Memory Lane...

Back in May 2008, my laptop malfunctioned. Part of my hard drive crashed, and it went to semi-factory restore. All of my photo files were gone. At the time, I had a Kodak camera, and used their software to upload photos. The strangest part was, when I opened the software, I could still see thumbnails to every single photo, but the links were broken. No access to files.

We paid to have everything recovered. All of my photo files (10,000+) were placed on an external hard drive. Then, at some point after Little A was born (I think I have blocked it from memory), I went to back-up my photos to the external, and it wouldn't turn on. Like, at all. I've had 2 people with computer knowledge look at it and determine it's toast. So, here I sit with a fried external hard drive, a laptop with thumbnails (I'm hopeful they can recover these again... I really need to bring it in!), and a very small amount of pictures from Sassy's first 2 years of life. This breaks my heart...

So, I was cleaning my office the other day, and decided to plug in our digital picture frame that's been collecting dust for months, just waiting to be updated. Like, people might think it strange to see our digital picture frame scrolling with ZERO pictures of our almost TWO-year-old, no?

Long story short, there were a select few photos files from Sassy's first year on there. A few of my favorites, of course. Naturally, those would be the ones that I would have chosen to put on there.

I cried when I saw them. Literally. I can't believe how grown up she is. In some pictures, she looks a lot different, and in some pictures, she has the EXACT same little face and expressions. So, seeing as I am without camera this week, I thought I'd share a few with you!

This was Sassy on her 1-week birthday. We still lived in Ames and my Mom was in town visiting/helping. We all went to Ankeny to Super target and Chili's for lunch. I just adore her little squished face!



This one is of Sassy and Tyler on their first Father's Day together! We had been living in Kansas for about 10 days, and we got Planet Sub for lunch and went to a park for a picnic. We had such a great day!



This was Labor Day weekend, 2006. Our friends Miranda & Jay drove from IL to visit us with their two girls. We were so excited to have out first visitors, and it was so nice to see a friend, since I basically had none yet here! We spent the day at the zoo, and Miranda snapped this picture of Sassy and I. I love this shot!



This is quite possibly my all-time favorite picture of Sassy as a baby. Between the light, those cheeks, and that drool... be still my heart!



This one was from a "photo shoot" I did with Sassy for our annual Christmas card. It's not the picture I ended up choosing, but in retrospect, I just love this one. Her little china doll skin and that profile, those cheeks. Oh, I ♥ this girl!



I can't remember the story behind this one, but it really amazes me how much this photo looks like Sassy now. WOW!



January 2007. Da Bears. Da Superbowl. 'Nuff said. {We won't recap the score...}



This one was from a random trip to the park in early March, 2007. I remember thinking if this is what March is like in Kansas, I'm staying! Love my Sassy girl's smile!



Sassy always had the funniest little facial expressions, which ended up making for some of my favorite photos. My Mom would always questions my taste for the photos that became my favorites... she likes conventional. I like adorable! What a little sweet pea!



Thanks for joining me on a trip down memory lane! I hope someday to have the ability to share some photos from Sassy's second year of life! Have a great Thursday, and stay tuned for some exciting things to come...