I am going to go backwards and show off my year in pictures so far because it has been a crazy one so far. It is worth sharing.
Thursday, July 17th 11:16pm
Karynne Taylor Hastings
3lbs 5oz 16" long
She was born 10 weeks early when Mom Kirstyn's water broke from an infection.
There is a long road ahead the next few months until she is released from the hospital. She started hemmoraging in her brain a few days ago and it seems to not be a problem now though. 2 days later they took her off the ventilator and took the thing out a day later that held open her lungs. As of today she is breathing on her own and is awake and alert.
The new Daddy and Mommy are now able to hold her 1/2 an hour a day but only 1 of them a day.
She has had several priesthood blessings which is definately the cause of her great progress!
Karynne and her very young parents still need our prayers for the next couple months.
www.DigMyPics.comAs most know my work burned down May 5th around 3am.
We have spent the past 2.5 months cleaning and recovering customers lifetime collections of slides, prints, negatives, movie film and vhs. It has been hard work.
We thought the firefighters recovered everything they could but the owners couldn't access the building for several weeks following the fire.
Two months later to our awe and relief, copper theives have taken apart the very large a/c units and moved things around so much in the piles that they uncovered treasures of film!!! Here are some pictures from our recent finds. It was miracolous but SOOOO... hot and filthy. We could only work in the ashes and insulation til around 9am because it became so miserable when the sun rose higher.
Here is most of the recovery team.
Here is a before and after shot of our bins. See the slides trapped in the melted plastic. We could hammer apart bins and find more treasures somewhat preserved inside the melted mess.
These are post production computers with hard drives in tact and sticky notes from shipping.
This is my own personal bin I had at work with all my Dad's misc and mission slides, prints, and negatives inside. The bin was underneath one of my desk tables where my video computer monitor sat with 2 video computers on each side. The wires are for the mouse and keyboard. The picture on the right shows the bin from the top. Everything was in a cardboard box.
Miraculously this day we also found one whole slide storage box in great shape with many of my Dad's slide inside. I haven't told him yet. I have only found maybe 400 out of almost 800 slides though but I found many prints and negatives. The negatives are priceless pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Hastings, Picts from Aunt Ann's wedding and a few others.
This is me posing after a hard day of dirty, yucky playing in the ashes.
This was our breakroom. See the dishes in the dishwasher. This was part of my station!
Here is a movie reel still in tact and a bundle of slides.
Saturday, June 28 2008
Wakeboarding at Bartlett Lake. I have always told Eric how much I loved wakeboarding. He finally understood after he kicked butt over the wakes that day. I got up the first time as usual and I was able to jump the wakes also.
July 4th 2008 - My Santa Barbara Trip
July 2, 2008
Here is my little sweet nephew Hayden! He almost drowned in the public pool. Lisa was there with a play group and had her eyes peeled on her kids especailly Hayden. She turned her head for a moment and looked back and he was gone. In that instant he climbed over to a deeper end and couldn't touch the bottom. He paddled till he couldn't anymore. One of the Mom's rescued him right after he stopped paddling and laid face down in the water. This was fortunately only for a minute but long enough to cause a scare. He was taken to the local hospital then Columbia Hospital for overnight stay. He recovered quickly and is well and a strong active little boy again!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
As a result of my car accident earlier in the year which you will read about later ... I was able to buy my new baby!! My Nikon D80!!! It is an amazing DSLR and I am loving it. After church this Sunday I took it to the Mesa Arts Center and used Eric as a model. Then he played around taking some pictures of me. I am not a very good model. I don't "pose" very well. Eric seems to be very comfortable however.
Camping at Potato Lake
We went camping Memorial day weekend. It was the first Saturday we had off at work since the fire. We were expected to work 4hrs a day but 7 days a week at first.
It was beautiful but a little chilly. I had just snowed the day before on the rim. We had a week long nice rain down in the valley. We had a few patches of snow on the ground. In MAY!! That's what I call Global cooling!
It's really hard to get good pictures sometimes because we would much rather have pictures of us together than separate. We will often pose ourselves in a way and set up the picture so if I ever have time I can superimpose each other into one picture. You will see some pictures below I did just that.
Potato Lake is on FR300 about 15min past Strawberry.
Eric spelled out my name in branches to mark our spot so I spelled out his name as well. This is up and then back down the hill on the other side of the lake. I believe this is the road we camped on. Next time we go back we will see if it is still there. Then we can take a short cut over the steep hill to get to the lake!!
