The Gold Family

How to raise girls right.

Growing up I never understood that my friends were allowed

to come and go with their boyfriends as they pleased.

As a parent, I am even more perplexed by the parents

who not

only let their young daughters date,

but encourage them to do so.

It’s crazy and foreign to me.

Just like my mom and dad

and LG’s mom and dad,

we will stand by the no dating until 16 rule.

We want to keep our girls innocent and pure,

and have every expectation that they will

live according to God’s command

and follow in our footsteps

and save themselves

until marriage.

Read on for some really great rules to raising girls right.

This time General Conference was especially special for me.

Of course, the talk about how to be a good dad to girls

was totally awesome.

I am so grateful that my girls have such a great daddy.

The ideas presented by Elaine Dalton,

who just had three sons welcome new baby girls

within a three week span, are timely, true, and tender.

Make sure you go over and watch.

Then conveniently leave it open for your hubby to find.

And if you really want to be safe,

you can always use this date my daughter application

used by the father of a good family friend.

Yeah, seriously.

He was a cop once.

And he was ultra safe.

Almost even too conservative for this conservative.

But most definitely on the certifiably paranoid schizophrenia side.

After reading this application again

and chuckling, I think God was really

good to our girls

to give them a gentle giant of a father

to even out their crazy mom.

But, at least I am not this crazy:

APPLICATION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER

NOTE: This application will be incomplete and rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, driving record, lineage, and current certified medical report (including drug tests) from your doctor.
1. NAME ___________________________________________DATE OF BIRTH ________________ PLEASE PRINT FOR INSCRIPTION ON TOMB STONE

2. HEIGHT ______________ WEIGHT __________ I.Q _______G.P.A.____________
3. SOCIAL SECURITY # _____________ DRIVERS LICENSE # __________________
4. BOY SCOUTRANK____________________________________________________
5. HOME ADDRESS _________________ CITY/STATE___________ ZIP __________

6. Do you have one MALE and one FEMALE parent? ___yes___no

If No, EXPLAIN______________________________________________________
7. Number of years your parents have been married________________________________
8. Do you own a van? ______ A truck with oversizedtires? ______ A waterbed? _________
Do you have an earring, nose ring, belly buttonring, or a tattoo? _____________________
(If “yes” to any of #8, discontinue applicationand leave premises

9. In 50 words or less, what does “LATE” mean to you?_________________________________________________________________________________________________
10. In 50 words or less, what does “DON’T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER” mean to you? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. In 50 words or less, what does “HER FATHER IS A SNIPER” mean to you?________________

12. Church you attend _____________

How often do you attend ______________________

13. When would be the best time to interview yourfather, mother and priest/rabbi/minister?____________________________________

14. Answer by filling in the blank: please answer freely. ALL answers are confidential
(That means I won’t tell anyone -ever- Ipromise.)
a) If I were shot, the last place on my body Iwould want wounded is _________________________________
b) If I were beaten, the last bone I would wantbroken is my   ______________________________________
c) A woman’s place is in the   ______________________________________
d) The one thing I hope this application does not ask me about is _________________________

e) When I first meet a girl, the first thing I notice about her is ______________________________________ (NOTE: If your answer begins with “T” or “A”,discontinue. Leave premises keeping your head low. Running in a serpentine fashion is advised.)
15. What do you want to be IF you grow up?____________________________________

Please Review the Following Nine Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you’d better be delivering a package, because you’re sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or handsoff of my daughter’s body, I will remove them. Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely thatthey appear to be falling off their hips. Please don’t take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big,and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during thecourse of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely inplace to your waist.

Rule Four: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughtersafely back at my house, and the only word I need fromyou on this subject is “early.”

Rule Five: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, if you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Six: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time forthe movie, you should not be dating. My daughter istrying to fix her hair, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of juststanding there, why don’t you do something useful,like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Seven: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas,or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Placeswhere there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough toinduce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater,and a goose down parka – zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay.Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Eight: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied,balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing,merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance totell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a sniper rifle, a shovel, and fiveacres down by the horses. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Nine: Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in thedriveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up,the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. Assoon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak theperimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, thenreturn to your car – there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.Should any of the above rules be misunderstood, and broken you may feel the need to run.

