Tuesday, January 20, 2009

preserving memories

Adam's Grandpa Bond passed away in June of 2006. Adam was his oldest grandchild, and the two were very close. It was a tough thing to go through for Adam, his Grandma and the whole family.

For the funeral service, Adam's sister, Amy, and I made a few posters of pictures throughout Grandpa's life. Last year, I decided to take those photos and make them into an album for Grandma. Here's how it turned out.













By the time I graduated college, all my grandparents had passed away. Though I still have many fond memories of them, I wish I took more advantage of the times I had with each of them. When Adam and I got married, I gained four more and I've been cherishing them ever since.





This is the first album I've ever made for someone else, and I think I probably enjoyed making it the most. Even though it was tough at times (since I decided not to cut or alter the original photos in any way), I found myself always smiling and thinking of both our families. It was a blessing for me to reflect on the lives of such amazing people and to be continually reminded of the powerful ways God works in our lives throughout the years.

Here's some friends and me at a scrapbooking weekend back in November where most of it got done!



Tuesday, January 13, 2009

watching David grow

Happy Birthday, David!



I can't believe you are 7 years old already! It's so fun to look back over the years and see how you've grown.






You are a great kid and we love spending time with you!



Hope you had a wonderful day!
Love, Aunt Betsy and Uncle Adam

Thursday, January 8, 2009

home for the holidays (in Washington)

We went to Washington to be with Adam's family for Christmas this year!

The night we flew in was their church Christmas concert.
Bekah was so excited for me to meet her best friends at church:





Amy leads the kid's choir and they did an excellent job on all their songs and recitations!



Watch Rebekah show off her excellent Away in a Manger skills:



The adult choir, led by Adam's Dad, did an excellent job as always. They even recruited Adam at the last minute to help out the tenors.



Washington had a beautiful white Christmas this year with 18 inches of snow!! And it was still coming down on Christmas Eve. The evergreens looked gorgeous all covered in snow.







Grandma and most of the Bond Family came over on Christmas Eve for dinner, singing, and presents.





The food was as delicious as it looks. :)



And what would Christmas be without a little wrestling?
Here's 26 yr. old Adam vs. 16 yr. old Cedie.



Amy got some cute slippers from Aaron and Anna.



Rebekah got a guitar... she's still working on proper holding technique ;)



A couple photos by Bekah:





Self-portrait:



One of Rebekah's gifts was a twin size bed that used to be Amy's and several others in the family.





Her first reaction was to jump on it! It was cute.



Bekah and cousin Gillian coloring at Grandma's house:



One of Amy's handmade creations: a bag that holds crayons in individual pockets.



We went to this drive through Christmas lights show in Tacoma. Rebekah really liked it.







We took a day trip to Seattle to go see the Nutcracker Ballet. It was so fun watching Bekah: she was loving every minute of it!







Interesting find in a Seattle Mall: a book vending machine!