somedays...

i kinda wanna go here...

love me some beach!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 2

Don't judge me on this one...it's been a long day, and I'm kind of tired!

but after many years of my sisters making fun of me and telling me I had HUGE lips, I've decided today that I am actually very grateful for my "voluptuous lips".

I was looking at pictures I took of myself, and recalling a Rachael Ray episode where I learned how to tell if someone has had lip injections....

Your bottom lip should be 1.5x bigger than your top lip.

When I heard this, I got a little self conscious and started looking at my lips to make sure they didn't look fake. Well, everytime I looked I felt like my top lip was just as big as my bottom lip, but after looking at these pictures, I realized that it isn't entirely true. (haha...sorry, just thought I'd share!)

But I really do love my lips, and I am grateful that they are "HUGE"! (enjoy this random picture of myself! I was trying to get my hair in it...but it didn't work so well....)

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 1

My fabulous friend & amazing scrapbook designer, Suzy, has presented a challenge to readers of her blog. Because I think it's a fabulous challenge, I'm going to pass it on to you.

And of course, I'm going to do it too....(at least I'll try to! ;)

Anyway...

Today, I'm grateful for a husband who loves to decorate for the "big" holidays (Halloween & Christmas!) Even though sometimes he chooses the coldest nights of the year to set up the lights, and sometimes I get frustrated with the amount of lights that we have, I really do enjoy decorating with him and seeing the final project. I think his favorite is Halloween. We have some pretty creepy things that have scared some cute little kiddos. (I'll post more pictures and write more about our Halloween later...maybe...)

But here is one of the faves....Marcus the Carcass...this year he chilled on our porch swing (so I wouldn't trip over him all the time this year!)

What are you grateful for?!?

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, you thought you missed my birthday, didn't you?

Well, you did, and I'm just late posting about my July 2 birthday, so because you missed it, now is your chance to celebrate with me! (totally kiddding...)

Anyway, so I spent my birthday working all day...12:30-7:15. Loads of fun, not to mention I was supposed to be off at 6:30, but it just so happened that the check system decided not to be our friend, so we got stuck late. But it was still a pretty good day. Greg made me the most delicious (and 100% healthy!) dinner...homemade onion rings, fries, chicken nuggets, and stuffed mushrooms. Yes, it was my request, and yes, that is probably why i look the way I do. But ever since we started making our own onion rings, I've been craving them pretty much all the time.

mmmmm...don't they look delicious!?!? (ignore all the oil that the paper towel soaked up! hehe) Super delicious indeed!

We just spent the night relaxing, and once it got dark (because for some reason Utah likes to celebrate holidays on the wrong days..) We climbed on our roof and watched some fireworks. When I was younger and the Thompson's would put on their massive fireworks show (let's face it, it was the #1 fireworks show in the entire city of Cokeville!) I loved it! But now I can only watch so much before it starts getting boring, so after watching for quite some time, we got bored and decided to climb down. Of course as soon as we got to the ground they had the "grand finale!" Perfect timing! But it was good times, none the less. Here are just a few photos.
Saturday I had to work again (totally lame!) but I made it through. We had a BBQ with some friends on Sunday, and just enjoyed a relaxing weekend (despite having to work! BOO!) But it was a great birthday still. Greg let me get a new lens for my camera, and we also found a fairly cheap treadmill on KSL that we were able to get that weekend (and yes I do use it...just don't ask where it is, and don't ever come to visit!) Sometimes I wish we had a double wide! (haha.....I'm kidding...that is a trailer park people joke)

Ahhhh, so I'm pretty much caught up on my July. I was able to spend some time with my adorable niece and nephews. I really hate that they live so far away. They just keep getting bigger and bigger everytime I see them. But they definitely love me. Lilli tells me all the time that I'm her favorite Aunt, and you can just tell that Alex and Aidan absolutely love me! I have no problem admitting that I am the best aunt in the world! But I am sad they're gone. But I was able to get some pics while they were up. (and no, shari, I haven't edited them....) but here are just a couple of the cute kids.