However you need to remember that I have my Sniper Dope (ranging abilities) out to 1000 yards, in low light conditions.Should you run you’ll only die tired!

I SWEAR THAT I HAVE READ ALL THE RULES AND THAT ALL INFORMATION SUPPLIED ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH,DISMEMBERMENT, NATIVE AMERICAN ANT TORTURE,ELECTROCUTION, CHINESE WATER TORTURE, AND RED HOT POKERS.

______________________________________________________________

Signature (That means sign your name) Thank you for your interest. Please allow four to sixyears for processing. You will be notified in writingif you are approved. Please do not try to call orwrite. If you do attempt any communication before yourapplication is approved, automatic disqualificationwill result. If your application is rejected, you will be notifiedby two gentlemen wearing white ties and carryingviolin cases (You might want to watch your back). This is your “last chance” to check your answers.Perhaps you should check your response to question#10. This guy didn’t get it!Do you still want to date my daughter?

_____ Yes, please accept my application

_____ I um, no, I uh, think I have the wrong house.

Wolverine through and through

For you readers who aren’t familiar
with Utah,
last week was The Holy War.
That means that the holier than thou team BYU
got spanked by the rebellious Utah Utes.

I have a few suggestions for the team’s improvement,
inspired by photos of my kids and their cousins.

Maybe before their next football game,
the BYU Cougars
should go to The Bean Museum
for some inspiration
on their animal instincts?

They could learn to stare down and intimidate their opponents.

Charge like an ostrich.

If all else fails they could just be silly

and hope some laughs could get them some yardage.

Blending in may get them better results.

Or even crouching beneath the other team.

Maybe they just need some glasses?

Or maybe they won’t play any fair opponents at all

because they are just like helpless little mice.

How about this great idea?

We should just lock all the players in the elevator with our kids.

That might give them some better training then they’ve been getting.

Our future BYU cheerleader still looks good

even though she just experienced

two great defeats in the same week:

BYU’s 54-10 loss,

and a broken arm.

Poor Sophia.

Maybe the Cougars could change their mascot
to something a little more fierce
that can actually beat a Ute?

Did I mention that we aren’t really BYU fans?
Go Utah Valley University.
Everyone knows that Wolverines
are better than Cougars,
and usually a little more humble.

If you agree with me that UVU
is the best higher education
in Utah,
or you just loathe BYU,
how about you like my blog on facebook?
Look to your right sidebar.
You’re one click away from being my newest fan.

Your love is better than ice-cream

I am so excited to present my original idea.

It’s gonna put me in a higher realm

with my oh so crafty friends.

Trust me when I say you don’t want

to miss out on hitting the read more button.

My mom brought me these great frames from the thriftstore.

They are black with red matting.

They match my kitchen-aid.

Remember this post about me and red.

There was one problem with the frames,

they had safari animal prints.

They hung with the original prints

for the past 4 months

until I got sick of explaining my

fake love for Africa.

I took some photos a while back,

that I intended to use.

And I finally found the time

to edit them and put them to good use.

I present the best dining area framed photos

of all time.

I know you are all going to copy me.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Lay off the ice-cream shots.

They are mine.

All mine.

As is LG’s favorite song.

Your love is better than ice-cream.

I love how the added text

combines the love LG and I have for each other

with the love we also have for and from our kids.

I would show you the photo of how cute they are on the wall,

but I am too lazy to get my camera back out.

I guess you’ll just have to come over and see it for yourself.

Definitely do come over.

It’s just too bad you weren’t here the first time Caroline

discovered the photos on the my wall

and bubbily exclaimed,

“Look mom, it’s my Caroline.”

Sometimes two year olds are too cute.

I am pretty sure God intended it to be that way,

so we don’t kill them when they go and sling dog poop

And LG, your love is better than ice-cream,

and chocolate molten cakes,

and Olive garden,

and Cafe Rio,

and rootbeer floats,

and chocolate covered strawberries

combined.

