Siblings are wonderful. I’ve been thinking a lot about my own siblings lately and the special bond I have with each of them. There’s not another relationship like it in the world. And it’s likely that the longest lasting relationships you have will be with your brothers and sisters. You’ll know them longer than your spouse and most likely even your parents.

It’s been so fun to see the bond between Lincoln and Claire grow stronger. They are becoming best friends. And they know how to torment each other already. Lincoln will wrestle with Claire until she screams out for help and Claire will destroy Link’s train tracks he worked so hard to build. But there is no more joyous sound than to hear them giggle and squeal in the next room as they play or and hear Lincoln make Claire laugh hysterically. I love when Link says, “Baby girl likes me!” or “He (yes he says he, not she) thinks I’m funny!”

In preparation for taking some family pictures for some friends in my ward, I toted Lincoln and Claire to along to check out the possible locations for the shoot. They are such easy test subjects! I rented a lens and was excited to practice with it before tonight. For those of you who might care, I rented the 70-200mm Canon lens. I liked the lens but it was kinda heavy and awkward. I’m not used to working with zoom lenses though. I usually use a 35mm fixed lens but wanted a longer focal length to work with. I thought renting was a good option as I cannot yet afford glass that costs over $1000! I’m looking into other fixed lengths like the 85mm. Anywhoooo.

So here are some of my “test” shots that will count as Link’s 3-year-old pictures and Claire’s 1-year-old/ 15-month-old pictures. They were good sports.

My brother-in-law, Beau, married his beautiful Filipino bride, Sibyl, a couple weeks ago. And they asked me to be their photographer! I was rather excited for the opportunity. But it was humbling and nerve racking. I mean it was their wedding day! No pressure right?

They chose to marry at the end of a record-setting hot Arizona summer. It was a smaller affair which was perfect for an amateur photographer. They asked me to simply take photos of them at the Mesa Temple. They held the reception a week later so unfortunately we couldn’t be there.

Most of the photos were taken at sun-rise as we were trying to beat the heat and have good light. But funny enough, it just so happened that it was very overcast that day. So we could have slept in a few hours.

Sibyl was a beautiful bride. We met her for the very first time during the shoot. Miles assisted me and proved to be a great packhorse. We felt very honored that we got to spend so much time with the bride and groom on their special day. Congratulations Beau and Sibyl!

Beau in anticipation of seeing his bride for the first time.

A perfect reaction!

Guess who started preschool this week?

This handsome boy did!

Today he got to take his remote control Thomas the Engine for show and tell. He’s loving it!

What do you get when you pack a 7-passenger van and a 5-passenger car with people ranging in age from 6-months to 50+ years of age? A VERY long road trip!

This past month I took the kids (without Miles) to Denver for my cousin’s wedding. Most of my mom’s family lives in Denver and I hadn’t been there to visit for about 5 years. I caught a ride with my sister, her four kids, my mom, brother, and cousin. We were 11 people all together. It was crazy! Let me give you an idea of how the week went. According to goolge maps, the trip was supposed to take 8 1/2 hours. But it took us 16 hours to get there! We had some fun times though. And I learned to be a more patient mother and when we made it home I felt like Wonder Woman, like I could do anything!

Here are a collection of pictures from the trip.