Not My Little Lambchops Anymore

I remember the anticipation of my sister Jill in labor, pregnant with her first child and the first of the next generation of kids, nieces and nephews.  I became an aunt for the first time on December 24th, 1996 when Alexandra Hope Fazzi was born.  I saw her for the first time when she was 10 days old.  The first nickname I give her was my little lambchops, I know she wasn’t mine, but she was my big sister’s baby and the closest thing to mine that a baby could be at that point.  And when she cried her voice shook like a little lamb.  Oh, she was just so cute!!!  She was always so sweet and such a mamas girl!  She was even cute when I would say, Alexandra is Mommy pretty and she would answer yes as if that were a ridiculous question.  I would then say Alexandra, am I pretty, and she would shake her head and say no.  She was just being honest, in her eyes, no one was pretty except for her mom and our cousin Katelyn and I was fine with that because I loved them both as much as she did.  Now she is all grown up, well sort of.  And she’s still my sweet little lambchops, just in a big kid, freshman in high school, 15 year old kind of way.  I love you baby Alex!!! xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy and Layed Back!!!!

That is exactly how I would describe these three young girls!  They were also well behaved, sweet,and the whole family had great energy together!  Carrie, the mom, was a few years ahead of me in school.  Although I didn’t know her well on a personal level, I always knew of her.  She was my oldest friend Alyssa’s next door neighbor.  Carrie was a genius, and in high school that what she was known for.  But the thing that always stood out to me about her was the  saludatorian speech she gave for her graduating high school class.  I have heard many of those speaches about success, try your hardest and you can be like me, etc.  Carrie’s speech was different.  She got up to the podium and gave a speech about how the person you were was more important than the grades on your report card and that is how we should judge people.  It was uplifting.  Although I would never be one of the people up at that podium on graduation day, Carrie gave me, and everyone there something to strive for no matter what type of student we were.  Carrie went on to be one of the school adjustment counselors at the same high school she graduated from, and from what I hear the kids love her!   I wasn’t surprised to see the happy family she had, but I was truely glad to see that life had continued on that path for her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Snakes

The Incident
It started out with us going to one of the only places with anything lush and green in the Arizona desert in July.  Of course my boys can’t handle being near water without going at least up to their waist in it, so that’s what they did.  The waded, explored, and then suddenly Ethan yelled, “A seasnake!!  Mommy, I stepped on a seasnake!!”  He described it at black and white and maybe a few feet long and later added that it tried to bite him.  Jack came to help and the two of them spent the last 20 minutes of their adventure searching for it to no avail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Preparation

Now Jack (the little one) is always thinking about other people but Ethan sometimes forgets, so when he does think of other people, we do everything we can to encourage it.  After talking about the seasnake, calling Grammy to tell her, and telling just about anyone who would listen, Ethan came up with an idea.  “Why don’t we put up signs to tell people to be careful that there is a seasnake in the yucky swamp”.  I hesitated for a split second and then said  “Ok!”
So when our cousin Alexandra was visiting, they all made signs to put up to warn others of the looming dangers of the sea snake.  Its a good thing that Ethan is such a great artist, because he was able to draw pictures of EXACTLY what it looked like.  Aside from Ethan calling Jack a stupid but, which was in response to Jack calling him a mean frog, all went well in the making of the signs!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hard Work

On the way to put them up, we had a talk about an important and dangerous tool called the hammer. And because they were so careful with dangerous tools, they got to take turns using it.  I just loved how they helped each other, when they are away from me I hear about what great friends they are, but at home I don’t always get to witness it, so I was extra excited that I brought my camera with me!  Of course it was super hot out, and approaching bedtime to we did have one meltdown from Jack, but what’s a fun outing without a few tears?  We haven’t been back to that spot since and I would assume the signs are gone by now, but I think we all hoped that others who stopped to look would appreciate them . . .


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Girls Next Door

Meet the girls next door, from left to right there is LaBrittney, LaMaya, LaTiffaney, and Gaby.  I mean this in the terms of beautiful, sweet, all-american girls and also I mean this literally, as they live in the house next door to ours.  I know these girls are typical teenagers who have lives full of drama, fight, “borrow” each others clothes, etc., but what stands out to me about them is how kind they are to everyone, including each other.  First of all I believe the oldest child sets a tone in the family, and LaBrittney who is the oldest is nice, sweet, and layed-back and that seems to trickle down through her siblings.  Even LaTiffaney who her siblings lovingly describe as more high maintenance than the rest was the first one to come over and look at her pics when she made a comment that stuck with me.  She stopped at a pic of LaMaya and took a moment smiling and said how much she loved that picture of her.  She was too busy admiring her little sister to notice, but her comment brought a smile to my face as well.  So enjoy the following pictures and maybe next time little brother Derek Jr. and Mom and Dad will join in the photo session!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brianna and Logan Married!

 

I had the pleasure of photographing Brianna and Logan’s wedding in July at the Wright House in Mesa.  Beautiful location, gorgeous couple, and spectacular night!