Scenes from the Utah trail

We were going to go on another
family bike ride for
Family Home Evening
last night
until we realized
it was a bad idea
because of Sophia’s broken arm.

So, we had Abigail give a lesson instead
from True to the Faith.
She had to do it for Personal Progress.
Might as kill two birds with one stone.

She taught us all about
modesty and profanity.

Abigail was sure to look in my direction
on that second one.
Damn semantics.
I can’t do it all.
And my pet sin is
an occasional swear word.
Didn’t it work for
J. Golden Kimball?

And really
what is the difference between
saying DANG or DAMN?
Go ahead,
feel free to enlighten me
and judge me
and tell me how evil I am.
I am such a horrible mother.
As evidenced by dinner
being served at almost
8 p.m. last night.

Whatever you do,
make sure and tell your kids not to read
my blog.
I would hate to be a role model.
The thought of it makes me cringe.

Sorry for the tangent.
Back to the bike ride.
We love riding in Utah.
It’s our family hobby.
And oh so much fun.

Check out the view
and tell me you don’t want to join us.

Yep, those are two deer,

right up the road.

Abigail said

“Mom, look,

it’s the kind of tree

that every kid draws.”

Only seen in Utah

and children’s doodle books

in your part of the world.

P.S. Biking is a great cheap source of entertainment.
And, did I mention great exercise?

Potter Gold

Have I ever told you about the time
that I told LG that I thought Potter
would be a really cool first name for a boy?
I like surnames for boys.

LG looked at me
and said,
“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“Alice. Think harder.”

Me: “What?”

“Potter?”

“Yeah Potter.
Isn’t it cute?”

LG:
“Hmm. Potter.”
(giving me more time to think)
“Potter Gold.”
(said with his best British accent)

Me:
“Oh no!
Well, maybe someone else can use it.”

One, it just can’t go with Gold.
Two, everyone knows
we will never get a boy.

Here are some more photos of our
farewell to Potter.

Me and my main man.
Before the party.

Me as Bellatrix.

I love how this photo turned out.
Don’t mine the cleavage please.

Don’t mess with me.

This is Launi.

It was her party that we attended

for our final Potter premiere.

LG at the party.

I so wanted to use the real word on his shirt.

Maybe if we were still in TN.

I decided to censor

Mrs. Weasley’s

B word.

Making me a better mother.

Here is Mad Eye Moody

as a boy.

Harry Potter comes to the 21st

century as a middle aged boxer.

All the prizes.

The sorting hat.

Hagrid and Mrs. Trelawney.

I never knew they were married.

Doesn’t LG look so excited

about our big date night.

Thanks for being a good sport honey.

I wish LG could have figured out a way to

smuggle home Dobby.

Yummy couldron cakes

from Sweet Tooth Fairy.

Here is Lyndi Lou.

Launi is her mom.

I’m her visiting teacher.

I love this man.

I think that

Gryffindor’s beanie works for him.

Not quite the same.

But close enough.

Caroline sports Tom Riddle’s diary

for the matinee the next day.

Abigail pretending she is about

to get on the Hogwart’s Express.

Bella is as close as we are going to get

to having a real Potter Gold.

Camping at Nunn’s Park

One really great cheap summer/fall activity is camping.

I think we pulled off this excursion

for the price of $15 for the site (group rate)

and $20 in groceries.

(It helps a lot to combine efforts with other families.

We didn’t share our smores though.)

If you don’t have the gear just borrow some.

I love living in the state of Utah

with all its camping abundance.

I LOVE CAMPING!

I can’t wait until all of our kids get old enough

to start backpacking.

There is something so relaxing about

leaving the rush of the world

and entering God’s country.

Nunn’s Park is so close,

we took full advantage

when a bunch of our neighbors

planned a great excursion.

This is how we do camping in Utah.

Warning:

Picture overload.

Good food is a must.

Scones are a local delicacy.

Thank you to Marilyn

for setting up shop.

And to Marilyn’s hubby

for all the frying.

Good stuff.

But you must buy the honey butter in the squirty jar.

mm mm good.

Don’t try cooking the scones

in the tent.

