10 years

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A beloved friend in Arkansas – Meghan --  sent these photos to me three days ago.

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I was glad to see that it still has the little bunny and candle lantern and bird that we had placed there on our brief visits in the past couple of years. Also some of the shiny rocks. :)

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I am so grateful that 10 years have passed. Ten years have changed the pain I felt at first – like I could cry for years and years and still have tears that needed to fall – to a deep but softened longing for the time when we’re together again. I know that in this life I always have something of greatest joy to look forward to. Someday I will hold this sweet baby boy again and get to enjoy the time of watching him grow and then a forever with our family all together.

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It’s interesting but since Exacto has been on his mission, it has felt less painful to me to not have the family together. It’s like I have two sons on missions and although I miss them both I am grateful they are where they are and doing what they’re doing, and I know the separation is temporary. For the last 10 years there has always been a gap in our family pictures and a gap in the phrase, “our whole family.” Now that gap is just a little bigger and easier to explain.

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That tree is so gorgeous right now! How grateful I am that Meghan could go take these pictures when she did. How grateful I am for a friend like her to remember me at this time! I haven’t seen her for 4 years. I know there are several dear friends back in Arkansas and also in other places who always remember. True friendship like this is precious indeed.

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So grateful for loving friends.

Grateful for a beautiful addition to our family 10 years ago.

Grateful for the Plan of Happiness that promises eternal families.

Grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who makes it possible.

Liebe Mutti, Unsere geliebten Freunde zu Besuch kamen.

1/1/14 ~ I’ll be working over the next couple of weeks (thanks to DC’s amazing Christmas present) to catch up your Dear Mom posts on here. . . .wish me luck! Below is one I started on time but finished today. :)

Week of November 11 - 17

It was a very busy week, getting Fluffy and DC ready for a chilly campout, and also preparing for our beloved German friends the Wingens to come. We had such a wonderful time with them and feel very honored and loved that they would come just to see us! (Well, Andreas had a conference in Denver, but still they rented a car and drove up to Fort Collins. Sie sind überaus nett. :o) More to follow. . . .

Rosebud has lately loved the book Saint George and the Dragon, and has been trying out a knight persona (much to DC’s chagrin when a plastic sword blow to the head caught him off guard!) She is cracking us up!

Here she is as a Princess-Swimmer-Knight in pj’s and a sweater. (Note the plastic shield :).

 

Hummer gave a lovely FHE lesson on gratitude and spent literally hours cutting out leaves and preparing this tree. He is super awesome.

 

I’m pretty partial to these ones, too. :o)

 

 

We had a Relief Society Mother-Daughter meeting (did I tell you one of my callings is to be on the RS meeting committee?) and when we went that morning to set up Fluffy made himself the hero of the day by playing with all the littlies in the nursery room.

Rosebud was SO excited to get to come with me that evening. (And, truth be told, it had been my idea to make it a mother/daughter because all these years I have looked forward to one of these. :) Here we are with our cookie dough truffles for the cookie exchange.

Fabulous recipe here.

Doesn’t she look sweet? We had the best evening. My favorite part was making an ornament with her and it was her favorite part, too. <happy sigh>

On Friday we sent off these two brave souls to camp in the chill at Carter Lake. I am so glad DC could go with Fluffy this time! They had a great time, and even texted to reassure me they weren’t freezing like little popsicles in their tent.

Meanwhile the rest of us cleaned and organized and prepared with excitement for the Wingens to arrive, which they did Saturday morning just as DC and Fluffy got back.

They had never been to Colorado before, and we had never been to Rocky Mountain National Park, so we thought that sounded like a great plan. Due to September flooding we had to take a longer way to get there, and it was snowing once we got into the park, but we still got to see a herd of elk up close and have an impromptu snowball fight. :)

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Here’s from when we tried to drive further up. . . .we gave up and decided to play. :)

We explored some lovely shops at Estes Park, then headed home. I loved riding in the car with Andrea and Andreas and talking about Christmas traditions here and in Germany and all kinds of other things.

