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365 Days Away From the Big 50 September 19, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Family, Thoughts , 6comments

Today, both my parents and David’s parents celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary.

That’s right friends, our parents got married on the same day, same year, same place.  They both got married in the Salt Lake Temple (different times obviously) and they have the same wedding theme song.

I’m not making this up.

In one year from today, they will celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary.

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I’m not sure how the events will go down next year, but ‘m pretty sure they’re both going to celebrate their 50th anniversary on their 50th anniversary. That means we will need to divide and conquer to attend the celebrations or attend both and cut out early.

This is a unique situation we’re in . . .

Making it to your 50th is a BIG MILESTONE.

Having both your parents and your in-laws make it to that milestone on the same day?

I don’t know what to say . . . but happy anniversary parents!

Most of My Days are Spent Just Following My Nose September 18, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Family, New York , 5comments

Most of the time, I just follow my nose.  Instead of taking the regular route home from anywhere, I take any route in the general direction of my home just to see where my nose takes me.  This is basically how I discover any new city, and where I find new friends.

After we visited the Martin Harris farm last week, we decided to head in the opposite direction of our house just so we could see what was on the other side of the grass, so to speak.

We ended up here:

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A beautiful park on Lake Ontario.  The kids loved it.  We loved it.

We decided to go back the following day . . .

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We heard there was a beach, with real sand and real water.  :)

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And, it had a lighthouse!  We were sold.

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Hannah LOVED the playground in the sand. LOVED IT.

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Dallin hated the sand. . . HATED IT.  (We’re not worried, Hannah hated the sand too and she lived on a Caribbean island when she was his age!)

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This is Sodus Point, New York.  The lake is known as Lake Ontario.  :)

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We had to check out the lighthouse, of course.

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Hannah was impressed.

We plan to hit this beach one more time before we leave this beautiful place in just a few short days!

One of the Things I’m Going to Miss September 17, 2009

Posted by Emily in : New York, Princess Hannah , 1 comment so far

This little marina on the Erie Canal is located right behind our building.

The kids and I walk down here everyday to watch boats go by.  Hannah buys a sucker at the candy store two doors down from us, and she waits to eat it until we pull up a seat to watch the  boat traffic.  Usually, there is not much by way of “boat traffic” so she usually chats it up with the boat travelers docked at the marina.

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It is so calm.  I love to sit and watch people while Hannah runs up and down the grass hill picking dandelions for me.

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Obviously, we visit this marina during the day, but I wanted to capture the calmness of this place and photographing it at night enhances that feeling.

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We cross this road to get to the marina.  It is usually very busy with traffic during the day, but as you can see . . . at night it’s a different world.

We are leaving this place so soon . . . and I’m sad!  Walking down to the boats is just one of things I’m going to miss doing with the kids.  :(

Niagara Falls September 16, 2009

Posted by Emily in : New York, Photography, Trips , 7comments

I have always wanted to see Niagara Falls.

Really.  It ranked right up there with going to Disneyland.

When we found out David would be doing a rotation in Upstate New York, I immediately wanted to know how close we would be to Niagara Falls.

It was not a even a question, WE WERE GOING TO SEE IT, regardless of how far we had to drive.  Fortunately, it was only two hours away.

The falls are on the American and Canadian border.  I did some internet research, and asked several locals here in town which country was the best to view the falls from and surprisingly, I didn’t get a straight answer.  Maybe people didn’t notice which country they were in when looking at the falls, maybe the falls were beautiful on both sides, maybe they took the Maid of the Mist boat ride and experienced both sides of the falls at the same time . . . who knows.

Let me give it to you straight.  Regardless of what you read, see, or hear about Niagara Falls, these are the facts:

This photo was taken on the American side of the falls.  As you can see, the falls are awesome, the Maid of the Mist boat seems to be having a great time, and the Canadian skyline is beautiful.

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We did not take a ride on the Maid of the Mist boat.  One reason is because we had little kids with us, the other is because my idea of  fun does not include getting drenched in water to knock on death’s door.

