Porcelain

Memorial Day - let's remember

It was a sweaty, hot August DC morning before work. I hustled over to Arlington National Cemetery to partake of its reverence. I'm walking along when I see a car parked along one of the paths (rare - cars not allowed much). A very old man used his cane to get out of the car. I started to walk slower, hoping to be a part of whatever was next. He shuffled over to one of the hundreds of thousands of tombstones and planted some flowers, followed by some water. I didn't want to seem like a gawker or stalker, so I took photos at a distance. It was such a tender, sweet memorial. Seeing him stand all alone among the white markers of those who've past, honoring someone special to him made all my superficial concerns of my sweatiness subside. He was just standing there, leaning against his cane, remembering those who had served for our country, all alone. See him hidden among all those tombstones? It was a reverential moment that I didn't want to forget.

The American game

Ryan Braun #8 hits a home run.

checkin' out his new hat.

Little boy loves baseball. He plays it all day everyday. "You be the catcher. I'm the pitcher."

He knows a strike, ball, out, slide, line drive, foul ball, pop-up, etc.

And he loves the Brewers.

Maggie

Remember these two from two years ago? Well, Bergen was in town with their baby who turned nine months old yesterday. So we took some pictures of her =)

Bicycling in Paris

When you have less than 24 hours in the City of Lights, you do everything you can to fit things in. Waking up early on a Sunday morning in Paris makes for a very quiet morning. We had taken the metro to the Invalides area to find my favorite patisserie for breakfast (btw, it was closed on Sunday...boo). Suddenly I stop, turn around, look at a row of bikes, look at Nick, and we both smiled.

Renting bikes for a day was my favorite thing we did in Paris. We rode all over the city. Travel is faster and you get to see everything as you ride along. I would recommend it to everyone who visits Paris.

Top two taken by Nick. He was riding behind and in front of me and would still take a picture while moving. Impressive.

31 years

My mom and dad have been married for 31 years.

I would be nothing without them. I'm so grateful they got married. And that my dad joined the church and they were sealed in the temple. We are an eternal family.

I love them so.

These pictures were taken at my special day at the Chicago Temple in October '09. Nephew #2 was not yet in the world.

Represent

Look what my friend Nick found and sent me. Yay Milwaukee.

Mothers

"God could not be everywhere, and so He gave us mothers." a writer quoted by our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson.

Mothers sacrifice so much. Love them back.

I love my mother. So much.

Piano stairs

Stairs that are piano keys. The main square in Milan, Italy.

Taken on a 7D in slow motion. Thanks Nick.

Nie Nie

I hope you got to see the new Mormon Messages with Nie Nie. And I hope you are inspired by her as much as I am.

Nuns in the square

One of the many in Florence. Nuns and squares that is.

Florence, Italy

(i didn't see that many nuns in all honesty)

Baby, baby, baby

Big blue eyes. Loves his mommy. Loves loves loves watching his brother. Looks like the rest of us. Can lift his head all by himself. And rolled over for the first time during this shoot. Such a big boy.

5 months old.

Gelato

I treated myself to some pistachio gelato the other day. It made me remember the last time I ate some: Italy.

We had been up to catch a 6:15 AM (!) train from Milan to Florence. Now we had arrived in Milan the night before at 10:30 PM - upon which we walked a half hour to our hotel, walked back to the train station to find food, then walked back. As you can see, this high math leads us to getting in bed at 2 am or so. Yes, we were tired on that train ride. But as soon as we got to Florence, we hit the streets and saw as much as we could.

Now, imagine it is getting later and later as night has fallen. Once again, we have put off food (the theme of our trip: no real meal just treats to save time). On my list of things I wanted to do was get some gelato in Florence. So we wandered around to find the famous and best place in Florence. There was much stopping on dark corners and iPhone-ing to find this place. We finally found it in a quiet part of town - and low and behold it is closed for the season. It re-opened in 2 days. We were leaving the next morning. Figures.

We finally settled down around 9:30/10 pm and found a place to eat dinner - we were proud of ourselves. But wait! We still were gelato-less. So again the search began for a place that was open until midnight. We went back to the busy part of town, now quiet, and saw one little gelato place still open. Nick ordered for us chocolate and pistachio to share while I sat down. Comes to find out, you have to pay more to sit down. So I got up.

We headed back out into the brisk, no, cold air and ate our gelato in a zombie-like stupor as we walked back to our hotel, all in hopes it didn't lock us out for the night.

All that for a little gelato. But guess what. It was delicious.

Le métro

The metro system in Paris is my least favorite underground system I've experienced. The doors are hard to get open (yes, you have to open them yourself), the passage ways are harsh to all senses, and I've seen some crazy things under the city.

But, the system does have artsy entrances, pretty stations and a special typeface. All inspired from Art Nouveau and the lines expanded in between the wars.

Cowboy slots

I will never understand two things: cowboy hats indoors and gambling.

MGM Grand Casino, Las Vegas.

I'm bad at maps

I love iPhones. And friends who can read maps so I don't have to. Although I am fascinated by them.

Florence, Italy.

Monet

Museé D'Orsay, Paris.

Telephone

Pay phones are hard to find everywhere else in the world.

London.

Milano florist

Fresh flowers and Italian man selling them. Love it.

Milan, Italy