The Story...

Every photo has a story... be it simple or complex. And I love that.

As I made my drive home on Wednesday evening, I was on autopilot. I don't even remember my radio being on, now that I think about it. I was all wrapped up in my own head... dreaming, remembering, and wishing. Most of all, I was anxious to pick up little Miss L.

As we exited our garage and went through the backyard to go inside our house, I paused. It was really pretty out and the sun was hanging low... so I asked Leyla if she wanted to go play in the front yard. Her answer, whether it be 30 degrees out or 100 degrees out, will always be "YES!" when it comes to playing outside. She didn't even give me an answer because she was running towards our front door before I could even set foot in our kitchen. I grabbed my flip-flops and camera and headed out to our front yard... super-excited Leyla in tow.

Leyla likes to go up and down the steps in our front yard as well as our neighbor's. She's even been known to try and actually open our neighbor's front door {knowing that their adorable dog is waiting inside}. So, after some stair climbing, Leyla decided to do her silly backwards walk down our sidewalk. This freaks us out because she has absolutely no fear of bumping into something or falling OFF of something while she's being her daredevil little self. She giggles mischievously as we tell her to stop. Sure enough, just as I was telling her to stop, her shoe caught a crack in the sidewalk and she fell backwards. Her head did a little bonk on the pavement... nothing serious... but I could tell that she was shocked. Oh boy, did the tears fall. As I squatted down on the sidewalk with her, my hugs and comforting words didn't seem to help... with her sore head... nor her bruised ego. I asked her if she wanted to sit on the grass with me and look for some birds in the sky. She nodded yes while wiping the tears from her face. I plopped on the grass with my sniffling girl and set her in my lap. We sat in silence for a few moments... listening to the sounds of our street. Her little form fit perfectly against mine as we gazed at the trees, houses, and sky. Without saying a word, I could feel Leyla's mood lighten... that's when I took these pictures of her. Slightly teary-eyed and sniffly-nosed as we faced the beautiful setting sun.

and that's my story behind these photos...

Happy Friday!