So yeah, that's all for now!

Sunsets...

We've had quite a few gorgeous sunsets this summer, so I'd thought I'd share a few!

These ones below were taken while my family (minus greg and I) were enjoying the sunset in California... :'( But it was a gorgeous night here. Not only was there a gorgeous sunset, but it was also RAINING! *Almost* made me forget the fact that I could have been enjoying the beach!

“Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven.” -John Lubbock

just one...

slowly but surely I am getting these done. Just really liked this one and thought I'd share with everyone...plus I'm bored, so I needed something to do! :) ENJOY!

my day....

hmmm...so my day...this is how it went...(and be prepared for not-complete sentences and poor grammar)

Woke up about 11:30 (still tired, and have a headache :) Sat around, watched One Tree Hill for a bit. Washed my hair, blew dry it(dunno how to word that one!:), Straightened it, pulled my bangs back, got dressed. Greg is home, kinda bum around for a bit, then get things ready to go (camera, batteries, WARM CLOTHES (Thanks Kandyce for the hat. It was my lifesaver!), snacks, greg's school work). (Greg came with me...YAY!) Left Logan around 1:45, drove 1.5 hours to Salt Lake. (Shoot scheduled for 3:30). Got text from clients saying they will be there at 4:00. Arrive at temple at 2:50ish (Yeah, an hour early! UGH!) Don't want to wait in car, so pay for parking (stinkin $5!) and walk...YES WALK! to the capitol building. Only about 2 blocks away, but UPHILL. Now, for someone who hasn't worked out for...let's say a LONG time...this walk KILLED ME! I was out of breath 1/4 the way up there. It was a nice walk though, and it killed about 40 minutes up and back. Get back to the conference center, sit down for a bit by the fountain (took a pic, but was on my point and shoot...so I haven't downloaded it yet). Get back to the car, still 15 minutes left. Text clients asking if they were still on schedule for 4. No reply. Gather my stuff, walk back to the temple. Walk around for a bit, use the visitor's center restroom, walk back outside. Glad to have gloves and hat! Getting cold. 4:10 no clients, getting worried about coldness and lighting, call clients, 4:30....Sit around take a few pics of the temple. Light was PERFECT...Time goes by, light slowly fading. I'm stressing out...need that light! Clients arrive 4:30 (stuff always comes up when you need to be somewhere...right brides? :)...start shooting. Light not so good, still stressed, but keep shooting. Walk around temple for a bit, shoot a few in the JSM. (Getting too dark!) Head up to the capitol...(NOT WALKING!) Get out of car...Can hardly walk. SO SORE from earlier walk. (told you it's been a while!) feel like i pulled a muscle in a bad way! Get inside...light's not the greatest, but it's GORGEOUS inside! Wish we could have gotten there earlier! Finish shoot, drive home, shop, eat dinner, edit a few pics for client's reception tomorrow...will bathe, then go to sleep!

WHAT A DAY! Tomorrow will be another busy one, but I'm excited. We'll be shooting a little earlier, so hopefully all goes well! Here's one from today. I tried a new edit on the second one...Be sure to check out my blog for a few more from today!

ENJOY! (I'm exhausted!)

**click to see bigger**

Last Post of 2008

So, I decided to post once more so you don't have to look at that ridiculously long last post! :) Hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve, and a great day tomorrow! Here's a little of what I've been up to...

Jessie & Kelly's wedding announcement. It's 5x7 double sided, and I love it! I haven't printed double sided before, so I was really excited when I got them back...However, I am upset with the place I printed. I sent in the final order on the 23rd, they JUST shipped them out on the 29th, and they haven't even gotten to Jessie & Kelly. I guess that's what happens when you need them ASAP! Anyway. They chose one of the designs off of my website, then wanted to add a map to the back. I couldn't figure out how to download the map off of mapquest, so I ended up taking a picture of my computer screen (with the map on it), and actually made it with the picture as a reference. I really like how it turned out! *CLICK PIC TO SEE BIGGER

