What I Like About Knott's

This year, thanks to my parents' generosity, my whole family (parents, siblings, nieces and nephews) was able to spend a week at a rental house in Southern California just minutes from beaches, Knott's Berry Farm, and that magical, unaffordable place called Disneyland. {My dad was thinking that the proximity would allow all of us to have our choice of where to spend our days since everything was so amazingly close; suffice it to say that we settled on the beach and Knott's Berry Farm this time around because we weren't willing to give up our oldest child in order to pay for our entrance into the Magic Kingdom.}

I have been putting this off for a couple of weeks, as I am often wont to do, partly because I was out of town for a few days, but mostly because I have so, so many pictures to go through that it gets a little daunting at times to try to catch up and fit it all in. Also, I don't love it when this trusty blog reads like a travelogue, but well, it is what it is. (This means get ready for a photo journal of the day's events.)

On day one of Knott's, we snapped pictures, drank our weight in first-day souvenir cup refills (then dumped the soda out and opted for water when we were all melting in the sun), and tried our darndest to stay together as a family before splitting up according to who could go on which rides. It's the nature of having children that don't happen to be the same age or height, I suppose. Thankfully, Craig and his mom were champs and stayed with Spencer and Lexa so that the older girls and I could go on some of the bigger rides. (It still amuses me that middle class Americans choose to spend their money on things like near-death experiences. I obviously do it too, though, so I can't judge.)

Little Linus

Just getting started and ready to melt

Oh, yes

The only one who needs a psychiatrist around here is me, and,

 let's be honest, I certainly wouldn't trust any of these quacks

In which Savanna refuses to have any fun in Camp Snoopy

Lovely Lex

Cool Cat

Train Buddies

Only the handrail was stopping me from jumping right into this waterfall, I tell you

Remember what I said about near-death experiences?

We had one of those 3 times in a row on Supreme Scream

Family fun on the Dragon Swing

In which Craig carries my purse like the real man he is

Beautiful Babies

Whew. That's the end of Day One. Thank goodness we left early to go back to the house for dinner. Maybe in a month or two I'll post the rest.

Fan + Zachary Ever After {Part 3}

 At last, here is Part 3 of one of the most special days I have ever been blessed to be a part of.

Here are some {okay, all} of my favorite shots from Fan and Zac's San Bernardino reception the day after they were married. They laughed, they danced, they ate ate cake, and we all watched and smiled at the beautiful sight of two people who are so very in love with each other.

I am already crazy about these two, but looking through these pictures again has reminded me just how much I adore them and how lucky I am to have them in my heart {and my family!}. They are truly beautiful people, inside and out.

Thanks, F + Z for being some of the most amazing people I have ever known.

Moments In Time

I just got back from a rare and lovely trip to Seattle with Megan and Julie, two rare and lovely friends of mine. {More on this later, I promise.} Before going, I really debated about whether or not I should bring my good {and heavy and bulky and cumbersome} camera along for the journey. Surely I'd want {really great} photos of all the touristy things we did? Surely those photos would be things that would help me to remember what a wonderful time I had? But I sure as heck didn't want to lug that thing around. {Or risk losing it, or breaking it, or banging it up.}

In the end, I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed to bring it onto the plane along with my purse and carry-on, so I left it at home. 

I am so very glad I did. And I am going to try to articulate why.

Well, okay, so the first part is obvious: I didn't have to carry it around everywhere. I didn't have to haul it into the airport, or through security {which already stresses me out}, or around on our various adventures. I didn't have to worry about it getting stolen out of the car, or forgotten somewhere, or falling in slow motion into the frigid Pacific Ocean when it slipped off my shoulder. That part is easy to explain.

The other part is a little more complicated. 

Not having my camera {although I did have my phone camera and a smaller one that I was able to borrow from Megan's mom to capture a few shots} meant that I didn't feel the pressure of having to photograph every single interesting sight that I saw. The sailboats bobbing picturesquely up and down on the misty harbor. The chipped and rusted bathtub on our underground Seattle tour. The silhouette of the Ferris wheel against the cloudy, seagull-filled sky. The hordes of people swarming and clamoring in the Pike's Place market.

