Welcome to my little spot on the world wide web, a place that I hope to let you into my world behind the lens.
I have fallen head over heels in love with photography. I see it everywhere I go. My mind is always swirling and taking notes. It has become part of who I am. I want to make time stop through my images. Capture the things we just might otherwise forget.
On our second day in Colorado we decided to make a day of the Royal Gorge. I had been white water rafting out this way in the 90's but hadn't ever been in the park. The park is a bit of a time warp but you cannot deny the natural beauty . We headed in and went straight over the bridge...wait, no we hit up the carousel first, then the bridge.
Derek's palms might have sweat a little (he is not a fan of heights) but not any of my girls.
No big deal.
It is a long way down folks. The river looks like a tiny pencil drawn line.
Emme picked some wildflowers...shhh don't tell. I am sure this is discouraged
I didn't see it, honest.
I was just the recipient of the sweet gesture.
We trekked around for quite awhile then decided we would take the cable car back over the gorge vs. walking back across the bridge.
It was quite a haul up and around so we enjoyed the ride back over.
This is our view out the cable car
gorgeous view of the bridge
Josie taking in the view
Emme wanted to pose for me. Note her hands. Silly girl.
But this is what we did next...we went down into the gorge on this incline railway.
I had no idea what to expect. It was very cool!
Harper hanging on..going down!
I think the view from down here was spectacular.
That tiny line in the sky is the bridge.
Wow!
See that pipeline off to the right? It is made of redwood.
That is what was carried water from the river into Canon City, until the mid 70's.
Grandpa Bob lived in Canon City during this time and had a part in building the
system that replaced it.
The sun was just peaking through.
So Jo got serious for me.
In all the fun that was had that day and all the things we saw
what do my kids gravitate to?
Can I have a quarter mom?
Ummm, no, I am still out from the last gum ball machine.
While we were in Colorado last week I had an inquiry come in from my website with a request to set-up a photo session and as I read it my heart sank. It was not the normal "we would like to get some family photos done" request. It was, we don't know how much longer we have with our little girl and we would like to take the opportunity now to get some photos taken of her.
Violet was born in late April with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This wasn't anything that was known prior to birth but it was discovered shortly after she was born. (you can read more about their journey on her care pages - click here - ) They had been doing chemo but just last week made some huge decisions to stop. Go home. Enjoy every moment with their sweet baby...at home.
This is a excerpt from their care pages:
Yesterday, Justin and I brought Violet home for good. We met with the doctors again, and the blast cells in her bone marrow are filled with disease and a transplant will no longer be an option. Dr. Manalang explained that she would do whatever we wanted to do and if we wanted to keep going, she would, however she did not believe the leukemia would go away. She said if we continued with another round of chemotherapy, Violet would get really sick (possibly end up in the PICU) and at the end of the day, the leukemia would still be there. So they told us to go home, think about what we want to do, and we would see her in clinic on Wednesday. After a lot of tears, Justin and I have decided we will no longer put our daughter though this pain. It would be completely selfish of us to continue. Dr. Manalang could not give us an exact time, but said Violet has more than a month and less than a year left. Either way, we will enjoy every minute we have left with Violet and we will make sure she knows how much she is loved. We may even go on a family vacation somewhere. This is not us giving up. This is giving Violet the best life for her. We will continue to pray for a miracle! We will continue to go to clinic and receive small doses of chemotherapy to prolong life as much as we can. There is also oral chemotherapy we can give her. We will know more about that when we meet with Dr. Manalang on Wednesday. Violet has completely changed our lives. She has taught us so much about love, life, family, hope, faith, and living! She is the strongest person we know, she is our little hero! I only hope and pray we can be as pure and simple as she is.
We set something up as quick as possible and I was beyond honored to meet Violet and spend some time with them this past week. It wasa dreary evening and Violet was coming off a rough day but we still managed to get some happy smiles from her. Amy had gotten her an adorable tutu and so we started there...
She thinks her mom and dad are pretty funny.
Having just met them I do have to say she looks like her daddy (minus the flower)
She was getting sleepy, pretty normal,
being a model is tough stuff.
Still a smile over dad's shoulder.
She did fall asleep but we went ahead and changed her clothes and attempted a few more. Sorry, Violet, I snuck one in of you getting changed.
She pretty much slept the rest of the time and we were all fine with it.
Nothing as sweet as sleeping babies.
love me some toes
She was all about her paci,
heck it even matched her outfit.
totally conked out
so, so sweet.
Violet knows love. She is surrounded by it. She has impacted every life she has come in contact with and I have no doubt hundreds more who have never met her. I know she has impacted mine. Hearts are forever changed by this tiny little innocent bundle.
I put together a short slideshow of some of the other images from the evening. (Please scroll to the bottom of my page to shut off my music so you don't have dual music going). I love this song by Mindy Gledhill . (click to go to her site)
We packed lots into our first day that is for sure. We hadn't made the entire drive the night before so we still had a couple of hours of driving before reaching our destination. We had decided that we would head up to Pikes Peak. That is something that none of us had done and we thought 'why not?'. Remind me of this later please....
After a hour drive up a mountain, which of course included lots of sharp turns and a 2ft shoulder protecting you from driving off the road, we made it to the top. Harper had fallen asleep at this point and the rest of us were mildly green from the great drive. The views were pretty amazing the entire drive though.
It was COLD up there! As in low 40's and windy cold...
Emme's face says it all. Crack up.
Maybe we should have ridden this!
While at the summit, Josie turned very pale and says, "I feel like I am going to pass out". Me, being totally dizzy myself, feel her pain and we headed back down quickly. We had to stop for a brake check on the way down so we got out again. But her face truly says it all.
At least she had her color back!
These two scored some stuffed animals at the summit gift shop.
A mountain bear and a mountain 'tiger' as they say.
Thanks grandpa Bob!
Yep, Derek's dad aka grandpa Bob, met us in Colorado Springs and joined us.
The girls loved it, I don't think he minded too much either.
Next up seven falls.
Wait! That just might be a genuine smile on Josie! Beautiful seven falls behind her.
I think Emme and Harper enjoyed this little guy more than the view.
He of course was spoiled and totally tame. One of the workers was feeding him.
I snapped this as he came to my feet to beg for a treat.
Gorgeous views all around!
My three mutts
I can't say that I am afraid of heights but I will say that I am afraid of steep stairs with small children. If there was a fall it would not be good! I mean really not good, and my girls were trying to skip their way up these things not even concerned about tripping on their own feet.
Stopping for a quick pic and just maybe for me to catch my breath.
At the start of a trail at the top.
We didn't venture far, but it was just so peaceful and pretty up there.
Emme was 'reading' the nature trail signs.
Did I mention these crazy girls were not even phased by this haul?
O. my. sweet. goodness. I love the chance to hang with cute babies! I am so glad that we finally got our session complete! This family contacted me early in the summer to get some photos of their little miss. A busy schedule (for both of us) and one re-schedule but we got er' done.
I met them out at Pendleton's market, the same spot I mentioned in the earlier butterfly post. While we were out there the previous week I thought it would be a great spot for photos. With permission of the owners, who didn't even hesitate to say yes, we headed out on their property for a beautiful evening. Thanks for hanging with me as we trekked back and forth & going with whatever I threw at ya!
This picture totally cracks me up.
Love it!
sweet mama's love.
daddy's are so much fun!
she kept this hat on for .01 seconds
love the awesome sincere smiles in babies!
is it just me or does she appear very angelic here?
incredibly sweet!
I think I could head out here to watch the sunset every evening,