This was fun to make too. I made it out of the pictures Shari posted on her blog. I actually made this for my portfolio (& for fun!), but I thought it was so cute, so I wanted to share it here...WAIT...I'm gonna make you go HERE to see it! (I gotta get my hit count up SOMEHOW!!:)

And this is the most favorite thing that I've done this week! I was able to shoot this ADORABLE little girl's pictures. Thanks to Violet for giving Elizabeth (who was actually one of Kandyce's old roomies) my website. (Yeah, it's a small world. Kinda funny when they ask me if I knew all these people from Cokeville, and they say Kandyce, and I say, "She's my sister" and they say, "I was her roommate last year" and we figure out that we've actually met...) But yeah. This girl was so little, and she had SO MUCH HAIR!! I LOVE IT!! (Ask them, I was obsessing over her hair the entire time!) Anyway...

Oh, and Grandma, I wanted to use the hat you made me (THANKS!) but this little one wasn't so thrilled about taking the pictures. When we finally got her to sleep, we didn't want to wake her up by changing clothes or putting on a hat. Next one I will though...and I'm excited to use them! :)

It went from this....(SWEET, huh?)
to this...(BIG STRETCH)
to this....(But still so precious!)

Alright, well enjoy! Happy New Year Everyone!

Another LONG one...

Alright, so this is going to be a long post, with lots of pictures, mostly random. Christmas at our home was really good. It's not at all what I am used to, but I'm growing to enjoy it more and more each year. It's just a real relaxing day. The best part about being "newlyweds" is being able to create our own traditions. One of our traditions is staying up all night, usually playing Xbox, and going to bed at about 5 or 6 in the morning. That may seem strange, and it may change as we get older, but it's just something that we've done every year, and the story behind it is why I love it so much. Then, of course we sleep in. I'm used to opening presents early in the morning, but this year I think we only opened maybe 2 or 3 of our presents, and then saved the rest for yesterday and today...another weird one, I know...but I don't mind it. I knew what I was getting, so I made sure I opened the ones I really wanted to play with first! :) Then we had a dinner and have spent the past few days relaxing. It's been super nice! Hopefully everyone else had a wonderful Christmas as well! I've been WAITING for posts on everyone else's Christmas......

Anyway...so my past few posts I have been whining about how there is NO SNOW in Logan, well...It has been coming slowly, so I thought I would document it's progress! :)

These two are some of the first real snow this year. We have kind of gotten snow, but this is the most we got...
These pictures show the amount that fell on our bushes...
There have been many times that Greg will call me from school and tell me how cool something looks and that we should get a picture. Well, this particular day, after his last finals of the semester! (YAHOO!!) He called and told me to get my camera and meet him out at the car. He said the clouds and the sky looked way cool, so he came home and got me and we drove back up to campus. I have to agree with him. It looks way cool.. (To see more, go <--HERE-->)
Later that night looked even cooler!
The lighting was so awesome. There were some places where the mountains looked like they were on fire. Totally cool...
So obviously there wasn't much snow after that first little bit...This next picture shows the difference between the first snowfall, and the second...YAY! (They were taken about the same place on our porch)
The mountains look so cool when its snowing on them...(this was before the big fall) Then the second shows how much we got...
Our newest decoration...
Mmkay...so I really love the snow, don't get me wrong. If you can't tell by the pictures I've been posting lately, Greg and I live in a "mobile home subdivision" aka, a trailer park. Unfortunately Greg and I don't have a driveway like some of the other houses have, so we park on the street. Every fall we get letters from the park manager reminding us of things to do to winter-proof our trailers. One of the things on the list says something about when they plow, they will do the middle first, then we need to move our cars to the middle so they can do the sides...Yeah right!!! seriously, are we supposed to GUESS when they are going to plow? Well, we have NEVER yet moved our car to the middle of the street, beause we don't know when they are going to plow! Well...Christmas night we got hit with a HUGE snowstorm! (YAY, right?!) Until we go out the next morning to this.....(top pics are BEFORE, bottom are AFTER)

