2011

I just finished breezing through my posts from the past year. The first half of the year certainly had its ups and downs.

My sister, Lore, and I were so excited about our trip to visit her daughter and son on The Big Island of Hawaii. The trip was marvelous, but dampened when we found out that another daughter had been diagnosed with stage one breast cancer. This was followed a month later with more bad news when my sister was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. In the meantime, my son-in-law had hospitalizations and then surgery for pancreatitis. When I got home from the Hawaii trip, Scott welcomed me with his four-day stay in the hospital because of dehydration (just doesn't know how to take care of himself without me) and smooches that gave me a case of the flu! Thanks, Honey Haverly!

The good news is that in spite of trials, the Lord blessed us all. After surgery, my niece did not have to have additional treatment, my sister's treatments will be completed the end of this month, Ron's pancreatitis problems were solved and his back issues are being worked on. We were also richly blessed when we were able to spend time with family and friends. I was able to meet up with high school classmates I hadn't seen in years. A Portland road trip helped me renew acquaintances with two long-time friends and I was able to continue bible study as a participant in Bible Study Fellowship.

A trip to the Point Defiance Zoo in August on Scott's birthday enabled us to spend time with our two youngest grandsons and their families. September found us celebrating grandson Benjamin's first birthday. The birthdays just kept coming as all of our children have birthdays between the first of August and the end of December. We also sadly observed October 3rd, the one year anniversary of daughter Krista's passing.

December found Scott at a local fire station with grandson Addison, celebrating his seventh birthday. And it was quite a crowd at Kendall and Jon's house yesterday so we could celebrate grandson Micah's first birthday.

Work on Scott's recording studio is progressing nicely. It's been remodeled thanks to lots of help from son-in-law Ron and fully equipped with help from recording engineer Jimmy (and American Express). The first recording session in the new studio will be happening this coming weekend.

My year was full of great photo ops primarily of families, children and infants. I was able to finish up the "twin" assignment in April at their first birthday party. Three weddings and a family reunion, city council candidates, a rock band, and a local author were among my clients. I added to that writing classes, both taking and teaching. Writing Memoir introductory classes were a success this fall and led to my teaching an eight-week (two hours each Friday) memoir writing course which starts the end of this week. Work on my own memoir has begun and I've been able to reconnect with my Australian travel companion, Pam Forbes. In fact, we'll be meeting for dinner tomorrow night!

Since I've spent more time this year pondering my past, it also made me think more about the things I hadn't done. This led to a change in hair color which also inspired another "Scottism." After I came home from getting the new do, Scott gave me a big hug and dramatically whispered in my ear, "You take my breath away... (long pause here)... Now please... get off my oxygen tube." Some things don't change from year to year (thank goodness) and Scott's sense of humor is one of them.

It's been a busy year, a wonderful year. We're happy, healthy (Scott's hand is healing well) and we're looking forward to the new year. Hope you are too. Happy 2012 everyone. www.BonnieKingPhotography.com