Sunny Skies Here

Greetings from the sunny southwest.

Needless to say, my time here in Arizona has been, as usual, fantastic. My love for this area never dies. It is so incredibly beautiful, and it seems as though whenever I come, the weather is flawless. Let me try to fully explain the magnificence: the sky always contains this certain deep blue quality... it looks like a painter just mixed up the color and poured it into the sky. The air is dry, so it's cool in the shade but perfectly warm in the sun, kind of like when you open up the oven to take chocolate chip cookies out of the oven on a cold winter day and your cheeks are warmed. Anyway, I will comment that I enjoy vacationing at such a location, because if I lived in such beautiful conditions all of the time, heaven knows I would not appreciate it near enough.

A few days ago, I watched my cousin's kids in the morning for a little bit. Her oldest was at school, but I had Amelia, who is 3, and Isaiah, who is 17 months. They are both precious. Amelia talked my ear off the entire time. About 5 minutes after arriving, we were sitting on the ground playing with toys when she asked me,

"Do you have a mommy?"

"Yes, I do," I replied.

"Do you love her?"

"Yes. Do you have a mommy?" I asked.

"Yes."

"What is her name?"

"Her name is Aunt 'Cole."

Kids are so precious. Her mom's name is Nicole, but all of her cousins call her Aunt Cole, so of course she assumed that was her name. Later, when I told Nicole, Amelia overheard me and said, "Mommy, I just want you to be my "Aunt Cole" too."

Amelia

Isaiah

I have enjoyed taking quite a few pictures while out here... this time, not so much of events and environment, but of people. I'm out here to take photos of my aunt's family for her Christmas card, so I have had the pleasure of working with all of her kids' families and their kids. I love snapping the individual shots of each child and capturing the personalities that come with it. Plus, out here, the weather is almost always nice enough to be outside, and the lighting is ideal in the shade at most points in the day. It's been wonderful. I will be traveling back home on Monday, back to cold, gray IL... back to my home front. I will be sad to leave such a great place, but it's always nice to be back.

Enough for now. Love you all. Enjoy your weekends.

T