forty one whole years.

December 16th 1970 this happened:

papa tom and mama jan were hitched!

(are they not so cute?)

fast forward a year or two and baby becky joined their small family

fast forward ten or twelve years and they went from having one baby to having six!

this picture has no relevance but i just really like it.

fast forward another four or five years and BLAM. i'm born! 

and yet another picture i just really like but has little significance to this story.

another five years later and oldest sister becky got married. 

(with second oldest and new husband beating them out by a month)

fifteen years later rob made the marriage plunge and everyone else did in-between. 

and this brings us to 2011.

add in all the spouses and kids that they've collected over the years and you have this. 

well. not even this. this is actually inaccurate and is missing a handful of us.

i just got thinking today about how my parents have been married for 41 years and what an amazing thing that is. 

2 people + love + faith = 7 children

and then

7 children (okay six) + spouses + love + faith = 29 grandkids 

2 + 7 + 6 + 29 + one on the way (!) = 45 people 

(including a little one on the way!!)

45 family members after just 41 years?  i think that is pretty dang awesome.

i also think i can speak for all of us in saying that we love you and are so grateful to be a part of your eternal family! 

Happy Anniversary mom and dad! Love you so much!

ps happy birthday today mindy! love you!

sundays with grandpa moon are the best.

two weeks ago we went up to malad idaho to surprise my grandpa. we went to church with him and my nieces and their friend played their violins for the prelude and it was beautiful. the whole meeting a sweet spirit filled the room and i was filled with gratitude for my family, the gospel, and the blessings that come from those two things.

afterwards we headed back to his home and ate a delicious brunch and just talked and enjoyed each others company.

or to be more accurate, i took pictures as everyone else talked (but i still enjoyed their company).

my cute aunt had a date with this nice guy dave to the left and to the right would be those parents i love so much.

i wish i had more pictures with grandpa as a child so i do my best to take pictures of him with his great grandkids. his interactions with them are always the sweetest.

aaaand i guess janie was done sitting on his lap

lately i'm on this ijustneedtotakepicturesofpeopledoingreallifethings and also ineedtotakepicturesofthedetailsthatwon'talwaysbearound kick because i'm realizing more and more that life changes quickly and i just want to document the moments or things that won't always be there.

like there are so many things we don't think to photograph because it isn't out of the ordinary. for example i was just told that the great red fireplace in my cabin was taken out this week and they are replacing the best red shag carpet. i so wish i took a picture of the whole room so i could remember how it looked before everything is changed but i don't think i did because i didn't think it would ever change. do you see what i'm saying?  i digress.

anyway. these are my grandpa's trees. he LOVES his trees.

he also has a great pink one but sadly didn't put it out this year.

toddler janie who absolutely would not share that toy with her sister

sometimes my niece is taller than me. we've known this for awhile but felt it should be documented.

lilly's face makes me laugh

speaking of lilly, i love her. we are both the youngest child of families of seven kids and i was there when she was born so i just feel this special little connection with her and wish i could put her in my pocket and have her with me always. thanks to emmy (and kevin) for taking my camera every so often that day. sometimes it is nice to know i was there too haha

janie and kloe are realllly good at smiling

and by good i mean they (or at least janie) hated it. the picture above would be her saying

 "don't take a picture of me!" and that wasn't the first time she said those words to me that day

my grandpa moon is the best grandpa ever. i feel i can say this because my other grandpa, my dad's father, died when my dad was nine so i've never had the opportunity to know him. i'm sure if i did know him, i would say the same about him too.

my grandpa was nice and let me take pictures of him for a few minutes.

he has so much character in his face and i wanted to capture every wrinkle, all that hair, his facial expressions, mannerisms, and of course his love for christmas in the background.

my favorite of the day can be found here.

bnotd = my grandpa got new hearing aids! it was so nice to be able to talk to him and feel like he really could hear what i was saying (rather than just pretend to!). and i love how he always stands or walks with his hands behind his back. such a cute grandpa.

all growing up i didn't really like going to idaho, i felt like it was too rural for me and there was nothing to do (so typical of a little kid right?). now that i'm older i love being there and being surrounded with farm equipment, old trucks, his barn, and of course cows.

(and that teepee? i have no idea where that came from but i like it)

as we were about to drive away my mom suggested i take a few pictures of his cows so i jumped out of the car and started snapping. they loved the camera and all kept pushing forward to be seen! okay, i think what really happened is they thought i was going to open the gate but i'm just going to pretend otherwise.

so. many. cows! 

i'm really so happy we had the opportunity to spend such a nice sunday afternoon in idaho.  i know my time with my grandpa is limited and even thought i hate to admit it, one day he won't be here anymore, so i'm really grateful this day happened and i will  cherish it always. aaaand coming home and being able to see the first presidency Christmas devotional was a perfect way to end a perfect day!

i love perfect days.  

i just found these photos and had to post them asap.

so before i left on my  mission i just had a few simple wishes. one was to go rollerblading (which happened) and to do one last bonfire up the canyon with friends. everyone was really nice to humor me and make it happen and it was just a big fat mhs reunion! 

please take note that brynne is drawing me as a missionary with "ni hao!" written above it. ..in the dark. 

brynne's face in most of these is the best. 

i really wish i remembered what was happening here

..or here

i wish i could tell who those two boys in the back are

 even sara married came!

 haha

makeshift jenga?

i hope this was as fun for you as it was for me! i was seriously dying looking at all of these.

i realize that maybe at the time it wasn't so random and it just seems random now because everyone has gone their separate ways but still real funny to me. that realization makes me kind of sad because at one time i was really good friends with everyone in these pictures but i guess that is just what growing up is all about? anyway. if any of you come across this post, i'll always have a special place in my heart for our friendship. i'm thankful you were all so nice to make my wish come true!