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This view is also on the American side.  It is pretty beautiful.

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This is on the American side.

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This is also on the American side.  I call this image, “Mist Meets Clouds.”

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Look!  We were all there!  On the American side anyway . . . Dallin doesn’t have a passport, so David and I took turns with Hannah walking across the bridge  to Canada to view the falls.

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This is also on the American side.  Look!  Hannah like the plants!  :)

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Look!  We were all there!  It was little tricky to get a photo of just us because there were so many tourists, but we managed.  :)

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I took this shot from the international bridge that connect America to Canada.  The observation tower you see in the image is on the American side.  It is a good way to view the falls if you do not have a passport to see the falls from Canada.

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I liked this.

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I also liked this one.  Notice the spider web in the corner . . .

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I shot this from the bridge.  As you can see, the falls are just amazing.

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This is a view from the Canadian side.

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This plaza is on the Canadian side.  It was so beautiful!

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This is the international bridge.  You can drive or walk across it.

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I am on the plaza on the Canadian side, and the views only get better.

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I would like to point out the tiny little people that look like ants . . . can you see them?

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This part of Niagara Falls is on the American side, but you can only enjoy it in its entirety from the Canadian side.

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I liked this double decker bus.  Outside of China, I don’t think I’ve seen another one in person.

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Breathtaking view from the Canadian side of the American falls.

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This is a photo of the Canadian falls.

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The American falls as viewed from the Canadian side.

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This is the horseshoe.  The left part of the image is in America and the right side is in Canada.

It was amazing.

Spectacular.

A MUST SEE . . . for us at least.  The kids didn’t really care about Niagara Falls.  I’m pretty sure Hannah would have loved going to a playground and getting a Happy Meal much more than staring at water falling.

In a nutshell: You must go to Canada to visit the falls, or don’t go at all.  :)

Niagara Falls Sneak Peak September 15, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Beauty, New York, Trips , 1 comment so far

This is a little sneak peak of our trip to Niagara Falls this last weekend.

It was AMAZING.

SPECTACULAR.

BREATHTAKING.

I shot this at sunset from the observation tower on the American side of the falls.

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I shared the deck with like 500 other excited tourist and their cameras.  Thanks to my tripod, people moved out of my way.  :)

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This is the Canadian skyline as viewed from the American side of the falls.

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It was so beautiful.  I love the rich neon colors.

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This big spotlight lights up the falls at night.  Obviously, the falls are much more amazing to view at night from the Canadian side.

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This is upstream from the American falls.  It was a raging tempest as the water rushed over the cliff.

I cannot express in words how beautiful Niagara Falls is.  Really.  It is AMAZING.

I’m still sorting and editing pictures from our trip, but I’ll post them soon.

Can’t take a trip to see Niagara in person?  Stay tuned and I’ll take you on a picture journey.  You’re going to like it.  :)

Family Photos September 14, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Family, Little Man Dallin, My Handsome Husband, New York, Photography, Princess Hannah , 10comments

My mom has asked me no less than 457 times for an updated family picture.

Apparently, the snapshot she has of us sans Dallin is not sufficient.

Easy enough, right?

I have been dragging my feet on this.  Why?

However . . .

Against all odds, we did it.

After choosing something to wear from our limited wardrobe options (we only packed for six weeks), we walked outside our front door to the next building over which has a very nice large red wall.

After bribing our kids (I’m referring to Hannah) with a future full of suckers, candy, and all things fun and nice, if she would just LOOK at the camera, we actually got some shots with all of us looking in the same direction.

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Little Dallin had no idea why were all staring at the camera.  It was not exciting.  It didn’t talk to us, make us laugh, or tell us what to do.

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The kids were pretty cooperative for about 10 minutes.

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Hannah wanted a turn with the remote, so while I explained the complex logistics of pressing the button, Dallin wondered  why we were still sitting on the grass staring at the camera.

