delighted

I turned 30 in March. I wanted to start my new decade in another state, somewhere I'd never been. Mt. Rushmore! It was off-season and coooold and we got in a minor car accident and ew I was turning 30, but otherwise it was a fantastic trip. We stayed in Keystone, the town right next to it, but enjoyed exploring Rapid City and its Target as well. Some people you talk to say Rushmore is kind of a disappointment but we couldn't have felt more differently! It was such a thrill! Similar for me to seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. Like, this thing really does exist! Whoa!!

Driving up to it for the first time.

^ Not a lot of people, as you can see. That was cool. In the summer they get up to 15,000 people a day. We saw maybe 100.

You can only vaguely tell in this photo, but every snowflake was so perfectly snowflakey! They were gorgeous! Like the pictures of snowflakes you see magnified in a microscope. Frozen fractals all arouuund.

The finger just makes it better, I think.

We unexpectedly drove through Nebraska for awhile on our way home. An extra state under our belts. It was so flat. So desolate. I loved it.

Milo turned eight in the beginning of January! It's so strange and happy to have arrived at this point in life with one of our children.

This is the picture I used for his baptism announcement. I kind of just remembered recently that I have a really nice 85mm lens so it's portraits all day every day around here!

Baptism day!

This is an example of when a camera tells the truth. I swear the outfit looked cute in the mirror guys.

So, Milo's baptism day was pretty funny. It was not smooth sailing. He went under the water three times. The first time Jamie was nervous and could only think of the words in Chinese and missed some of the words. Then he did it right and they got out of the font but a family friend thought he had his hands wrong. Most everyone thought it was fine but to be safe, they did it again. Milo was shivering and said "Again?" really loudly. Ha. Since then we have decided it wasn't necessary but it's okay and makes for a great story. The really funny (horrifying) part came when Jamie was getting dressed afterward and realized his suit pants were still at home! I almost died when he walked out of the dressing room in his jeans. But there was nothing to be done. He confirmed Milo and conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost wearing his jeans. Texas-style. Or, as Jamie likes to say, 80s detective style. Awesome.