Taking my breath away....

There are a few moments in my life when I can think of literally having my breath taken away; moments when I had to pause to remind myself to breathe in and out. Times when I think my life was absolutely changed in the blink of an eye, an instant where I was changed simply by what I was seeing.

As a little girl I remember driving with my family around the corner of the freeway in San Diego, California and seeing the San Diego temple for the first time. If that moment didn't change me forever, then the one I had shortly after in the Bride's Room as my family attended the temple open house certainly did. The split second that I saw the beauty of that room I knew that I needed to be married to my eternal sweetheart in the temple someday. Both because of the feelings I felt in the temple and the beauty I had seen.

Eleven years ago I picked up some photos that I had developed after a weekend of fun with my roommates and friends at Ricks College. Back then I remember being so anxious and excited about dropping of a roll of film to be developed and waiting to see what would be printed. I generally would pay for my pictures at the counter at the college bookstore and promptly rip them open to see if I had gotten any good pictures. This particular time I looked through the pictures of Island Park, my roommates Kristi, Brenda and Kathryn, and then the picture that changed everything for me. Here was a picture of Cory. It was the first picture I had seen of him without his glasses on. Even though I had been there when the picture was taken seeing it through different eyes, the eyes of my little point and shoot 35 mm camera - changed everything. Once again I had been changed because of something I saw in an instant - I was in love....

Fast forward a couple of more years and I took a drive by myself into the Teton Mountains. I came around a corner, saw the Grand Teton and had to pull my car over. My breath was sucked out of me, my eyes filled with tears and I was overcome with gratitude for the earth and beauty Heavenly Father blessed us with. I was a different person.

I can think of dozen more moments - but instead of boring you with a history of things that have changed me through my life I want to share with you a picture that might fall into these categories in the future. Tonight I came across a website of some of the most breathtakingly beautiful photos I have ever seen. This photographer has found a way to capture beauty that until now I thought could only be felt in celestial places. This beauty can't be described or even seen - I think it can only be felt deep in the soul. Wow.....

Take a few moments and look around at his blog, his website - this photographer is phenomenal. Pictures of the Tetons, the Oregon Coast , images from all over my home of Utah - absolutely beautiful!