Team Photos: The "Bad News Hoggatts"

My brother and his family are in town, and this is the first time we’ve all been in one place since Sawan’s funeral.  It’s nice to be together for a fun reason and not a sad one.  Plus, it’s nice to be together and actually be present this time.  I remember so little from the last time we were together that it really hardly counts.

Because we haven’t all been in one place for a while, we decided to do family photos.  My mom asked me how this made me feel, and I said, “Well, life goes on.”  I didn’t want to do it, but I also didn’t want us to miss this opportunity.  It’s just that being in that situation puts it so in my face that this is not how I thought life was going to go, and that’s what makes it hard.  I did great until Mom asked me, “Do you want to do a photo of you and Arthur?”  Yes.  “Do you want anyone else to be in it with you?”  In my mind I went “Um, yeah.  I want my husband and my own babies.  That’s what we’re doing here, right?  ‘Family’ photos?  And now my family is just me.”  My eyes welled up.  I needed a minute.  After that, though, I did great.

Enough of the pity party.  Let me tell you what we got to do.   My mom is so cool.  We get to do the coolest stuff because of her.  She had arranged for us all to be wearing Rockies jerseys/attire and because the Rockies were out of town, we got to go to Coors Field (the Rockies stadium) and take the photos on the field.  We got to go into the visitor’s bullpen, see the fountains in the outfield, then walk through the tunnel to the dugouts and view homeplate.  Um, yeah.  It was pretty fun.  Here’s a small sample.

The whole group.  I must say that it's extremely difficult to get two toddlers and a dog plus 8 adults and 3 big boys to all look AND smile at the same time.  We're on the rocks by the fountains just behind the outfield fence.

In the tunnel right before the dugouts.  Oh, ok, I changed my mind.  You can have my autograph after all.

Just the siblings on top of the home dugout.

My nephew Asher.  Playing with my butterfly necklace.  We're standing by homeplate.

My mom wanted me to tell you about the baby ducks.  They hatched while we were out by the fountains taking pictures!  As my niece, Addy says, "SO Tee-ute! (cute)"