The next day after church we had a lovely dinner together.

Then, since we live in Fort Collins and not Estes Park (not that we’re biased). . .

. . .and it was gorgeous weather. . .

. . .we went to the park! :)

It was a great ending to a wonderful visit with them. Hope we can see them again soon!

Love,

Michelle

P.S. Hummer made this to add to the Benjamin name-collection. I love that he remembers his little brother!

Day 53 - { portraits from Kara }

post written 7/12/11

I researched a ton before getting Rosebud's 1-year pictures taken, trying to find a photographer that does excellent work but will give me digital copies and not require me to sell one of my offspring to pay for it all. It was tough. I have Martinelli's taste on a root beer budget. :) I just couldn't find any artist photographers that we could afford.

So I finally resolved to go with the new Portrait Innovat**ns that opened in West Little Rock (it is possible to acquire high resolution digital files, but there is a fairly complicated process involved). I hoped for the best, but was pretty sure it would only be a small step up from Walm*rt.

But a loving Heavenly Father knew the desires of my heart. He knew that I was clinging to every moment with this beautiful last baby, and that I desperately wanted good portraits of her. He sent a special blessing. . . .my talented friend Kara offered to take some. She does it as a hobby, but is SO GOOD. Even though she was having surgery the week of Roseberry's BD, she insisted she would be fine to take some the day after.

So here they are, Rosebud's portraits for her 1st birthday. . . .Have fun scrolling!

First, the ones from Portrait Innovat**ns. Taken actually on her birthday. They gave us a disk with low-resolution files of over 100 that they took, and here's a sampling, just for fun. They're fine, but I know I would have always looked back and wished I had better ones.

(outfit was a gift from sweet Rosy and Tommie)

 

I bought this one.

 

Cheesy, eh? I wasn't planning to get in any of these, but she was sad and I needed to hold her for a bit. :)

 

I'm glad we got one with her nursing necklace. Brings back sweet memories now.

 

Bought this one, too. I love how it shows her personality.

 

This one cracks me up. How does a one-year-old already know how to sneer? :)

 

Bought this one.

 

such a little cherub. :)

 

Don't you think the photographer should have come in closer or cropped these? Like this:

 

That's a little better.

 

Bought the "special" for this one.

 

gah! Is that background hideous or what? I wish I had said something while they were getting it out!

 

Rosebud didn't particularly care for it either.

(This one could go on that awkward family photos site, eh?)

 

Fancy Nancy outfit from Nana.

She made that pettiskirt, and also one for each of her granddaughters! Go, Nana! (She said it was way hard, and she'll never do it again. :)

Arg. They cut off our knees and feet. Ah, well. Overall it was about what I had feared, and I don't know that I'll go back.

If I could do it over again, I would save the money I spent at PI (and add some to it) to get ginormous canvas prints of Kara's beautiful work!!

(Life's too short to throw money at mediocre portraits, eh? Who needs food? :)

The next day, we went to Kara's house, and she captured these. (The last few were taken a month later because the birthday girl was getting tired and we had to come back). I am SOOO grateful we got these other ones. THANK YOU, Kara!

So here are the REAL portraits (taken on 12/22/10 and 1/19/11). . . .

 

As you can see, there's no comparison.

I LOVE THIS ONE!!!

 

She was watching the balloons in this one. (See birthday party post :).

 

This here was the shot I was hoping for. I wanted full-length, with her toes showing, and a smile, her eyes toward the camera. We got it! Woohoo!

 

She LOVES that Woody doll. :)

 

Wow. I think this one may very well be my favorite photo of her yet.

 

This one's on our wall now.

 

This one was Kara's favorite.

 

It is amazing to me that even with such a small matter as this--with something that wasn't really a need--I was blessed with one of my wants, heirloom quality portraits of my only daughter. Thank You, Heavenly Father!