What is your definition of beauty?

Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Is that true? Then why does society try to fit the term "beautiful women" into a small cubbyhole - one that only allows tall, thin, young women with full lips, high cheek bones, large eyes and flowing long hair into it? Here is a video clip that has been on many blogs and sent around via email but it deserves to be posted again.



Here is another one that my friend Dan posted on his blog recently:



I grew up thinking I was too fat, too short, too this, too that, but definitely not beautiful. I would wish I could be more like so-and-so or the latest model or actress. My dad has always said that people put far too much emphasis on beauty because beauty is fleeting - it doesn't last forever. I had people in my life who would tell me that I was beautiful just the way I was, (thanks Mom!), but somehow that just wasn't quite enough. Everywhere I looked, in the magazines, on TV, movies, etc, there were the "beautiful" women that I could never look like. I still have very few pictures of myself that I like. I am far more critical of myself then those who love me... my husband tells me every day that I'm beautiful and he says I insult him by rolling my eyes or making silly faces back to him. I've been trying to not do that as often and realize that he really does look at me and sees me as beautiful. I am trying to view myself as he sees me.

Jessica sees people with her heart - she saw a picture of my great-grandmother and said, "WOW! She's beautiful!" I have to tell you that I have looked at that same picture many times and wondered how such a wonderful woman could be so homely? I've heard many stories of my great-grandmother and she did so much good for so many people, she was a mid-wife and delivered hundreds of babies, she did a lot of service for people in her community and church and she was so talented.... she did amazing handwork, some of which my aunt has samples of. She blessed every life she touched and I look forward to meeting her when I pass on... but I never thought of her as "beautiful". My mom sent me a picture of her and Jessica asked, "Who is that lady? She's beautiful!" She didn't even know who it was and yet she knew she was beautiful.

I want to be more like Jessica when I grow up.

Our 4th of July Celebration

We went to Karl's parents house for dinner. Karl's nephew, Jeremy, and his friend, Michael, just moved here to go to the university. After dinner the kids (Karl included) got to have some fun in the swimming pool. Jeremy is the one dancing his heart out in this picture. My oldest son, Justen, is in the water to his left and Michael is to his right.




Karl is helping Austin learn to swim. Austin's form is improving. Too bad his dad can't see it from the water splashing in his eyes. lol




Jessica is not able to get clear into the water. She gets extremely "blue" when she does. It's not fun at all because she can't breathe and gets sick... so she has to be content sitting by the side with her feet in the water. Even then she got "blue" pretty quickly. When it was time for her to get out, her grandpa brought some chairs for us to sit on and we all (grandparents included) sat by the pool and enjoyed the boys having their fun.



Brandon getting ready to jump into the pool.




He made a pretty good splash!


We went to watch the fireworks. Jess and I hanging out waiting for them to start.



We weren't able to get very close to the fireworks but we were able to see them ok. My oldest son, Justen, helped me figure out how to set my camera so the shutter would stay open longer. I experimented with the settings and moving the camera around and I got some pretty interesting shots! I had to zoom in to get these shots (or cropped them) but I am pretty happy with how they turned out. I hope you enjoy them!