Happy Mother's Day and the big red bowl

This is the picture I've been trying to capture for the last 15 years, the only other one like this was on our wedding day. I love this picture for multiple reasons and here is why. First, because I didn't even take this picture, McKenna did! I let her sit on my lap and snap shots during the show. I love that photography is part skill and knowledge and a lot luck and timing! And I love that my girl gave it to me on the day for mothers.

Second, this image perfectly captures how Mark feels when he is doing the thing he loves, making music! The girls and I are not able to see him in his element often as he is on the road away from us doing the thing he loves. If you really want to know Mark the musician think about Jack Black in School of Rock, take it down a notch and there you have it. Also, do you remember in the movie Elizabeth Town when the cousin gives us a clear idea of how his household functions? He says, "I am taking this moment to tell you that I am untraditional. In my house I teach him things that everybody should know. I teach him about Abraham Lincoln and Ronnie Van Zant. Because in my house they are both of equal importance."

It does my heart such good to see this. Mark often does not let "his hair" down as he travels through this life with responsibility on his shoulders, being a father and husband, a professional musician with additional administrative duties at work, a priesthood holder and a student working on his doctorate degree. I tease him often that he needs to purge the emotional roller coaster that is Mark Frandsen once in awhile so we can have a good fight followed by a fabulous make up session. But Mark is a lover not a fighter.

Oh and by the way, here is the red bowl and her buddy that I couldn't pass up either, because really do I want the next year of my life full of more BOWL dreams??? Love em' so much!