Since it was Memorial Day weekend, I stopped at the cemetary in Payson to visit my Grandma and Grandpa D'Andrea's grave. I tend to visit it once every year or 2. I picked some flowers on the side of the road to leave. I know they are anxiously awaiting in Heaven to become an eternal family.
Liz Williams (Cameron)
she was my best friend when I lived in Garland, Texas in 7th and 8th grade. She was in my church ward (congregation) which made it really easy to become friends.
A few months ago I couldn't decide whether to go to the usual Chick fil a for a fast but good lunch or go to somewhere new. I was tired of Chick but it was convienient and super fast. I had just gotten my food when this girl walks up to me and asks if I knew an Elizabeth Hastings. I said thats me. I looked at her and said... Liz.... Cameron!!! I didn't recognize her immediately since it had been 13 years since I have seen her.
We have gotten to know each other better since and I love knowing she is closer.
Her 2 girls are Karlee and Gracie.
Dad Hastings
My Dad in addition to my older sister found out he is diabetic in May. I hope it will help him feel better by knowing how to take care of himself properly. He was already doing a good job at trying to figure out how to eat well to make him feel well. He had lost a lot of weight doing this. It should be a natural transition for him I hope. I love him and want him to be healthy to live forever! He's a great, strong, wise, motivated, kind, spiritual, and steadfast Dad!
May 16-20, 2008
Our ENTIRE family got together at The Secor's (my oldest sister Becca's)
We had an amazing time together. I was grateful that Eric joined us. It was so nice to have him there too. I love my whole family and am very grateful to know that we will all be together forever!
A SHOCKER!!
Wednesday, May 7th 2008
A sudden addition to our family. My baby brother Matt married Kirstyn Ely. I found out that Sunday before!! Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.
I welcome her to the family and hope she will allow us to be close to her.
This was a really pretty picture of her the wedding day.
April 25, 2008
Our last venture to Disneyland with our season passes! It was well worth the discounted money I paid for mine!!
We rushed home to go to our Stake Fiesta dinner dance. We made it in time for a quick dinner and pictures and a little dancing. We had a good time.
Saturday, March 29th 2008
Boyce Thompson Arboretum.
We had a great time. The wildflowers were beautiful. There was a lot to see and it was a nice stroll through the very large park.
Talmage
I went to Dave and Norma's to hear Uncle Talmage tell stories of Grandma Hastings growing up. Uncle Dave recorded and filmed the stories. It was a nice treat and I was very grateful to be there.
NOT SO SUPER TUESDAY
February 7, 2008
Eric and I started campaigning actively for Mitt Romney late January. I wish I did more sooner but not sure if it would have helped. He did not have a paid for campaign in AZ since he figured McCain would win his home state anyways.
The bogus thing is that AZ is a winner take all state which makes my vote not really count!!
This was at campaign headquarters in a nice, ritzy home in Paradise Valley. It was a sad disappointing night but fun to be involved.
Eric serenaded me with his trumpet one night while packing to move. He is very talented and such a sweetie!
Valentines February 2008
For Valentine's Day, Eric brought to my work a bag full of goodies, a card, and a balloon. Then that night he prepared our lobster and steak from a lobster gram he got from calling into
Sean Hannity. Sean told him he had to use it to propose (though he didn't)
We went to the ASU institute building as a backup option because of rain. He had intended on going to the lake. Turns out Sheri Dew was there talking but I would have rather heard Eric talk that night.
That weekend we went to Disneyland. We thought it would be a perfect time to go. NO. I didn't realize it was President's Day weekend and everyone had Monday off school. It was very busy!
New Years Eve 2007 and January 2nd 2008
My New Year began with a great new start to mine and Eric's relationship as he decided to give us a real chance.
My New Year also started out with a real BANG!!
On our way to church in California that Sunday before New Year I was hit. I was in the left turn lane slowing for the red arrow. A car coming across all the lanes of traffic was inching through cars to get into the left turn lane. She inched right into me. I heard a loud crash and crunch and felt a small jolt but I was looking straight ahead. I didn't know what happened at first.
We made it to the last part of the last class-Sunday School. The car was driveable but it didn't feel stable and didn't look great either. Eric had to climb in through the drivers door. The car shook when it hit 50mph so we knew we couldn't drive it home. The next day was New Year's Eve and Penske was closed. Eric was moving to AZ with a Penske truck and couldn't use a UHaul tow dolly. We had to wait an extra day.