It’s not a good idea.

Before the sun goes down,

everybody needs to hop on their bikes.

You don’t want to miss out on the local beauty.

This one is called Bridal Veil Falls.

The kids always love anything

that includes water and rocks.

Of course there is more than one kind of beauty

that needs admiring.

Kick back and enjoy the campfire.

Smores are a must.

The kids love the tent so much that they don’t mind going to bed.

Of course camping is a lot more high tech than it used to be.

But some of the perks of camping remain the same.

Like mom and dad in their own tent.

Alone.

Of course I wasn’t talking about THAT.

You guys have such dirty minds.

Campsites are a lot closer than they used to be.

Which is why you will get your clothes back on,

get out of your tent at 2 am,

walk over to the camp full of 100 Spanish speakers

squeezed into a site made for one family,

and ask them nicely to keep it down.

In the morning, you wake the kids up at the crack of dawn,

and put them to work!

Don’t go without your favorite sausage.

And if you invite Colleen Gleason,

she will make the biggest best batch

of homemade pancake mix that you have ever seen.

Being the mother of 7 has it’s qualifiers you know.

Feeding the masses is very important.

Seriously, I mean to get her recipe.

I will share.

All kinds of grain.
And scrumptious.
She makes one big food bucket

and just adds water as she goes.

She says she used to use a bucket in two months.
When all her kids were at home.

I think I could give her a run for her money

with just four kids.

Of course because I would have to eat three pancakes

from every batch.

We plan to do a lot more camping.

Now that we are free from humidity and all varieties of bugs.

I laugh that Utah mothers actually carry around bug spray.
Are you kidding me?

Biking As A Family

We have been doing a lot of biking in the past few months.

Can I tell you again how much I love

Utah’s sidewalks?

I have am so blessed

with a great family

and 5 bikes and a trailer.

The other day,

after a particularly long ride,

Bella said the funniest thing to me

right before we arrived back home:

“Mom, when we get home,

I am never going to be able to get

my underwear off.”

She must have somehow managed the task

on her own

because she never asked for any help.

See, I told you I was so blessed.

Two Nerds on a Tandem

Two nerds are riding along on a tandem, when suddenly, the one on the front slams on the brakes, gets off and starts letting air out of the tires.

The one on the back says: “HEY! What are you doing that for!?”

The first nerd says, “My seat was too high and was hurting my butt. I wanted to lower it a bit.”

So the one in the back has had enought. He jumps off, loosens his own seat and spins it round to face the other direction.

Now it’s the first guy’s turn to wonder what’s going on. “What are you doing?” he asks his friend.

“Look mate,” says the rider in the back, “if you’re going to do stupid stuff like that, I’m going home!!”

The Abbey Road Show

We had the great privilege of witnessing

the Abbey Road Show

in Provo

last Friday, July 1st.

Local Provo artists

covered the songs from

The Beatles’

Abbey Road.

And they were

A-MAZ-ING!!

I think it was on my facebook

on our way home from the concert

that I said that they were better than

the original.

And I meant it.

You know how we are

true Beatles fans

around here.

I would never say that

The Provosts

were better than the original

lightly.

Ryan Innes was my favorite.

Go and check him out.

It was the most amazing concert

I’ve ever attended.

And if the whole concert wasn’t good enough,

guess how it ended?

Me snuggled up to LG

watching 3 of our 4 kids

rock out

to our favorite

Hey Jude.

The song was awesome.

And then as if God was

putting his own stamp of approval

on the experience

(as it was an experience,

not just a concert)

fireworks started going off all around us.

I won’t lie.

I teared up.

Quite possibly,

this concert made my

life’s

Top 10

moments.

Seriously.

And guess what?

At the beginning of the concert,

before very many people had arrived.

I walked right past

that CJane

and I didn’t even say Hi.

Because she is too good for me.

And I am not giving her the time of day.

And I didn’t want to

sound desperate like the other girl

who was saying,

“I know you don’t know me,

but I have a blog,

and I follow yours religiously.”

CJane’s response:

“Oh, don’t we all know each other?”

Oh really then?

