We are finally seeing a break in our weather and this last week we found ourselves outside basking in the sub 100 degree temperatures. We played basketball, we rode bikes and threw the frisbee.
We endure crazy hot summers and we find so much relief and happiness when we hit two digit temperatures again.
As the sun set, the sky morphed into the most beautiful display of colors and I couldn’t help myself from capturing my kids enjoying the night. I shot several silhouettes of the kids and after a picture of Hallie and I turned the camera around to show her the magic I had just captured.
She asked quizzically, “How did you see that? How did you know that picture would turn out when it was so dark?”
I explained that its taken me years to learn how to see light and then even more time to learn how to capture that in the camera. But once you learn how to see the light, you always see the light. Each time I see a ray of warm evening light illuminating behind one of my kids, I want to capture it!
Tonight we went for a bike ride as a family. As we road off into the sunset, Hallie pointed out the light. “Mom, this would make a great silhouette photo, huh?” Yes, yes it would. I love that she’s starting to see the light.
Bennett and I had a fun evening at the Gilbert temple for his baptism invitation pictures. He loved the attention…for the first 10 minutes. The rest of the time he tolerated me moving him around the temple grounds, putting him in different poses. 🙂 Kids are funny and can be a little awkward in situations like this. But with a little coaching we had plenty of “Bennett approved” photos including more than enough funny face pictures.
He knows how to keep me laughing with his shenanigans.
He carried these binoculars around for quite some time. I tried looking through them and couldn’t make out anything. But he clearly saw something because they were glued to his face. He’s just exploring the world around him. Childhood is too short.
My niece had her first baby today and seeing the pictures of her in the hospital with that new baby made me so happy. I’ve been there many times myself but it feels good to be on this side of that mountain.
I was unsure we would ever get to this point, but Briggs turns two years old this week. It’s been a year since I took a weekly photo of him. Yet, it seems like a lifetime ago. I realized I never posted his completed weekly photo project – we’re only a year behind over here. Have I mentioned I’m in a much better spot than I was a year ago?! The pictures may be hard to read in the collage. See them all here.
He’s at the fun, but exhausting, exploring stage. He wants to see and touch everything and usually test it against his mouth. Every drawer is opened and it’s contents emptied. Cupboards are no longer safe. Our tub is full of items that he finds and throws in there. The q-tip box has been picked up multiple times. The bathrooms remain on lockdown.
He’s busy. And messy.
And then this picture reminds me what it’s like to explore a world where everything is a new experience. He saw the sun coming through the shutters and it was hitting his arm. He waved it up and down watching the light dance across it. Not quite sure what was going on. He stood there for a while doing the same thing over and over again. I often forget as I’m walking from one room to another cleaning up after him that he’s just exploring. He’s trying to figure out his little body and build experiences in that little brain of his. This particular day he played with light.
