Darcy's Baby Teeth

Two weekends ago on Saturday we discovered Darcy has her first loose tooth. The next day we discovered her second loose tooth. All of these little milestones feel sentimental to me, and I wanted to quickly have one last photo shoot of her with her baby teeth smile. Since then she has lost that first tooth and the second isn't far off, so I'm glad we got on it immediately.

I absolutely love these shots. Darcy is a girl with intense emotions. She certainly challenges me sometimes, but when she is happy she brightens up my world. Her laugh is one of my favorite sounds ever, and I have thought of her genuine smile many times as comparable to sunshine. I felt like we captured a little bit of that sunshine smile in some of these shots which was so exciting for me.

 I loved this one because you can see those beautiful blue eyes.

This last one cracks me up because you can't even really see her face, but she really is a throw your head back and laugh kind of a girl and I love that we captured one of those moments.

Palouse Falls with Friends

A couple weeks ago I had this last minute idea to go for a little hike somewhere on a Friday afternoon. I did a little research and we invited some of our friends to come with us. I was an unorganized planner, but it ended up being a fun little hike with all our little kids that lead us to a really fun and beautiful little waterfall spot. We hope we can do something similar again soon.

First Day of School

I am almost two months late with this post now. Some day I might get caught up again. At the beginning of September Darcy started 1st grade at a new school, and Ezra started a preschool co-op with some friends. Darcy has struggled with going to school this year. The new school and the all day schedule was hard for her to accept and we are still working on helping her feel comfortable going every day. She has a hard time with the initial separation from me, but from what she tells me when she gets home and from what I have heard from her teacher she is actually doing well once she gets there and it enjoying all she is learning.

Ezra was really excited about going to preschool. It was hard for him to accept that he wasn't going for the first couple weeks Darcy was in school. I didn't even get a chance to tell him goodbye on his first day. He marched right in and out of my sight before I even knew what was happening. He loves the part when they get to play with toys. :)

The Philippines (Part Three)

 Drew lived in a little house back behind that fence when he was in Medillon. Things had been built up in front of it, so we couldn't get closer to it for a picture.

 We drove through a few different towns that had these banners draped across their main street. They really go all out!

 Drew's very first area was Mandaue and this was Drew's first apartment there.

 The road right in front of that apartment

 This was an incredibly narrow road where these two trucks successfully passed each other. I thought it would never work, but they didn't even hesitate.

 Next we got to go visit the Cebu temple. This was built a few years after Drew left and he has been wanting to see it in person. What a beautiful place!

 The mission home has moved now, but this was Drew's mission home when he was there.

 Then we went on a steep, unnerving drive to this lookout high above the city of Cebu. It was a really awesome view from up there.

I told Drew to smile really big for a picture, and I had no idea how well he had delivered until I looked back at the picture a little while later. Oh man, this made me laugh.

 On our way down the hill, we finally got a picture in front of a jeepney like I had been hoping for.

 Drew's fourth (and last) area was in Cebu city. He lived in that big cement apartment behind him in this picture.

 We headed inside to check it out a little more.

 They had a roof top deck that they used sometimes.

 This was his door.

 People just hung their laundry out in the halls.

 The sewage along the walkway outside

 We did a little touristy sight-seeing on our last day there. This was the Cebu memorial.

 Drew was really excited when we got to Magellan's cross.

 Magellan's cross

 When the Spanish first occupied the Philippines this was the first fort they built. Fort San Pedro.

 They had these brooms made from parts of coconut leaves. I watched people use them, and they honestly seemed to be really good brooms.

 The last place we stayed had this fancy rooftop pool. I felt like I was in a movie. Another amazing view from that rooftop!

 Drew and Neil