My Favorite Pictures of 2008

Okay, so those of you who take the time to stop by and check out what we have been doing in our little corner of the world know that I love to take pictures. I decided that it would be a good chance for me to look back through my plethora of pictures for the ones that captured the year. Keep in mind, I have LOTS of pictures to go through so this actually has been a little painful because I have many favorites. These favorites are from before I began this blog.

This picture was not taken by me (but my friend, Jenn) from the top of my school building. This is every student and staff member from our school. The colors represent the six pillars of character: Trustworthiness - blue, Respect - yellow, Responsibility - green, Fairness - orange, Caring - red, and Citizenship - purple. I am working with a group of amazing people to improve the character of our community. It is something I believe strongly in and I am going to work this year to improve my character as well. You should join me!
In early March our school's "Miracles for Mikayla" campaign for Riley Children's Hospital was on. Our students brought in many items to be donated to the hospital to help brighten the lives of the children there. I am happy to report that we needed to take down two vans that were pretty full of donations. Belinda, Tracey, Sasha, Mikayla, Grace, and Mallory traveled down to help with the items. This picture has been precious to me (it is posted on Mallory's door). It shows how far Mikayla has come since being diagnosed with a brain tumor. In this picture I see Mallory being a friend to her very tired friend, Mikayla.

My money winning shot! I LOVE this picture so much and am happy to report that many people from the area will be looking at it for the month of August in the yearly calendar. Isn't that exciting???

Ahhh...you have to love it when Ryan gets behind me to make Mallory and Miles truly show their happy faces:). I still cannot believe that Miles kept the bunny ears on long enough for me to snap this shot!

Early in the year Mallory's artwork was chosen to be displayed at the FAME Festival. It was such a high honor. She was thrilled to go see her artwork and I have to admit that I had butterflies in my stomach that morning due to my excitement for her. We ended up having a fun day there and will more than likely go again this year.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Mallory. She looks all grown up. This hand, and other creative concrete structures, were outside of this wonderful restaurant I wanted to go to. This lady had been challenged by Bobby Flay of the Food Network and so I ended up ordering her "bourbon ball french toast". It sure was yummy!!!

The love between a brother and sister is...well...like oil and water mixing some times! They do love each other and this picture shows one of the high times.

In June we traveled down to Louisville for a weekend of fun. We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and then traveled south to see Thomas. We surprised Miles with it and boy was he ever surprised. I don't think I will ever forget his asking us when we were going back to our pretend house (the hotel). Not one of us had mentioned anything like that to him. Our day out with Thomas was a lot of fun.

No prompting for this face...just a little boy trying to make a statement I guess.

For the second time in her young life Mallory sold lemonade at the stand Ryan made for her two years ago. He built this super nice stand to teach her the power that giving and donating feels. The first go round she donated her money to the city fireworks and ended up being honored by the mayor of our little town. This go round the money was donated to an animal park nearby.

Doesn't this picture make you crack up? When I snapped this I laughed so hard. Since the pool is all of...what...12 inches deep? Mallory and Miles had a lot of fun playing in their "dragon pool" (as Miles referred to is as).

Miles thinks he is this strong! Oh to be young again!

On Grandpa's birthday we were all able to get together to celebrate. If only Miles would have been looking at the camera this would be the perfect shot. See what you have started Uncle Paul?

This is such a sweet moment between my sister and Payton. It was so much fun to be around both of them. My sister is a very good mom and will soon be welcoming a sweet little girl to her house. We are very excited here!

This is the best picture that I have of Mallory, Miles, and Payton. Unfortunately Miles is feeding his face, but they are all looking at the camera and that is great. Priceless!!!

Me...me...me...I am actually in a picture! Wow...that does not happen very often. That is probably why I treasure this picture so much. This was at the zoo on a day when Mallory, Miles, and I went with my mom. We had a lot of fun (we usually do when we go to the zoo).

Family pictures with my family = lots of fun!

Mallory and Miles became quite the water bugs this summer. Mallory would always do cannonballs (she would yell before jumping off of he pier) and Miles caught on by yelling, "Meatball!" No one ever corrected him because it made us all laugh.

This picture sums up the fun that Mallory and Miles have when their cousins, Liam and Emmett come down from Chicago. They get a little crazy!

I believe this is the one and only snowman Mallory and Miles were able to make this past year. They scattered the carrots around the base of the snowman so the animals would be able to eat them.

What more do I need to say? Hannah Montana rules! Rebekah (my niece), Mallory, and I made sure we got together to see it. I enjoyed myself and think they did too.

The school's fall carnival was a lot of work but the work did pay off. To those of us who were putting this together for the first time ever it was new to us but we made it through and now have notes on how to improve things next year. This picture of Mallory and Ryan is special because Ryan generally does not like to get his picture taken.

For those of you who know Miles you know that boy is beyond determined. Because Miles wanted to sit backwards on the log ride at the zoo, the rest of them

Fun at the zoo running through the misters on a warm day.

Laughter is always the best medicine. Thanks to Jared (you cannot see him) wearing a bow on his head this cute shot was possible.

Miles' third birthday with his Thomas cake. This boy is seriously obsessed with trains!!

Mallory's first day of first grade with her teacher. She LOVES her teacher!

This past summer Gail and I tried to get together once a week to have a playdate with our children. We went blueberry picking, to a really cool park near us, to their house to play, to the lake to swim, and I am sure I am missing something. I love this picture because I cannot think of the last time we had our picture taken together. It would probably be my wedding and that was over ten years ago! This picture is special and will stay on my fridge for quite some time.

Ryan's birthday was special. My mom baked this cake and it helped us to celebrate a little more. Mallory and Miles love to get right in there (you have already seen that in other pictures).

Mallory, Miles, and I went with Jenny and Macy to see the Wiggles. They put on a great show and we all enjoyed it (I think that Jenny and I did almost more than our children). Mallory really had fun because she knew all of the dance moves and songs since she really grew up watching the Wiggles on Playhouse Disney.

What's a year without watching Mallory and Miles helping to blow out someone's birthday candles? They sure do love to do this and Grandma is always a good sport to let them help her.

Family pictures...family pictures...why oh why do Ryan and Paul always seem to sit down next to each other? The camera is always on a tripod when we do this and there are always many pictures that need to be taken so that we get a "normal" one taken. I have to admit seeing what Paul and Ryan come up with is quite something else:).

Mom with her three favorite grandchildren (until one more is added in May). I have this feeling these three will grow up being great partners in crime:).

Mallory with many holes in her teeth. Believe it or not, one more came out after I took this picture. I must admit that I was sad that she did not get to say, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". Oh well!