UGH!!! I was SO MAD!! I mean really? Are the people who plow that inconsiderate? I should be happy that they plow, but who does this? There were some footsteps up to our door that morning, so I hope it wasn't them telling us they were going to plow...haha, I'd feel pretty dumb, but STILL!! So annoying! The white car (if you can tell which is which!) is in front, and the one we drive around town, and it took about 30 minutes to dig us out! We haven't tried to dig out the blue car...I'm not sure I want to! But yeah..so that's what we get to deal with all winter! I just get so mad about it! Even one night when Greg was at work, and the white car was gone, they plowed, but didn't plow where we usually park the white car. AHH!! Oh well..lol, we get to laugh about it at least! (Until the next time we get totally STUCK!)

Here is Greg digging us out! :) lol..it is kinda funny...And the sky looks totally cool. (look at it in the one above with the blue car too)
Our porch....lol
And some pics from Christmas Eve/Day...

Here's Greg playing, NFL Head Coach on the Xbox AND Baseball on the computer! lol...Oh, how I love him! :)
Oh Christmas Tree....
Here's greg and I on Christmas day. I got a new "cheap" camera (so I don't have to haul my other camera everywhere and risk having it lost or stolen). I know the colors aren't very good, but oh well...the flash was blinding, so I turned it off...lol
Our Christmas day meal...Turkey, Gravy, Mushrooms, Shrimp, stuffing, potatos, yams, oysters (didn't try them! :S), pecan pie...It was DELICIOUS!!!

And that was our Christmas! Hopefully everyone else enjoyed theirs as much as we did. I didn't get the Christmas cards out on time, so you may get them around New Years Eve/probably after! :)

Anyway...i thought since I probably bored you with that...I would leave you with some pictures of some cute kids that I never see. But I'm not complaining (too much), Ben and Shari were nice enough to send us a bunch of pics, and since I'm sure they're busy, I thought I would share them with everyone! (see how easy this is you guys? :) I love the first one of Lilli and the twins. So cute. I miss them! And I'm not exactly sure who is who, but I am GUESSING, the one in stripes is Alex and the other is Aidan...(I have no idea how or why i'd know that, but just guessing...Shari or Ben can correct me if I'm wrong! :)

Cute right? Anyway...I'm out, for now....Stay tuned for more...My sweet husband took me to Twilight last night (this morning, I guess it was...) so you'll get to hear my thoughts on that incredibly....interesting? movie! Love you all!

So cute...

I posted this on my photog blog, but it was so cute, I wanted to share it here!



Enjoy...

Tis the Season

For mutual tonight, my advisor Emily and I decided to do some type of service at Sunshine Terrace (a rest home) not too far from our church. Emily (bless her heart) set everything up and decided to do some caroling. After opening exercises, I told the girls what we were doing and there were a lot of moans and groans. I told them we were doing it anyway, and so we drove to Sunshine. We got into the building and split into two groups. I never imagined what a great experience it ended up being. It was such a simple thing, and we were only there for about 30 minutes, going room to room, but it was so much fun. I think the girls ended up having a lot of fun as well. It was just fun to see the people and see their faces light up when we sang to them. We had one sweet old lady who didn't want us to leave. We only sang about 2 songs at each room, but we ended up singing 5 or 6 at this ladies. She was so sweet. We had another lady who told us her birthday was the day after Christmas, and she wanted us to sing Happy Birthday to her, plus about 3 other songs. We also walked into a Hispanic man's room. He didn't speak ANY English, but we decided to sing to him anyway. I don't think he understood, but halfway through the first song he gave us a thumb's up. He didn't have any legs, and during the second song, he scooted to the edge of his bed and started rummaging through the dresser next to his bed. He pulled out a box of ritz crackers and gave each of us a package of ritz. What a sweet man. Though he didn't understand what we were saying, it was so awesome to see his reaction. It brings tears to my eyes to think about it. It was almost time to leave, and we had just finished singing to some lady in the hall, and we were walking away. We heard a nurse yelling (not really yelling, but I couldn't think of a better word) at us and asking us if we wanted to sing to a couple of ladies they had just put into bed. Of course we weren't going to say no (even it made the other group have to wait). So we went into their room and "sang them to sleep." One of the ladies kept saying, "You have to keep singing, I'm not asleep yet." It was so cute. What a great experience though. It was fun to see the girls having fun when they were earlier mumbling and groaning about it. I really think it comes from the leaders. As a leader you have to have a positive attitude about everything, because the girls are going to feed off of us. It's frustrating when some of the moans and groans come from the leaders. (I'm not saying I don't do it, because I occasionally do...) but I'm working on, because we have this calling for a reason, and the reason is not to sit and complain about our activities, or songs we have to sing in sacrament meeting that no one knows and that we struggle with. It's just been a great end of the year. We have been doing quite a bit of service, and it has been so much fun. I love my calling, and I love the girls that I work with! I have an awesome advisor, and I am so happy to be in this calling! Anyway...just wanted to share that experience with you...It was a wonderful activity!! Makes me want to do a lot more of that type of stuff...lol...hmm....anyway..

