Plane Portraits

Robby descended upon the roaring group reverently. We hugged, told him we loved him and he was off to be released from serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I knew we wouldn't be able to spend much time with him, but we all wanted to be there. So what to do in LA? I had a few ideas of what we could do and one of them is as follows.

I knew that if we came here:

a big grassy field right at the entrance to LAX

And if we ate here:

In n Out Burger is right across the street.

I knew we would be able to see this:

A picnic under landing planes: pretty awesome.

I knew the kids would like it but what I didn't know is that we would have so much fun doing this:
Plane Portraits--


After I saw that first plane fly over, I knew I needed a picture of my kids and a plane together. We practiced what to do and where to stand a few times before the next plane arrived. The kids scattered across the grassy area and I would yell, "the plane, the plane!" (no I was not imitating tatoo on Fantasy Island) and the kids would scream and run from all directions to get to their spots.
This was our first attempt:

Cute photo but ooppps missed

We continued to work at it. Some of us got there some of the time

Others showed up when they could

Here Lily is racing a plane. Looks like the plane is ahead by a nose.

Bam! the real deal. Notice that in each picture Owen is pretending he is falling
out of the plane in a parachute.

I thought I would try continual focus feature. Here is a series.





So if your at LAX with nothing to do, go to In n Out, Climb some trees

Play some tag,


and take some Plane Portraits. It was a guaranteed good time.

Missionary Portraits

Remember the shoes?





Well here is the man!

You Can Tell By His Shoes

We headed out to LAX to see my amazing nephew, Elder Stowell return home from serving an honorable mission in the Cebu Philippines. It was an emotional experience--both joyful and reverent. I will post more photos of Robby and his family when I get more from my sis in law. But for now, I feel that these two photos tell an important story.

You can tell by his shoes that this was a young man who gave his all-- every day out there tracting, meeting people, introducing them to the happiness and joy that can come through living the gospel and developing faith in Jesus Christ; every day out there digging holes, farming, trudging through mud to get to huts built upon marshy land; everyday out there loving families, leading wards, guiding people; everyday out there negotiating companionships, praying, studying , fasting; everyday out there teaching, testifying, blessing, ordaining. . . I love those shoes and the story that they tell. I love that he used them up to the end and that they finally brought him home safely to his mother and father. We are all very proud of you Robby