Little Moments

A Gift In My Life: La Familia Herrera Garcia

Today it is my privilege to share with you some photos of one of the biggest blessings in my life: to know and associate with la familia Herrera Garcia de Merida Venezuela.

There are no words to describe the inadequacy I feel for knowing and having these people in my life. It seems trite to try to put it into words, and so I must simply quote some words my Grandmother Maw shares in her personal history, "As Elder Joseph Fielding Smith had said, only in the mission field would we find such dear friends and have such marvelous experiences, and it was so."

La Familia Herrera Garcia visited me a few weeks ago here in Utah. It was my privilege to share a few days with them, feel of their spirits and faith, learn from them, be inspired by their examples, and feel such joy that my spirit could not behold it. If I can spend the rest of eternity near these people, I will consider myself blessed beyond what I deserve and beyond a joy that I can comprehend. I love them with all of my heart and would do anything in the world for them, as they did for me when I walked in their land.

This was the first time in five years the family had been together, for their son left on a mission, then shortly after the parents left to be mission presidents, then later their daughter left on a mission.

Familia Herrera Garcia,

Son mi familia. Son mis hermanas y hermanos. Han metido tu hoz en la obra que yo amo también. Mi corazón es lleno de gratitud. Les quiero con todo mi corazón y haría todo el en mundo por ustedes que podría por toda la vida, como hicieron por mi en la misión. 

Les quiero con un amor eterno por toda la eternidad,

Con mucho amor y gratitud a mi padre por tenerles como conocidos y familia en mi vida mortal,

Siempre Su Hermana Calder

Europe Day 2: Paris in Springtime

This is Day 2 in a series of travel photography pieces from my husband and I's recent trip to Europe.

I have not even begun to browse through our three memory cards of photos we filled. Sometimes I would just pick up the camera and snap, cause we were in the middle of a busy intersection and I thought, 'oooh, I like that.' And snap, without even steadying the camera or checking the settings. So we'll see what's in there, and if we can find any treasures.

I do not profess to be proficient or even a novice in some of these genres; i.e. travel photography in general, landscape photography, product photography, or lifestyle photography. Nevertheless, we took the Advanced Compact. We snapped some shots. And I'm hoping we will find some moving, beautiful, or touching images on the culture, landscape, and lifestyle we were surrounded by.

Even though this is my professional photography site, I included here the snapshots that narrate and document our trip, so that the "professional" shots are placed within a context. So this is a mix of professional and personal shots.

I hope you enjoy.

(P.S. Timothy Andrus, my primary investor and cheerleader, also took the camera at times. So credit to him where credit is due!)

Here we go.  Some snapshots from...

Day 2: Springtime in Paris! 

"The most beautiful city in the world"

Here is a picture of our hotel room. I LOVED our hotel. It is something I can't even explain. It was SO Europe. Frenchy, quaint, tucked in a little closet on a quintessential Parisian sidestreet. I LOVED OUR HOTEL.

The view from our window.Oooh! I just love it!Our first day we arrived in the morning, so we decided to not stress ourselves out but just go be Frenchies and stroll through the streets together. No agenda in mind. This ended up being my favorite day the entire trip. I almost don't want to try to explain about it cause I know I won't be able to put into words the love I had for this day in Paris. Here we are in front of the Louvre and the Toulieries. Ate a yummy baguette sandwich, some pain a chocolat, and strolled and sat and smelled the Paris air. No agenda. JUST BE. The whole sweet afternoon.My favorite, favorite part! Here it is! We were at the Place de la Concorde, just chilling. All the Parisians were walking home from work or on a lunch break. The Grandmas were out with their grandsons pushing sailboats on the ponds. People were sleeping, reading, just feeling the warmth of the sun on their face. We were experiencing it, living it, being Parisian. Paris in Springtime, just BEING. Oh. It was like the Chocolate of Life. I never wanted to leave.
Sit with them, recline with them, stop thinking about anything. Take it in. Don't rush. Just. Be.I love this little boys cardigan and shoes. 100% what a little French boy would be in my mind. So sweet. And Grandma too. Sweet French Gammy.Here is the beautiful cart of boats you can rent and push around the waters. Seeing the man who rents out the push sailboats sleeping near his cart. LOVE IT.
New life. Proof of spring. Another year.Here at the Place de Concorde, seeing fountains and symbols, and people. People just being. On a Wednesday. And I got to be one of them that day.Since I didn't want my strolling in Paris to end, we found a little park tucked around a corner that we could sit in. More people, just enjoying the air in France.And that's how I love to travel. I want to be one of them, just sit and be and ponder what their life is like.

My favorite day of the trip.

As the day started to draw to a close, Tim and I made our way toward the Tower. We had dinner reservations to dine on French Cuisine under the Eiffel Tower at Les Hombres. And when we say dine under the Tower, we mean it. So we let the tower be our guide, and we walked some more.

Welcome Madame and Monsieur Andrus. This is your table.

(You can see the reflection of the tables on the glass door, but that on the right is our pepper shaker.)

Every hour, on the hour, the tower sparkles with flashing and running lights. Our table was right on the edge, right next to the wall of windows.

The French make dinner an event, and so did we. For three hours we dined on delicious French delicacies and watched the lights sparkle on and off. We couldn't believe we were really there. It was larger than life. Larger than life!Here's a picture of the seventh course: dessert.

Here's a shot from the back of the restaurant, a wall and cieling of windows that I would put money on is the BEST view of the Tower in all of Paris.

We walked out onto the deck of the restaurant after dinner, just my eternal companion and I. The other side of the world, he and I, looking at the Eiffel Tower in the night sky. Unbelievable.

Breathtaking.