Here ya go Linds and Kelli! lol, I will get more soon. These are just some funny ones that I wanted to share!




I know I'm such a downer...but...I have to share this bit of bad news.....The suns traded boris diaw and raja bell today...I am so terribly distraught by the bad news my husband shared with me! :( I didn't believe him at first, but it was just confirmed as I changed the channel to 207 and read it on the screen! I loved Bell and Diaw! Why couldn't they have traded Shaq instead? What is this world coming too...as long as Nash doesn't go anywhere, I'll be a-okay! :) Haha...They are playing the lakers tonight too, Kennan's favorite team! GO SUNS!!!! (they are getting beat right now... though...just by 5. Don't worry, there will be a comeback!)

December...

...is here already! Can you believe it? This year has flown by, and in just 20 days, it's Christmas! YAY!! Not much has been going on around here. Greg has been doing a LOT of homework and studying. I am SO GLAD (for his sake) that next week is finals! I just hope and pray he does well. He is taking the GRE on Thursday, so we're hoping for a good score on that! I have just been chillin' at home, taking and editing pictures every now and then. Though my business hasn't picked up greatly, I have gotten more business than I expected (and it's still not a lot), but I can't complain. I just keep telling myself it will take time. I still have a lot to learn. It does get frustrating when I see photographers around me getting a lot of business...but I just pretend that they were once in my shoes, so it'll all be a-okay!

We're slowly getting ready for Christmas. We have most our presents bought, and wrapped. Lol, it's not going to be much of a surprise since we both know what we got, wrapped them in front of each other, and one of greg's is an empty box, since he already is using one of his...but it's okay. Its not about the presents, right? But it does make it fun!

Anyway...that's the boring update from here! Hope you are all doing well! Good luck to those of you with finals still, and enjoy your upcoming breaks!



PS. What are the rules to using other peoples pics (like this one above) as your own personal Christmas card? I can't talk Greg into taking a picture, so those of you who will be getting Christmas cards from us...don't be surprised to see a picture you've already seen on my blog...lol, unless.....Linds, do you think Kelli would mind if I used her baby's pic?! :)

More cute couples...well, just one, but still..

Go <--HERE--> to see more...ENJOY!



Still not much going on here. Just preparing for our yummy, delicious Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday...To see what we plan on our dinner looking like, go <--HERE-->. I can't wait, and hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I look forward to seeing lots of Thanksgiving posts! YAY!!

Also, I will be in Provo on the 4th of December, and have an opening for a shoot, if anyone is interested or knows of anyone interested. Let me know!!

More cuteness to look at...

Go <--HERE--> and <--HERE--> to see more from this shoot!!!

He had so much fun running around, leaning over the bridge to look into the water, running through the mud. What a character! He is so cute though. But....does anyone have any suggestions on how to "tame" these energetic children long enough to get good pictures? lol...I'm patient enough to just follow the kids around, and I really don't mind it, but for the parents' sake (I mean, they are paying for the pictures!) I just need any helpful tips/suggestions on what to do...Anyway....


this one makes me smile. i think it's so precious, even though "j" isn't looking at me....

