Just What the Doctor Ordered

Sunday, July 4, 2010

To celebrate the 4th of July, the Kiefer family rented a cabin in Brianhead, UT (near Cedar) and brought the BIG TOYS to play with! The timing could not have been better.

Dan has been having an especially hard time with everything right now. The stress of losing Ty, fighting through finals, moving, and jumping right into working at a law firm in two different locations caught up to Dan last week. He doesn't like to admit this, but he was struggling. After turning in a difficult assignment on Friday, Dan and I were ready for a relaxing weekend in the mountains.

The BEFORE shot: clean and ready to roll! We couldn't wait to bust out the four-wheelers and buggy.

I've said this before and I will never stop believing in it: There is power in recreation.

Dan's troubles eased the moment he arrived to the cabin. I, on the other hand, started to slip. Being around kids seems to trigger me sometimes, especially being on a family vacation. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have Ty with us and I ached for it to be real. Dan knew everything would be ok once we loaded the four-wheelers. And he was right. From the minute we jumped onto the ATVs, I was laughing and smiling as we tore through the trails. Layers of dust powdered our faces and filled the cracks in our lips. I could feel tiny grains crunching between my teeth.

We immersed ourselves in nature for 4 hours. Amazing!

Family and recreation... The perfect remedy.



Dan made me put these ones up. He captured this series of poses one after the other when I was practicing my Vogue shots. (Truly, though, I like looking at these because it reminds me that I can still be my same, goofy self despite the last few months. I'm still me. And I'm happy about that.)