What Matters.

As you all know Shane teaches students from all over the world. He spent 2 months in Iraq and 23 of those Iraqi teachers have been here for the past month receiving further instruction.

A few days ago one of the Iraqi teachers said to Shane, "Your life is so hard."

Shane's brain nearly flipped upside down trying to grasp what this woman...from Iraq...could possibly mean. I'm sure he probably wanted to remind her that she was from Iraq, SHE is the one that gets bombed on a daily basis, SHE is the one that has to worry if death is around the corner for her or her family members, SHE is the one that comes from a war torn country. Certainly it is SHE that has the hard life.

Instead, he asked her to explain what she meant.

She talked of how scheduled he is (as most Americans are). How he has to spend so much time working on and accomplishing tasks. That in Iraq they all go home at 2 pm and have a big feast and enjoy time together every day.

And as he told me this I couldn't help but think...she's right.

Our lifestyles here are actually pretty crappy. They consist of work, work, work and more work mingled with some family time. Why do we work so hard for things when it's people that matter? We want a bigger house, a better car, nicer clothes, the latest technology, or just to be the best in our business...but none of that matters.

If I could be in Greer with my family, every day, with the possibility that there might be a bomb, I think I'd take it because every day matters so much more. Every day is so enjoyable. Every day is worth living. Every day I'm surrounded by people I love and that love me. Not a 54" TV screen or iPad's or granite countertops--but people.

Want to know what matters?

Them:

Bizarre-O World

What would you say if I told you I attended my ex-husband's wedding...and enjoyed it?

Or if I told you at the wedding dinner that I was given the opportunity to stand, introduce myself, and give marriage advice? Ha!

Well, it's true. This really did happen. It was probably more weird because it really wasn't that weird. Cameron has a really great family and really great friends that I was so happy to see and visit with. And, as it turns out, I think he made a fabulous choice in Erin.

Almost 2 weeks ago Cameron married Erin Del Torro on the beach in California.

It looked like this:

Erin looked beautiful and I got some beautiful shots of the kids. Olivia and Erin's daughter's (Ava and Beatrice--twins) were the bridesmaids.

Owen was the ring bearer (that was brave). I had to put this one in because seriously...look at Liv's hand. She just came that way! Also, they tied the rings on really tight knowing that Owen would be holding them. Smart.

Morgan was the flower girl. I love how admiringly she is looking at Owen.

Super cute smile on Morgan and...well, classic Owen.

One of my favorite pictures ever of this girl.

Owen, lost in his own world.

Livy, lost in hers.

Morgan was playing in the sand and water the whole time. Even during the ceremony she was trying to build a sand castle. She ripped her dress and was a mess, but it wouldn't have been Morgan if she was doing anything else.

Love this kid. He looked like such a stud in his tux and he LOVED the bow tie.

Beautiful girl. When she noticed me taking pictures across the way she immediately started smiling and tried to hold back full on poses. So cute.

Congrats Cameron and Erin!

Hard Knocks

No sooner do you turn 4 than the hard things in life come along.

Last Saturday, whilst enjoying a day at the water park with Cameron, Morgan broke her leg.

The weird thing is I was worried about her all day...just felt like something might happen to her and even texted him several times asking him to be extra careful with her. Let it be known, I do not blame him in any way for this, it was a complete accident that couldn't have been prevented with "being extra careful"...I just think mother's intuition is a real thing and it's sort of weird when you realize you have it.

Anyway, being the tough girl that she is, he didn't know it was broken (and also in his defense, there really wasn't any swelling), but when he brought her back to me on Sunday morning and she screamed just when he moved her from his arms to mine I knew something was very wrong.

I took her immediately to Urgent Care, where upon observation the doctor thought she might just have a bone bruise but he said we'd take x-rays just to be safe. I told him I found that hard to believe since she screamed any time it moved and I was glad we were taking x-rays.

He came back with a surprised look on his face after reviewing the x-rays and confirmed she did in fact break it at the top of the tibia (just below the knee) and that she was definitely not overreacting. There is a huge dent in her bone and a crack all the way across. I KNEW she wasn't overreacting. She's always so tough. Every time she falls or gets banged the first words out of her mouth to me are, "That didn't even hurt."

And this definitely DID hurt.

So when you're tough like that, after you get splinted you get to do this on the couch...

Nobody EVER gets to do that on the couch.

Then after a couple days you go to the orthopedic doctor and you get to pick out the color for your cast.

Morgan had an entire rainbow of colors in front of her to choose from. The doctor told us that a girl close to her age had been in earlier with the same break, which he usually only sees a few times a year, and she picked a pink cast.

What did Morgan pick?

Brown.

The nurse laughed and said they actually don't even have brown. I sighed a sigh of relief and tried to encourage her to pick a "pretty" color.

So she went with.....

Red.

Good choice.

Grandma Susan will love it!