i ❤ spring!

every other week we have family dinner.  my brother and sister and their families come over.  

i always sit between the boys...the honored place for the favorite auntie!

the weather today was the best it's been in a long time so after dinner 

everyone went out to the backyard to play for a while.  

we had a great time!

my favorite moments of the week are always the moments i get to spend with these kids.

 

i just love this picture! "tag! you're it!" one of the kid's favorite games

"are you gonna push me, or what?"

my other favorite quote from him tonight, "i'm just having fun!"
it's not difficult to have fun when i'm with these kids.

after they left i went downstairs to my cave
tried to decide what to do with myself for the rest of the night.
sunday nights are a little depressing for me these days.
i used to love sunday nights because i spent them
at firesides and ward prayer with my dear friends.
those days are over though...
so now i spend most sunday nights alone.

the moment i started to sink,
i decided it was too nice a night to spend wallowing in self pity and loneliness.
i grabbed my ipod, notebook, sunglasses, and camera and headed out on foot.

 

some pretty trees i saw as i was walking through the neighborhood. 

i like the white blossoms against such a gorgeous blue sky

i ended up at the park behind the elementary school in the neighborhood

my favorite part of going to the park has always been the swings! 

i love the feeling of flying 

the rise and fall

the rush of air around me

the flutter in my tummy

 all my muscles felt tight when i got to the park so i decided to lie down in the grass and stretch...

...and took some fun pictures

this is kind of how my world has been recently, just a little wonky

 i love the clean, breathable air and the sweet, freshness of the earth this time of year.  i lay in the grass for at least 15 minutes, just taking pictures and loving the lack of coldness...it's been a long winter and the hope of spring was an amazing tender mercy today.

 the sky was beautiful!

i caught a glimpse of a small rainbow shining through the wisps at the top of the cloud...though i didn't get my camera out fast enough to take a better picture, you can kind of see it.

i love little things like that. it's possible that no one else in the world saw that tonight so i can claim it as a little gift from Heaven just for me.  i guess that's a lesson, we see what we're looking for.  i was looking for beauty and tender mercies in heaven and i found one.

 these are a couple more pretty pictures of the pre-sunset.

as i mentioned, my favorite part of going to the park is swinging!  here's a picture i took while soaring. 

when i first sat on the swing, i thought of my nephew

"are you gonna push me, or what?"

now, don't get me wrong, i've been pushing myself on the swing for many years, but they've done something to the swings at this particular park and i can barely touch the tip of my toe to the ground when i am sitting on the swing.  add to that the fact that i was trying not to drop my camera while hoisting myself onto the swing, so i didn't have the best footing for liftoff.

for a moment i sat nearly motionless

 

 

 

then i started to wiggle

lean forward

and backward

kick my feet around

and in a few seconds...

i was flying!

it would have been easier to reach great heights with someone else there to give me an initial nudge

but if someone else had been there, they might have distracted me from the beauty...

or they might have gotten bored waiting for me to find the right shot...

i'm sometimes insecure about taking pictures when others are around.

what if they don't like what i'm doing?

what if they get in the way and block my shot?

what if they want to leave before i'm ready?

on the other hand, they could add to the picture...

they certainly add to the moment...

i can get myself swinging on my own 

and i can take pictures that i want to take
but sometimes it's more fun to have someone else there too.
for tonight, i'm grateful i was content on my own.

i'm grateful for the warmth and beauty of today

i'm grateful for the pictures i was able to take

it's been too long since i've sought out photographic opportunities

 especially in nature

i really need to do that more often this spring and summer