Why don’t you return my e-mails,

if you know me?

Huh? Huh?

Not all bloggers are created equal.

And LG says my best revenge

will be to get a greater

readership.

Which I will do.

And when her 5 minutes of fame are over

and mine are happening,

I will show her how to be nice,

and I will return her e-mail.

Oh yeah,

back to the

most amazing concert.

I will give it to CJane

about her rooftop series.

Best concert of all time.

Really.

Even if I am pretty sure that the

people who set up for the concert,

set up chairs and blankets in

any good viewing spot of the stage

early in the day

I won’t hold a grudge.

As we could hear the music,

and that is all that matters really.

We were maybe number 50-55 to arrive

and there was not a single place to

lay out our blankets

where we could actually see the stage.

boo hiss!

But really –

Mountains.

Rooftop.

Paper lanterns.

The NuSkin towers’ reflection

of the mountains.

Hoards of music lovers.

The Beatles.

Amazing musicians.

Perfect weather.

Families

dancing together

and

Fireworks.

What else could a girl

ever ask for?

Not much.

Except a returned e-mail.

Or five?

Enjoy the photos.

And if you have never listened

to Judicial LG’s version

of Hey Jude.

You must head over now.

So bad

and hilarious.

(You can forgo CJane’s write-up and just go here for the video of the Hey Jude experience)

Artist Cherie Call.

She was

the opening act.

There she is.
It’s the best picture I could get with my little camera.
Like I said,
even though we arrived plenty early,
the only spots left
were in the back.
Waaaaay back.

The kids loved the street vendors.

Caroline wanted a doll really bad.

Caroline can’t wait for the music to start.

She’s got her dance on.

Oh, and do you remember the people watching we did last time?
And I told you that LG and I have a hard time understanding up to date fashion?
Check out this guy’s butt.
I have no idea why he thinks that skinny jeans can be worn like a gangster.
We got shot after shot of his underwear throughout the night.
I wonder if he would even care
if he knew we were checking him out.

Glad we had something to make us laugh
while we were waiting for the music to start.

Don’t miss the fireworks.

So, on Saturday night at 10 pm, LG and I were walking out of the temple.
Yes, this temple. How amazing is that?

From our view up on the hill, there were fireworks going off all over the valley. It was absolutely breathtaking.

LG informed me that The Stadium of Fire would be happening any moment. For some reason, in my mind, I thought that it was going to happen on the actual 4th.

I decided we should hurry home and find a spot to watch the fireworks.

To my dismay, when we got home, the kids had no interest whatsoever in breaking away from the TV.

I pried their bodies and eyes from the tube, and made them pile in the car. I was not about to miss the fireworks, especially after this post.

As we drove down State street (Utah Valley’s version of Knoxville’s Kingston Pike) I was overwhelmed by so many US flags lit up along the road. The patriotism of Utahns is not only efficacious but admirable. People either love America here or they display their stars and stripes to compete with all the other businesses. And by all, I mean ALL. Everyone has a flag. Everyone.

The kids were grumbling during the whole drive.
Why do we have to do this?
We don’t want to watch the fireworks.
Let’s just go back home.
wah wah wah.

I told them to keep their eyes on the flags and to sing along.
I started loud and strong:

This land is your land, this land is my land….nothing but my voice.
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies….again, nothing from the back seats.
She’s a grand old flag, she’s a high flying flag….”Shut up, mom.”
God bless America….”Really, Alice, do you have to sing so loud?” said quietly by LG so the kids wouldn’t hear; I’m assuming he didn’t want to totally stomp on my love for country.
I’m proud to be an American….(even louder than before)

By this time the kids were all horrified and hating their mother and her motherland.

And guess what? By the time we got to Provo’s end of State from our northern end of Orem’s State, all we could see was traffic. The traffic was heading towards us, not with us.

Yes, I hate to tell you, Murphy’s Law is still in full effect, and has no respect for a nation’s holiday celebrated two days early or a very loud and song singing patriotic mother. We had missed the fireworks.

More grumbling, complaining, and whining ensued.

LG and I were not about to miss a good opportunity for teaching our kids.

