And once again Kansas steals my heart

It happens every time I visit. We spent an exceptionally short weekend in Kansas to celebrate my 10 year high school reunion and spend time with my mom and youngest brother.

In a little over 36 hours, we made time for a barbecue picnic with classmates, playing tetherball with my cousins' adorable kids, riding in my hometown's annual Memorial weekend alumni parade, and attending the Alumni Dance at the Country Club (which somehow caught fire).

Our class, who was better known for socializing rather than organizing, was in charge of the annual alumni dance this year. As one of my classmates honestly commented, "Only the class of 2002 can have the country club catch on fire at our class reunion! In charge of dance? Check. In charge of building and safety? Epic fail."

Here's a recap of the weekend in images.

Images in order: Waiting on BART, two kinds of feet on the deck, my mom swinging with one of my cousin's twin boys, Vince playing tetherball with my cousin's children, Kai shaking, more feet on the deck, my dad's First Day of School diploma, my grandmother (my dad's mother), feet in Omaha.

As a side note, you're seeing lots of feet because I'll be starting a new series of feet portraits cataloguing places my feet see and other feet they see.

Photos from the Weekend: Kansas

I'm the oldest of my parent's 4 children, and with 2 younger brothers and a sister, so I can't help but get excited every time I get to see my entire family.  We're spread out over 3 states and 1,800 miles, and it tends to be a rare occasion when we're all in the same location. This weekend my baby brother graduated from high school, and even though we were only there for 2 days, I was able to watch him run track for the first time and qualify for state in his 4x1 team. So proud!

Here's a few images from the weekend, thanks to my cousin Tucker. Unfortunately I have no images of Gauc Night, which happens every night when we're all together. My family is not typically a family of traditions, but guacamole is our one and only tradition. Could there be a better family tradition?

What a stud!

Can't believe he's done. He's 9 years younger than me, and I won't lie, it was ridiculously sad/proud moment.

It's crazy how much I'm starting to look like my mom...and it's hard to believe my sister in law isn't actually my sister.

All he needs is a blazing, fiery forest behind him and you could call this guy James Bond.

Probably not supposed to be posting this, but I love it.

Memorial Day Weekend Roadtrip

Over Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I helped my brother and his wife move from Nashville, Tennessee (specifically Murfreesburo) to Winter Park, Colorado (specifically Tabernash). We flew down to Nashville Thursday night, spent all day Friday driving, spent Saturday in Kansas with my parents, finished the trip on Sunday, stayed at my sister-in-law's parent's house Sunday night, and flew home Monday. Needless to say, it was quite a long trip, but still really fun. There are few other people I'd volunteer to help move that far. My main job was to be the photo-journalist for the trip, and while I wasn't horribly successful, I've posted a few shots that summarize the trip. If you'd like to see a video from the weekend, check out my Flickr account.

Final stages of packing and saying goodbye to Chad and Mandy - their Tennessee friends.

Whitney saying goodbye to Adele, Chad and Mandy's dog.

Whitney (sister in law) and Brianna (sister) at my parent's house.

Just couldn't resist - a beautiful, vintage motor.

At my parents house - everyone always seems to gravitate to the trampoline or the dirt bike. Notice Tyler jumping off the trampoline and onto the bike.

A great sillhouete of my parents - taken by my sister, Brianna.

Tyler and Whitney (with prairie flowers Tyler picked for her).

What would a trip to Kansas be without a beer tasting with craft beer from Schilling Bridge?

Success! Celebrating a successful cross-country move at Whitney's parents home in Fraser, Colorado.

The moving crew at Whitney's parents home - Tyler, Whitney, me, Vince.

Monday morning view from the deck.

Design #75: Die Berge

I've been thinking about the mountains quite a bit lately - mainly because I'm loosing my brother and his wife to them fairly soon. They argue that even when they lived in the Nashville (ish) Tennessee area, that we still didn't see each other very often, however a 7 hour drive versus a 20+ hour drive makes quite a difference. So here's to them. Enjoy the hills.