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Well, he’d had it.  No more staring at the boring camera.

There you have it, our 10 minute family photo session.

One of these pictures will be sent to both sets of parents.

My mom will now sleep better at night.

Which one should I send?

The Diggs September 12, 2009

Posted by Emily in : New York, Photography , 4comments

WARNING: Snoozer post ahead.  No, really.  You might just wonder why you stopped by today.

Some of you have inquired about our place, so this post is for you.

If you’re wondering if I’m talking about you . . . well, I might be.

If you asked me to post pictures, or heck, even thought, “Hey, I wish she would post some pictures of her furnished rental in that cool building.”  I’m talking to you.  :)

I photographed this apartment for the apartment manager.  We actually rented this place sight unseen (I swore I’d never do that again, but what can I say) because there were no pictures available of the place.

Keep in mind that we do actually live here.  Normally, toys are strewn about, children are popping in and out of the rooms, and Paris is usually peering  around the corner.

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This is the front door and the longest hallway ever. The hallway connects to Dallin’s room on one end and Hannah’s on the other.  This runs the length of the building.

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Our front room.

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Hannah’s room.

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Our room.

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Dallin’s room.

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Another view of Dallin’s room.

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The kitchen is in the middle of the house, which means there are no windows.

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I thought this would drive me crazy, but as you can see, we have a lot of fluorescent lights which make our house as bright as noon day even when it’s midnight.

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The nook.

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This apartment used to be a telemarketing business.  That means we have a false ceiling, with a lot of lights, and tons of outlets.

So, there you have it.  :)

The Shortlist September 11, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Christmas, Church, Daily Life, Family, New York, Photography, Projects , 3comments

We have many adventures to share and many pictures to post.  (I know some of you are thinking, “How is that possible?  MORE Pictures?”  Well, it’s true.)

I have been anxiously engaged with school, being a mom, wife, dog lover, chef, and maid.  On top of all this, I am working on my website.

In just a few short days (or longer, who knows . . . I’m waiting on my logo) I will launch my photography website and business.

I will be offering my skills to photograph families.  I will have prints for purchase.

The fun part of putting my site together is complete (the good stuff like picture galleries) but I’m still working out some details which means: The very, very, boring, nitty gritty needs to be done.

This is the short list:

I have no pictures for this post.

Gasp.

I. KNOW.

But, I’m happy to share a couple of unrelated random images with you:

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This very public bathroom is in the vacant Masonic Temple upstairs in our building.  I’m sure it had walls around it once.  I mean, I hope it did.  I wake up from nightmares like this . . . needing to use the bathroom and every bathroom I find is very public toilet.

Trust me, it’s a nightmare.

And this:

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This alley is adjacent to a small patch of grass where I take Paris to the bathroom.  During daylight hours, this alley is friendly.  After the sun goes down, it’s a completely different story.  I try to avoid this spot and use another patch of grass in the parking lot, but sometimes I forget.

It freaks me out.

I’m not into Sci-Fi, and I certainly hated watching the X-Files, and this alley looks like something straight out of that show.

Go ahead and shiver.  I just did.

Have an exciting weekend!

Fall Leaves? September 10, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Church, New York, Photography , 3comments

We are only in Palmyra for couple of more weeks.

I don’t think the leaves are going to change in time for me to photograph the “fall leaves” out here.  :(

I took these pictures of the Sacred Grove a few days ago.

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This place is so beautiful, it makes me happy.

I could probably overlook the fact that the leaves aren’t changing fast enough to fit my schedule.

What She Prays About September 9, 2009

Posted by Emily in : Church, Daily Life, Kansas, New York, Parenthood, Princess Hannah , 2comments

Everyone should have a three year old.

Even, if only to hear them pray.

Oh my.  The things they pray for . . . so adorable.

In a recent prayer, Hannah thanked Heavenly Father for:

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We love to hear her pray. Often, David and I will find ourselves opening our eyes and looking at each other when she says something so cute, but sincere from her little heart.

So adorable.