And this....I love looking at pics and being surprised at what I actually got...


Well...not much going on around here. The wind is blowing like CRAZY and once it's done, we are going to have to put all our lights back up! Good heavens, I thought I left Rock Springs! HA! Oh well...We will survive. I do get a little nervous though when our house (trailer) starts shaking and I'm afraid we're gonna get caught up in a twister...It's all good though. The joys of living in a trailer, right? Yeah, so not much happening. I'm getting together with Steph, Tate, and Tiff tonight for a little girls night. I haven't seen them all in a while, and since we're all living in Logan, we decided to hang out before the holidays hit. (BTW I can't believe next week is THANKSGIVING! I'm stoked. I love the holidays!) But yeah, that should be fun. Maybe I'll take some pics to share.

ENJOY!!!

**EDITED TO ADD** (I didn't want to make a new post, because everyone ignore old posts, so....) Random thoughts from me for the night. I am re-reading Twilight to prepare myself for the movie (so I can be ready to watch it when it comes out on video. HA!) and can i just tell you how much it BUGS the crap out of me at how INCONSISTENT Bella's character is. i don't think she is supposed to be that way, I think the author just screwed up, but really. I am so annoyed with it. I really like Bella, but I am bugged at the way it is written and thought out! UGH!!! SERIOUSLY! Plus, the author seriously needs to cut half of the book out, because it just goes ON AND ON AND ON!! Maybe it's bad that I am rereading it. I really do love this series..but the more I read it, (and after reading #4) I am just getting bugged....BUT I'm still excited for the movie!! YAY!!! OKay, those are my thoughts for tonight! UNtil next time..

OH...and if you haven't...be sure to play along with my post below this one...I will reveal the answers soon so everyone can know what kind of random things I listen to...

And a few more....okay, a LOT more!

Here is the final post of Vi's bridals. My mom totally rocked this shoot, so all but one of these pics are hers. She did awesome, and I wanted you all to see. More of Vi's bridals can be seen <--HERE--> and <--HERE--> (be sure to scroll down to see all.) They turned out so gorgeous, and Vi and Austin, I hope you love them as much as I do! (Of course, I'm totally bias! :)

Anyway...here you go, ENJOY!!!


I love that you can see the entire back of her dress in this one. Love it!



This spot was so great. I loved the green in the background...Any of you Cokeville-ites wanna guess where it is? 10$ for anyone who can (who isn't named ellen, violet,  breanne, brittney, or has previously asked any of the above mentioned names where it is...) And, okay, I won't really give you 10$, but I want to know if anyone can guess. I didn't know it was there, so......but I'll feel really dumb when everyone knows where it is! :)

I was a little surprised out how pretty these leaves turned out to be. I love how bright they are! Gotta love fall, eh?


Nothing really has been going on around here. Greg is still busy as ever with school and work. He is really looking forward to a break. (HURRY UP CHRISTMAS!!) I am still just taking pictures when I can, and editing in all my spare time...if any of you readers out there are in need of a photographer, OR if you want to order Holiday cards, let me know! :) I would love to help you out!! Hmmm...what else is going on? Umm we had stake conference today. That was fun. I had to play the piano for the stake choir. I did pretty good, I suppose. They just sang hymns, so my job was pretty easy. I don't really get nervous playing the piano...so it was no big deal. I did have to laugh at myself a couple of times because of weird things I catch myself doing while I play. I don't even know how to explain it really..you'd have to watch me play...But yeah, that was random...today has been a nice relaxing day!

Oh yeah...Some good news....The other day we gassed up our car. We put 10 gallons (exactly, just ask Greg, he was so proud! haha) and paid $20.59, which means WHAT? Yeah, we paid only $2.05, and....at Smiths it is below $2.00. Gotta celebrate it while it's low again!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think on any of my 3 blogs!