach afternoon was a remarkably clear and pretty. We let the kids play and I snapped a few frames. I've already posted a few in my "dailies" (over there) --------->

It's raining again today, so I decided to work on more of these warm sunny photos!

Long and faithful blog readers will remember
this photo
of my niece last year.
Here she is again!

and a few others sights...

skiddish seagulls

palms and negative space.

the last shot of the night. it was a gorgeous evening!

the A team

Meet Audra.  Product of Amy (my cousin) and Aaron (her lucky husband). 

Isn't she perfect?

Recently, I was able to spend a rare day with my cousins Amy and Cary.  Gone are the days of family vacations together and gathering together at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  So... it was a wonderful treat to be together!  We chatted, snapped a few photos, had lunch, snapped some more photos, and took a walk to the park.  The results:

I can't get enough of newborn bits and pieces.  precious.

The connection between these two was strong.  I loved peeking into their cozy world for a few moments. 

    

happier days

All week I have been worried about how the fires would affect this weekend.  This was a weekend our whole family has been looking forward to.  This was the weekend that Darren (Morgan's brother) married the fabulous Nikki Brown!!!!!   The smoke was present, but didn't take center stage.  This couple, who waited patiently to find each other, was the center of attention.  Nikki looked radiant.  Darren handsome in his real bow-tie.  The reception was comfortable and felt like a big reunion of friends.  Their marriage in the Newport Beach temple was touching and beautiful.  My mascara was g.o.n.e. by the end of it! The festivities wrapped up with yummy barbeque and (both) hilarious and tear-jerking toasts to the bride and groom.  It was a weekend I won't soon forget.

A bit about the new couple... Darren and Nikki are so great together.  They complement eachother perfectly, make eachother better, and are happy.  It's wonderful to see Darren and Nikki just plain happy.  I was able to take some engagement photos a few months ago.  I've been waiting to post these, as I wanted them to be debuted at the wedding reception first! 

(last but not least, their announcement photo)

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Harris!!!  :D

playing catch up

this is the story of my life these days.  a game of catch up!  Why does it seem that life got crazier and even more hectic since school started?  I keep thinking, Next week will get better.  Next week things will slow down.  But every week is as busy as the last.  Maybe I just need to embrace the crazy life with three little ones and go with it! :)

With all of that said, I AM chipping away at the to do lists.  oh, how I love making to do lists on little 3.5x5 cards (stace :)).  They are all over the house.  Well, these photos have been on my to do list since JUNE.   My great sister-in-law, Lesli, Rod and their boys came for a visit at the begining of the summer.  I stole the boys away to the backyard for a few frames. 

There could not be cuter 4 year old twins.  Happy Belated Birthday Jack and Morgan!

these next two are so interesting!  they posed this way completely independent of one another, yet it looks like I coached them.  Their fingers are almost exactly the same on their faces! 

see?!?!?

now you can see where J & M got their good looks... Mom and Dad!

love you guys.  can't wait to spend time together again in a few weeks.

a fond farewell

My paternal grandfather, Wayne Brimhall Garff, passed away on wednesday at the ripe old age of 94.  He was a wonderful father of five, proud grandfather times 20, and great- grandfather to 26 and counting. 

I feel blessed to be one of his posterity.  Grandpa's love for God, family & country was apparent throughout his life.  Grandpa taught me much about hard work.  He worked his mind & body constantly.  Worked for and with his family.  Worked in church service.  Even in his last moments on earth he was found exercising his arms and legs.  I hope I can teach my children the value of work as effectively as Grandpa taught it to me.       

Grandpa Wayne was here for a short visit last year.  I loved watching him interact with my children.  He truly rejoiced with his family around.  The kids brought him toys and games and sat on his lap while he sang to them.   Stella especially loved being with grandpa and holding his hand.

last but definitely not least...  my cousin Rocky Garff and his wife Michelle, made a wonderful video featuring my grandpa and some great old photos.  It was too cool not to share here. 

love you, grandpa Wayne.  you will be missed until we meet again!