Hey there! I have been on an unexpected blogging break for the last two weeks but I am itching to get back into the swing of things. I was hoping to make a {pretty, happy, funny, real} today but I never made it to the computer. Since this day has less than two hours left I am trying something new instead. (I have lots of photos this week so I’ll do {p, h, f, r} tomorrow.)
I came across a new blog this morning – The Anderson Crew: Our Life with 3 Boys & 3 Little Ladies. I went on her site and Mat Kearney was playing and she had an awesome post called embrace the camera: 8/16/12. I fell in love.
She said in part:

i have been hosting embrace the camera for over 2 years now. 2 years of being intentional about getting some pictures of myself. and 2 years of inspiring others to do the same thing. we probably won’t ever look exactly how we’d like to look, so what is the point in waiting to capture ourselves on camera? we’ll always have flabby arms, roots that are 3 inches deep, a belly that looks like we’re 5 months pregnant, but ironically, we’re not…that is just the gift of having babies. 5 of them to be exact. we won’t ever be at the weight we’d like to be at. we’ll always be in need of make-up, or more sleep, or a brush for our hair. always. we’ll never be perfect. and yet, we hardly get in any pictures cause we think “just wait till i lose those 15 pounds” or “not today, i didn’t get a shower” (this is me everyday, by the way, since i only shower like once a week—TMI?)
the point is, time is passing by. as each second passes, it’s one second closer to us not being here. we may live 50 more years, or we may live 5 more days. we don’t know how long our time on this earth will be. it’s crucial that you get in more photos…for your loved ones. i laid down for a nap today, and as i was drifting to sleep, i thought hard about my childhood with my mother. i don’t have a lot of good memories associated with my mom, but the good ones i do have, are there because of a picture that goes along with it. i’m not saying that your kids won’t have any good thoughts about you unless you get a picture. i’m saying that those memories are vivid to me, because of a picture…

I find it a little humorous that Emily is worried about how she looks in the photos since she is gorgeous but we’ll let that go for now. 😉 Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a sucker for photographs – taking them and looking through old photos from the past and present. I love how a click of the camera can capture a moment in time and preserve it forever. You can look at that photo and recall the thoughts and emotions that were going through your mind at the time. It can draw the persons in the photo closer to your heart.
Emily’s reminder to make sure we are included in those numerous family photos and candid shots is what we need to hear since most of the time we moms are the ones snapping the pictures and we often think we aren’t “fixed up” enough to be in the shot.
Well, that was a rather long intro to a simple photograph taken this week at the beach. I think Bella and I have gotten a lot closer over the summer. Between our mom & daughter journal and being the only girls amongst the boys, we’ve formed a special bond that has yet to be tested by the teens years. 🙂



So grab your camera and snap a shot!