There are no words.  I am so proud of my husband Lawson!!  He’s a rock star.  These were taken at mile 26.1 and he barely looks winded.  I told him I would be on his left.  Well, I got to the perfect viewing point 4 hours ahead of his projected finish time and learned the bathrooms were on the opposite side of the street.  I had to sacrifice his seeing me for the bathrooms…so bummed.  I couldn’t get his attention.  He said he was going to rub my belly when he passed.  Sad we missed that moment.  But a pregnant lady’s got to go!

Pure Inspiration…1st and 2nd place, neck and neck at the 26.1 mile marker.

The 1st place woman…

The top 5 men – a course record broken by the winner!  They are FAST.  Lawson said for me to make sure I got a picture of Ryan Hall and Meb.  Who?  So I just kept taking pictures of all the finishers, until I saw Meb’s name.  He got 5th.

I MUST remind all of you that I am 6.5 months pregnant  These are the only pictures I have of Lawson after he finished, and my mom, who flew from Little Rock to support Lawson, or else I wouldn’t have posted them of me!  Did I mention that I was pregnant?  OK, this post is NOT about me…

The day after the race, we explored Boston following the Freedom Trail and (re)learned all about Paul Revere and the North Church where he hung the lanterns…remember, “One if by land, two if by sea”?  Yeah, me neither.

And who says Democrats and Republicans can’t get along?  My step dad, Bruce, is a pretty devout Democrat, I guess you could say.  (He was in the Clinton administration at the White House and still travels with President Clinton on speaking engagements).  Lawson is a pretty die hard Republican.  But we all still love each other!  We came across a donkey with a plaque on the ground in front of it that read “Stand in Opposition”.  Lawson proudly stood over the footprints while Bruce (surprisingly!) mounted the donkey.  Fun picture.  Cheers!

And now she’s all grown up…starting to walk.  I love those first wobbly steps…

Sweet little Grace had a myriad of facial expressions…from puzzled, to sheer delight when she saw a puppy walking down the street!

One of my favorites…

And another…

And yet another…it’s just too hard to decide!

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of Grace’s first year of life!!

We went on a Safari at the Animal Kingdom Park and saw amazing animals!

One of the highlights of the trip was when the kids got to fight Darth Vader.  I don’t have actual pictures of them fighting him  because I chose to film that part instead (and I only had my P&S w/ video on it, so couldn’t hand it to Lawson!).  Such a bummer.  But here’s what I did capture!

At the Animal Kingdom, David was SO proud of conquering the ride Mt. Everest – one of the best coasters I have ever been on!

Every night the parks are lit up so beautifully.  I WISH I had brought a wide angle lens with me to get the full effect, but oh well…

My absolute FAVORITE thing at Disney is the SpectroMagic parade.  I cry, seriously, every time I watch it.  I was so excited for Colin to see it for the first time!

On the last night, we I decided that we should go to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration.  Lawson kept asking me what we *got* for the extra money we had to pay to go, and I assured him we got a Christmas parade, Cinderella’s castle lit up with ice crystals (see above), *free* hot chocolate and cookies and special Christmas fireworks.  ”Hmmm”, he said, “we get a parade and fireworks everyday at Disney and I’m telling you the hot chocolate is not FREE, we’re paying extra money for it!”  And then to top it off, it started raining the minute we entered the Magic Kingdom.  BUT we didn’t let it spoil our night and succumbed to buying the Disney rain ponchos for everyone.  I thought it was magical.  Lawson left with a head cold and sinus infection, just in time for his marathon on Saturday!

You can’t beat the end of the night with fireworks…and I had the chance to shoot them which the photography nerd in me was so excited about doing for the first time!!!  I think I got some good shots.  And for those other photography friends out there wondering what I shot at:  f/2.8, 1/13 shutter speed and ISO 640 on manual w/ no flash.

I think I might become a Disney Travel Agent one day…it might just be my calling!

Well now this little cutie has grown SO big!  What a sweet family he has – so sweet, that they even stayed after the shoot to help me look for my keys, that I lost somewhere in the park during our session.  Here’s a peek for you Brenner Family, quickly before we jet out to Disney!