This week’s theme is momentous occasion – and I had a few to choose from – in the end, I decided not to choose – they are all important to me. And let’s face it I’ve never been good at choosing (i.e. 10 types of snack food a night…) Anyhoo, to begin:

So let’s go back – way back – to 2001 – the event: my senior prom. I was just becoming the budding photographer I am today, and took a gazillion stellar pictures, but I’ll only bore you with these two:

the “girls” dancing – that’s my feet in the light purple dress at the bottom
aren’t our feet and dresses pretty?

I also had a friend take my picture, just so you’d all know I was there
take a moment to appreciate my completely awkward seventeen year old self

Four years later, I graduated from college – pretty momentous in this day in age, where a 5 year degree is becoming a normal thing – and I changed majors halfway through! Here’s a lovely shot of my grandmother and I on that special, hot, crowded day:

A few minutes later (okay maybe I’m exaggerating, but not by much, in fact the trip may have even been before my actual graduation, I don’t remember) my dad and his fiance and I took a trip to Wurzburg, Germany to visit my grandfather and well see the sights. Here is an obligatory, “I was there,” shot:

and also a pretty picture of “Why I love Europe oh so much”:

The whole town was gorgeous and quaint and perfect. I would love love love to go back, and then maybe stay… I loved the cobblestone streets that were literally everywhere, the small little food stands and village shops – even the commercialized sections of town felt terribly chic and trendy compared to the average American mall. In short, I ❤ Europe.

So then of course my father was nice and married his wonderful fiance – this is a shot from their special day:

Aren’t they adorable? They married in what I refer to as our “hometown” despite neither of us having spent a permanent amount of time there ever (we’re kind of a military family at heart even when not in practice). My dad dated this poor woman for about 7 years before finally consenting to marriage – i.e. she’s a saint.

It seems like the very next day I was engaged (it was actually several months later if you must know). I remember dH popping the question nervously on a cloudy overcast day after a yummy meal at the Olive Garden. I then later went home for a photo session with my new “rock” or “ice” or whatever you kids are calling it these days.

Here’s a pretty pic of the ring shortly after I received it – apparently back then I didn’t have as much trouble photographing it:

And of course the wedding. I’m going to go a bit ape shit and post several pictures, in an attempt to make it seem like I have dozens of pictures and that these aren’t pretty much all of them:

that’s me, my grandmother, my son and my father

Oh and just to give you an idea about the difference between his childhood and mine
the photo on the left is his “immediate family” ; photo on the right is mine. Seriously.

In between all that was the birth of our son, My Little Monkey – here’s a shot from his baby monkey days:

And another of his baptism:

The priest here, is Father Andy, my favorite religious person ever.
He actually made me almost want to become a Catholic person… Almost.

Since then we’ve had some other momentous occasions – really when your a parent maybe every day is momentous, but here are the classics and I’ll try to be brief as this is getting longer than intended:

First Santa Picture – notice my son saying, “Who is that guy?”

First Birthday with obligatory face covered in chocolate cake goodness picture

And recently we’ve had two pretty big events:

Taking down MLM’s crib and initiating the Becoming a Big Boy process

here he is tucking in all his “babies”

And MLM’s first hair cut, which I’ve already blabbed about ad nauseum, so I’ll refrain from details here.

Phew, that was like running in a marathon or something, except I had a nice glass of pomegranate Crystal Light by my side the whole time and at no time ran anywhere… Remember, if you want to participate in It’s Real Life like all the other cool kids, just head over to Farm Fresh. See you there!