My Rose Garden: A Story About Giving

My girlfriend Shannon emailed me today to see if I was ok; I hadn't blogged in over six days and she was worried about me. It's true, the blog has been put on the back burner, but only because we had company coming, and because I have two weeks to get a massive final completed. Oh, and I really wanted to give the Ostrich post more time as the front-runner! I love that one. I have been missing my blog though, how I have been missing it.

I heard a story a long time ago about a woman who was feeling discontent in her marriage. Before she was married her husband used to bring her flowers to every date, for every special occasion, and sometimes even for no reason at all. After they got married this of course, phased out. She started feeling sad that he didn't remember to bring her tangible flowers, but then she realized flowers were coming in others ways: he folded the laundry without being prompted, a flower. He washed the dishes and cleaned the entire kitchen without being asked, a flower. He took care of the children while she napped as long as she wanted, another flower. He hadn't been gifting her actual flowers, but figurative ones. The kind that come through actions.

Jaren used to be good at bring me flowers too, now he shows me he loves me in other ways.

Today my husband gave me a rose garden.

Jaren had a goal to have the dining room done by Thanksgiving.
This is what our dining room looked like this morning.


and this...

Here's my rose garden.

Gorgeous. Isn't it?

My sister and I stayed up tonight to get it all ready for tomorrow. I wanted to play house in the new room!!

The next series of shots prove I missed my calling; I should have worked for Pottery Barn.

The seat savers...

A little romantic Pottery Barn.

I hope you all have a very happy holiday with your family and loved ones, and I hope your dining room is as beautiful as mine. ;)

While Jaren was pruning my roses I took my parents on an outing. We headed to Downtown Disney to have some fun!

I love these shots of the "kids" running to Disneyland!!

My dad is a kid at heart; both my parents love Disneyland.

I tried to channel our shoot with Jessica for this one with my mom. I did the same thing at our family pictures. I thought it would be fun to do it with Mom. She's a good sport.

We played in the fountain outside of House of Blues for awhile. We didn't have an change so we were making wishes on previously made wishes. (My parents were fishing money out of the fountain so Gunnar could throw it back in. ;))

He was loving it.

We stopped to get a treat with all the wishes we stole from the fountain! I'm kidding. Come on. About the money, not the treat. We wanted a little piece of ambrosia. Seriously. Can you think of anything better than a Wetzel's Pretzel? (Besides Golden Spoon?)

Gunnar doesn't know a good thing coming. He also denied a build-a-bear puppy. Crazy kid. Who do you belong to anyway? Who doesn't want a pretzel and a doll you get to stuff yourself?

I just really liked the color and the lines on the last two shots! ;)

They also reminded me of all the Cabbage Patch Dolls I used to own. Weird connection, I know, but that is what I thought when I shot these.