www.natalieatkinson.com

Check out the little cutie on my photography site. Some of you might recognize her! She was so much fun this morning. So serious yet content. Such a darling little girl!

Football

Denny's Fan Club (All of us!)

A lot of you know that my little brother Denny was diagnosed with a tumor on his brain on September 9, 2009. And you wonder why he no longer likes the number 9... Anyway, since that day all of our lives have been a little bit different. When we first found out we are all devestated and lost, just looking for any kind of answer. We are happy to know that it is most likely not cancerous. Most likely means 92% sure. As of now Denny is not having symptoms of this tumor, although his life has drastically changed. He is no longer able to do a lot of the things he loves. He is very active and athletic and those acitivites can no longer be a part of his life. Denny is a really awesome football player, he has been forced to give this passion up. When his teammates found out about his condition they did a really sweet thing. I cried when I found out and so did my brother.  Every team member put Denny's number (40) on their helmets next to their own personal number. This was such a nice tribute and made Denny very appreciative and humbled. Recently we went to his last home game at Mountain View Highschool. This was an emotional game for not only Denny but all of the Seniors. Despite all the sadness and hurt he has kept a really great attitude and attented every game and practice to support his teammates. He was able to play in two games this year before he was diagnosed, so I will be posting some pictures of him on the field doing what he loved. I also took some pictures at his last home game, you will see him in his jersey and jeans. He is number 40! And of course we couldn't leave the field without one last family picture.

I am so proud of you Denny, you are strong and have kept a positive attitude through all of this despite how hard it has been. I know that you will accomplish everything in life you have set out and planned to do. Next on the list... learning to play golf and serving a mission!

Enjoy the pictures!

Denny and his good friend Miles #24

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Denny and his good friend Mark #34

These are two of his coaches that came by after the game to tell him they were proud of him.

New York

So I wasn't going to blog about New York because well I really am not a blogger. But today I got ambitious I guess. So my aunt Diane and I went out to New Jersey for a wedding. The wedding was so much fun, it was really like 'storybook' and we loved it. PS. I shot the wedding, I will post a couple pics for ya'll. Actually the groom is in the airforce and he works for internet security at his base and so he is really concerned with his security and privacy so I will just be posting one of the bride and one of the two love birds really far away so that you cannot make out his face. This is also why there are no posts on my photography site of this couple. Anyway back to the vacation...New Jersey is absolutely gorgeous and I want to move there. It is so close to everything. We were 30 minutes from Philadelphia, 20 minutes from Deleware, and 2 hours from New York. Diane and I went to see a movie one of the days, after the movie it was pouring rain so we ran into the Target to buy an umbrella, the cashier gave us our total and we realized there was not tax, we were confused and he laughed and explained there was no sales tax in Deleware. We were sort of schocked becuase we didn't even know we were in Deleware. So I can officially say I have been to Deleware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania after this trip.  After the wedding Diane and I drove up to New York, not a bad drive at all. On the way up we stopped to get gas, Diane was driving and so like normal she got out to pump the gas, all of a sudden this guy starts very quickly walking to our car, and he says 'you must get back in the car.' Diane and I are like half laughing and half wondering what is going on, then we notice there are signs all over.... It is against the law in New Jersey to pump your own gas. Ha! So we patiently waited until a gas pumper man was available to pump our gas. It was really weird not being able to get out of the car. Anyway once we got into New York it took forever to find a place to park. After an hour or what felt like an hour we found this scary parking garage and drove in. It was a little creepy but we decided what the heck, we were losing time and needed to see NY so we left our car with a strange man and went on our way. After walking forever and not wanting to pay a cab to get anywhere I finally asked a hot dog vender man what the best way to get around was. He pointed us in the direction of the subway. I had heard from some people not to ride the subway but we were desperate. We were 50 blocks from Time Square and had not seen anything in our hour walk. We went down under ground and bought our $8.25 all day pass for the subway which was totally worth it. It was not scary at all. We loved it, it was convenient and a good experience all in all. Not only was it not scary but we moved the 50 blocks to Time Square in like 6 minutes with stops along the way. It was so fast to get around. The subways are exactly like Madagascar by the way, when the animals escape to New York... It may be Madagascar 2. Anyway the movie is really accurate. So we took a ferry to Stanton Island, saw the Statue of Liberty, ate a famous hot dog from the stands which I didn't really enjoy, went to Ground Zero and saw where the twin tours used to stand, went to Central Park, walked Time Square and ate a slice of pizza. It was so much fun, I wish I had more pictures and more time there. It got dark quick and we didn't get to see everything we wanted to. Half the day was spent figuring out how to get around the City. So, next time I go I will be a pro at all this busy city stuff. Enough talk, here are some pictures. Oh and the really cool barn, that is just off the road in New Jersey. There are sweet barns like this all over the state, oh and also random little cemeteries.

The Pumpkin Patch

This was our first year ever to go to a real pumpkin patch. Aiden loved the big tractor that took us out to the fields where the pumpkins were. Aiden absolutely loved walking through the pumpkin filled fields... and he was so cute too. The sky was this beautiful blue color and that in the background made some of these pictures so beautiful. It was so windy and the coldest day of the year yet, but we all managed to pick a pumpkin for some fun carving later.

Halloween

Aiden was a great big scary dinosaur this year. Well he thought he was big and scary, but in reality he was so sweet and cuddly. I thought he was sooo cute. He loved it so much. I totally love the fact that he loves to dress up. Last year I had a hard time keeping the costume on and this year he never wanted it off. He loved trick or treating and wants to put his costume on and go get candy every night!