But not feeling like I had to take a picture of all those things meant that I had the opportunity to feel and experience something else. Lots of something elses, actually. 

It meant that I could focus on what it was like to revel in the freedom from the overwhelming responsibilities of everyday life, with nary a worry of naptime or snack time, or any other kid-related time. It meant that I could take in and fully appreciate the delicious {bakery goods} and disgusting {raw fish} smells and sundry sounds of the Market. I could laugh and gag at the gum wall that is truly one of the most disgusting and fascinating {disgustinating?} things I have ever seen. And, most importantly, it allowed me to focus on truly being in the moment with these friends of mine that I seldom see but who are so very precious to me. To share stories with them and compare notes on marriage and motherhood and religion and exercise and eating and myriad other trials and triumphs that life has to offer.

Today I read an article detailing a study that was done on students who visited an art museum. Afterwards, they were given a memory test on the things that they saw and took pictures of. As far the items that they had photographed, the students were found to have "photo-taking impairment effect." Basically, the students' memory of the things that they had taken pictures of was impaired because of a subconscious inclination to allow the camera to capture the memory for them. 

I certainly am not going to put my camera away forever, but all of this has certainly gotten me thinking.  For now, all I can say is that while I do truly love the few images that we managed to capture on our trip, the real memories for me will almost certainly be based on the things that weren't photographed. Chatting at the food court in a Seattle mall instead of going to the Space Needle because we all needed a quiet place to sit after an exhausting and noisy morning in a busy city. Rolling our eyes at the waitress who became decidedly unfriendly when we didn't order any alcohol after being seated in the restaurant's bar. Laughing deliriously and exhaustedly until our cheeks and stomachs hurt on the way home from Wicked at 12 in the morning because Megan's mom is adorable and hilarious and we ended up in Chinatown when we couldn't find our way out of the city. Finding out in the airport while talking to Julie that we have something in common that I never realized we did.

Photographs are a wonderful way to stimulate memories and revisit, as much as is possible, those times and places that we have had the blessing of passing through during our lives. But mental photographs, while we cannot share them with others, can mean just as much {if not more!} because of the way that they allow us to remember not just what we were seeing, but what we were really feeling at the time.

And for me, the feeling of love, friendship, and unconditional support that I am privileged to feel while in the company of these beautiful friends of mine, no matter where we happen to be, is the most precious memory of all. 

For Future Reference

Note to self...

...Tell the girls not to leave sunscreen on the counter where Spencer can reach it.

Oh, and also check on him sooner when he goes virtually silent in the other room for any amount of time exceeding one minute.

Fan + Zachary Ever After {Part 2}

Are you ready for Installment 2 of the Fan and Zac Wedding extravaganza?? 

I thought you would be. 

I was hoping to post the after-pics plus the reception all together, but there are just too many photos to choose from and edit, and I didn't want to keep my fans (or my Fan) waiting too long, so here are the post-temple photos and the reception ones will be featured in the coming week...ish.

 Let me just take a minute to say that wedding photographers deserve a lot of props. Not only do they spend a whole day taking pictures of virtual strangers, but they also spend hours upon hours of staring at the faces and editing pictures of those strangers.

I have the blessing of adoring the bride and groom and all of the wonderful people in these photos, so that's a clear bonus for me.

Hope you enjoy gazing at these lovely faces (yes, I am clearly biased) as much as I do.

{emerging triumphant}

{cousins, brothers, aunts and uncles...oh my!}

{squeeze the lemon}

{the Walker 5 and our adorable Fantasia}

{Fan and Zac forever}

{The Tracy 3}

{I got all my sisters and me}

{beatiful peeps}

{3 hotties}

After we left the temple, 40+ hungry folks headed to Mimi's Cafe (per our reservation with them), where we were regaled with insanely sub-par service and where, after an hour and a half of trying to wait patiently, at least a third of the party had still not gotten their food. 

Well, every wedding has a story of something going wrong, and this was it. After a picture-perfect day, something had to give, I guess. Thankfully, they ended up comping all of the food that had been served. And thankfully, we took all these pictures BEFORE the debacle. Hence the smiles. :)

{And good thing there was an In-N-Out across the street.}

Stay tuned for Part 3!!