Me: “Knock it off you guys, at least we still live in a country that has firework celebrations.”
LG: “There are a lot of kids in this world that would die to be in this car right now.”
Me: “Or to even have a car.”
LG: “Or to have a mother.”
Abigail: “Not if their mom sang like that.”
Me: “Especially if their mom sang like that.”
LG: “Yeah, think of all the kids out there that don’t live a country where they have mothers.” (O.k. I just made that up.) I think he really said, “You should be grateful for a mother who can sing, and cook, and do laundry.”

Abigail: “At least parents in other countries would be smart enough NOT to drive their family into the middle of the traffic jam, especially when their family missed the show.”
Me: “Well, at least there are other Americans with cars.”
LG: “And at least your mom can see in the dark and drive.”
Bella: “Mom, STOP!” (I admit it I barely missed that car in front of me.)

Anyhow, the conversation went on for a bit. And there was no chance of it stopping.
[In fact, it can still be happening if you want to comment what your best line would have been to the kids.]

Quietly, ever so quietly and with her Gold sense of perfect timing, Sophia chimes in. She must have looked up from reading Harry Potter for long enough to gather her sisters’ desperation for winning at the “Be glad you are American” game.

What does she say?
Brace yourself.

“Man, I wished I lived in Canada.”

Seven words. That’s all it takes to make a total complete disaster of an evening all worth it.
Good one Phia. Good one.
Average Americans should really consider more than 2.5 kids; they make everything more fun.

I told the kids that if they would sing their favorite patriotic song at the top of their lungs, then I would indeed STOP.

Abigail was loud and proud. I wonder where she gets that from?
“I’m a yankee doodle dandy. A yankee doodle, do or die.”

I am sure that all that traffic surrounding us was so grateful that they didn’t miss the real entertainment of the evening as I rolled all windows down.

And If I do say so myself those frostys from Wendy’s were the perfect consolation prize for everyone involved. Nothing like good old American food.

And when the song Firework came on the radio. I promise you, not just momma was singing. Even dad got in on the falsetto. Perfection, pure perfection.

We didn’t miss a thing. The fireworks had been going off in our car all night long.

And guess what? Utah loosened their firework laws this year. We can now shoot off 150 foot rockets from our very own neighborhoods. And on the real 4th of July, the sky was lit up in every direction we could turn. Our culdesac of fire was a billion times better than their Stadium of Fire. Fireworks in the sky on all four sides, coming from everywhere.

God bless America.

Family Photos in Beautiful Knoxville

Please excuse the post full of pictures of my beautiful family. It may not be that funny. But it will sure be some eye candy.

We’ve been married almost 14 years.

We’ve had 4 kids.

We’ve only had our photos taken at JC Pennies.

Do you spell JC Penny plural

JC Pennies or JC Penny’s?

Anyhow.

You get the point.

This is a confession that tells you two things about our family.

1 – We’ve been poor.

2- We didn’t value a good photographer near enough.

Our friend Jessie was a Saint.

She was in the middle of moving

and we were leaving the State of Tennessee

the very next day.

I had to have some pictures with

my precious dogwoods.

She not only obliged.

But, rocked the house.

Thank you Jessie.

I will love you forever.

Jessie is about to have her first baby any day, so she will probably take a little time off. Or she will be shoving her camera in the face of her best subject ever. She also happens to be a perfectionist. As evidenced by the photos. She doesn’t have a site yet, but if you want to be put in touch with her, just let me know. She will be in the Knoxville area for a little while longer.

I literally cried my eyes out while looking at these photos tonight.

How I miss my Tennessee.

We took these photos at the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum.

It’s a beautiful place, much like all of East Tennessee.

Lucky for us we got to enjoy it on a perfect Spring day.

It was raining.

Did I mention it was a perfect way to say goodbye.

This is where I wanted the photo, but Jessie being the professional that she is said that we couldn’t set it up right. But, thank you Jessie for sending me this one shot of THE spot. It’s just beautiful. And so fitting of TN. From my favorite trees, to the old rock structure, all the way to the rusted old metal.